This entry was originally going to be titled Dubbo as that’s where we thought we would be staying. However on arrival in Dubbo we weren’t overly inspired. Not that there is or was anything bad about the place it’s just that a lot of these towns reach a certain size and with that they gain a multitude of shops and services but lose a little charm. To be honest it’s great to be able to know what shops are going to be in a town and what aisle I will be able to get a product on. Unfortunately the downside is probably the loss of variety of product available. I don’t want to enter into a debate as to the benefits or detriments of nationwide chain stores all being the same it was just that at the time we drove into Dubbo we were thoroughly uninspired by the stores. Having said that we went to Aldi, Bunnings and did our laundry before leaving to find somewhere else.
Geurie is a tiny town 30mins south of Dubbo and we found a reserve which allowed free camping on the side of the Macquarie River. There were a group of around 10 campers all nestled in next to each other in one area but we joined a couple of others looking for a little more privacy higher up along the river bank.
It wasn’t long before we were set up and relaxing listening to the deafening sounds of cockatoos and kookaburras while watching the river flow by. Not a bad spot for a free camp. We are also constantly reminded how amazing it is that we can pitch camp just about anywhere we want. The sunlight gives us power (failing that we do have a generator) and we have our kitchen, comfy bed, sofa, toilet and hot shower!! As long as we can fill up with water every 4-5 days and keep our batteries topped up we are grand. Just occasionally we stay in some of these out of the way places and it really brings it home what a great set up we have and this was one of them for me. We are thinking of getting a whipper snipper though just to clear our area a little better though!!
My quest to build up my fitness levels meant we were soon hunting out a mountain bike track and there was meant to be a few nearby. When we arrived and did a little recce we soon discovered that quite a few of the tracks had become overgrown but there was obvious evidence of some use of one track so we had a great morning doing a few laps before heading back to the camper to recover.
The weather turned while were enjoying ourselves by the river and the temperature rose to above 30 and with it a little humidity. It meant to some energy sapping afternoons and sure enough after a couple of days the inevitable storm came and we were bunkered down as some fairly impressive lighting and horizontal rain passed over us. But after an hour it all started to dry out again.
It was a nice short stop at the Macquarie River but we had stayed there long enough after a few days and it was definitely time to move and see more of what is an absolutely beautiful part of Australia. T
