Narrandera

 1st August 2025

Today’s drive is around 385 km which seems a good distance for us when towing. On the Hay  plains there are not a lot of opportunities to stop for a cup of coffee, so we decide we will stop earlier than normal and have our coffee break at Balranald where we could park in a backstreet and found a nice cafe in the Main Street. There was also an IGA nearby where we bought some meat to BBQ tonight.

.From then onwards the drive is pretty boring, the highlight was looking for a roadside stop to pull over and make some lunch. We eventually found one about 100 km before Narrandera, and had a relaxing lunch in the van. 

We arrived at the Lake Talbot Holiday Park in Narrandera at around 2.30 pm. It is a very impressive caravan park on the shore of LakeTalbot. We were guided to our site by a man in a golf buggy driving ahead of us and giving hand signals. There were a few tight turns and lining up for the drive through site was also tight, but his guidance was excellent.


Unbelievably the drive through site is a perfectly level concrete slab, with views of the lake


Setting up was easy on such a good site and we were told there were some great bush walks from the park, so we set out to stretch our legs.

Lake Talbot Park is a recreational area for the locals, as well as a caravan park. There is a large water park including a number of swimming pools and water slides which were understandably not is use in these icy temperatures, but you could imagine what it must be like in summer. It is a very egalitarian here with children, adults and seniors all charged the same admission fee to the water park.

There is also a “Skywalk”, a cantilevered walkway out over the Lake so you can take in the view.




Our plan is to go on a walk recommended by the management of the park which is on the other side of the lake, but can be accessed through a gate at the end of the caravan park. There is walk takes us past a weir that obviously keeps some water in the lake, although the levels are pretty low at the moment.


Downstream from the weir, there is a trickle of water being released

Now on the other side of the Lake we see there is a large red gum forest with walking/cycling trails both into the forest and along the lake shore.


Into the forest


Or walk along the lakeside

We chose to walk along  the lakeside having been advised by the management of the park that there was a lot of wildlife to be seen.

There was a lot of bird life, a wallaby, a possum and a koala with a Joey, not bad for agog choice of Aussie wildlife on a short walk. We also saw a goat which didn’t quite fit the narrative but seemed happy.


 

Wallaby


 



Possum’s bum


Koala


Goat

Apologies for the phone telephoto shots but you can see distant images of the animals.

The walk was very pleasant and with all of the driving we haven’t had a lot of time to stretch our legs, so it was also welcome.

Back at the van just before sunset we have a BBQ dinner planned.



Very tasty lamb chops purchased in Balranald and cooked on the van’s BBQ



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