Southward and into the Alpine National Park

Loving the Australian sense of humour!

The hot weather continues! When we departed Parkes on Monday morning at 10am, the temperature was around 34C. By midday it was at 40C – and that’s outside of the motorhome. Our inside temperature gauge automatically shuts down at 42C and it has been doing that around 2pm everyday this week.

A few things happen in the motorhome when temperatures are this high;

– We never have to heat the water. The cold water in our fresh water tank is always better than lukewarm. It makes it tricky when you want a cold drink from the tap. Chilling water down in the refrigerator or buying cold drinking water on a daily basis is the way we are dealing with it.

– All food in the cupboards is either lukewarm or hot. We find we are buying less food but purchasing more often.

– Our plates and glasses are always hot.

– Our freezer is handling the heat very well but the refrigerator is really struggling to keep the temperature down – even on gas.

– Our iphones, GPS etc. just shut down in the heat

– Our bathroom products i.e. toothpaste,  liquefy.

–  When using our aircon unit, the poor thing battles for a very average result. If it’s 40 to 43C outside, the best it can do on its’ coolest setting of 16C is maintain a 31C temperature inside.

No complaints tho’ – it’s all part of the journey.

On leaving Parkes we made our back down the Newell Highway through Forbes then onto West Wyalong, Grong Grong, Coolamon and into Wagga Wagga. We decided we had had enough at the wheel for that day so we located a free camp spot about 500 metres from the main street of Wagga Wagga at Wills Park. It was nice and flat, a few large trees for shade and there was still enough green grass to settle on.

Our swimming hole at Oxley

On Tuesday morning after a wander around Wagga Wagga, it was back in the van and onwards. It had been recommended to us that we make a point of visiting Oxley on our way south. So on leaving Wagga we made our way west to Wangaratta then southeast into Oxley.  It was a beautiful little place and we lucked in with a free park at the Stan Allen Reserve directly beside the King River. Again with the temperatures hovering around 41 to 44C, the river was a welcome relief. We just lay back in the water along with a few locals and other camping couples for an hour or so.

Main Street Bright

This morning we continued south along the Great Alpine Highway to Bright. Again it is a place that was recommended that we visit and very much worth the recommendation. It is a stunning little town – more like a small English village rather than an Australian town in the grips of a heat wave.

Our view at the Alpine National Park

We made a decision to try and get away from the hot days so hooked a left on leaving Bright and followed the Bogong Alpine Way across to Kiewa Valley Highway and into the Alpine National Park.  It was the best decision we ever made. Once on the Kiewa Valley Highway we followed the road through Mount Beauty and onto the Falls Creek ski resort some 1700 metres above sea level. We are now tucked (hidden) in a little side road on a flat metal area about 15km south of Falls Creek and in the Alpine National Park. Barring a visit from an over enthusiastic ranger, we hope we will be here for the night.

It is 6pm in the afternoon and the outside temperature is 26C and cooling. Love these mountain areas.

We are keeping a careful eye on the fire situation in Victoria while travelling through. We are constantly referring to our Fire App and are ensuring that each night we are well away from trees and high dry grassland. We always park with the van facing the ‘out’ road and everything is put away at night so we can make a quick exit if needed.