Time to move on from Albury, heading back deep into enemy territory NSW towards Wagga Wagga and Junee.
North, and you know what that means? Towards home. Home is north.
I’m not sure of the correct pronunciation of Junee. I pronounce it June-e, but I have heard others say Jun-ee. The jury is out, although I suspect that the locals will know the correct way to say it.
Another cold day in NSW. It gets light so late here; you wake at 6.30am and think it’s still the middle of the night. By 7.00am it is getting light enough that you can’t justify lying in bed on the electric blanket any longer.
Ablutions, breakfast, coffee. Note to self: buy some more Sultana Bran because I ate the last of it this morning.
MBW told me that it rained quite heavily during the night, but I didn’t hear a thing. Earplugs are a wonderful thing.
The Albury mudflats were even muddier after the rain, so we just needed to brave it and hope for the best. Packing down Percy, I took the opportunity to spread some joy and happiness with the people who set up their camper trailer next to us late yesterday afternoon. I can only imagine how much fun they are having in this cold weather in a camper trailer in the rain.
Turns out that they are Queenslanders also, from Blackbutt. He works at the Kingaroy Hospital and had to treat a lady from Victoria who broke her leg and … zzzzzzz. Argh!
Why do people feel the need to tell me their life stories? I have spent a lifetime trying to cultivate an expression that says “I don’t want to know your life story …” but it must be faulty 🙁
Before we headed off, I decided to change the red anderson plug so that we would have ESC for the journey. Long story short, the plug was changed and the stupid ESC still didn’t work and I wasn’t feeling any love towards the world.
No ESC again, then.
Fortunately it is only a short run today. Albury to Junee is only about 100km and an hour and a half.
There are a couple of ways to go … via Holbrook (remember Holbrook? Op Shop, can’t alphabetise their books, lingerie …) or we could go the other way.
We went the other way.
Really not much to say. These are the days that we enjoy with just relatively short trips so we can take a leisurely drive in the country.
The roads have certainly changed now that we are in ”the country”. Single lane, not quite as fast and smooth as the highways, but back into that country atmosphere where every passing motorist towing a caravan waves at you.
Or maybe they are from NSW and they notice that we are from Queensland and they are … not waving? Like a two-fingered salute? Or a one-fingered one?
When I say that the roads are ”not quite as smooth” as other roads that we have travelled, what I mean is that it can be a bit of a white knuckled ride on roads where there is more patching in the road than original bitumen.
And the pot holes … don’t bother travelling to the USA to see the Grand Canyon. You only need to drive the road from Albury to Junee. There are potholes along that road that are worthy of being a tourist attraction in their own right!
There were a few painted silos on the way that we wanted to stop and look at, but other than that there was not much to see.
The first one was at Yerong Creek (population 173) …
… with the second at Uranquinty NSW (population 909).
In addition to the silo art, the other thing tham amused me on the way were the names of the townships that we either passed through or saw signs towards:
- Burrumbuttock
- Walla Walla
- Wagga Wagga
- Cookardinia
- Little Billabong
- Mangoplah
- The Rock
- Tumbarumba
- Book Book
- Wantabadgery
We got into Junee in time for lunch and had a ham, cheese and tomato toastie, then we were ready to go out exploring.
Ian – the caretaker at the Junee Golf Course where we are staying for three nights – kindly put us in the ”dry” section of the grounds, because it is less wet and less muddy. I would take a photo of the place where we are staying, but I’d need a boat to get over to the other side of the carpark.
Maybe tomorrow.
First stop, the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory. We paid our $4 each (including senior discount) for the tour, and learned all about the history of the factory. We got to sample all of the different types of licorice and chocolate, then spent a small fortune on ”souvenirs” on the way out.
I’m willing to bet that we have consumed most of the ”souvenirs” before we cross the Queensland border again, just saying. In case there are none left when we get home, you will have to trust me that the chocolate coated freeze dried strawberries were AMAZING!
Due to a misunderstanding between MBW and myself, we ended up with two coffees and TWO pieces of cake for afternoon tea. (Come on guys, back me up here. When your significant other points out three different cake options and says ”and we can share”, it’s pretty clear that you are supposed to purchase more than just one piece, right? Right?)
After visiting the chocolate factory and buzzing from all the sugar in that cake and chocolate, the last thing on today’s list was the railway museum.
Good value with the senior’s discount for only $5 each, but well worth seeing a bit of our railway history.
And that is about a wrap for today.
We got back to Percy around 4.30 and had another quick look at the ESC connector, and I have found a blown fuse. That will certainly make it not work.
Me thinks a trip into Wagga Wagga tomorrow for some spare fuses and we might just be back in business.
A bit of a lazy day today, as discussed already. Not many kilometres, and not too much drive time. Planning on going exploring tomorrow around the area. Hopefully we can slip in another tour of the chocolate factory for some more samples 🙂
I’ll have a poke around in the freezer and see what leftovers I can cook up (= reheat) for dinner tonight.
Ciao
#RoadTripNSW2023