Day 105 / 2015 - Shepparton to Sydney

Leaving Shepparton we headed back towards the Hume Hwy then continued our journey towards Sydney. I've always wanted to drive the complete length of the Hume Hwy just to see what it is like and say "Been There Done That"

From Shepparton to Sydney is about 800km so we decided to spread it  over 3 days. Heading up the Hume we passed through Ned Kelly Country around Glenrowan where he and his gang made their last stand. Crossing the border at the twin town of Albury Wodonga passing by the Etomogah Pub we ended up in a small town called Woomargama which is just off the Hume. Woomargama use to have the Hume hwy pass through it until a bypass was built around the town much to the relief of the towns folk.  Like many small towns on the main tourist route they are trying to attract travellers simply by offering those with self contained vehicles a free place to stop for the night in hope they will spend a bit of money in their town. The area was all Bitumen with toilets and driniking water available.

After a restfull nights sleep we moved on again up the Hume. At Gundagai there is a big road house just on the outskirts of town. Pulling up in the big parking area out back we stopped for a cup of coffee. Finishing our coffee we walked accross the road to where the dog on the tuckerbox is. The story goes that a bullock driver who managed to get his bullock team bogged and after a number of futile attempts to get it out decided to stop for lunch only to find his dog sitting on his tucker box.

Leaving Gundagai we headed north once again. The Hume is the main inland route between Melbourne and Sydney with most of the road transport carring goods between the two city's using this route. Our next planned stop for the night was at a town called Gunning south of Gouldburn. According to Wiki Camps there are two free camp areas one at the showgounds with the other near the river just the other side of town. After checking out the river camp spot with all the caravans cramped in we opted for the showgrounds where we had the pick of the area as we were the only ones there. There was no power but water and toilets were available and it was easy to get in. We went for a walk through town and we just happed to come accross the two day rally which is run by old trucks following the route of the old Hume Hwy. We must have seen about 300 trucks pass through from vintage to relativly new.

After another restful nights sleep we once again set off towards Sydney and our next destination the Town of Warragamba. The drive in was hilly and winding briefly reminded us of being back in Tasmania. The town of Warragamba was originally the support town for the Warragamba dam during construction but the houses are now privately owned and lived in with many commuting into Sydney for work. We were able to camp at one of the recreation parks near the dam where there is a big flat grassed area surrounded by tall gum trees.

Next morning we took a look at the dam wall, spillway and some of the surrounding gardens before heading to our next destination Lane Cove Tourist Park. We found the best way for us to drive to Lane Cove was via the M7 and M2 motorways when coming from the Hume Hwy then take the Deli Rd exit near North Ryde. The M7 and M2 are toll roads so we check the payment methods on the RoamExpress website and setup an account which is linked to our credit card for the time we though we would use the tollways while in Sydney. We would also recommend using the toll roads outside of peak hour as we have seen them become parking lots during high traffic times.

Lane Cove Tourist Park sites were a little tight to get onto we had to change to another site because of a big tree  in the middle of the road made it really difficult to back in straight. Our second site wasn't much better getting on as we had to jump over a big curb then bury our jockey wheel in the dirt to level the van but once setup we were okay. The site was quite large accomodating the car as well. There was a tree next to but not over the top of the van giving shade on the fridge side of the van. Lane Cove is close to the North Ryde Train station about a 700 metre walk giving easy access into the Sydney Centre and other areas serviced by the train network.

Catching the train we were able to visit the Flemington markets where we caught up with Wim and Judy. Flemington markest are big and busy. Lots of stalls selling produce and goods of all kinds. There are forklifts wizzing around and spruikers yelling come buy my wares all over the place. You need to get there early as by 2pm it is all over. Most of the good produce is available in the early hours of the morning.  

We also caught the train to the airport to meet with Jeff, Eileen and the kids while they were flying from Armidale back to Perth. We all caught the train back to Circular Key where we had lunch under the Opera House. It was a nice day out as we missed out on spending time with them when they were in Armidale We also caught up with Kelly's parents who kindly took us out for coffee and treated us to lunch as well as give us a tour around the Cronulla area near where they lived.

The Sydney Caravan and Camping show was also on while we were in Sydney. We took the Train to Parramatta where there was a free shuttle bus ride to the Rosehill Race course where the show was being held. There were many floors of gagets new vans and al things camping. I found this really neat device which tells you when the van is level while your still sitting inside the car. We have found it most usefull when trying to find a level spot in free camp areas but we also had some success when levelling the van in a caravan park.

The manufacture of our cars entertainment unit / GPS was also at the show giving us a chance to report some of the problems we are having. He advised we could upgrade the software to fix our problems. Some upgrades were free such as the one to fix the Tyre Pressure monitoring but the upgrade to the GPS Navigator would cost as it include a map upgrade. We could get this done in Sydney at their workshop.

We visited Wim and Judy at their home in Dural. It is a beautiful multi story house in the exclusive leafy suburb of Dural north of Sydney. They have been redecorating and restoring some of the original features and now have the house looking quite smart.

Anne is a big Home and Away fan and always wanted to visit Summer Bay or where it is filmed. The external bay shots, Dinner and Surf club are done at Palm Beach North of Sydney. We found the Diner... the external part anyway as well as Alfs Bait shop and the Jetty where many a Bay drama has played out. Unfortunatley there were no film crew or actors there that day but we did have a coffee and wedges at the Diner. Palm Beach seems to be capitalising on its fame with kerb parking costing $3.40 per hour with a minimum of 1 hour.

Sydney decided to turn on its worst weather in years in the form of a deep low depression parking itself off the coast resulted in 3 days of heavy rain and strong winds. We were lucky with the winds as they didn't seem to affect us much we were partly protected by large trees surrounding the park but it did rain continuiously for 3 days resulting in about 300 mil's falling in Sydney. They called the system an East Coast low which is apparently quite common around these parts. The uncommon thing was that it hung around for so long dumping enormous amounts of rain as normally they move through quite quickly. The Newcastle, Macquarie lakes and Hunter districts to the north of Sydney copped the worst resulting in major power outages and extensive flooding which lasted for days. We ended up staying a few extra days not wanting to travel during the storm.