RV Sandwich and Screams

---

After a bit of cleaning and general maintenance we left the expensive site at Heathcote and set out for a free site at Goulburn (every bit of saving helps, especially after expensive days!). On recommendation, we used the Heathcote Road to get to the Hume Motorway, which fortunately turned out to be a good road with not too many long uphill climbs - so no worries about overheating this time, thank goodness. There were not too many RVs, either, just an enormous number of big trucks as it is the main route between Sydney and Melbourne. At one point we were sandwiched between two enormous trucks towing trailers. Despite our rig’s size we were dwarfed and it felt very squeezy and quite intimidating! I was glad when they thundered past us!

On the way, we crossed the Nepean River twice but as it is in a very deep valley you could hardly see the river and I couldn't get a photo.

After a quick break for a delicious but cheap coffee and muffin each at a 7Eleven Big Truck Stop, we drove to Derricks Rest Area and Towrang Stockade and Bridge site, just outside Goulburn, where we were staying the night. There were lots of trees that were full of seeds and what looked like small acorns (I must get a tree book so I can identify some of the ones we see!) which had attracted lots of birds, including Crimson Rosellas, Cockatoos, Magpies and Currawongs. We tried tempting them down with some of our seed but they weren’t the slightest bit interested, even in the favourite sunflower seeds! Still we enjoyed trying to spot them high up in the trees.

The area had been a stockade for the prisoners who built the old road between 1833 and 1843 but there was nothing left but the bridge and some culverts. We went for a walk to see the bridge, which was built in 1839. It was quite small but was made of a lovely yellow sandstone and looked quite pretty.

After our walk, I cooked some bacon and eggs for dinner and managed to give myself a heart attack when I set off the smoke alarm in the van. The stupid thing is right next to the cooker so when the fumes from frying hit it, it screamed in my ear! I hadn’t used the range hood as we were in an unpowered site and I was trying to conserve the house batteries but we quickly put it on and opened the door and windows to try and clear the fumes. I’ll know next time – use the range hood or don’t fry! At least the meal was tasty.

We settled down for a quiet evening and, as usual, looked at Wikicamps to choose a site near Canberra for the next couple of days. The trouble was, though, that we couldn’t decide which was the most suitable as some had been reported as hilly or small and most were very expensive. We finally made a list in the order of the possible suitability and decided to ring them the next day. Then to bed.

Later that night I got really bad heartburn – I knew I shouldn’t have eaten the bacon but it smelt so delicious! I wish I had Barry’s cast iron gut!

---

Photos

Princes Highway NSW
The 2 trucks with trailers that had formed our squeezy "RV sandwich" have just thundered past, leaving us for dead.

Derricks Rest Area, near Goulburn NSW
We had a few neighbours at this site.

Towrang Bridge, NSW
Yellow sandstone bridge built by convicts in 1839

Derricks Rest Area, near Goulburn, NSW
A Crimson Rosella was totally uninterested in our seeds, too well fed!

Derricks Rest Area, near Goulburn NSW
A Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo feeding on the little acorns high up in the trees.

Derricks Rest Area, near Goulburn NSW
Strange fungi growing nearby.