No Room at the Inn!

21st November 2025

Distance: 377 km

Fuel: 75 L

Headed off at almost exactly 10am. I intended to stay at Cowra Holiday Park and they don’t allow entry before 2pm.

First stop was The Utes in the Paddock on the way into Condobolin. I have stopped here before but, boy has it changed, now it has a massive visitors centre, new car and truck park.

I bought a coffee and an excellent egg and bacon roll after viewing the utes.

The visitors centre even had its own sculpture – a very large goanna.

While I was in the visitors centre I took a brochure for the Lachlan Shire, interestingly it talked about sculptures all along the Lachlan River in the shire. One looked very striking but strangely it didn’t give its location. However on the road to Forbes I saw signs for the various sculptures and stopped at a few though not all. Some were very good.

The rest of the trip to Cowra was uneventful, I had intended to make one more stop at a rest area but travelling on “B” roads they are few and far between.

When I arrived at the Cowra Holiday Park it was a good time (2.20) so parked at the office expecting to be able to check in. There was a sign “Bookings only – No drop ins”. When I spoke to the owner he told me that they had “ infrastructure problems” and I could not stay. Oh dear!

Decided to drive the extra 50km to Boorowa (there is another park in the centre of Cowra) and try that caravan park which I remembered as a small but good one. So set off on the 50 minute drive further on.

At Boorowa all was well, checked into the caravan park, excellent value at $25 a night and set myself up.

Decided to go for a short walk after a quick drive into town for fuel. It was quite a nice walk along the Boorowa River (or is it Creek?) before returning to the park for a cup of tea and a chance to read my book. It was actually quite windy and slightly chilly – at least enough to put my cardigan on after 5pm.

Shall be home tomorrow but doubt I will enter a blog post it will just be a trip almost entirely along the Hume Highway and Picton Road, Boorowa is only about 20km from the Hume.

22nd November 2025

Distance: 298 km

Home again

Arrived home after an uneventful drive from Boorowa, stopped only once to stretch my legs.

It was a lovely few days away, enjoyed it very much. The weather was pretty good most of the time only raining for a short while on the first day during the drive to Harden and again in almost the same place on the Hume highway today. The biggest complaint weatherwise for the whole trip would be the wind on the first few days and even that really was a very minor issue.

Trip Statistics

Total Distance: 2320 km
Total Fuel Used: 253 Litres
Fuel Cost: $499
Accommodation Cost: $263

Cowra

21st September 2024

Distance: 266 Km

Fuel: 28 L

It is the last day of my away break. Not far to go today only as far as Cowra.

Didn’t leave until after 9am, I seemed to have the facilities all to myself and it was a lovely sunny morning so I got out the solar panels to ensure the camper battery was fully charged before leaving. That is almost getting to be a ritual now.

A completely uneventful drive, absolutely no rest areas as it was mostly B roads so I just kept going.

I arrived at the Cowra Caravan Park a few minutes after noon only to discover that their check in is 2pm and the office didn’t open until 1pm so I just parked and read my book until someone turned up. To be honest he seemed quite put out by my arrival being so early. I don’t care, I could have happily waited until 2pm, It was warm but not too hot and I was enjoying my book.

Was at this park a few months ago, again on my way home, so I received a $4 discount which was OK.

After setting up drove back into Cowra to get fuel, while I was there I stopped briefly at the Peace Bell before going to KFC for a takeaway Zinger Burger – it was the worse one I have ever had, not sure if it was under cooked or the world’s only chicken gristle but I threw most of it away. The only problem with this park is that it is several km outside town.

Finished my book and started another just before it got dark and I retreated into the camper.

Suddenly it’s Cold and Wet!

31st May 2024

Distance: 486 Km

Fuel: 57 L

Was woken at something like 3.30am by the sound of rain on the roof of the camper. Quickly got up and put my chair in the back of the car and closed the glass part of the outer door, once back inside the camper turned on the fans that drag air in from the kitchen part of the camper before going back to sleep.

In the morning it was still raining though not very heavily so went for my shower and slowly got ready to leave. A relatively long drive as I hoped to make Cowra by early/mid afternoon. Because of the rain I did look at making a beeline to home but it really was too far especially in such bad weather. Pulled up the plastic sheeting I keep under the mattress to protect against water getting past the door seals.

I don’t think it stopped raining entirely all day and the sky remained grey the whole time.

A couple of creeks/rivers that I crossed looked as if they were nearly at flood level but I didn’t actually encounter any flash floods at all.

Topped up with fuel at Nyngan where it was a surprising $1.91 a litre.

The caravan park, about 3 or 4 km outside Cowra, was very soggy but I suppose it doesn’t matter any more I should be home tomorrow. To be fair when I went to get fuel later there was a slight touch of blue sky in the distance (the forecast said that it won’t last – more rain tomorrow).

17th May 2018–Cowra

Distance: 306 Km
Fuel: 32 L

Left this morning just after 8.30am, easy pack up because there was no TV aerial to take down – according to my app the nearest transmitter was over 60 km away so I didn’t bother putting it up.

The sat nav took me to Dubbo on the main road but then decided that a country road was quicker than the main road to Cowra. Fine by me, usually less traffic but on the downside few rest areas. Looking at the map the difference must have been marginal. When you take into account that these back roads tend to wind more than main roads thus keeping to the speed limit is impossible so any time saving is probably an illusion but it was a nice drive.

I stopped at a small town called Yeovil (one pub, one store) and bought a coffee – which was very good.

Didn’t stop in Canowindra because I was there not that long ago (>>>Click Here<<<) but continued on to Cowra again a place I am familiar with.

Chose a caravan park about 3km out of the centre of town and after setting up went for a drive for fuel and a look at some of the attractions.

First visit was to the WWII POW camp where the infamous Cowra Breakout occurred when Japanese prisoners attacked the guards and tried to escape or die in the process.

Next stop the Peace Bell.

Finally a trip to the Bellevue Hill lookout in the centre of town.

9th November 2017–Out and About

Distance: 166Km
Fuel: 44L

Drove to Cowra to visit the Japanese Garden – we have previously visited the POW Camp and the War Cemetery but for some reason haven’t visited the Gardens before. As they opened at about 8.30pm we left straight after having breakfast and arrived at about 9am.

They are beautifully laid out gardens over a fairly large area with a mixture of flat and hilly terrain.

After a couple of hours walking the grounds had coffee and carrot cake in the cafeteria before setting off for Grenville the town where Henry Lawson was born.

I have visited before and it is one of those lovely country towns where time has stood still. Driving past an Enhance petrol station was pleased to see diesel at $1.22 a litre so filled up ($1.37 in Canowindra and $1.28 in Cowra). That should get us home tomorrow.

After looking around for a while set off cross country back to Canowindra to visit The Age of Fishes Museum. Never been before… I mean fishes? Pah! Big mistake…

It was absolutely fascinating – all about fossils found in 1956 by a bull dozer driver rebuilding the road who realised that these impressions in the rock might be important. They are the fossils of fish from the Devonian Period 360 million years ago when life existed in the water but not on land, when the fish were first developing lungs as well as gills. It preserves over 3000 fish from a drying pond. The admission fee included an audio visual package which was worth taking. The visit took well over an hour it was so interesting.