Re supply.

Restocking and tidying up before Kelly, Juno and I head off on a short trip to celebrate Kelly’s birthday in a few days.

Coffee, tea, gingernut biscuits, dog food……. Check, check, check.

A late departure after Kelly finishes her shift, we plan to free camp for the night somewhere around the small town of Nimmitabel before tackling the long squiggly descent down Brown mountain, and on to the coast.

I have booked us in for 2 nights at a holiday park in Merimbula and another two nights  beside the river at Moruya. Apart from that we are pretty much going to make it up as we go along.

I may even try to cook some sort of a birthday cake (chocolate of course)  in Ripley’s oven. We will see.

Free camping.

There is something that feels so very cool about being completely off-grid and self contained when you travel. The ability to pull up at any spot, make dinner, spend the night and then leave the next morning without trace.

In reality though, it is not quite as simple as that. Many parking areas that would make awesome overnight rest spots (lookouts, carparks with views, parks etc) are signposted strictly no overnight camping/parking.
I totally get that.
The last thing that locals (or other visitors) would want, or deserve, is their beautiful spaces gridlocked with a clutter of camper vans and caravans.

And I have no doubt that there would be people who would abuse any such privilege, depositing themselves for extended periods or behaving unacceptably or just making a mess. Even when staying in holiday parks, poor behaviour, lack of respect for others, and epic personal hygiene fails is often clearly on show.

Even so. Our experience is that other countries, such as New Zealand for example, seem to have a much more inclusive attitude towards the wheeled nomads passing through. With plenty of well posted RV friendly towns and rest spots.

But here in Australia, we are still learning how to find sweet spots that are not crowded and don’t bother anyone. Being relatively new to this sort of travel, we are still getting to know exactly where and when it is acceptable to land Ripley for the night.

Nope. Ripley is not exactly a stealthy ninja, when it comes to blending in and staying unobtrusive and she is averse to traveling anything too rough or off-road.
Ripley hangs low and goes slow.

Landing sites must be chosen with care.

Anyways, Kelly is really looking forward to the break from work. That reminds me, better stock up on a bottle or two of her favourite wine.
Ill keep you posted as the trip unfolds.

Onwards……