Day 52 Tuesday 5/8/2025 Mannering Park to Yass, sunny 9 – 15

We slept well, but we do need more, lots more. We didn’t hook up to the leaky tap last night, so Woody runs the dishes over to the camp kitchen and we shower in the amenities block. Looking around, the park is very soggy. The kookaburras are a friendly bunch and the ducks come begging for brekkie. The sun is warm, and the lake would be perfect for a sail (we bought our first yacht from up here). What a pretty spot it is, don’t look at the power station.

It’s a short drive to pick up the M1 again, after having turned the wrong way. It’s easy to take this road for granted but it is an engineering feat, the cuttings having been hewn from towering sandstone. These days with tunnels and toll roads it is an easy drive through to well south of Sydney. Two hours later we’ve been over the Hawkesbury River, under the city of Sydney and are now on the Hume Freeway heading towards home and counting down the k’s.

Stopping at the Partridge VC rest area* which is the first since the Mooney Mooney rest area on the Hawkesbury, we chat with a truckie. Squatted on the verge he is making a Turkish coffee on one of those tiny butane stoves. He tells us that buying coffee on the road is too expensive and we agree that his coffee would be much better and cheaper, it smells good.

The exit to Goulburn gives us a chance to stretch our legs and find a quick lunch. And we manage to find room to park outside the grand courthouse building. We go in search of a café or bakery (sorry, Macca’s KFC etc). We find a bakery, the ‘Sandwich Manager’ is fluffing about artfully arranging lettuce on a bread roll, we change our minds and order pies instead. She should be just about finished making that salad roll when you read this. As we try to pay for the pies the EFTPOS goes down. We ask the ‘Pie Manager’ to hold the pies whilst we go in search of a bank. “Ooh we’ve just lost the computer” says the teller. We sign for our cash, ‘the old way’ on a withdrawal slip and race back to the bakery. Asking the ‘Register Manager’ for our pies, she in turn asks if the two bags on top of the warmer are ours from 5 minutes ago. The Pie Manager looks to the heavens with her mouth open. Early onset dementia or a hard day on the feet?

The pies are ok. After a walk through the gardens, it’s time to hit the road again. As always, we chuckle as we pass the affectionately named Roger, The Big Ram. Goulburn’s offering in Australia’s Big Thing collection. There are so many Big Things now that we must be vying for the world’s most expansive statue collection. The Big Banana, The Big Mango, 2 Big Prawns, The Big Koala, Lobby, the Big Lobster and so on.

Peeling off the highway at Yass we’ve booked into their friendly little caravan park. They give us a nice dry drive through site on a concrete slab and …the sun is shining. Tired and in need of someone else to do the cooking tonight we ask the manager where we can find the best pub for meals in town. She joyfully tells us that the Soldiers Club has just re-opened after major renovations, and they have a courtesy bus. We’re picked up out front at 5:30 and dropped off at the Club. It would be easy to think that we’ve walked onto a cruise ship. The furnishings are attractive, the atmosphere pleasant and the staff efficient and friendly. We find a quiet corner and tuck into a winter’s night dish of slow cooked beef cheeks. A few drinks and we’re whisked back to the park.

This is a town that we’d like to come back to for a little exploration as it’s filled with colonial history, but not this time, we’re a little weary.

Yass, we have no bananas? Is one of those family road trip sayings on the Hume Highway. Kill more at Kilmore. Things are crook in Tallarook. And this one is probably politically incorrect now…Euroa da boat and I’ll catcha da fish.

*The rest areas on the Hume Freeway are named after Australian soldiers who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. Frank Partridge VC was from the town of Bowraville.

Accom: $37.00, Fuel $43.20, Towing Kms: 383Kms