Day 65: Tue 29 Aug 23 - Molong to Home (& Wrap-up)

Tue 29 Aug 23 - Molong to Home (Towed 275km)

Weather: 1 Deg feeling like -1, clear and no wind at 6.30am in Molong, reaching 18 Deg and cloudy at home in Canberra. The light afternoon breeze made it feel much fresher, so much so that we have the heater on tonight. 

We're back where we started 65 Days ago - safe and well.  We packed and left the Molong Showground and Golf Course camping ground at 8am, and had a very good trip home, stopping several times along the way for breaks, including a maccas coffee at Cowra. The road today was very rough in places, but a lot of road damage has also been repaired.

The highlight of the days drive, was without a doubt, the absolutely stunning countryside from Molong to Cowra. We have never seen the countryside look so good with lush green crops contrast with golden fields of canola. We both commented too that we've never seen so many different shades of green - it was just beautiful. Unfortunately, there was very little opportunity to pull over with the caravan at short notice to take any photos. Thankfully, there was very little traffic today too, which made for a relatively easy and trouble free driving. We eventually pulled up at the front of our house at about 1220pm, feeling quite tired. We've enjoyed our time away, but after 151 days (more than 21 weeks) away in the van, and more than 10,200km towing so far this year, we're happy to be back home again for a while. It was also a nice feeling to be welcomed back by our friendly neighbours on both sides, and another from further up the street. The afternoon was spent unloading the car and the van, but it will take a few more days to get everything cleaned and packed away again. Nathan and Chris came over after work to say hello, and we had wood fired pizza together for dinner. It was nice to see them again, as well as our grand-puppy, Kona the Kelpie.. 

That's a wrap for today, unfortunately no photos (I am thinking about a drive back out to the canola fields in a couple of weeks for some photography).  I'll add a short trip summary tomorrow. (See below)


Our 4,550km CQ Winter Escape Journey

Trip Summary:

We drove a total distance of 6,272 km including towing 4,550 km. We were away for 64 nights, and the total accomodation cost was $2,038 at an average of $31.85 per night. Many caravan parks are now asking for around $40/night. With four weeks in Gladstone and Yeppoon alone, there wasn't much we could do about the cost, other than pay it. Our total fuel cost was $1818, and the average fuel consumption including towing was 14.75lt/100km. We were very pleased with the way the car performed, and we had no issues, apart from the Water Watch Sensor Alarm sounding without any other evidence of water or even moisture - I disconnected it, so the problem went away. I will be contacting the dealer to state my grievance and have it removed. The highest fuel price was $2.28/lt at Lightning Ridge on the way back from QLD two days ago, and the cheapest was $1.72/lt at Goondiwindi on the way up to QLD (0.56 cents/lt cheaper). I was very impressed with the overall fuel economy of 14.75 lt/100km towing almost 3t, in sometimes hilly and windy conditions. The average combined fuel and accomodation cost for 64 nights travelling (not including food, drink and other expenses was $60 per day which I think is reasonable).  

The majority of roads travelled were in terrible condition, and there was a staggering amount of caravans travelling. Many caravan parks were booked out well in advance too, which took away a lot of flexibility that I would prefer, particularly where we were looking for 3-5 night stays. As with the SA Trip earlier in the year, we enjoyed longer stopovers, using them as a base to spend more time looking a little wider around the local area. We're unsure of when or where our next trip will be, but Western and Central Australia are strong contenders, not this year though. Central and Western NSW, and along the Darling River, or down to Victoria may be options early next year.  

Now to cleaning and catching up, and maybe more Reserve work to get a few things done at home.

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