34 - There and back again - Jugiong - Batemans Bay - Jugiong

Couldn't resist the Bilbo Baggins reference in the title.

Last time I left you - fellow travellers in life - I had made a revictualling trip (or as my old mate Jed would have expressed it "a vittlin trip") from Jugiong to Cootamundra and back, and was settling down to a warm and peaceful evening.

I stayed there another day then on the Monday (first Monday in June) I set off for the coast with no specific plans ... perhaps stop overnight at Bungendore Showgrounds or thereabouts before driving on to the coast to catch up with Diana and Alan.

It was a fairly uneventful drive up the freeway to Yass, where I re-dieseled and acquired a very large therapeutic flat white before continuing down the Barton Highway towards Canberra. Even the Barton was relatively civilised for that time of day. On the map it is marked red - perhaps from reputation as a bit of a traffic snarl through Canberra's northern outposts - but for me it worked just fine.

There and back again - click to enlarge

So I bounced off Canberra and moseyed up the Federal Highway a few km before turning right on to Bungendore Road, and discovering once again the difference between Highways and secondary roads. Not that it was undriveable, just unexpectedly undulating and bumpy, which gave the already-consumed bucket of flat white a bit of a scare.

Bungendore Road improved and wended its way up a hilly bit before a steep descent ("Trucks and Buses use low gear" stuff) to the next valley. I had just recovered from the Steep Descent trauma when I noticed a small "RV camp" sign on the right. Naaah, I thought, can't be Bungendore Showgrounds, too soon. But after another couple of bends I found myself in the mighty metropolis itself so stopped to consult the wiki and sure enough it was. Being male and a bit focused on getting somewhere ahead of myself I decided not to turn around and trek backwards a couple of km to the showgrounds. I didn't pause for long in Bungendore as I didn't need any more coffee, for indeed the bucketful I had slurped through since Yass was letting me know it was still there and did NOT like bumpy roads, THANKS! 

I continued my trek along the Kings Highway, the B52, but I didn't see any love shacks. Or rock lobsters. Perhaps the rock lobsters are nocturnal. Crunch crunch. But I didn't notice any crunchy roadkill either, so I don't know where they hide.

Anyway a very nice drive. Picturesque and relaxing. Not much traffic heading to the coast on this Monday. Called in to the Warri Camping Reserve near the bridge over the Shoalhaven River. Quite spacious and with a long-drop, and would make a very nice overnighter, but the wind was picking up and some very dark and frowning clouds were lurking and there weren't really many spots that were both level and away from trees. So I made an executive decision, a captain's call, a pilot's prerogative, and called ahead to a caravan park in Bateman's Bay to book a site for a couple of nights.

Well. If I thought the descent to Bungendore was a bit of a thrill I certainly wasn't well prepared for the drive down Clyde Mountain from Braidwood to Batemans Bay. I was doing some figurin' the other day and concluded that I have a grand total of around 300 hours towing experience, so even with a lightweight caravan (driving 4 tonnes of ute & van) I wasn't too confident driving down this twisty turny steep road with very few places to let faster traffic pass. Only five km but it managed to raise a sweat (or was that caused by turning the heater up to 11?). Seems like a lovely bit of countryside. Wish I was able to look at it.

So I got my breath back and ambled into Batemans Bay (north), then over the bridge to Batemans Bay (CBD), turned left, and followed Beach Road past Corrigans Beach to Caseys Beach where I found my excellent little caravan park and parked the van, grabbed some food at the IGA back at Corrigans Beach, and settled down for the evening. 

Just as well I sought shelter in a caravan park! No sooner had I set up than the wind picked up, the rain started going sideways, and the clouds started groaning. This was the coastal storm that moved up the NSW coast and hit Sydney a couple of days later during the first week of June. Not as big as the Great Storm of '87 or the Big Wind of '54, and not icy like the Big Freeze of '63, but windy and blustery all the same. As usual I hadn't lowered the caravan legs so I was rocked to sleep by the wind.

I would like to report that I woke the next day to bright and sunny skies, but this is not the Famous Five and that didn't happen. Instead it was leaden grey (gray for the septics reading this) and gusty. I grabbed the cameras and wandered across the road to the beach.

This lonely little rainbow lorikeet perched itself on a fence, the wind lifting feathers on its back. Looked terribly cold and miserable but could well have been smiling inside - who am I to say? 

A miserable-loooking specimen

The sea had a dull green stormy look to match the clouds, which by then were showing signs of parting to let through some sunshine.

The lonely sea and the sky. Vest and socks not dry.

A mere five minutes later the clouds had closed over again and the wind picked up.

The sun did come out for a millisecond or two. This is looking west across Corrigans Beach towards Batemans Bay (town).

The sky continued to darken and look angry again.

The fresh smell of newly beached seaweed brought back childhood memories of the rock pools around Houghton Bay and Waitaha Cove. Exhilarating, and evoked a sudden need for a bento box. But no sushi trains in sight, so I settled for a fork-full of tinned tuna on a SAO cracker. Sorry, I exaggerate. It was a Ritz cracker. Smaller than SAO. And round not square.

After that sumptuous lunch the clouds were still there. As were the sea and the sand, and seaweed. And that wonderful smell.

That was enough excitement for one day, so I bought some more groceries from the IGA and sorted some photos and wrote up the blog (post 33), again rocked to sleep by a slightly gentler stormy wind.

Next day there were some definite signs of blue sky and sunshine.

So I put on my striding strides and strode the 200 meters to the next little cove at Sunshine Bay, and exhausted by that marathon trek I sat down to catch my breath before walking around to the rock pools.

Interesting rocks - dark stone with creamy yellow stripes.

Back at the other end of the cove the seaweed was piled quite deep.

And the sea kept trying to get my boots wet.

In places the clouds were mimicking the seaweed pattern.

There were some impressive waves crashing over rocks. I'm not sure I captured it well. You probably had to be there.

I headed back the other way to the much larger and spacious Corrigans Beach.

Not as much seaweed piled up, but the wave patterns in the sand were quite nice.

There were many seagulls wandering around the beach and even doing little dances on the wet sand.

So that was a pleasant outing.

The next day I hitched up, drove north on the very pleasant Princes Highway for a very pleasant couple of hours with Diana and Alan (along with some delicious cake!) and got lost on the Princes Highway in Nowra before refuelling in Bomaderry and turning south again to find Turpentine Road / Braidwood Road which took me over the hills and to the west. A great drive, very little traffic, scenic, and generally good road surfaces (apart from that dip coming south out of Nerriga - acne on the road evidence that some drivers of heavy vehicles get taken by surprise).

Onwards to Goulburn, where I stayed in a motel and had a meal cooked for me. Luxury compared with my usual caravan cooking. The hardships we go through. Tell young people these days and they won't believe ya.

The following day - Friday 7 June - WAS sunny, so I refuelled and set off on a quest to find the source of the Lachlan River. I moseyed down the freeway to Breadalbane, which is on the old (pre-freeway) Hume Highway. I crossed the railway and followed the directions on Google Maps and Bing Maps and Apple Maps until I found myself at their consensus source of the Lachlan. Which was in this paddock somewhere around the eighth clump of grass from the top, in the middle.

Well that didn't float my boat in the river, as it were, so I turned around to walk back to the ute and on the other side of the road spied some reedy marshy goodness that I decided arbitrarily was the source of the Lachlan.

Instead of going back to the freeway or the old Hume I turned right on to Mutmutbilly Road and soon came in sight of thirty or forty hulking giants rising from the plain.

However I was too preoccupied and instead drove on to St Brigids church and graveyard.

Moderately spooky scene duly recorded I continued towards Cullerin. On the right was the nascent river protected by phalanxes of guard sheep.

Guard sheep. Click to enlarge and see the fire in their eyes.

I turned around and noticed the hulking giants had come closer, some with arms well nigh two leagues in length. Lucky for them I had left my armour and knightly weapons behind, or I might have removed the foul brood from the face of the earth..

I remounted Rocinante the ute and rode drove on, following the old Hume (ah - them were the days - single lane each way - 100kph down the busy narrow highway on dark and stormy nights) to Gunning, where I checked out Barbour Park for some future visit. The "Beware of the snakes" sign set the tone. Very nice, and close to shops, pub etc but perhaps a little busier than I like.

So I turned right on to Warrataw Street, which turned into Dalton Road and a few minutes later - surprise - I arrived at Dalton. The locals were hanging out at the pub.

I turned right on to Bevendale Road, seeking to catch up with the Lachlan which had snuck away from the main road while I was enjoying the Gunning and Dalton sceneries. I caught up with the river a few km later, at which point (I assume) it had turned into a permanent waterway.

At this point I surrendered to a nagging doubt, checked my odometer and discovered I was getting close-ish to a dealer service. Another captain's call, and I decided to head south again, instead of continuing to follow the Lachlan.

I could have booked into a dealer in NSW but I wanted to get a couple of upgrades as well, so I took the next left down Blakney Creek North Road and drove back through Yass and grabbed a drink at Bookham and eventually stopped at the showgrounds at Jugiong, which I had left on Monday 3 June.

Another donation and a great night's sleep and I was up with the sparrows to head south. As I drove out of the mist and up the hill to join the freeway south I noticed the fog in the Murrumbidgee River valley. There is a great rest area at the top of the hill - an old truck stop? It looks over the valley and on this morning there was a great view of the mist and curly clouds.

So I continued south, stopped at Holbrook to refuel and check out the submarine (I hadn't stopped there for at least 30 years). The gent in red saw my camera and hoofed it. Rapido. Perhaps he was a republican spy sneaking a look at our advanced defence technologies. Or not.

So finally the run south. Paused to have a chat and café olé with Benalla Bob (thanks Bob! Great to catch up as always) then another couple of hours to Kilmore for maintenance and upgrades.