It was quiet all night at our $10 powered site in Underbool. There was hardly any traffic along the Mallee Hwy. I played with Tilly and Bluey in the park before their long day on the road.
The roads were open through to Wagga Wagga, but the Murrumbidgee River is very high. Roads could be closed if more rain falls, and the forecast was for more wet weather to come across from the west. The high risk area is around Narrandera.
We drove east until we crossed the Murray River over the Tooleybuc Bridge. The 1925 timber truss bridge is also a lifting bridge. The river is only one metre below the bridge.
At Balranald we joined the Sturt Hwy and drove along sections of damaged road surface, and avoided hundreds of potholes. For three hours we followed a truck because we could see which sections of road that driver was avoiding.
The Sturt Hwy and Newell Hwy briefly become the same road at Narrandera. A large sign advised drivers to ignore their GPS, because the highways were open. We had to wait to drive through this section of flooded road controlled by road workers and traffic lights.
We passed two vehicles that had left the road. The first was a ute with a bucket crane that was on its side with police and fire trucks attending. The second was a semi trailer which left the road, because according to CB chatter, two caravans were stopped on the highway having a chat!! The truck was upright but stopped in very soft soil. A heavy lifting tow truck was on the scene.
We refuelled twice and had several short stops, longer at MacDonald’s in Wagga Wagga. Some caravan parks are closed and none of those still open in Wagga had enticing reviews. We merged onto the Hume Hwy heading for Gundagai, but the only still open caravan park was full. We ended up driving 712kms today, as we continued on to Jugiong, to stay at the showground beside the Murrumbidgee River, where we made a donation for being able to stay here. Here the river is flowing fast but has not broken its banks.
As we were reversing onto a flat section of grass away from the river, we spotted a lilac Burmese cat outside the caravan opposite. I walked over with Tilly and she smooched up to the other cat’s human! At the next caravan Tilly visited, I was warned a brown snake had just slithered away!
This is the first time we have had a good enough internet connection to post blogs, so I will have to catch up on the past few days.
Committed Travellers 