The day had come – we were finally doing it and crossing the border into NSW. For so long it had been closed due to COVID and I must admit even though the government had given assurances that we would never go back to that, a little bit of trepidation creeped in when crossing at the thought of being unexpectedly locked out of Queensland. But we had places to see and it was getting too hot in Qld so off we went!
The destination was near Ashford where Matt had recommended some more free camps along a river. The drive there was a bumpy one with the roads not in the best condition but it was beautiful. Rolling hills thick with grasses and trees. Seemed to be dryer than what we had previously experienced.
We hit Wells Crossing the first free camp and were a little underwhelmed. The river itself was beautiful but the campsite was not very well set out and we would have been camping away from the river in a dusty rocky area. It didn’t help that it was about 35 degrees when we arrived. So after much deliberation we decided to try our luck at Pindari Dam about half an hour away and if that didn’t work out then there was a private campsite in between the two we could try.
The road climbed up beside the dam wall and we were soon regaled with spectacular water views. We followed the signs to the campsite and found a little hilly outcrop with a few campsites scattered on it. When we pulled up it looked as if the one closest to the dam with the best views was available and when we asked the couple camping in the next spot they said that we were lucky as the previous campers had literally just left. So after some discussions on how were going to position the van we set about manoeuvring into that spot. It took us a little while but was well worth the views from the bed!
The dam itself has been nearly dry however after the last few months of rain it’s at over 100% which means we could walk a few steps for a swim! There were a few signs around saying there was an algae bloom and we should not swim but the other campers said the algae not too bad. Just don’t drink the water. Griff on the first day drank about a litre before we saw the signs and he hasn’t carked it yet.
The other blessing about the dam was that there was no reception unless on the dam wall. So after texting the relevant parents we settled in for a few days of relaxing bliss. Cribbage, crochet, fishing, reading and snoozing were the predominant past times.
Griffy’s walk to stop him from drinking the dam water was along the dam wall to the spillway. The views were wonderful and we think there may even be a little hydro station we could see. The highlight was the resident goats perched along the rocky outcrops along the spillway wall. On day 2 after our walk we ventured the half an hour to check our the town of Ashford and it’s golf course.
The golf course wasn’t on the map but on the drive through to the dam we saw a golf sign so thought on one of our days we should check it out. On arrival we discovered some hole markers and after some walking found hole 1. So we parked Griff in the shade with his water and off we went. The greens were sand greens that hadn’t seen new sand for sometime so more like rock. Also we quickly worked out that not all holes had been mowed but we played what we could. The outback golf challenge now has a few rules- If you can’t play 9 then it doesn’t count and if we both lose 2 balls on the fairways due to the mowed grass clippings obscuring the ball then it’s a mutual forfeit. But for the record I was up by one after 5 😉.
We stopped off in town on the way home to see what was available and the answer was not much. A corner store, petrol station, post office which was also the pet food supplier, newsagent and library. But we managed to find a sticker and a cold drink so had everything we needed!
Day 3 saw everyone else leave so we had this little slice of paradise completely to ourselves. So we stayed another two days and continued with the activities mentioned above! Absolute heaven. It was lucky we did as I have a deadline of April for my crochet project of a baby blanket so meant I got a sizeable chunk completed!
On the last night the mother of all storms decended at about 11pm. We actually started hearing it around 6pm with big booms of thunder far off in the distance but didn’t think much of it. Until we woke at around 11pm to it much closer. We were okay until the wind picked up and tree branches started to fall so we hopped into the ute, drove to a clearer spot and spent the next hour in the car with a frantic Griff on my lap watching it pass over. The light show was phenomenal though. It was like a strobe light going from night to day. You hear of those storms where a million lightning strikes hit and we can now say we have experienced one….. In a camper trailer. S