We packed up camp at the Old Reservoir in Cobar after a leisurely start to the day. I used up some old squishy bananas and made some banana bread and it cooked whilst we had breakfast. The delicious smell of baking filled the motorhome. Don’t you just love that smell?
Do you cook in your RV? I’ve met a lot of people on our travels who never cook inside their RV. I cook inside all the time. In fact, I cook pretty much the same in the motorhome as I do at home. One of my favourite vegetables is cabbage, sautéed in a pan with a little butter and black pepper. I often cook this and our motorhome doesn’t smell like cabbage! Well, maybe it does while the cabbage is cooking but not afterwards. I use the oven and griller all the time for various dishes. I do love those one pot meals where you throw all the ingredients in a pot then bung it in the oven to cook. I have a Weber casserole dish that is perfect for those meals.
I’ve made muffins, cakes, banana bread, cooked garlic bread and even baked roast dinners. The other useful cooking appliance is my small slow cooker. This is brilliant for cooking if you have a long driving day planned. Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and it cooks slowly all day as you drive along. I plug it into our inverter and I sit the slow cooker in my folding laundry basket on the floor. I made an elastic band that hooks over each handle of the slow cooker to keep the lid from bouncing off as we go along the road. One of our favourite dishes to cook this way is a seafood chowder. Yum. It smells so good. When you pull up it’s ready to eat. Perfect with a crunchy loaf of bread.
Anyway, this morning I made banana bread and it was cooling in the oven as we drove along.
It was a cloudy overcast morning as we drove along the Kidman Way heading south. The recent rains have changed the landscape so much. There was long grass and lots of green grass along the roadside. I was looking for bands of goats to try and get some photos however the goats had all decided it’s a good day to rest under a tree as we saw very few on this road. The day before we’d seen hundreds between Wilcannia and Cobar.
Stopped for morning tea at Mt Hope. Mt Hope is just a dot on the map. There’s a pub, a community hall and a couple of houses. That’s it. This tiny place is where my dad and his four brothers lived as children until the family moved to Griffith so the boys could go to high school. What a place to grow up!
The. Community Hall is a free camp for RV travellers and there is plenty of flat area to park. An old amenities block with toilets and hot showers is out the back. They are old but they are clean. There are a couple of power point on the side of the hall and can be used by travellers needing power for a donation. There is a donation box next to the power points. Well done Mt Hope for encouraging travellers to stay.
Just out of Mt Hope we took the turnoff to Euabalong. This is a good tar road through dense mallee scrub. We saw lots of wildflowers in many colours. White, pink, bright yellow, lilac and a bright blue. Of course there was also the purple of Patersons Curse. It’s a weed found all over Australia.
As we got closer to Euabalong we came across cleared land with wheat crops. The crops looked thick and healthy. We also came across mobs of fat cattle looking sleek and glossy. The rains have been fantastic for this area.
Sadly the mallee is home to the endangered Mallee Fowl and the poor Mallee Fowl is fighting a desperate battle for survival due to loss of habitat from land clearing for cropping and feral predators such as pigs and foxes. Mallee Fowl mate for life and lay their eggs on nests they build on the ground. The birds use compost to regulate the temperature of the nest so it remains a constant temperature for the eggs. Having their nests on the ground makes them open to pillaging by feral predators. Some 80% of all chicks that do manage to hatch die within a short time.
We came to a train line and the tiny village of Euabalong West is built next to the train line. Huge grain storage sheds are also alongside the line. This train line is the main line across the country that the Indian Pacific uses to cross from Sydney to Perth. Many freight trains also thunder past the tiny village.
We came across a tractor going along the road. We joked that the farmer was going to town in his John Deere!
Only 5kms further on is the village of Euabalong situated right on the Lachlan River. It is a very tidy little village. The river is very full and as we left the town a large billabong on our left was also full of water. We passed through the village and headed out on the Lake Cargelligo Road and again we saw many wheat crops and healthy, sleek, fat cattle.
We arrived in Lake Cargelligo in the early afternoon and went directly to the service station to top up our fuel. I keep a log of all the fuel and the kilometres traveled. We’d had a great run only using 14L/100km. That’s pretty good for a 5 tonne vehicle.
We drove through town and the huge lake spreads out before you at the end of the Main Street. The Visitors Centre is on the last corner and has a gorgeous display of roses out the front.
We continued around the lake to the free camp at Frogs Hollow. What a lovely spot it is along the edge of the lake. There were quite a few vans and one motorhome there already. Robert was parked up a little way along the bank and there was room for us to pull in behind. We did have to get our chocks out to level up but what a great spot. Nice green grass and it’s very pleasant sitting out under the awning. Occasionally fish jump out of the water with a big splash. They’re probably carp!
Late in the afternoon Catie and I went for a long paddle in our kayaks. The lake is really huge. It is very calming being out on the water and we both love it. We saw Pelicans, a Cormorant, fish jumping and a bird of prey that we don’t know the name of. We arrived back in time for sunset drinks and nibbles. Love this RV lifestyle!
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