Barmera – OZ Camper Travels

Lake Bonney to Orroroo

It was a lovely morning, cold but beautiful skies as the sun rose. the lake was like a mirror, the only ripples cause by the waterbirds.

Made my porridge for breakfast after remeasuring it (my big bowl was broken) – had a lovely breakfast watching the birds on the lake as the sun got brighter and the clouds burnt off.

Left as usual about 9am but only about 300km to drive today.

Passed through a variety of scenery before coming across the Flinders Ranges they are quite stunning after the flat country of the previous day.

Made one stop for a sandwich and toilet break. Loaded an audiobook into the car’s CD player.

Hit a small roo, thought I had missed it but it hit the camper.

For some reason the sat Nav went peculiar as we neared Orroroo and kept telling me to turn round. Eventually I just ignored it and followed the signs to the town where the caravan park was well sign posted. I have no idea what went wrong but the information the Tom Tom had was clearly wrong.

After setting up wandered into town for coffee, cake and an ice cream.

2nd May 2024

Distance: 475 Km

Fuel: 48 L

Hay (NSW) to Barmera (SA)

Left Hay Caravan Park at about 9am on a cloudless day. For some reason my back is playing up today to the point where I took one of my painkillers about mid morning. Once again it was a cold morning but it didn’t seem as cold as yesterday however I dug out my fingerless gloves just in case.

Driving across the Hay Plain was, as usual, less than exciting, until I passed through Balranald when the scenery did improve with a bit of variety.

Crossed into Victoria before entering Mildura where I filled up with fuel (in the end it was actually cheaper in Barmera but them’s the breaks)

As I passed the South Australia border sign I watched my sat nav and sure enough at exactly that border crossing the clocks changed back half an hour.

Before arriving at the quarantine check point at Yamba I threw away a couple of potatoes and an onion into the bin provided, when I arrived at the checkpoint I was told that the onion would have been allowed… Ho hum.

Drove through Renmark before reaching Barmera where the caravan park is situated. It is a very smart park situated on the shores of Lake Bonney, ironically it was actually cheaper at $34.50 than the park at Hay but has much better facilities including a kids water park, lake side picnic shelters and good sized sites.