Rankins Springs is a small village in the Riverina region of NSW about 45 min from Griffith.
We had passed theFree Campand pub a couple of times as we were staying down the road at Weethalle showground. Having heard the food was good we had a Sunday drive to check out the Free Camp, pub, food, main street and caravan park.
Conapaira Hotel
Rankins Spring Pub
After heading in to the bar at the Rankins Springs Hotel ( Conapaira Hotel ), we decided what to have for lunch. I chose the grilled fish and Larry the rissoles. The food was so fresh and tasty, I could have eaten it again. Maybe I will. For desert we shared the banana split, my inner child was doing a happy dance with the party in my mouth 🤤
Conapaira Hotel
The pub’s Kitchen “Triple D’s Diner” is open 7 days per week Monday – Sunday for dinner 6.30 – 8 & Saturday and Sunday for lunch 12-2 😋
Pub Food Yumm
Beautiful Pub Grub
Triple D’s Diner menu
The staff and locals are a friendly bunch. I asked if it was correct if there is free camping over the road and he said yes. There is also a small neat caravan park over the road if you would prefer power.
In The Village
On the opposite corner to the pub is Wally’s Junk Art Gallery. In the outside area are a heap of fun pieces of art made with scrap metal. Wally’s Junk Art is also open to other artists that would like to display their wares.
Wally’s Junk Art Gallery
If you’re just wanting to stop for a break, head to the park area opposite the store. As well as BBQ, seating and pieces of history, you will find the Rankins Springs Pioneer Memorial Centre. Also information on walks you can take.
Rankins Springs General Store/Post Office/Cafe does breakfast and coffee as well as burgers, sandwiches and basic groceries. Great to have a place like this for morning coffee!
General Store
General Store Cafe
Store, Post Office & Cafe
Free Camp Rankins Springs
This free camp is a very basic. Located in a parkland area on the opposite corner to the Conapaira Hotel. The area is large enough for any size rig and has bins available.
Rankins Springs Caravan Park
If you do want to connect to power & water then across the road from the hotel is this small, neat caravan park. They also have the usual shower, toilets and laundry. Its Pet friendly and is around $25 – $27 a night.
Rankins Springs Caravan Park
Rankins Springs Caravan Park
Stop for a night or stop for a break and support our small country towns! 🤠
We came to Weethalle Showground as Larry was offered a short term seasonal job on a near by broadacre farm. This was something Larry had wanted to try his hand at for a while. Driving big machinery on a farm rather than working on a cattle station which he liked but has already tried.More on Larry’s WA Cattle Station Job
Weethalle Showground Camping
Once we arrived at Weethalle showground we gave Betty a call to collect our $10 fee (the phone number is on WikiCamps and at the showground) There is a donation box which she asked us to put the money in. Most times she will come and collect the fee.
You will find a nice grassed area you can park beside and you have many power boxes to choose from around the grounds. Have a look around before you set up. You will also spot a few water taps to fill your tanks.
Toilets and showers are available if you need them and a dump point is also at the showgrounds. Kids will be happy with the playground, basketball court and skateboard/bike area.
toilets and shower
Have A Stroll
Weethalle Showground Club
Weethalle showgrounds has an on site Country/Bowling/Golf club. It’s open every evening (except Monday) for pizza and a larger menu on a Thursday night. Being camped here for a while we had a few yummy pizzas. The staff and locals are a friendly bunch so we joined them at the club for Easter. It was a packed night and we ended up winning some chocolates (insert drool here)
Great Pizza
Country club bar
weethalle country club
Country club at Easter
The Weethalle Country Club has a beautifully maintained bowling green and a 9 hole golf course.
Bowling green
Golf
Weethalle Main Street
The main street is less than 10 minutes stroll away from Weethalle Showground. Here you will find:
Weethalle Painted Silo
One of the best painted silos is in NSW, is this one in Weethalle. In fact this was the first to be painted in NSW.
Silo Art
Whistle Stop Cafe
Next to the silo is the Whistle Stop Cafe which is run by volunteers who do a lovely Devenshire tea. You can have a look through a couple of train carriages which are now used to sell local arts and crafts.
Devonshire Tea
Old bank
Train Cafe
Weethalle Pub
The Royal Hotel was established in 1928 and if you head inside you can still see some of that old architecture. Check out their Facebook page for whats on, who’s playing and when the bistro is open.
Royal Hotel
Fat Bob And The Blonde HQ
Now before you start thinking Fat Bobs not a nice name, Fat Bob is in fact the name of a motorbike. Heather (the Blonde) is a motorcycle enthusiast. So much so Heather parks her bike with pride out the front of her cafe.
Fat Bob & the Blond HQ
Fat Bob
As well as coffee, cake and lunch items, Heather supports locals by selling their art and crafts. Fat Bob and the Blonde HQ has a great vibe to it. Maybe this is because Heather brings such positivity and fun to the place. See more of Heather and Fat Bob on her website
Coffee and cake
Gifts
Road Kill Grillz
If your looking for a great breakfast or a good meal check out Road Kill Grillz. Lynda and the team cook up a storm for locals, travellers and truck drivers. Lynda also sells a few grocery items that might come in handy.
Road Kill Grillz Roadhouse
On The Farm
Larry, I’m sure, will write about working on the farm at some point but here’s a little of what he’s been doing. Fixing farm machinery, preparing fields for sowing, cleaning seed, Sowing acres and acres of fields with various seeds like lupins, canola, barely and wheat, loading and unloading trucks of grain and general farm upkeep.
Water ? : Yes , not many but a few to fill your tank
Power ? : Yes
Will suit: All sized vehicles
Is it on Wikicamps ?: Yes
Drive time to nearby shops: 1 minutes to main road, a few basic items at Road Kill Grillz
Amenities : Shower, toilets
Other : Dump point, Bins, Golf, Bowling, Country club, Playground, skateboard/scooter track, Basketball court, Short walk to main street to visit Silo art, Cafes, Pub and post office
On site Country Club has Pizza every night excluding Monday (as closed) – Thursday they have a larger menu.
Barellan Showground is around 40 minutes east of Griffith. We first headed to Barellan for a look around when Larry got a job in the area on a breadacre farm. When we returned for harvest we stayed a week at the showground. The caretakers, Mark and Denise have made the place one travellers want to return to.
Mark has helped put more water points in and you will find many powered sites around the showground. Big rigs will find they have loads of room in this large showground.
Free Friday night sausage sizzle Heaps of room
Showground Amenities
Mark and Denise have cleaned and painted the old toilet/shower block. Adding plants and a small book exchange. Also, a new set of amenities are almost finished being put in. Denise mentioned she will be planting a small herb garden which travellers will be able to pick, how lovely is that!
Nice Touches
Barellan Showground also has a dump point for those of us that like to use our own facilities.
Dump Point
Have A Walk To..
Barellan Showground is a short walk away from the main street of this small town, which is in the centre of the Riverina
👍 The Big Tennis Racquet, a tribute to Evonne Goolagong Cawley who was ranked the number one player in the world in 1971 and 1976.
Big Tennis Racquet
👍 The Commercial Hotel which has meals Wednesday to Saturday and also has FREE camping for patrons.
The Commercial Hotel
👍 The Barellan & District War Memorial Club has a Chinese restaurant – Dinner Thursday to Sunday and lunch Saturday & Sunday.
👍 You will also find essentials like a grocery store, the Golden Grain cafe and a post office/gift shop.
The main street also has “Off The Farm Arts & Gifts”. Now, you’re not likely to find it open, but don’t let that put you off. Have a bit of a window shop and if you find something you like. Call the number on the window and Amanda will come open up for you.
Barellan main streetThe Golden Grain Cafe
👍 The Barellan swimming pool is a short stroll away. As well as two pools it boasts a cafe style seating area. Have a coffee, cold drink or ice cream on a hot day.
Barellan Swimming Pool
Have A Drive..
If your only staying for a night you don’t have to un-hook to enjoy this small country town. If you’re staying for longer though you can have a drive to Weethalle to see the painted silo, only 30 minutes north.
Griffith is only 40 minutes away where you can check out some wineries or Italian eateries in the area. An hour away is Coolamon where you can see the Cheese factory and take some home.
Lake Cargelligo has two camp sites by the lake. The smaller one is named “Deadmans Point” and the larger is called “Frogs hollow”. We visited both camps after our drive to near by Ungarie and Burcher (Also donation camps)
1. Dead Mans Point
Lets start with the smaller camp. This maybe the smallest of the two Lake camp’s but it still has all you need. It’s suited to smaller/medium rigs unless it’s empty.
You park over looking the water, in what is basically the car park but who cares with a view like that.
Toilets
Loo with a view, toilets are available 24/7
Toilets
Dead Mans Point BBQ Area
The undercover seating and electric BBQ’s overlook the Lake. The donation box and bins are also here.
BBQ Area
Donation Box
BBQ Area
Deadmans Point is a small simple camp but with the view over Lake Cargelligo it’s worth checking out.
2. Frogs Hollow
Lake Cargelligo also has camp called “Frogs Hollow”, a larger donation camp that will fit lots of vans of any size. A bonus is that you can stay up to 7 days
Frogs Hollow
Frogs Hollow
You can have a fire pit here and this camp also has toilets & bins. Have a fish in the lake or just chill out with a good book and listen to the birds singing.
Frogs Hollow
Have A Fish
Of course there is a lake so head out on the water, kayaking, boating or swim. This would also be a nice place to go for a bike ride.
Ungarie is in the central west of New South Wales 1.5 km from Forbes showground.
This showground is a donation camp. We didn’t stay here but I wanted to have a look. We were passing it on our Sunday drive throughBurcher toLake Cargellio. These are also donation camps!
Entry
Ungarie Showground Camp
A little rough around the edges is how I would describe this showground. As it is a donation camp that’s not something that would bother us if we did stay. I did spot a couple of power boxes and a water tap near the amenities.
Large parking area
Power and water
There is a toilet/shower here which is also suitable for the disabled. The dump point and sports courts are also here. I think they are for netball, basketball and soccer
Toilet/shower
Dump Point
Have A Stroll
The Ungarie pub is a short stroll away as is the Big Football (Big Sherrin). You’ll also find a book exchange here.
Big Football
Book Exchange
Ungarie pub
Ungarie War Memorial Park
This park has some great murals depicting service men and woman. Also a giant globe with dates and locations where ungarie men and women served.
The small town of Burcher is a little over 2 hours north of Wagga Wagga. The campsite is simple yet has everything you need. Around the corner is the pub. Did I mention it has everything you need 😁 Unfortunately the pub was closed, maybe next time 👍
We headed here on a Sunday drive, along withUngarieand Burcher (Also donation camps) to check out the surrounding areas around Weethalle. Weethalle is a small town we have been spending a lot of time in due to Larry’s seasonal farm job.
Lots Of Room
Burcher Camp Ground
This campsite is rustic with patches of green whilst other parts are dirt. Power and water sites are available which is pretty amazing for a donation camp. They do recommenced a $5 donation which again is fantastic even for a basic camp.
Power & Water
Donation Box
The camp kitchen has a table, seating, sink and power.
Amenities
There seams to be two lots of toilets and showers. One older block and a couple of newer disabled toilet/shower.
Disabled Toilet/shower
The Burcher pub is a short walk around the corner. Hopefully you will be there when it’s open so you can check out their menu 🍻 🍴
Whether you like gathering around a communal fire pit or you love farm animals you should check out Gulargambone Caravan Park. Bernadette (one of the owners) gave me a warm welcome when we checked in and invited us for happy hour that evening. What a lovely welcome!
After parking up on the large grassy site, I had a walk around and found these gorgeous farm animals. How cool to see a caravan park with animals! They also have a menagerie of birds.
Little Extras At Gulargambone Caravan Park
You have to check out the huge undercover kitchen/TV/fire pit area. This is such a good area to sit around and meet fellow travellers or see some memorabilia. David, the other owner, came and cooked us some sausage rolls for happy hour. It was interesting to hear about the local area as well as Bernadette and Davids travels.
Fire Pit
Camp Kitchen
Happy Hour
You can see the owners have a sense of fun and that they love their park. When you see the dump point, it’s not just a dump point, but an old out back dunnie kind of dump point
Dump Point
Nearby
A short walk away is Two Eight Two Eight, the local cafe/Information desk/gallery and craft shop. It used to be the old theatre. We had a coffee and scones before we had a walk down the main street.
Coffee shop
Two Eight Two Eight
One side of the street has old shops that are now closed but have been painted in the most vibrant of colours. In each store window someone has designed a tribute to what the shop once was or a fun piece of art to look at.
Beautiful Colours
Corrugated galahs are all around the town as are real galahs. You will also spot some great wall and silo art.
Wall Art
Next to Gulargambone Caravan Park is a swimming pool for those warmer days, very handy. David & Bernadette told us they are hoping to have an Elvis festival at the park if all goes well. Fingers crossed for them.
Dirranbandi Caravan Park is on the border of Qld & NSW. About 1.5 hrs north of Lightning Ridge in NSW. I love the touches of rustic character.
This great little park was another quick one night stop for us as we headed south to a seasonal job for Larry. We would have liked to of stayed longer. They have great reviews about their baked spud, soup, damper & pizza nights. The camp has a huge fire and bbq area.
Camp Kitchen
Huge Fire
BBQ – Fire Area
I was interested to hear about the beautiful old white 1954 building at the front of the park having read it used to be a convent & a collage for boarders at some point. I believe it maybe being made into accommodation?
The owners Nikki and Scott also do tours but we missed them this time. I would really love to sit around that humongous fire place at happy hour and have a chat. I’d like to know about what they are doing to the old building and where they got there rustic and eclectic garden ornaments from.
The caravan park
The parking area is gravel but they also have a grass area for tents. The amenities block is in the centre of the park with a ramp should you need it.
Amenities
On a side note: this is another caravan park that opened for full time, essential travellers last year. Although we didn’t stop here, Thank You!! Support those who support us! They were also short listed at the 2020 Grey Nomad Awards.
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I LOVE! our square pans. Before we bought these from Outback Equipment, our old pans took up so much room in the van. Also, if we had multiple pans on the stove they would not all fit on properly. These nonstick pans are like a Russian doll, they all fit nice and compact inside each other.
Photo: Our Smart Space Pots
Photo: All Smart Pots Stacked Inside Each Other
Each Smart Space Square Pot comes with a lid and Teflon Mat to protect your bench top. They are also suitable for induction stoves. Outback Equipment has there fantastic pans.
We use Boost Mobile while travelling around Australia as it has 3G & 4G coverage on the Telstra Mobile network At the end of each of our travel posts, we comment about Boost’s coverage at each camp. You’ll find we have Boost phone and internet coverage at the majority of places. Boost is flexible and no need to lock in a contract
At Tentworld you will find a huge range of Camping, Cravanning, Off road & Adventure gear. You might even find a gift for a happy camper.
Find Whats On
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To be transparent, we do have some affiliate links and codes on this page. We may get a small commission if you purchase something. This will be at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for being part of our travelling family.
Here are Larry and my, most used travel apps on our android phones. We have also included shortcut icons we have on our phones for websites we use. These are ones that come in handy for us as full time travellers, with the lifestyle we have.
As usual, everyone is different, so you might have others that are more relevant to you and your family. Here is our top 15 apps in no particular order.
This free app shows you all the servos around Australia and the latest fuel prices. This is helpful when your heading to a town with a few petrol stations and you want to find the cheapest. Also it’s good to see when you can next top up.
You can listen to any genre of music you like whether it’s to relax or keep you motivated. Play a podcast or comedy while your driving to keep everyone entertained. Spotify is free, if you don’t want to pay the $11.99 per month premium version.
This free app is going to take off big time. Wherever you’re travelling, what ever you’re in to, Lets Do Something has you covered. Wondering what there is to do in a place you are heading ? You may have already looked on WikiCamps for points of interest and nothing appeals to you. Lets Do Something is adding to its list every day. They list everything from: 👉 Waterfalls 👉 Camel races 👉 Farms 👉 Lookouts 👉 Festivals 👉 Wine tasting 👉 Sailing 👉 Kids stuff 👉 Live music 👉 Markets 👉 Art and culture 👉 Health and fitness and so much more!
This emergency app can help you to get in touch with police, SES, the poisons Information line and more. The app knows your location to give to the emergency service you need. Handy if you’re on the road full time like us and might not quite know your location.
Emergency + app
Streaming Apps – Cost: $6.99 pm Prime – $10.99pm Netflix
Some people wonder why you would have these as you go camping/caravanning to be outside. This is true but we live on the road full time. And Like many people who live in bricks and mortar Homes, we like to watch movies and documentaries. Prime is only new to us and is looking better and cheaper then Netflix so we might get rid of that one. Its another app that makes it into our 15 Apps For Travellers
Living on the road, we get parcels delivered to different locations. If we know ahead of time what town we’ll be in , we will send parcels “care of” a post office in that town. Tracking your parcels and get the estimated delivery date is also easy.
This is an official app for bush fire information. Travelling through NSW last year we found this app super helpful. We could keep up to date with road closures due to fires and see how close they were to us.
We have the QLDTraffic app. You will probably find them in other states & territories.
This is the official source of live traffic and travel information from the Qld government. You will see road closures and restrictions, roadworks and be informed about crashes and hazards.
Tasmania was the first place we found out about this app. With this you don’t have to carry change around for the parking meter or return to your car to put in extra money so it doesn’t run out.
You simply open the app which will determine which meter you’re at. You then dial in how long you think you will be there for. If you are longer or shorter then you thought you would be you just adjust the time on your app. You’ll also get reminders when it’s about to expiry. No need to go back to the meter or run out of time. I think they should have this in more towns around Australia.
This app is good to manually check when our caravan and ute rego is due and it also sends a reminder email when it’s due.
You will probably find this in each state and territory. We had a bad experience last year when we were pulled over by the police. We didn’t realise our Rego was out of date and it had come up on the police cars computer as they passed us. As we have no fixed address we didn’t get a reminder. Also, the email reminder Larry normally gets didn’t happen.
These next few I have added to my phone as short cut Icons. Much like an app on your phone, you press the icon which takes you to the website.
Another shortcut on our list of 15 Apps For Travellers is google Maps. I added this short cut to my phone but you can download the app. Apparently the app has lots of adds so adding a shortcut makes more sense.
It has been great for obvious reasons but also for seeing what is available locally. Below the map you have a “explore nearby” section. Search near by for things to do, shopping, services etc. You can also look at photos of these things or add your own.
Do you want to mix camping with a good bush pub, counter meal, cheap camp or a good yarn with other campers at happy hour?
Country Pub Camping’s website and Facebook page shows you all the pubs around Australia that have camping on site or less then 1km away (no Uber needed) They also include camping at free camps, showgrounds and more. As long as it’s not a caravan park and it’s less then a kilomiter away.
Looking to refill your gas bottle when on the road? Then this is a fantastic website (and Facebook page) Simply enter a town and it will show you the gas bottle exchange or refill in that area. You can then see the location, on the map, address & price.
We love to do house and farm sitting as we travel. Staying in one place for a length of time means you get to see much more of that area for free. So we’ve added this to our 15 Apps For Travellers list as well
Usually you can hook up to water and power or stay in the persons home if that’s what’s required. This is not usually paid but you are basically camping for free.
We have found the animals we care for leave a lasting impression as do the owners. We have been lucky enough to have been asked back to all our house/farm sits.
If your interested in house or farm sitting you can follow this affiliate link and check outMore on Aussie House Sitters here. The lovely people over at Aussie House Sitters have been good enough to give our members a discount. Use our Coupon Code “AHS15%off”. This will give you 15% off your regular membership.
💥 A Bonus Shortcut Icon 💥 –
We use Boost Mobile while travelling around Australia as it has 3G & 4G coverage on the Telstra Mobile network At the end of each of our travel posts, we comment about Boost’s coverage at each camp. You’ll find we have Boost phone and internet coverage at the majority of places. Boost is flexible and no need to lock in a contract
This was our 15 Apps For Travellers (plus the late arrival of our bonus Icon) There is bound to be some more good ones. Have we missed any other good apps ? Let us know below.
