Day 261 / 2014 - Forbes to Condobolin

We have struck another nice mid western NSW town who are interested in attracting the travelling public. Condobolin is a small town about 100km West of Forbes they have a great free camp spot right beside a constructed lake. There are free hot showers, flushing toilets and plenty of town water  for your tanks. There are shady sites which cater fo all sizes of caravans, motorhomes, Busses and tents.

We had grown a little tired of dicing with the trucks along the Newell Hwy. Don't get me wrong the truckies were a very curtious and professional bunch but there were lots of them on the road especially heading south from Dubbo. They just come one after the other sometimes in groups of 2 and 3 and we felt we were getting in their way only travelling at 85Km/Hr. We tried to pull over regularly but this became a pain as we were starting to do it too often. As they have a job to do and we are in no rush to get anywhere in particular we decided to explore a little more of the back roads to Melbourne. Looking at the map we could either go East to Cowra or West to Condobolin flipped the coin and West won.

The road to Condobolin was reasonable in fact proberbly smoother than the Newell Hwy. The traffic was very light with only one truck coming the other way. My only complaint is at the time I was looking for a camp area to check out there were a few cars right behind us. By the time we came across the turn off to the camp area there was no time to slow down safely. Typical the only time you encounter traffic is when you are looking for something you are not sure where it is.

Condobolin again is one of those mid western towns that are struggling to survive financially in the current economic climate and are looking to tourism as another source of income. While the coastal shires and high tourist traffic places have a take it or leave it attitude especially when it comes to accomodation the mid western towns are capitalising on this by listening to the travelling public and giving them what they want. Condobolin has a number of coffee shops, pubs or clubs you can choose from for refreshments as well as an IGA or Foodworks store to stockup on supplies. Fuel is available at a number of petrol stations around town. There is a caravan park for those choosing service-to-the-van accomodation while there is a free camping area 3Km out of town for self contained vehicles.

There are some tourist attractions in the area to look at we found the utes in the paddock quite interesting. They are a series of old utes with various themes painted on them. There is a plaque in front of each ute to describe what the artist was trying to convey usually revolving around an Australian icon or story. All the utes are Holden as they believe this is as Australian as you can get when it comes to the motor car industry. The utes are about 30km East of Condobolin or 70Km west of Parkes and about 3km down a good gravel road.

The other great attraction in Condobolin would have to be Gum Bend lake. This lake was developed for the local town and is used as a recreational facility including fishing and Water Skiing. There are free BBQ's and sheltered seating areas around the banks of the lake. A walking track circles the lake where you can take up positions to watch the wildlife that inhabit the area. There is a large area set aside for camping with access to free hot showers, flushing toilets and fresh town water. There is a 3 day limit for camping but extending you time doesn't seem to be a problem at this point in time. There are trees you can park next to for shade or you can choose to park in the open area if you rely heaverly on solar. Its a great place to stop to just relax the days away there always seem to be a regular comming and going of recreation vehicles. The lake is well used on weekends by the locals for water skiing or picnics but the weekdays are usually quiet.

We are not sure how long we will be here it is a good place just ot relax read a book do a bit of sewing or catch up on all those niggly task that although aren't important still need to be done. The weather has been kind and warm fine days are predicted up until Wednesday so we will proberbly leave then but who knows.