Don’t you love planning a trip? I do. I am a bit of a researcher and love to map out a rough route and add to it the things we might want to stop and see along the way. My husband, Richard, always jokes half-heartedly when we arrive in a new place ‘tell me about this place Jen!’

I mostly use the app WikiCamps for planning our trips. This is a brilliant app for planning and saving your planned trips and you can even share your trips with your friends. It is available for download on the App Store, Google Play and Microsoft Store and is worth the small $7.99 price tag. I have it on my iPhone but mainly use it on my trusty iPad Pro.

However, as much as I love the planning and research, I also love being flexible and there is nothing better than coming across something unexpected and changing your route to take in a recommended ‘must see’ from a local with extensive knowledge of their area.

Being flexible was the reason we found Bald Rock National Park in northern NSW near the Queensland border. We had never heard of Bald Rock and were so glad we made the detour from our planned route to go there. The campground in the NP is a fabulous bush camp with well marked out, flat, gravel sites, most with fire pits and there’s even ‘free’ wood. What a gorgeous spot and one of our all-time favourites! The hike to the top of Bald Rock is fantastic and the 360 degree view from the summit is incredible. If you ever get to Tenterfield, do yourself a favour and check out Bald Rock National Park. It’s only about 30km from the lovely historic town of Tenterfield.

Speaking of planning, where are we going next?

We have a friend of ours turning 60 so we will be off to the NSW/VIC border town of Albury to help her celebrate. After a weekend of dining and dancing we plan to follow the Murray River Run from Albury NSW to Goolwa SA where the mighty Murray River meets the sea.

We have previously followed the Murray River from its small beginnings near Tom Groggin in the Snowy Mountains in NSW down to Albury so now we plan to follow it until we reach its final destination in The Coorong, South Australia. The trip home may include a journey along The Silo Art Trail in the Wimmera Mallee area of western Victoria before heading northwards across the Murray again and home to Griffith in the Riverina. The journey is roughly 3,000km and we have a whole month to do it.

Watch this space for the start of our next adventure.