Tocumwal

Sunday, 23 September 2012

It was a very cold start to the day, with the temperature hovering around the 3 degrees mark at 6.00 am but it did quickly warm up once the sun came up. The Newell Highway was quite bumpy in places between Forbes and West Wyalong, probably due to the large swamps and wetlands both sides of the road. Truck traffic was also quite heavy on this stretch of the road, but the majority of the trucks seemed to be heading to (or coming from) the west.

Between West Wyalong and Narrandera, the road was good and the country looked great – large paddocks of fluoro yellow canola, lovely green wheat and patches of deep purple Paterson’s Curse (a weed, but looks pretty). We stopped for a break at Narrandera and a driver-reviver cup of coffee and bickie. This was a pretty little town, with some old buildings, large trees, a lovely old cricket ground and a tiger moth plane.

Shortly before Narrandera, the weather started to deteriorate a bit and the wind picked up – quite a strong head wind, in fact. It was really interesting watching the fuel consumption reading increase rapidly, in direct proportion to the fuel level decreasing. We thought it better to stop at Jerilderie for some fuel, just to be sure, to be sure.

We are overnighting at the Tocumwal Tourist Park – another small park but lovely grassy sites and beautiful amenities. With a drive-thru site, we have been able to stay hitched up. This is another Big4 caravan park – we have found the standard of this chain is generally very good (with the exception of Mackay) and have saved quite a bit with our discount and have qualified for a free polo top!