The New Age Caravans NSW Social Club had organised a couple of trips that we will be attending. This month (June), the venue was Nundle, so we attended for 3 nights to spend a little more time with the Social Group and get to know them better.
We drove up and arrived at Nundle at a leisurely pace after leaving home around 7:40am on the Thursday. We arrived around 2pm and set up the van in about 25 mins but it was cold at around 4C, raining and very soggy under foot. We were freezing and wet by the end of the set up.
Soon after, got into the van, got changed and warmed up and then jumped in the car to head up to the Peel Inn (Nundle Pub) to warm up and have a drink in front of the fire.
Our van site was a grassy site, completely soggy and right next to the Peel River. The recent rain had the river levels up more than 1 metre and the river was flowing very quickly!
It continued to rain overnight but by the morning the rain had ceased. The ground was still soaked but drying slowly.
The temperatures were around 2C overnight and around 6-8C during the day. We found out that it had been snowing about 8km up the road - which explained the extremely cold temperatures in Nundle.
Our first night's sleep in the van was surprisingly great and we had the aircon set at 22C which made the van and bed very cosy. Stephanie put a woolen blanket over the bed and then placed the doona on top of it which worked really well.
We met up with the New Age Soicial Group the following day for a quick catch-up in the morning. We met a few new people and chatted with them for a while before heading off for some sightseeing. We headed off to Tamworth via the River Rd which followed the Peel River to Chaffey Dam and then onto Tamworth. The River Rd was a picturesque gravel road that went past a couple of great freecamp sites that were situated next to the river.
We drove up to the lookout at Tamworth and the sun had come out for a little while and gave us a picturesque view.
We went back to the van park, for lunch and then joined the Social Club for a drink and chat around a couple of fire pits. Dinner was supplied by New Age Caravans and around 35 of us gathered for drinks and dinner that evening. It was a great night and we made some good connections. It was a cold night for sure!
Some of the guys had spent the day driving up to the snow at Hanging Rock and brought back some bags of snow for a snow fight that afternoon!
As a result, we decided to head up to Hanging Rock the following day.
On the Saturday, we chatted with some of the people in the morning before heading off into Nundle to visit the Woolen Mill, and a couple of the shops. We then headed up into the hills to Hanging Rock (about 8km away) to see the snow.
There was good snow around and lots of people up there to enjoy it!
Back at the van park, we showered and got changed and headed up to the pub with all the Social Club members for dinner and drinks. It was a fun night and we had some good laughs. We took the party back to the van park and continued our fun around the fire pits once more until about 9pm. It was still cold and we sat around the fire in 4C.
Sunday morning saw us pack up and head off from the van park to start our journey home, but not before saying goodbye to all of our new friends. Apparently, they are planning another couple of get-togethers in Oct and Nov.
On our way home, we stopped at Wallabadah to visit the First Fleet Memorial to see if there was a Carney in the First Fleet. To our surprise, there was!
On the way out of the Memorial, we met an old guy who struck up a chat, he said that he built the memorial and is a stomemason by trade. He said his name was Ray. Turns out, he is the "Ray Collins" in the sign above!
We also stopped at Willow Tree for a coffee and a bite as well as a look through an arts and crafts market located in an old garage.
After that, we jumped into the car and headed home.
Our trip was successful on several counts:
We made some great connections in the Social Club and this will make future trips more enjoyable.
We learned that the van can stay quite cosy in low temps using either the aircon or the cheap little fan heater we bought - as long as we have 240V power. However, free-camping in winter is out of the question unless we install a diesel heater.
We can unhitch and set up the van in around 25 mins or pack it up and hitch it up in about 30 mis or so - even in the rain!
Things to be done in the next 3 weeks prior to our big trip:
Check tool kit and make sure to include
electrical connectors
Spanners
Socket set
Fit the new Rock Tamers after the GVM upgrade
Buy the following for the van
spare one-way mains water flow valve
Butane gas cans
Collapsable fire pit.
Get some self adhesive hanging hooks.
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