Newcastle Waters

Thursday 22nd May.

The dozens of overnight campers at Banka Banka departed on mass well before we were ready to roll. From being quite crowded overnight the camp ground area was deserted except for the Hunters and one other. Maybe our late night around a roaring campfire had something to do with us sleeping in a bit. We had a great night out under a magnificent sky bursting with stars, listening to some guy playing a ukelele and dragging up two old birds who were three sheets to the wind to sing with him. It was hilarious, but made a quite different night.

Our onward thrust north saw us stopping about 1:30pm at Newcastle Waters rest area. The reason for t»he early stop was to ensure that we gained a spot to park as the further north we travel the less frequent are the rest areas, consequently it is a case of get in early or miss out.

How lucky we were, we had no sooner rolled to a stop in a nice flat area when other overnighters started to arrive, all scrambling for the best spots. This rest area has several fireplaces, toilets and a number of covered picnic tables. Around 5pm when I went for a walk to the toilets I counted 17 other caravans, motorhomes or tents in situ. We were joined by a lady travelling with her rottwheeler dog. We sat and chatted with her for hours, she simply wanted someone to talk to other than Elke her dog. An interesting lady from Castlemaine in Victoria whose husband did not like travelling and was quite happy to stay at home while she roamed the country alone for months on end. Another relatively light travel day for us, covering only 176km.