Bengalla Reserve

We are so are so lucky in Australia to have some great free camping areas. I know many councils are closing them down but good on the Goondiwindi council for allowing free camping along the river. Support the town and do you shopping there if staying at any of these areas.

We think we like Bengalla Reserve even more. It’s a huge area, even if there was lots of campers you would will still be well spread out. There is another blue skip bin up near the main road and the place is well sign posted.

There are several roads with the main one running along the top of the bank following the river. As you enter the reserve you can turn left or right, we went left and followed it right to the end of the reserve and it goes along way, we haven’t gone right yet. There are 3 others campers that we know of, a van not too far from us but in our spot he can’t see us and we can’t see him without walking away from camp.

We have again snagged ourselves a great spot down near the river about 5m from the waters edge, talk about river frontage and water views. Tucked up in a corner hidden from the road with a bank behind us, there is a little bit of grass here. We have not setup the annex this trip so far but with some possible rain on the way we decided to put it up and put down the floor mat.

We also have the Ute awning up and used one of the side annex walls to reach across the gap from the camper to the Ute annex. Gives us a large under cover area to walk between both vehicles ☺ works quite well.

Last night and in the late arvo we had quite a lot of rain and used buckets and any other containers we could find to collect the rain water running off the canvas. We filled the 25 Lt shower drum and 5 other containers about 80lts all up. Chris made the point how come when we are camped next to a flowing river with plenty of clean running water to fill the shower drum we get rain but it never happens when you are camped in a gravel pit etc and could do with the water. Chris kept a close eye on the river making sure if was not rising during the night since we were camped so close.

Next day was very foggy and remained overcast for most of the day. We only saw the sun for a few hrs late arvo. Next morning was also foggy and everything was dripping wet with a heavy due. But it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. We went for a paddle up the river, very shallow in places.

We also went for a walk. It’s a big area with plenty of flat areas overlooking the river to camp.

More mice last night heard one scratching the outside of the canvas and we found a dead one in the kitchen waste bucket again. It was a pretty chilly night. We spent several hours having fun taking star shots. We have a big open sky above us, which our lenses aren’t wide enough to capture all the amazing site our eyes can see.

It will be sad to leave this area, we have very much enjoyed our time here, it has been so peaceful and relaxing. Jess will be sad to leave as well, she loves the water and her sticks.