“Heading home” day was Thursday 28 August. We had been away 3 months today. The rain kept away as we packed up and set off.
We were able to reduce the distance between us and home by 436 km before we called it a day, at a little town called Gunning, near Yass in NSW. We had a good day for travel. Lots of rain for short periods, but it was OK. I had a long radio chat with a truckie who was delivering Newcastle steel to Bendigo.
Gunning is 2 km off the Hume. We saw a sign on the Hume Motorway that had a picture of a caravan and as we were ready to stop we decided to check it out. It was a free caravan park. Toilets and showers, but no power. There is a lovely little creek beside the park. I reckon you could squeeze 12 to 15 vans in here. At the moment there are 8.
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| Gunning Free Caravan park |
Gunning has a reported population of 1000 and 530 (2 different signs), one great old pub, a motel, a few historic buildings, a good pie shop and a couple of motor repair places. Not much else. The caravan park is a commemorative park to remember explorers Hume & Hovell who travelled through here many moons ago.
My phone told me that we had a forecast low of 2 degrees tonight so we had the heater on call – for before bed and after one of us gets up. We cooked dinner in the caravan , rather than go to the pub, so that helped to heat up the caravan.
Friday 29 August duly arrived with the reported 2 degree minimum being successfully achieved. Shirley and I were Ok as we had every possible piece of pyjama gear on. I rewarded my wonderful wife with breakfast in bed (photo not allowed) for the first time on the trip. It could be the first time since we have had the caravan! Those who know Shirley well will know why it was the first time.
Once the heavy fog cleared, about 60 km later, it turned into a magnificent day.
We had various stops for coffee, etc and crossed the border into Victoria about 12:15
The Hume Freeway from Sydney to the border is now a great road, being dual carriageway all the way. Some of the new concrete sections are probably as good as any road in Australia.
If you include the great road from Newcastle to Sydney we have been on dual carriageway for about 800 km.
The caravan park at Chiltern was the destined overnight stop and was OK.
Our daughter Jodi had organised a special tasting (for us) at Campbell’s Winery so we headed there soon after lunch. Shirley took the keys as the sales guy plied me with top shelf ‘reds’ and fortifieds.
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| Water come Muscat container |
My wine barrel at home is about to be converted from port to Muscat, with the carrying vessel being used to water Campbell’s pot of pansies (Queensland water) before being replenished with some fine Muscat.
I wonder what the water will taste like from the blue container on our next trip.
Saturday 30 August was a final day and that consisted of an easy 280 km drive down the Hume Highway, arriving home around 11:30 am.
Another great trip was over and the cleanup and tidying started …………………….
Trip (approximate) summary to date:
Total Distance 9205
Nights 93
Free camps 15 nights
Longest stays: 16 Yeppoon
17 Maroochydore
Km per day 98 [157 km/day last year]
Km per day (middle part) 69 [excluding the long trip up and back]
Fuel cost per day $24.60
Caravan park cost per day $30.60
The dearest diesel was $1.67 at Cobar. The average cost of diesel was $1.57. It was around $1.52 when we arrived home, and $1.46 when we departed.
This is the end of the final report.
I hope you enjoyed the trip.
Chris
