Koala spotting

The second night of our transit toward the Murray River saw us stop overnight in Grong Grong. The motel we'd booked proved to be the only disappointment on our entire vacation. It was rather plain and a little shabby around the edges, to say the least. However, I’d chosen it so that we’d be close to Narrandera and its popular Koala Reserve.

To reach Grong Grong, our touring route took us through Young and then on to Temora. The town of Temora proved a memorable stop. On the outskirts of town sits the Temora Memorial Museum. It’s famed for its semi-annual airshows when lovingly restored Second World War spitfires and other vintage aircraft take to the skies.

The museum itself houses an impressive collection of planes. Highlights for us included a visit to the restoration hanger where we witnessed a spitfire undergoing routine maintenance. The Tiger Moth and Vampire jet were also highlights. This event was well worth a pit stop – and even better – it cost us nothing thanks to event vouchers issued recently by the NSW Government. As the pandemic grinds on, these vouchers have been given to residents statewide as part of a program designed to help struggling local businesses.

The following morning, we made our way into Narrandera to spend a couple of hours searching for koalas along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. In 1972, at a time when no koalas had been seen around these parts since 1900, koalas were re-introduced into a local reserve from Victoria and Queensland. Through heatwaves, flooding and fire, a healthy population has survived. Today, there are an estimated 200 koalas living in the area.

We did well. During a 5km hike through the gum trees, we ultimately spotted three adults plus one baby clinging to its mother (you can see its little leg sticking out in one of the photos posted here). There’s something wonderfully satisfying about spotting koalas in the wild.

We stopped for lunch on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River outside Darlington Point before making our way on to Hay for our next overnight stop at the beautifully restored Convent Hotel. Sadly the image below isn't the hotel but one of the town's historic buildings.  However, the hotel itself was still a picturesque clutter of white-washed colonial buildings in the middle of town.