Narrandera NSW. May 17, 2018

Narrandera NSW. May 17, 2018

Eight months? Has it really been that long since we were last out and about in the van. Sadly, yes, but we're finally on our way again and the plan this year is to do the full loop. We are doing a bit of a cheat's loop, not sticking to the coast, going dead west from Canberra instead of south then west and cutting a big hunk off the south-west corner of WA, but a loop just the same.

Despite Monty-the-cat escaping and us having to wait till he wandered home again, we managed to get away a bit after 10. We've done the track south on the Hume any number of times, promising ourselves once again to side-track into Jugiong but again failing to so do, we ended up nearing Gundagai at lunchtime. Pig-pen or Dog-on-a-box? Neither, turned left and went into town proper looking for something more salubrious. We ended up in the 90 year old Niagara cafe whose singular claim to fame is the that John Curtain, Prime minister of Australia 1941-45, wandered in there for a feed late one night in 1942.

They were celebrating the fact in 1992 with a 50 year anniversary, and it looks like time has stood still there ever since. Except perhaps for the one time when ex Prime Minister of Australia Gogh Whitlam paid homage to the dining place of his predecessor, they have a photo to prove it. It has the caption: Mr Whitlam being shown the very kitchen bench where Mr Curtin's meal was prepared. Wow, heady stuff!

After a 'lengthy' lunch break, we headed back out onto the road, electing to take the direct route straight out through Junee, Coolamon, Metang, Grong Grong and others. My suggestion to take the 33km detour to see the 13:50 train from Melbourne wind its way up the Bethungra spiral, built in 1940 to reduce the uphill gradient to 1:66, fell on the deaf ears of my sleeping wife.

The whole trip from Gundagai to Narrandera follows the Murrumbidgee Rive valley and is quite pleasant: the scenery and towns are enough to make you promise to come back and stay a week or so, the road smooth and wide enough to make good, comfortable progress.

We've opted for the Lake Talbot Caravan Park, perched above..... Lake Talbot! The lake came into existence in 1925 when the Murrumbidgee burst its banks and left a large natural lake behind. The then Mayor argued that it should just be left and used as a safe swimming hole for the townsfolk, which it was and they gave it his name for his trouble. Anyhow, haven't been through Narrandera for about 37 years, since we came her with the Sunbeam Owners Club for their Annual Interstate rally and Concours de Elegance. Here's our entrant that year:

1964 Sunbeam Alpine Series IV. Narrandera 1981

It's been a long day, as first-days-out tend to be, so we went into town to the Charles Sturt Hotel for a feed, and very nice it was too. So, in order to have an Hotel named after you, all you have to do is set out from Sydney (in 1830) with a small party and a boat-in-bits, follow Hume's track south until you find the Murrumbidgee, near the present day Jugiong, and sail down its full length until you join Hume River, but call it the Murray instead, and follow that broad expanse of fast flowing water down to the sandbars and swamps that block its emptying into the ocean. And then, turn around and row, yes, row, with oars, your boat the 1000km or so back upstream until you all fall down dead from exhaustion. The place where you set up your last ditch camp, and from where you dispatch two men to seek help, is these days known as Narrandera. No wonder he needed a drink!