Brian's Life: A Very Wet Camping Holiday

On September 19, Louis' eleventh birthday, he was put in kennels for eighteen days while I went on a camping holiday to join the Australian Camper Trailer Club for their annual get together. This year it was in a tiny town in southwest NSW called Ganmain which has a population of 600.

I left early on Sept 20 heading off to Millmerran which is my normal overnight stop on the way to western NSW. I had decided to take a slightly different route to bypass Toowoomba. My first stop for morning tea was at Yarraman where I camped last year and I tried to use my Android Tablet as a GPS to plot my route around Toowoomba but it didn't want to work so I headed of following signposts and ended up in Toowoomba! I had forgotten to switch on Mobile Data on my tablet! I had added about 40Km to my journey for nothing. I has also not topped up my fuel before leaving home with about 100km on the clock. A few kilometres south of Toowoomba my low fuel light came on and I still had over 50Km to go. Fortunately I found a service station along this isolated stretch of road called the Gore Highway.

As I approached Millmerran I began seeing illuminated signs beside the road saying that there were road closures ahead including the road to Goondiwindi which was on my route next day. The southern states, NSW, Victoria and South Australia, had had a severe rain event with extensive flooding and it had also affected south east Queensland. At the camping ground I met a caravaner who had just got through but the roads were very wet.

I had my dinner at the local tavern and went to bed in my trailer tent as the rain began to fall.


Fish and Chips for Dinner

The next morning, Sept 21, I packed up in the pouring rain and set off. The road to Goondiwindi was open with care and I had a very wet 370Km drive to Narrabri for my next overnight stop. The caravan park had been flooded but they found me a camping site. Some big caravans had been bogged overnight. I had dinner at the local RSL.

The next morning, Sept 22, it was dry when I packed up and set off to Parkes where I intended to camp. I had made good time and after a coffee break pushed on to Forbes. At Forbes the caravan park owner was surprised to see me as somehow or other I had missed the "Newell Highway Closed" signs at Parkes! In Forbes flooding had begun and I would have to return to Parkes and take a long detour to get to Ganmain next day. I had driven 420Km

The caravan park owner gave the NSW Live Roads Apt for my tablet and I started my long detour by driving back to Parkes then taken minor roads east then south to Cowra where there were more diversions before I head west to Young where I stopped for lunch. After lunch I had to take another diversion south to Junee before heading northwest to Ganmain. Forbes to Ganmain is 200Km but with diversions I has driven 390Km.

The meet was at the local showgrounds and I soon checked in and put up tent and annex. The weather was dry but the showground was water logged in places. The next ten days I stayed put. The weather ranged from nice, mild and dry to wet, windy and cold. As usual we had big bonfires at night. I cooked in my annex most nights and had takeaways from the local pub a few times. Ganmain has a bakery famous for its meat pies and a pub. There is museum and a Men's Shed which we visited during the week The nearest real store saw 15Kmin Coolamon where I stocked up my supplies and used the launderette to wash my clothes.

During the week we had social events, lectures on camping and visits to the local area but these were limited due to local flooding. My tent and annex were dry and I was warm and dry at night. After one night of heavy rain one camper drove his four wheel drive to the dump point to empty his cassette toilet and got bogged. He was rescued by other members and drove of home only to get bogged again on the way home. He has a great Facebook Page here https://www.facebook.com/groups/185940218095607/permalink/1217389141617371/

On Sunday Oct 2 I decided to leave a day early as the roads were still closed and more diversions were necessary. I drove to Young, about 160Km and camped at the local caravan park on a very wet grass site. A big RV pulled in behind me and my only way out next morning was forward and in the wet grass my front wheel drive Jazz towing a trailer could not get going and bogged. After uncoupling the trailer and using some planks under the front wheels I got out. The caravan park owner was not amused with the ruts in his grass but he put me there.

I decided to drive across country to Dubbo as the Newell Highway was still closed. Forbes had been evacuated and the shorter diversion were carrying heavy traffic. I asked my tablet to give me a direct route and followed its directions all day. It was very interesting as it selected a route using minor roads which finally got there after a 400Km drive. I was back on the Newell Highway.

I got a dry site for the night and had a lovely warm evening before going to bed. Overnight a windy, wet chnage blew in and really rocked my trailer tent. In the morning it was pouring with rain and blowing a gale. I dressed in a pair of shorts and T-shirt and wore plastic crocs on my feet and packed up the wet tent and coupled up the trailer. I had a warm shower and changed into warm dry clothes before setting off.

I was warned that the Newell Highway was a mess and the road surface badly damaged so I used my tablet to get me to Armidale. This was a 450Km drive along the New England Highway. It poured with rain all day. I stopped for lunch in Tamworth but wasn't interested in sight seeing. When I got to Armidale I found a cheap motel for the night and has a terrific dinner at a local pub, scotch fillet.

The next day the sun was shining and I set off back to Queensland. I decided to camp one more night at a little town called Crows Nest north of Toowoomba which was about a 450Km drive. The day was bright and warm and I made good time until I got to the border between NSW and Qld when I discovered that the cable connecting my indicators to the trailer had come adrift and dragged along the road completely destroying it. I Googled auto electricians and found one in Warwick on my route. He was a grumpy bloke at first but warmed up as he sat on the curb next to my trailer and soldered up a new connector and also made sure that the new one was properly secured. He charged $55.00 which is less than the "call out" fee locally.

I camped at the Crows Nest Caravan Park on a nice dry grassy site and sat in the evening sun before dinner which I cooked in the camp kitchen.

On Oct 5 I set off for home via Yarraman and had a 265Km drive home in sunny weather.

At home I unloaded the trailer erected the tent to let it dry out and also spread the canvas walls and roof of the annex in the drive to dry out in the warm sunshine.

Next morning I picked up Louis from the kennels. He was in great condition and had been shampooed that day.

I had driven over 3,000Km, camped 14 nights and spent one night in a motel. In spite of feeling very tired because of my AF and medication I had had a great time.

A few photos from the trip.