Holiday Adventures with Aussie Kids: JINDABYNE & FREE CAMPING TO MELBOURNE

Jindabyne NSW

Camping from NSW to VIC Melbourne

We free camped all the way down to Melbourne after we had a few days in Jindabyne which is in the Snowy mountains.

Jindabyne is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy River Shire. It is a popular holiday destination, especially in winter, due to its proximity to several ski resorts throughout the Kosciuszko National Park, including Thredbo and Perisher Blue. Both resorts are approximately 30 minutes drive into the park, although require the payment of park entry fees ($27 per vehicle per day and the compulsory carrying of snow chains in winter. However, Jindabyne also attracts tourists in summer with Lake Jindabyne popular for activities such as fishing, water skiing and wakeboarding. The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word meaning 'valley'.
Jindabyne is connected to the surrounding area by Kosciuszko Road, the Alpine Way and the Barry Way.

There was no snow for us but we did take a drive up to Thredbo and it was pouring with rain and at some spots higher up it got down to 2 degrees, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was a beautiful drive and very scenic lots of winding roads and beaut lookouts.

I had a really sore knee at Jindabyne and drove around looking for a chemist for some painkillers, this was a lunch time and nothing was open except woollies!! So I went back to the home remedy of an ice pack on for 5 and off for 5mins. Worked, cos the next day I was good to go!!

Our next stop was Pinch Dam a free camp about 5kms off the main road. We all loved it because we could actually get to light a camp fire. We went in search of fire wood and then got the marshmallows out. After the kids went to bed Clint and I sat around the fire enjoying the peace and quiet.

The next working we went for a short bush walk to the dam and on the way saw a tiger snake slithering along the path. We were glad to spot it so there weren't any surprises walking with the kids.

Next stop was Bellbird Motel, here was lonely old motel very small on the main highway. Down the back of it was a free camping area with swings and a large grassed area. It was a great spot surrounded by rainforrest bushes. It was starting to get a bit coolish in the nights but was ok inside the van. We didn't have a fire that night because there was a few mosquito's about.

We went up to the Motel and had a few bourbons and a met the owner and she had a lot of stories to tell us which kept us entertained for a few hours.

The next morning we left the van and unhitched to go for a rainforest walk not far up the road through the Bemm River. It had a swinging bridge which is always very cool.

The next stop was interesting...Clint had the next spot picked on the coast that looked really nice but there was no water for the tanks so we found an Apex Playground Park in Stratford which had public toilets very clean and safe.

Next to the toilets was a tap where we could pull the van up alongside and fill the tanks with water to last us 3 days. While Clint was filling the tanks Slade and Shelby were asleep so I took Isla out for a play at the park which was a Medieval themed park with a big green dragon and mirrors and a castle. I thought it was great and so did Isla, just as

Clint was finished the other two kids awoke and they ran straight for the park as well. We had a couple of hours here and it was getting a bit late in the day and the next stop was a few hours away. I suddenly had a thought...why dont we stay here for the night. Mind you there was a caravan park across the road but the kids were having so much at the park we couldn't be bothered setting up over the road. It was a great spot at the park as it was down from the road where the major traffic on the Princess highway passed. But unless you were really looking you wouldn't see our 26ft van and black cruiser...much.

So we decided why not lets just camp here and if anyone asks we tell them we were just too tired to drive any further. We even got a few hours of power as there was a power outlet in the BBQ covered area. Clint was a little restless waiting for the knock on the door to tell us to move on but we woke up in the morning with no incident. The kids had another play before we headed to our next spot...

We had trouble finding this one and it wasn't planned, Clint had picked one out the book which had a tick on it but it was nothing but a dump so we put the co-ordinates of Kurth Kiln which is in a national park. Our wonderful GPS took us on a couple of dirt road which were dodgy and we were having flashbacks of Wisemans Ferry. We eventually found the road to Kurth Kiln but it was also a dirt road and Clint was unsure if it was going to facilitate our large van so he decided to head down there on foot to check it out. We thought it wouldn't be far down the road but it ended out being 4km run for him. Just previously we headed down a road and missed the turn around and had to a 300 point turn with abusive hand signals by myself, so we didn't want anymore hostility so Clint thought checking it out would be a good idea.

After all the dramas we found a nice camp spot and it was rather cold during the night and the flannels and thermal wear were put on.

The next day we arrived in Melbourne City and we had no idea where we were staying when we got there. We rang around to some parks and they were very expensive and we were planning to stay awhile so we needed to budget for this. A lot of the parks were asking for $60 - $70 per night. We finally rang a park in Werribee who gave us a quote on half the price and we ventured down there. It was about 40mins from David & Karen and from the City but the freeways make it alot faster getting to places.

We set up in Werribee and then headed to David and Karen's to see if we could get the van into their place. Stayed a couple of night at Werribee before we managed to chop a tree and dissemble the small brick wall out the front of the yard and very carefully and skillfully back the van into their front yard. We even used David's car the Hyundai to assist in the manoeuvring of the van so we could get the van door open. Overall a very impressive job done by all parties.