WestPack - Wagga Wagga and surrounds

Amanda - The Adventure Woofpack Dog Mumma
Dec 9, 2020
11 min read

Hi Pack,

What a weird and wild trip this was!

As you may be aware, The Woofpack has absolutely no intention to plan this trip (except perhaps a day in advance so we at least have a destination…) I can honestly say that this trip is a perfect example of lack of planning. We learnt a lot during this trip and a few circumstances definitely impacted on the strange loop that we did, but it was all in great fun!

By the time we get to the final leg of this destination (which will be in another blog because it’s in a whole other climate) you will see just how weird our loop was from The Maiden Voyage to the Christmas stop.

Let’s begin this adventure with how we made it here.

WAGGA WAGGA & COLLINGULLIE

When last we left you, we had stopped over in Moss Vale; we were venturing through home just to collect some things but after my specialist appointment ran late and I needed to work the following day, we did an “overnight stay” at mum and dad’s, which turned into a half week as mum was heading back to hospital, so we stayed to keep an eye on pop.

With pop being a beacon of health and the parentals due back soon, we left for Wagga Wagga. Part of not planning for trips means we leave a lot later than we should. We left around midday to head to Griffith (originally) but decided to stay in Wagga since it was closer, and thank goodness we had decided that because we ended up in Wagga just before sunset.

We headed to a highly recommended stopover site near the Murrumbidgee River; Wilks Park.

Firstly, this site is really easy to get to once you know where it is; Google Maps took us halfway around a small suburb just outside of this spot and then took us into a bush; we actually really liked this bush, however the ground was soft from rain and we weren’t in the mood to get bogged.

We ended up finding the actual camping spot, which is just off the side of the Highway. It has amenities, is flat and clear and for us was a touch too popular for our liking; It looked like an RV park.

Since we knew it was there and that there were spots, we decided to head to one of two other potential spots, both about 30 minutes away from where we were but in the opposite directions.

We went with Jared’s choice, out the back of a pub in a little town called Collingullie. It was so amazing seeing signs for the Sturt Highway and Adelaide for the first time in my life! I’ve always seen signs for Melbourne or Brisbane; this was the first time venturing properly out this way.

We arrived at The Crossroads, Collingullie, and absolutely loved this spot! Right on sunset, only one other person camping, it was perfect!

While we stayed here, we did day trips to other areas. We found a great spot over at The Rocks, called “The Recreational Park;” this is right next to the public pool, and is in an old showground with stands, clean amenities and even hot showers (donations box in the bathroom.) We were planning to stay here at some point, however I plans changed so we never got the chance but it looked really awesome. Free stay, plenty of space, flat and a quiet little town.

We, of course, visited Wagga Wagga and went to Wagga Beach.

This is not a beach, this is the Murrumbidgee River with some sand – yet it rated in the Top 10 Beaches to visit. It is quite unique and certainly is great for families. It’s dog friendly, there is a playground there, great amenities, a lovely River Walk which leads into Town, some historical things to see along the way, nice and sheltered, excellent parking and also has coffee vans. We had a lovely morning here.

Kai attracted an audience with his hesitance to retrieve sticks from the water, but his determination to try until they were too far gone (the river drops into a deep shelf, Kai doesn’t like to swim so will only get a stick if his feet are on the ground and the current was also quite strong so the sticks moved quickly.) People watched as he would start a fair few metres upshore where we threw the stick, then end up downshore before giving up. A few people cheered him on, threw more sticks for him, felt very sorry for him and took videos of him. If you were there that day, please feel free to send us your videos!

The anticipation, waiting for dad to throw the disc! This is probably one of our best slow motion videos of the boys playing. I have no idea what the whale-type sounds are when the boys are at the other end of the field and I love the slow motion sound of their collar and harness!

Loki HATES walking on a lead. We call this "The Oppression." He is not shy in telling us about his great dissatisfaction with our parenting.

We then headed to Shanty Reserve, which was the other place we were planning on camping at if we didn’t go to The Gullie Pub; this was a beautiful spot; lovely scenic drive through a rural road, leading up to a gate that you need to open and close as it is a commonly used stock crossing.

We were glad we didn’t camp here; the roads from the gate in are quite rough. It’s actually a popular 4WD and dirt bike destination, with spots to camp but it’s quite uneven and gets quite noisy. Great for day trips and you can camp down by the beach, but we definitely enjoyed using it as a 4WD park for a few hours!

After 2 nights at The Gullie, we moved onto our next destination, which was Griffith way.

*BREAKDOWN*

Facilities: The Crossroads, Collingullie “The Gullie Pub”

Cost: We paid $10 per night, but they only accepted one night’s payment – please also considering

supporting the Pub by grabbing some food and drinks

Reception: Excellent for phone, acceptable internet reception but couldn’t stream a lot of stuff

Electricity: No, need to have your own power source

Drop Point: No, but close by to drop points

Toilets/ Showers: No showers, but you could use the pub toilet during trading hours

View: Not really, you are surrounded by highways

Noise: Yes, surrounded by highways and big rigs travel late at night

Dog Friendly: Yes, but the neighbours also have dogs and it’s a wire fence so please ensure you keep an

eye on your doggos so they don’t upset the neighbours

Long Stay : No, this is great for an overnight or a couple of night’s stay

Close To ...: Wagga Wagga, it’s about 20 + minutes outside of town

GRIFFITH & HAY

We headed off towards Griffith, as we had read in one of our dog-friendly camping books that there was a lovely spot to camp in Darlington Point. We went through Narrandera, which has an excellent service station that let us refill our water tanks here. It also had a gate leading to the River, so while Jared filled the tanks, I took the doggos to admire the view.

We headed out to Bunyip Hole and Common Beach. You can do extended stays here, you just need council permission, otherwise it’s 48 hour stay. We really loved this spot. Great shade coverage and there are to sides to the River. On the side of the River that you don’t cross, there is great camping spots, walking tracks and swimming spots. On the other side of the River, there was great camping, easy access to swimming holes and toilets.

We ultimately didn’t stay because it was going to be roasting hot, so Jared wanted somewhere nicer to swim (it was really muddy to get into the water) and there wasn’t a great deal of internet reception for me for work, so we headed out. There is a caravan park right opposite this location, but we didn’t want to pay to stay. DP is an RV friendly town, with a dump point on the way to Griffith. There is also has an undercover kids playground, excellent bathrooms and a tap. We used the tap to hose ourselves and the doggos down for the long, hot drive ahead (it was 38 degrees and we didn’t want to use the air conditioner!)

By the time we got to Griffith, we realised that although the drive was beautiful there, Griffith didn’t hold much in the way of interest for us and there was only one spot we could camp at that was dog friendly last minute and we wouldn’t have been able to set up the camper there. Again, poor planning, this was right on sunset when we decided “bugger it” and kept going!

HAY

We headed to Hay instead and decided that there were apparently 3 potential spots to camp so we would make it work. Hay was 1.5 hours away, a bit longer because we were towing. You can see a pattern here, we travelled a lot of KMs in one day to find the perfect spot!

We headed to Sandy Beach Reserve.

Hay was a stunning drive and we actually loved this small town. We made it to Sandy Beach Reserve and was pleasantly surprised that it was 72 hours of free camping and was actually by a nice, sandy part of the Murrumbidgee River. We got here just before dark, but we unhitched and took the doggos (and ourselves) for a dunk! There was an offleash part of the beach and bush, so we were keen for this spot.

The doggos and I went for an explore later on the bike; this spot has some amazing bike and walking tracks, but we didn’t get to see much because it was right on dark so we headed back to camp.

This is where our dream location turned into a nightmare: we were plagued with flying ants! Thousands of them!! They were everywhere and in everything that had light touching it. We literally aborted mission, (had just finished eating dinner when it started, left the kitchen as was and headed to bed.) By this stage, there were just enough of them in the camper to be annoying. I read books no my tablet and in dark mode, even that was enough to attract them. Jared got one in his ear in the middle of the night, causing him a world of pain and grief, and also meant we had to head back into the plague conditions to get to the First Aid kit in the car. It was traumatic to say the least.

This was also our first night camping in humidity, which we got no relief from.

A storm rolled in early the next morning ,which I really enjoyed and although the swarming ants were probably a once off, unlucky phenomenon because of the storm, the trauma was set in and we left again! I was super disappointed about this, as the location was beautiful and I was excited to see more of Hay. We will definitely go back when it is cooler.

*BREAKDOWN*

Facilities: Sandy Beach Reserve

Cost: Free

Reception: Yes, good reception although we couldn’t enjoy any technology thanks to the plague

Electricity: No powered sites, must have your own

Drop Point: Not at this site, but the town is RV friendly

Toilets/ Showers: No showers, but there were flushing toilets

View: Yes, gorgeous 360 view

Noise: Not a lot, some people leaving throughout the night so just some car noise

Dog Friendly: Very, including offleash areas at the beach

Long Stay : 72 hour limit and would have happily stayed longer

Close To ...: Town, can get water from the information centre

Notes : There were at least two other dog friendly free or low cost camping places we were planning

on staying at as well. This seems like a good town for a long stay

WANTABADGERY

Off we went again, this time back towards where we knew there was good camping and not as hot; Wagga Wagga. This time we were heading to Sandy Beach Reserve, but in Wantabadgery.

This place was pure magic. Nestled in the countryside and right next to the Murrumbidgee River, this place was another free stay with a maximum stay of two weeks! We pulled in just in time for me to start work. The Reserve is massive, with plenty of open space, shady space and a few spots tucked away from everyone. There is also a few drop toilets, as well as a few picnic shelters. You can also have fires here.

There is so much to see in this area. We really enjoyed exploring the direct surrounds of the Reserve and I enjoyed a midweek, sunset bike ride with the doggos around the empty roads. We also have some amazing photos and drone footage of the spectacular sunsets here.

We were also close to Oura Beach, just a 10 minute drive and we 100% recommend it. You can swim at Sandy Beach Reserve and there are a few great points to get into the water, but there isn’t really any sand there, it’s more of the muddy/clay surface which we don’t really like. Oura Beach is still Murrumbidgee River, but the water is so fresh, lovely current through it and there is actual sand. We went back quite a few times on the hot days and enjoyed a dunk. This beach is also dog friendly and very popular with families and doggos. You can also camp here and it has a flushable toilet.

We were also close to Junee, so we did a day trip through. We have been there before on a family weekend away, so we didn’t explore too much. We did a quick stopover at an awesome dog park there, and enjoyed driving past some of the old homes and buildings. We also visited Bethungra and Eurongilly on the way back through the back way to Wantabadgery. We didn’t get a photo, but not far out of Wantabadgery was an original building, built back in 1860!! We strong recommend going for a day drives, the scenery is jaw dropping.

Although we intended to stay for the full two weeks, we ended up packing up camp after a week because the temperatures out west were going to swelter. We had some relief that week, with temps being in the early 30s, reaching a maximum of 35. It was really uncomfortable working in the camper over those 5 days because the camper got disgustingly hot, especially with the inverter being on to power the laptop. We bought an Artic Air, which we didn’t have ice or a freezer for, but we did put cold water in; it worked well enough for a few hours, but after that the air in the camper was so hot that it essentially was blowing out hot air.

We decided to head to cooler climates! Especially after I had broken one of our awning poles after a freak storm, and Jared had bent the 4WD awning in the wind. No shade around the camper was not going to be an option with temperatures staying around the 35-40 mark all week!!!