Road Trip from Adelaide to Brisbane

Our trip home from Adelaide to Brisbane was a bit different than the usual long days on the highways.  We had a few extra days for the drive – so we decided to take in a few National Parks on the way.

The first one was Mungo National Park near the south west corner of NSW. We drove there in a day from Adelaide, via Renmark and Mildura. It was easy going until the last 100kms – which was a graded dirt road – but there had obviously been a fair bit of rain recently. The Ute performed well on all the dirt roads that we travelled. The campground at the National Park was busy – but the camping spots were private and surrounded by bush. The next morning we woke to the sight of heaps of lovely kangaroos grazing nearby. They weren’t scared of us at all – and let us come quite close to snap off some photos. We had contemplated riding the 70kms scenic route that we read about on the N.P. brochure – but we chose to drive it.

It was a good decision because the road was very corrugated – and there was a lot of flat scrubby bush between the “scenic” bits. Our first stop was “The Great Wall of China” – which was “33kms of orange and white earth surrounded by sand dunes, where erosion has sculptured the sand and clay into fragile yet dramatic formations”.  It was true what the brochure said  “these look amazing and offer stunning photo opportunities in the changing light”.

It was already mid-day by the time we had finished the scenic drive – so we looked on the map and decided to drive in an easterly direction to the next National Park. After driving the whole afternoon on what were basically graded farm tracks we turned into the entrance to Willandra National Park. After 5kms we almost gave up and turned back! The track was in seriously poor condition and it looked like some young guys had been out for a play in their 4-Wheel drives for fun in the mud. There were deep tire tracks veering off in all directions. Also the landscape was none too inspiring. It was flat and overgrazed by sheep and cattle. However, we persevered as it was getting late in the day.

We finally got to a homestead and N.P. Office – but no-one was around – so we made our way past there to the signed campground - wondering all the while why it had been made a National Park.

When we got to the campground we could see why. The Willandra Creek was full of water – and surrounded by gums, peppercorns and blue-black saltbush shrubs.  It was just our kind of country – and we had it all to ourselves!

After a very peaceful night of camping in the ute we again consulted the map – and saw the most direct route back to the Newell Highway was via Lake Cargelligo and Condobolin, with only 80kms more of dirt roads! This time a truck had obviously not bothered to stay off the road when it was wet – causing huge ruts the whole way.

 The "bedroom" (or bedstee in Dutch)

After the fun of all the dirt roads we followed the usual route home via the Newell Highway.

Our last night of camping was at the Coonabarabran Caravan Park – which was great until we realised how close to the highway it was. The trucks were going past all night.  Also, the bright lights of the footy oval next door were turned on at 7p.m. for practise – Rugby League this time!

Unfortunately, it’s back to work for us this week. Already planning the next adventure….