Day 7 – Farmstay near Parkes to Mirrool Hotel

It was a freezing cold night and we woke to a frosty paddock outside. Our house batteries are nearly the end of their useful life and were not holding their charge so we put the stove on to heat the kettle and warm up the motorhome. We all snuggled in bed and played eye spy while we waited for it to warm up.

All our devices were flat so we had to use Victors phone to take some photos as it was charged up first. We got some photos of the motorhome in the paddock and next to Rosie the old truck. The owner of the Farmstay had written a poem about Rosie and stuck it on the window of Rosie. See photo below.

It was 10am before we set off southwards. The Farmstay is only 100m from the Newell Highway and we were quickly back out onto the main road heading to Forbes.

I had to clear the Check Engine light again before we set off.

It’s only 31km from Parkes to Forbes along the Newell Highway. We both commented on the lack of traffic especially as it’s school holidays. Of course there is the usual assortment of big rigs on the road but there are not as many RV’s travelling as we expected. Most caravan parks we’ve been past have plenty of empty sites. At the Farmstay overnight we were the only ones there and it is such a lovely spot for self contained RV’s.

There were a few grocery items we needed such as fresh bread so we stopped in Forbes and parked in a large carpark behind the Woolies. Victor was please to see it was opposite the skate park!

We quickly picked up what we needed and Victor charmed the check out lady with his chatty personality. Pa and I took our cuppas across the to the skate park to watch Victor. The Forbes skate park is quite a large one and had lots of challenges for the scooter riders. Two other boys of similar age to Victor came along with their grandfather so the three boys had fun while us oldies sat and watched.

Victor declared the Forbes skate park the best so far, even better than the one in Gilgandra. When we asked why he replied that there was more tricks and jumps. So that’s it folks if you build a skate park make it big enough and add lots of jumps!

By 11am it was still a brisk 9 degrees but there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was shining. A lovely chilly winter day.

We continued on and stopped at the truck stop on the outskirts of West Wyalong to swap our empty gas bottle that had run out the night before. $30 and we had a new one to put in. Rich took care of the gas bottle while I made use of the time to put a little more air in the drivers rear tyres. Our TPMS said they were a little down so I topped them back up to 69psi using our little Makita air compressor.

The boys decided they’d like leftover lasagne for lunch so we pulled up in a sunny spot next to McCann Park and I set the lasagne in the oven to warm up whilst Victor went for a play and a scoot in the park.

We left West Wyalong at 3pm and continued our way southwards on the Newell Highway. We decided to stop for the night at the tiny village of Mirrool. The small community has set up a fabulous RV camp. There are tennis courts, a playground, a small history museum, toilets and showers, communal fire pit with wood supplied, and a large graveled area for camping. There are 11 powered sites. You choose you site then if you want power you go across to the Hotel and pay $20 for the key to your numbered power box. If you return the key you get $10 back.

We arrive around 3pm and there was already three other campers there. Victor and I had a busy afternoon playing Grip Ball and after we found some tennis raquets in the camp kitchen we had a game of tennis as well. We checked out the little history museum and victor was amazed at some of the ‘olden days’ stuff. During the afternoon more RV’s rolled in and by the time we went back to our motorhome there were 11 RV’s set up for the night. Victor is very good at going over and introducing himself to the new arrivals, especially the ones with dogs. He loves to meet the dogs. I think he was missing his Jack Russell Jimmy!

Dinner at the pub sounded like a good idea for our last night of our trip so we got changed into our finest clothes and headed over the road to the Mirrool Hotel. Most of the people who’d arrived also went to the pub for dinner. It was good pub grub and we all enjoyed our dinner.

Back in our little house on wheels we all changed into our PJ’s and snuggled in bed and watched a movie. Victor chose the Disney movie called Turbo, about a snail who dreams of being fast. It was funny.

Day 6 – Depart Warrumbungles NP and head south

Oh what a slow start we had. Victor didn’t wake until after 7 and we played a funny game of eye spy whilst snuggled in bed for an hour before we got up. Victor was a hungry boy and had a bacon and cheese brioche bun followed by two pancakes for breakfast!

The laundry was piling up so I got two loads of washing done and hung up. Now the inside of the motorhome looks like a laundry. But it was a sunny day so it might dry as we go along.

I had to clear the Check Engine light again before we could get going. The motorhome will really need to go back to the mechanic when we get home.

While we were packing up Victor declared this camp in the Warrumbungle NP a 10 out of 10. High praise from the 6 year old. When I asked why he gave it that rating he said because he made some new friends and had fun making damper with Granny.

Before we left the mum of the Victor’s new friends came over with her children to tell us about a fantastic tour to do at an emu farm that is located on the Tooraweenah Road if we are going that way. She explained that it is really worth a visit.

We all really enjoyed our stay in the Warrumbungle NP and we were a bit surprised how empty the campgrounds were. The powered section we were in was almost full however the unpowered sections had lots of vacant spot. It is a beautiful campground set in its natural bush setting and the brand new amenities block was impressive. There were rows of bins for rubbish disposal too. Our site 93 was a drive through site with plenty of room for us to slide out and we could have put our awning out as well. Each site has a fire pit and ours even had a picnic table.

After packing up we drove out of the campground, past the visitors centre and back onto the road that goes right through the Warrumbungles. Richard’s dad, so the story goes, built the first road through the Warrumbungles with his dozer back in the day when he was an earthmoving contractor. Today the road is a good sealed road. Out of the park on the western side you take a left turn towards Tooraweenah and Gilgandra. That road is now sealed all the way too.

Not long past the turnoff is the entrance to Emu Logic Emu Farm. This was the one we’d been told about so we turned in to check it out. It is a gravel farm road in to a large carpark in front of an old shed used as the farm tour building & shop. We signed up for the 11am tour. It cost $20 per adult and $6 per child. In the fifteen minutes we had to wait for the tour to commence we checked out all the emu info in the shed including a large glass enclosure that held three 2 day old emu chicks. They were so cute.

Out in the yard we checked out the huge variety of chickens and other birds the lady owner has collected. There were chickens with weird feathers that looked like the chicken had stuck his foot in an electric socket! Strangest chicken I’ve ever seen. There were bantams and silkies and even a beautiful pheasant. Victor got to feed the goat and kid with the nanny goat butting the kid out of the way to get to the offered leaves.

The tour commenced in the grassy yard with the lady owner giving a talk about emus and why they chose to farm them. Emus don’t have much meat however they do have a significant amount of oil and they are farmed for their oil. Emu oil is used for medicine and cosmetics. Emu oil is particularly good for arthritis just rubbed into the joints daily. Ostriches on the other hand are farmed for their meat.

Phil, the other farm owner, brought out the three 2 day old chicks and all the children were able to hold a chick. Of course this was a big hit.

The group was then led out the gate to the paddocks. On the way we passed hundreds of Muscoveys. Did you know that Muscovy are not ducks? They are between a ducks and a goose. They are quite large birds and there were hundreds of them. The lady explained that she breeds them for a lady at Paddy’s Market in Sydney who buys 100 each month. We came to a section of the farm where we could see into the emu paddocks. On one side were the 1 year olds. We were amazed at how much emus grow from 2 days to 1 year old. The next paddock held the teenagers and they were bigger again. The next paddock held the breeding adults.

The owners little granddaughter handed out small branches of saltbush for us to feed to the emus. We entered the paddock with the adult emus and they all gathered around us for the food. We were surrounded by emus! Victor bravely held out the saltbush for the emus to each and they pecked at the saltbush leaves until the branch you were holding had no leaves left. You had to hang on to the branch tightly s they. Teared the leaves off with their beaks.

The adult breeding emus are kept in one paddock together. The females make a strange drumming sound from an air sack in their necks. The males don’t make much noise are a very docile. The females lay eggs and we were visiting right in the middle of their egg laying season. The males try to gather up as many eggs as they can and once they have enough, 10 -12 eggs, they sit on them. Emu eggs stay dormant from the time they are layed until the male sits on them. It’s the heat that commences the incubation process. It can take a month for the male to gather enough eggs and once he sits he will stay there for 56 days. He neither eats nor drinks in that time. His whole focus is on incubating those eggs. The chicks all hatch at the same time and then the male will stay with them until they are 18 months old protecting them from predators and female emus. Females will kill any chick left on its own.

On the farm all the breeding emus have had their claws chopped off to make them less dangerous to handle. The eggs are gathered each day. They can be tricky to find as the males hide them in the grass.

Phil led our group over to a group of four emus sitting on the ground. He explained that these males were all sitting on eggs they’d gathered up and instead of gathering the eggs the group of four had been left to show the tourists. Phil was able to life the male emus up and we were amazed to see lots of green emu eggs underneath. Each of the three younger emus had 9-12 eggs underneath them. The oldest male had an albino head with fuzzy feathers on top of his head. He is named Donald! He’s about 35 years old and although he had no eggs underneath him he sat with the others providing moral support.

Phil showed us the amazing feathers. Did you know that emu feathers are unique in the bird world as each quill has two feathers? Emus are so well insulated they can survive extreme heat and even extreme cold and snow.

The emu farm tour lasted for an hour and we declared it well worth it. We learnt a lot about these unique Australian animals.

Back on the road we passed through Tooraweenah and then we met up with the Newell Highway again and drove into Gilgandra. It was time for a lunch break so we found at skate park. It was a really good one and Victor gave it a 9 out of 10. He had a fun time scootering while I prepared lunch.

Following our lunch we headed south again on the Newell Highway and I used WikiCamps to find us a spot to camp for the night. I found a Farmstay near Parkes that looked like it might be good for us. $20 per night for self contained vehicles and they provided fire pits and had wood for sale. Sounded good. I called the owner and booked us in.

The Newell Highway bypasses Parkes town centre now and we stopped for fuel at the huge BP service station that’s been built on the Bypass road. Our little travel buddy’s eyes lit up when he saw the Big M sign. Then we had to listen to all the reasons why we should have Maccas! We resisted.

The Farmstay we’d booked is located just off the Bypass road and we found it easily because they have a large metal cow and calf on the front gate. The owner had told me to look for the cow. The paddock is a large one surrounded by a row of large pine trees along the fence. It looked like the owners had been busy planting lots of trees and shrubs to enhance the camping experience. There were a couple of fire pits and a large old truck that we found out was called Rosie. Rosie is a decorative feature and the owner has planted a garden all around Rosie. Rosie is also decorated with solar lights that came on after dark.

Karen, the owner, had told us to park anywhere so we parked up near the fire pit and set up camp. I warmed up the last of Great Gran’s sausage rolls for an entree and put a lasagne in the oven for our dinner.

Karen came down to meet us and we said we’d buy some wood so she went back to the house and came back with a trolley full of really good dry wood. She also brought a bag of pine cones to throw in. They do make the fire smell good!

We enjoyed meeting Karen and hearing about how her and Andrew had set up the Farmstay over a year ago. They enjoy meeting all the travelers they’ve hosted in that time. They have lots of plans for improvements but as they both have full time jobs it is a slow process. They have just finished putting in town water pipes so guests will be able to top up their tanks with town water.

We enjoyed our time around the fire until after dinner when it was too cold so we moved inside. Victor and I played the Connect 4 card game followed by a game of Memory (he won both of those!) before we all snuggled in our bed so Victor could read us a story.

Our batteries are really on their way lout and not holding their charge so no diesel heater for us! Oh well, it was warm in bed!

Day 5 – Narrabri to Warrumbungle NP

After saying farewell to our family in Narrabri we set off back into Narrabri and then turned southwards on the Newell Highway. Our intended destination was Warrumbungle National Park. Along the way I made good use of our Starlink Roam service to book a powered site at Blackman Campground. Blackman Campgound is huge with 70 unpowered sites and 30 powered sites. We scored site 93 and it was the last powered site available. I thought we were lucky to get one seeing as it was school holidays. It would be interesting to get there and see how many sites actually have campers on them.

Warrumbungle NP also has a park entry fee of $8 per vehicle per day and if you are staying overnight you need 2 passes. I also purchased those online. The digital passes are linked to your rego so you don’t need to print them or display them. The rangers are able to enter your rego to check if you’ve paid.

I find the NSW Parks website very easy to use and on most bookings I’ve made you are able to pick which site you would like. Most times there is even a photo of the site. Well done NSW Parks.

Our little travel buddy cheerfully said farewell to his cousins with lots of ‘see you on Friday’ from them all. We waved Erin and the children off as they drove out before us. Once we set off he listened to his music. How many 6 year olds are huge Michael Jackson fans? This one is. He knows most of the words to all the songs. I think a set of good headphones might be a good birthday present!

The Newell Highway is a good road and is the main artery from Victoria to Queensland so it is used by lots of heavy vehicles. Driving through the Pilliga forest we sighted a few feral goats but not a lot else. It was only a couple of days ago we were driving along the western side of the Pilliga and now we drove right through the middle of it.

Arriving in Coonabarabran we parked up at the visitors centre and went in to check it out. They have a fabulous display of the megafauna Diprotodon. They even have a giant skull in a big glass case. Another glass case hold a skeleton of a Diprotodon. Victor is fascinated with these ancient creatures.

One of the staff even gave him a ‘dippy’ jawbone to hold. His little face lit up at holding a real ‘dippy’ bone.

We picked up some pamphlets on the Warrumbungles and set off again. But first we had to attend to the chores. Filled up with fuel, drove to the dump point where we found a couple of inconsiderate travellers had parked their vans alongside the dump point blocking anyone’s access. They were having a party in the park. So we had no access to the water tap either as our hoses would not reach past their vehicles. Grrrr! We used the dump point but had to try elsewhere for water. We tried the skate park….no luck however the skate park is located in a recreation reserve and we found a tap we could use. Victor made good use of the skate park while we filled up.

Chores done we set off westwards to the Warrumbungles. They are quite spectacular mountains. It is a good tar road all the way and we arrive in the middle of the day.

First stop was the visitors centre where Victor finally bought a souvenir and we checked in to our camp. We had to drive to Blackman 3 camp and find site 93. It is a good level site with plenty of room and had a fire pit and a picnic table. Victor quickly made some new friends with some children a couple of camps away.

The children built a cubby on top of the very steep hill opposite our camp. They even went for a walk to see if they could reach the top of the very steep hill. I went some of the way and the views were spectacular looking across at the rugged mountains and down to the camp.

Victor and I went for a bush walk along the creek to see if we could spot a platypus but no luck although Victor and Ziggy later went down to the creek and saw a pair of platypus. Lucky boys.

Victor and I made a damper and cooked it in the camp oven on the open fire. Victor invited his new friends over for some damper with butter and golden syrup. Yum. They did enjoy it. They came back for seconds!

We settled in after dark around our little fire and waited for our Shepherds Pie to cook. I asked the boys their thoughts on our day.

Rich enjoyed the drive today with not a lot of traffic. Facilities in Coonabarabran were good and the drive into the Warrumbungles was spectacular and he was looking forward to the Shephards Pie.

Victor says we left early from Narrabri and we had safe travels and the road wasn’t too bumpy. He likes how he learnt to change the wallpaper on his phone today. Now he has a very cute photo of his little sister Nancy on his phone. He also enjoyed making damper with Gran and sharing it with his brand new friends. The fire was burning well and he was also looking forward to the Sheperds Pie. He enjoyed scootering around the park and making the cubby house out of sticks with his friends.

Day 4 – Pilliga to Narrabri

What a great start to the day…..a long soak in the hot artesian baths. We had a soak before we even had breakfast. There was a cold mist coming off the creek and it was freezing cold as we walked across to the pool area but once we were in the warm water we were glad we did it.

While in the pool I asked a few people if they’d been able to pay and none of them had because the website wasn’t working. One lady even said ‘don’t worry about it’. I thought of all the camping fees the council was missing out on and the facility is such a good one. There were signs saying the pool is cleaned every Friday morning and I assume all the toilets and BBQs are too as it was all very neat and clean. Pretty good value for $7.50 we thought!

I think all of us travellers can afford to pay $7.50 to support these tiny towns and keep some people employed plus we benefit by having these great spots to camp

After packing up camp we headed off towards Narrabri passing through the little town of Wee Waa. Wee Waa’s claim to fame is it is known as the Australian Cotton Capital. Billions of dollars of cotton is grown in the region each year in the Namoi Valley. Namoi Cotton has a huge cotton gin in the town and I’m guessing it would be a major employer. Water to irrigate the cotton comes from the Namoi River and bores that tap into the Great Artesian Basin.

White settlement began with stock followed by cropping such as wheat. In the 1800’s bores were sunk to provide water for the population and for irrigation. In the 1960’s two Californian families moved to the area and brought their experience of growing cotton with them. Growing cotton is now the major industry for Wee Waa area.

In the middle of the Main Street is a sculpture representing cotton balls growing. We pulled over so I could get a photo.

We arrived in Narrabri and parked up behind the visitors centre. Here we went in and paid our fee for camping at Pilliga Bore Baths. I explained that their website wasn’t working and that there were at least 50 RV’s camped there overnight and no one was able to pay. The lovely ladies said they had already contacted their IT people so I hope they can get it fixed quickly as they are missing out on significant fees.

Next was a quick visit to Woolies across the road for a few necessary supplies such as a bag of marshmallows and then we all wandered down to the skate park so Victor could practice his scooter skills.

Back in the motorhome we drove across the bridge across the Namoi River to a little park pin the other side that had a playground for Victor to play in while I made lunch.

We arrived at Pete & Tracey’s farm a few km out of Narrabri in the middle of the afternoon. Pete & Tracey are the parents of our beautiful daughter-in-law and are long time residents of Narrabri. Erin and her three children were visiting the farm and we were not surprised to find the kids waiting in the 4 wheel ATV near the front gate. They were eagerly waiting for us to arrive and led the way down the long driveway to the house. Who doesn’t love big hugs from your grandchildren?

Victor was very excited to see his cousins and explore the farm. The kids quickly left us to scooter around the house, ride the ATV, chop wood at the fire, throw clods in the dam and generally mess about.

After setting up the motorhome Zara took me on a farm tour on the ATV. She was a great little tour guide showing me the crops in the paddocks, the cattle yards, the shed, the creek, and mooing at the herd of fat cattle over the back neighbours fence.

We enjoyed a lovely family BBQ dinner together and generally catching up. After dark the kids played a game of murder in the dark around the garden. Sounded fun from the noise they were making!

We departed to bed early and Henry (aged 9) came for a sleepover in the motorhome. The two boys slept up in the top bed in the Luton. They talked and talked before and eventually falling asleep. We had power so we could have the heater on and it was very cozy inside.

We’d had another great day on our School Holiday Trip.

Day 3 – Wellington Caves to Pilliga

A little voice woke us about 6.30am. It’s like having an alarm clock with us! We didn’t waste any time having breakfast and packing up camp so we could get to Dubbo to have morning tea at our cousins place. It’s only a 45 minute trip to Dubbo from Wellington and it seemed to go by very quickly.

Along the way Victor said ‘I wonder what Auntie Catie will have for morning tea. I’ll bet it’s something delicious’. Sure enough we arrived to find Catie had prepared a plate of little cakes, oat slice and melting moments. Victor was right!

We spent a lovely hour with Catie and Robert before saying farewell We headed back into Dubbo to go to the Showground so we could use their dump point and fill up with water. Pa took Victor across to watch the Pony Club in action while I waited for the tanks to fill.

We left Dubbo around midday and headed towards Coonamble. Stopped at David Gillon Park Rest Area right next to the sandy and dry Castlereagh River for a lunch break.

In the early afternoon we arrived in Coonamble where we filled up with fuel before continuing out of town towards Pilliga.

We passed through the tiny village of Pilliga and drove approximately 2km east to the Pilliga Artesian Bore Baths. This fabulous campground is provided to the community by Narrabri Shire and they charge $7.50 per vehicle per night. You pay via their website or scan the QR code on a sign next to the pool. Sadly when I tried to do either of those the website was not working. Oh well. We did try to pay.

The bore baths are set inside a fully fenced area and the rectangular shaped pool is concrete. There is a large pipe on one end where the piping hot water is pumped into the pool from the bore. There is a set of metal stairs with handrails on the shallowest end to allow easy access into the pool.

Outside the pool fence is a large concrete area with picnic tables, BBQs and a toilet block with two toilets and a shower. The water for the shower comes straight from the bore so it’s nice and hot. Just near the pool is an old fridge that has been set up as a library. Leave a book and take a book.

The large flat campground is large enough for many vehicles and we reckon there were at least 50 or so RV’s of every type. I wondered if any of them had paid the small camping fee.

As we drove in another motorhome was leaving and we wound down our window to chat to the lady driver. She said she’d just vacated the very corner spot on the right so we thanked her and drove there. What a great spot! Close to the pool but with lovely views of the creek. There was a picnic table next to us but it was on the wrong side of us. We set up our chairs outside facing west to we could watch the sunset across the creek.

After setting up camp we all walked across to the pool, Victor carrying a pool noodle. Wow! what a great experience soaking in the warm artesian water. All our muscles were very relaxed after an hour long soak and our skin was all wrinkly.

Back at camp I heated up some of Great Gran’s famous sausage rolls for our entree and made chicken schnitzel burgers for dinner. While I was getting all that ready inside Pa and Victor got our little Kings Fire Pit set up and had a lovely fire going.We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and even had a Pelican glide by on the creek. We ate our dinner outside around the little fire. Ahh the serenity!

Day 2 – Nangar NP to Wellington Caves

Brrrrr it was freezing overnight at Nangar NP however we were all cozy and warm in our beds. Our little buddy woke us at 6.30am but we all stayed in bed for another half an hour before getting up. By then the motorhome had warmed up a little with the gas alight to heat up the kettle. Not enough power to use the diesel heater!

We enjoyed a pancake breakfast before setting off on a walk along the creek. What a lovely campground it is at Terarra Creek. Victor had lots of fun crossing the little creek and looking for fish. We came across a couple of young ladies and their Landcruiser with a flat tyre. Fortunately a good Samaritan from another camp was there helping them. Those Landcruiser tyres are heavy!

It was with quite a bit of trepidation we set off. I kept waiting for the Check Engine light to come on again however we made it all the way to Wellington without that happening. Yay!

We’d made an online booking to do a tour of Cathedral Cave at 1.30pm and we made it to Wellington Caves around 11am. Plenty of time to cook some toasties for our lunch and enjoy a cuppa. We called in to the Visitors Centre to check on our tour and check what time we could check in to the caravan park which is right next door. I also changed our booking from an unpowered site to a powered site as it was only $5 more. $35 for a powered site with our Seniors discount. We couldn’t check in until after 12 so we decided to wander over to the Japanese Gardens and explore those.

Victor loved the beautiful Koi in the pond. Although it was a winter garden we were looking at it was still lovely with lots of evergreens for interest. I even enjoy seeing the bare branches of the deciduous trees. It would be a lovely garden to visit in Spring. The garden is situated on a slight slope and the little stream and pond that has been constructed to follow the slope of the land makes for an interesting garden design.

We followed our walk around the Japanese Gardens with a visit to the exhibition inside the Visitors Centre. Although it’s only small it is a very informative exhibition with a spectacular skeleton of a Diprotodon in centre position. They were really huge 3000kg marsupials. Much like a giant Wombat.

We picked up a leaflet at the visitors centre and followed the orange signs to to the Fossil Trail. The short loop takes you up and around a rocky hill with 10 stops along the way. Each stop showcases the various types of fossils found in the rocks around the area. The fossils date back to a time when the whole area was once a shallow sea. The fossil shells and corals predate the dinosaurs!

One initiative I really liked was a scavenger hunt for kids. You pick up the paper from the visitors centre. It has 20 photographs of things around the centre or on the tour that the kids have to find and tick off. Some of them were easy such as the photo of the giant Diprotodon statue that is right outside the entrance to the centre. Others were a bit harder. Victor did enjoy this activity and during the course of the afternoon he managed to find all the objects.

Back at the Visitors Centre we waited for our tour to start. Our guide Paul introduced himself and then we were all directed outside to collect hard hats to wear (Victor wore his bike helmet) followed by a safety talk. Paul explained the consequences of causing any damage to the caves. Even the oils in our hands can cause discolouration to the formations so we were to keep our hands inside the handrails.

The Cathedral Cave tour went for an hour and there were about 150 steps down and, of course, 150 to get back up. Our guide had a great wealth of knowledge about the caves and the creatures that have been found in them. He also told daggy dad jokes that Victor thought pretty funny. At one point Paul turned off all the lights and it was so dark we couldn’t see each other.

Following the tour we checked into the caravan park and were allocated site 23. We found this to be a lovely grassy site with a concrete slab. We quickly set up camp and looked forward to having the AC on heat so we’d be lovely and warm.

Victor spent the next couple of hours scootering around the roads and paths near the playground while we enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the lovely afternoon sun. That didn’t last though because as soon as the sun dipped behind the hills the temperature dropped rapidly so we packed up and went indoors.

Our dinner was another of Victor’s choices. He calls it ‘pillow pasta with white sauce’. In other words Ravioli with Carbonara Sauce. It was very tasty. The boys followed that up with banana splits for dessert!

We asked Victor during dinner what has been his favourite things so far and he replied ‘sitting by the campfire last night and the cave tour’. I love how sitting around the campfire was the first thing he thought of.

The motorhome was toasty warm and after dinner Pa and Victor settled on our bed to watch a movie. While I wrote this up they were engrossed in Boss Baby! Day 2 was a great day.

Day 1 – Home to Nangar NP

For the last few years we have done a trip each July school holidays with our daughter and her three kiddos with their caravan. This year our 6 year old grandson asked if he could come with us too. We agreed and what an exited little boy we’ve had for the past couple of weeks. The school holidays couldn’t come fast enough!

Katie and the kids decided to stay home for the holidays so it was just the three of us that set off in the morning. Murphy was playing his tricks again and our first stop was just into town to the tyre shop. A bolt that holds a valve clamp on one of our tyres had come off so off to the tyre shop to see if they could fix it. Luckily that only took ten minutes and we were off.

Oh no! More drama! A couple of weeks ago when I was taking the. Motorhome in for its 10,000km service and rego check the Check Engine light came on. After a lot of fluffing about we purchased an OBD Scan tool from the Iveco guru Stavros in Sydney. Once the reader arrived it was back to our usual mechanic to get the problem fixed.

We’d only just left home and driven about 1km this trip and the Check Engine light came on again! Oh no. What now?

After the tyre clamp was fixed we drove around to see our usual mechanic knowing that he was overseas but hopefully the bloke that works for him would be there. No such luck. However we did meet a new mechanic who has his own business and he has taken a lease on part of the workshop now that our mechanic is slowing down to enjoy being semi retired. Travis was able to use our OBD reader to find the fault, do a DPF burn and that cleared the error. What an obliging young fella.

We set off with fingers crossed that the fault was now fixed.

We had one very exited boy sitting in his car seat in the back. He was surrounded by his stuff, drink bottle, pencil case, and his phone loaded with music and games.

We had an uneventful drive to West Wyalong and stopped for a lunch break at McCann Park. This is a large lovely park with a fabulous adventure playground, lots of grass areas, picnic tables and there’s even a maze. While I made toasties for our lunch Victor went off on his scooter to explore the park. He made a friend at the maze and thought it was pretty cool.

Back on the road we headed northwards on the Newell Highway to Forbes. It was a good run to Forbes where we pulled in to get fuel. Fuelled up we continued on towards Eugowra. Oh no! Before we’d even left Forbes that dratted Check Engine light came on again. I called Travis the mechanic back in Griffith and he explained that I would have to use the Scan Tool to scan for the error then clear the error and see how we go. He said we were OK to drive to our camp as it was only 50k away but to do the scan once we got there.

What a gorgeous spot we found on WikiCamps. Terrarra Campgound in Nangar NP is a lovely spot in the middle of the national park. To reach it you turn of The Escort Way onto Dripping Rock Rd (a good gravel road) and travel along until you reach the national park entry. From there it’s another 4.5km along a very good gravel road to reach the campground. The road in the national park is very narrow in places and follows the creek along the bottom of the valley. The road crosses the creek 12 times along the way. Most of the creek crossings are concrete and the water was not very high. You would be able to get there in an ordinary 2WD. As our motorhome has a long overhang it was slow going through the crossings to make sure our rear end didn’t bottom out.

Terrarra Creek campground is a loop road following the creek. There are only 6 sites but there’s room for a few more. There’s no site numbers so you just find yourself a spot. You need to book via the NSW Parks website however there is no camp fee just the $6 booking fee. We found a good grassy spot next to a fire pit and quickly set up camp for the night. I set up the scan tool and ran a scan, when I got the results I called the mechanic and he explained what I had to do to clear the error. All done and hopefully we’ll be right the next day.

The boys got the fire going and Victor planned to cook sausages over the fire for our dinner.

Victor has helped me plan the menu for our trip and one of the meals was sausages with potato gems and corn on the cob so that was our dinner. 6 year old Victor did a great job cooking our sausages and he was quite chuffed with himself that he’d done it.

We ate our dinner outside next to the fire under the very bright stars.

By the time we’d eaten it was time to get ready for bed. Pa packed up outside while I helped Victor shower. He was great understating that when we are free camping the shower is not like at home. First you get wet then turn the tap off. Then you wash your hair and soap up all over. Then you turn the tap back on to wash off. All very quick and uses the least amount of water.

Once we were all in our PJ’s we snuggled into our big bed and watched the movie Bad Guys 2. Victor thinks it’s hilarious and it was obvious that he’d seen it before. We kept being told ‘ oh this a funny bit’!