Day 4 Wednesday 8/6/2022 Oaklands to Lockhart, 3 – 11 (not much better)

We’re woken by the camper next door trying to start his Ute. It’s icy.

Deciding to do some touring and in need of some fuel, we drive to Urana (pronounced ‘you ranner’) as it is noted for its historic buildings, sculptures, and an aviary. We quickly discover that the aviary isn’t exciting and that the service station doesn’t have low flow diesel. We rapidly lose our interest in rotting buildings. The woman at the servo points us in the direction of Lockhart as it is the nearest supplier. She thinks it a little strange when I can’t tell her in which direction we are heading as we have no plans. I guess that’s something only a retiree would understand.

It’s a pleasant drive to Lockhart and we quickly find some fuel but there is a cheaper automatic depot down the road, so after putting in enough fuel we drive to the automatic depot to top up. The damn thing gobbles a payment from our credit card without dispensing a measly drop.

Lockhart has a council maintained caravan park beside a small lagoon (Brookong Creek)  right in the heart of town. It is a little damp underfoot after the heavy rains but drying rapidly. There are excellent bathrooms each containing a toilet and shower.

The town of Lockhart is a reasonable size with a population of around 3000. There are wide verandahs running down both sides of the Main Street. There is a large museum at the information centre and a good butcher and supermarket. This is a town that is out to attract caravanners and there is plenty to look at. They hold an annual sculpture competition and the results can be seen dotted about town. Under the ample verandahs, the wide footpaths have been bricked and the bricks embossed with stories of the families who have made the town what it is today. Family trees, advertisements for bygone businesses. It is easy to pass the time reading about these folk and their exploits.

We are intrigued by an old pub that is no longer trading with the curious name of Green’s Gunyah Hotel. Apparently, the town was once known as Greens Gunyah until 1897.

The butcher is a friendly young bloke who sells us some of his home-made cabana. The evening chill sends us inside early to try the cabana, it’s so good we’ll need to buy more and to roast the now thawed little chook in the air fryer with a few vegies. We try hard to replicate the chicken roast Elle cooked last year in Roma and I reckon we do a pretty good job of it. She’d be proud of us.

We notice a crack in the shower roof hatch, UV ensures that caravan plastics need replacing regularly. We patch it up with some waterproof tape but it’ll need replacing when we can. The last one cracked and blew to pieces on the Pacific Highway somewhere north of Coffs Harbour a couple of years ago.

Accom: $25.00 (power, water, toilets, showers, dump point)

Fuel: $148.86 (217.0c/l)

Towing Kms: 78kms (obviously another of those exhaustingly long drives)