Covid-19 stopped most people in my neck of the woods from taking anything resembling a decent holiday. In March of 2020 I went up to Torres Strait on a birding holiday with other birders for a fortnight; I got back home just before the state borders were closed due to the global pandemic. The rest of the year I was confined to making 3 or 4-day sorties out and around Sydney.
In 2021, due to work commitments, I was only able to get away for a week in June (which is Winter in Australia), and as I couldn’t leave NSW (because the state borders were closed), I chose to drive out west to Sturt National Park in the desert. Unfortunately, it rained each day I was there and as the roads are often closed due to rain, I didn’t get to explore or see as many birds as I had hoped. And it rained all the way back home to Sydney. A couple of weeks later the whole state went into lockdown and we were confined to a five kilometre radius from our home for a few months.
In 2022 I didn’t have much opportunity to get out of Sydney in the first six months of the year. However, I was able to take six weeks off work during winter and spent August travelling around New South Wales looking for wildlife (mainly birds). My plan was to return to Sturt National Park in the north-west and view a few other national parks out that way which I missed last year because of the rain. My maiden aunt in Brisbane had been requesting I come and visit because I hadn’t seen her for 12 years, so I decided to go there first and then travel to Sturt National Park. Looking at a map to see the shortest route I saw a number of towns with names that I’d heard many times before, iconic Australian towns, and decided they would be great places to stay on the way. During this planning phase I made several changes to my itinerary to incorporate some more of these towns and some more national parks. After a few weeks the final itinerary looked like this:
(Note – I’m detailing the route so anyone with an atlas or Googlemaps who’s interested can follow my path).
Starting in Sydney I travel up the coast to Kempsey and camp overnight in Hathead National Park before continuing on to the Gold Coast, then to O’Reilly’s in Lamington National Park, and then on to Brisbane where I would stay for five days with my aunt. After that I’d head west, camping in Goondiwindi, Cunnamulla, Thargomindah and finally Innamincka, before heading down to Sturt National Park and Tibooburra via Cameron’s Corner.
From Tibooburra I drive south to Broken Hill and Mutawintji National Park, then on to Menindee, the Menindee Lakes and Kinchega National Park. Continuing south into Victoria I would visit Hattah-Kulkyne National Park and then on to Barham.
After Barham I would go to Glenrowan in Victoria, then up through Albury-Wodonga to Wagga Wagga, then on to my brother’s farm at Jerangle for a couple of days. The last leg was to travel over to the coast at Narooma, and then back up to Sydney via Ulladulla and Shoalhaven. I estimated the whole trip would take about 32 days and I would cover about 5000 kilometres. And with the price of fuel the way it is, I might have to mortgage my house to pay for the diesel.
Because I planned on camping in national parks a lot of the way, a few days before I left I purchased a rooftop tent and a side annex and had it installed on top of my Pajero. This was going to save me on accommodation costs, would allow me to camp in national parks where there is more wildlife, and keep me off the ground if it rained again (which it did). While this sounded great in theory, in practice something unexpected happened and I only got to camp in the tent for six nights.
In case it rained and I got stuck in a National Park for a few days because the roads were closed, I put in the back of my car 12 x 1.5 litre bottles of fresh water and plenty of dry food snacks (like Cashews, Macadamias, fruit, biscuits and 6 boxes of Pop-Tarts). I also had half-a-dozen Sumo Citrus and four Raspberry-and-White-Chocolate Muffins.
If you followed the itinerary outlined above you’ll see that I’m following the edges of New South Wales while venturing over the borders a few times. Hence the title of this thread.
And, apart from getting away from the usual day-to-day grind and do some travelling, and visiting my aunt, I had some major wildlife objectives: increase my life list, increase my year list which at that point was sitting on 189 species of birds, and increase my photo list (i.e. a list of species of which I have good photos). Birds were the main focus, but any mammals or reptiles that came along would also be gladly viewed and photographed.
Hix
In 2021, due to work commitments, I was only able to get away for a week in June (which is Winter in Australia), and as I couldn’t leave NSW (because the state borders were closed), I chose to drive out west to Sturt National Park in the desert. Unfortunately, it rained each day I was there and as the roads are often closed due to rain, I didn’t get to explore or see as many birds as I had hoped. And it rained all the way back home to Sydney. A couple of weeks later the whole state went into lockdown and we were confined to a five kilometre radius from our home for a few months.
In 2022 I didn’t have much opportunity to get out of Sydney in the first six months of the year. However, I was able to take six weeks off work during winter and spent August travelling around New South Wales looking for wildlife (mainly birds). My plan was to return to Sturt National Park in the north-west and view a few other national parks out that way which I missed last year because of the rain. My maiden aunt in Brisbane had been requesting I come and visit because I hadn’t seen her for 12 years, so I decided to go there first and then travel to Sturt National Park. Looking at a map to see the shortest route I saw a number of towns with names that I’d heard many times before, iconic Australian towns, and decided they would be great places to stay on the way. During this planning phase I made several changes to my itinerary to incorporate some more of these towns and some more national parks. After a few weeks the final itinerary looked like this:
(Note – I’m detailing the route so anyone with an atlas or Googlemaps who’s interested can follow my path).
Starting in Sydney I travel up the coast to Kempsey and camp overnight in Hathead National Park before continuing on to the Gold Coast, then to O’Reilly’s in Lamington National Park, and then on to Brisbane where I would stay for five days with my aunt. After that I’d head west, camping in Goondiwindi, Cunnamulla, Thargomindah and finally Innamincka, before heading down to Sturt National Park and Tibooburra via Cameron’s Corner.
From Tibooburra I drive south to Broken Hill and Mutawintji National Park, then on to Menindee, the Menindee Lakes and Kinchega National Park. Continuing south into Victoria I would visit Hattah-Kulkyne National Park and then on to Barham.
After Barham I would go to Glenrowan in Victoria, then up through Albury-Wodonga to Wagga Wagga, then on to my brother’s farm at Jerangle for a couple of days. The last leg was to travel over to the coast at Narooma, and then back up to Sydney via Ulladulla and Shoalhaven. I estimated the whole trip would take about 32 days and I would cover about 5000 kilometres. And with the price of fuel the way it is, I might have to mortgage my house to pay for the diesel.
Because I planned on camping in national parks a lot of the way, a few days before I left I purchased a rooftop tent and a side annex and had it installed on top of my Pajero. This was going to save me on accommodation costs, would allow me to camp in national parks where there is more wildlife, and keep me off the ground if it rained again (which it did). While this sounded great in theory, in practice something unexpected happened and I only got to camp in the tent for six nights.
In case it rained and I got stuck in a National Park for a few days because the roads were closed, I put in the back of my car 12 x 1.5 litre bottles of fresh water and plenty of dry food snacks (like Cashews, Macadamias, fruit, biscuits and 6 boxes of Pop-Tarts). I also had half-a-dozen Sumo Citrus and four Raspberry-and-White-Chocolate Muffins.
If you followed the itinerary outlined above you’ll see that I’m following the edges of New South Wales while venturing over the borders a few times. Hence the title of this thread.
And, apart from getting away from the usual day-to-day grind and do some travelling, and visiting my aunt, I had some major wildlife objectives: increase my life list, increase my year list which at that point was sitting on 189 species of birds, and increase my photo list (i.e. a list of species of which I have good photos). Birds were the main focus, but any mammals or reptiles that came along would also be gladly viewed and photographed.
Hix
