The Trip Home


We left Jude and Greg’s right on midday, Saturday the 23rd Feb. The plan was to make it home on Monday the 25th. The trip to Sydney from Safety Beach could be done in two days, even towing a van but we were not in a rush and didn’t want to spend two longs days in the vehicle.

So we decided to head for a free camp at Seymour. Rather than take the motorways all the way we turned off at Ringwood to go through the Yarra Valley. Firstly the Lilydale bypass, Yarra Glen and then Yea. We didn’t get till Yea till close to 4pm. It looked like a very nice town and we did not feel like driving on so I had the idea to check if there were any free camps there at Yea. There were two in town, being the two pubs. The comments on the Country Club Hotel were better so we drove there.

I spoke to the manager at the pub who immediately welcomed us to stay and advised about where to get the shade. It was just an open grassed area out the back and we were the only ones there. It was nice and quiet and the pub was classy. It turned out to be a good decision as when we walked around town I found at the other pub that there was a rock band, which was fine, but there were a lot of drunk people there and the area for camping was small. So you can imagine how it would be later when all the drunk people would be leaving out the back and we were there in our van.

An advantage of staying at Yea was that we were able to use the public toilets, whereas at Seymour there were no facilities near the free camp. After our walk around town we had a drink in the pub as an appreciation and to enjoy the surroundings. This was our camp site.









We had the Foodplus right next door as well so it was handy to drop in a get some last minute items that hit me as a craving, namely mushrooms to go with my eggs for breakfeast the next morning. And good they were. Yum.

After a relaxed morning we got away at 9.20am. We had planned to stay at Gunning at a free camp there. It was a good drive and we stopped for lunch at a rest area just north of Holbrook at Kyeamba Gap West.





We moved on to Jugiong. There is a winery there that we have checked out on previous trips and the clean skin chardonnay is very good and a great price so we grabbed some for Linda. After grabbing fuel it was 4pm. As there is a great free camp right there at Jugiong that we have stayed at a couple of times it was a no brainer. At that time of day we were not keen to drive on. So we pulled in to the camp there right on the Murrumbidgee River. This the spot we chose.










Twenty metres away was the edge of the river bank. So I took my chair down to have a read by the river. It was pretty nice. Just trying to cram as much relaxation into the few remaining hours of the trip.






It is a great spot I reckon.

We got away in the morning by a reasonable time and made it home around 1pm. It is good to go away but it is always good to come home too, mainly to see our girls, but also to get things in order at home and enjoy the comforts.

It was another great trip. The weather could have been a bit warmer and drier for us. Although most of Victoria is still in drought the coast is still getting rain. Despite that we saw great scenery, did good things, relaxed and spent time with friends.

We will be going to the Man From Snowy River Bushman’s Festival at Coryong at the end of March for just over a week so that will be something to look forward to. I won’t bother with a blog for that I don’t think. Apart from that I don’t have a definite trip planned but as the mind starts ticking over and the travel bug starts to bite I think something will formulate.

Thanks to all the readers of the blog for your interest. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it and bringing it to you. God bless. And see you next blog.

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