Day One - Nicholls ACT to Brandon's Corner NSW (3km East of Hay)

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Day One – Brandon's Corner – Hay NSW

A bit of logistics to start. My wife Suz, son Nathan and Daughter Amy are in our 1991 Maverick for this trip. Grandad and Oma are in their 2009 Toyota Rav 4. We both have camper trailers and have been planning this trip for ages.

So in my truck it started a little something like this only 5km out of the ACT:

"Did you bring this?", asks Suz.

"Don't remember", says I.

"Did you bring that?".

"Nah. Didn't think we'd use it".

Silent fume... Repeat around three dozen times.

But we survived the day and have arrived at our first spot a couple of KM East of Hay – Brandon's Corner. No idea of the origin for the name for the spot but I fear it may be a tribute to some poor kid that came undone here in his car many years ago.

We are camped right next to the Murrumbidgee River which is running really high after all of the rain in the Rivera Region over the past few weeks. The poor buggers have had so much rain that people are getting cut off from their homes, losing crops and all sorts.

The first day was a touch over 500 km so we didn't roll in to camp until around 4pm. First spot was a fail due to the river/rain having the site pretty much inaccessible. The second wasn't any better as it was underwater but the last worked out OK and we had it all to ourselves.

Pretty quiet night, except for Grandad trying every frequency of AM/FM to get the AFL Semi Final, at full noise! I reckon every person in Hay heard the squelch of the radio over the fireworks that were going off in town.We eventually got a good reception and promptly turned it off after three minutes to play a few games with the tin lids, have a chat and hit the hay.... Get it? Hay. Really close to camp. Pahahahaha.

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Photos

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First shot of the trip - the missus telling me not to take a photo of her! Note the old man's coffee contraption cooking on the ground.

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Saw plenty of what I think are Canola fields. Otherwise they are just pretty yellow flowers.

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Amy sort of trying to catch a fish. Must get her a licence. And maybe a rod...

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Nathan typing a letter of apology to his school project mentor for missing a meeting. Did a good job actually. Really should send it on his behalf one day.

Comments

[Deb]

omg Suz...how many weeks in a car with Mick ! :)
Really it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun, I look forward to the posts

[Deb]

Great blog
Fantastic commentary so far, hope you stay dry. Btw I'm with suze on the packing issues.