{"id":508645,"date":"2026-02-28T00:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/508645\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T00:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:57:14","slug":"a-4x4-journey-from-nsw-to-south-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/508645\/","title":{"rendered":"A 4\u00d74 journey from NSW to South Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

I slipped the Cruiser<\/a> into four-wheel drive and eased onto the sand track that dropped down to the beach.<\/p>\n

It was the final leg of my journey retracing Charles Sturt\u2019s 1829-30 expedition down the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers to the sea. Just a few days earlier, Facebook warnings suggested the beach was soft, but whatever had worried people must have changed. Once I\u2019d dropped tyre pressures, I never had a worry.<\/p>\n

JUMP AHEADFrom Camden to CanyonleighThe first couple of days had started easily enough \u2013 bloody filthy weather aside \u2013 as we left Camden on the southern edge of Sydney\u2019s greater metropolitan area.<\/p>\n

Back in November 1829, at the outset of his second major expedition, Sturt stayed with a friend at the newly established Brownlow Hill station, the region having only been settled a few years earlier. Remarkably, that property just west of central Camden has survived the pressure of urbanisation and remains one of Australia\u2019s most significant colonial estates \u2014 a rare, near-intact early farm now protected by heritage listing. Brownlow Loop Road cuts through the estate and offers great views of the historic property; it\u2019s a public road, even if the signage at either end may suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019d expect, in the nearly 200 years since Sturt headed south, plenty has changed \u2013 and finding even a dirt road that lined up with his route proved a genuine test of my map-reading skills (or lack thereof). Still, south of Picton we picked up a long run of gravel through Canyonleigh, following the general line of Sturt\u2019s path to a shallow ford on the Wollondilly River near the tiny hamlet of Towrang. It must be said the ford isn\u2019t always shallow, nor is the Wollondilly always gently flowing, as the flood debris piled on both banks makes clear. Be prepared to turn back if the river is running too fast or too deep.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Through Goulburn and beyondSturt had camped on the Wollondilly nearby, at the base of the Cookbundoon Range in mid-November 1829, but try as I might to do the same, I was continually stymied by private property and \u2018No Entry\u2019 signs.<\/p>\n

I pushed on to Goulburn and followed dirt roads across the Breadalbane Plains, then up and over the low Cullerin Range to Gunning, keeping reasonably close to Sturt\u2019s original track \u2013 and what would later become the route of the original Hume Highway. The Lachlan River rises in the hills north of here, forming one of the major west-flowing water arteries that we\u2019d meet again later in the trip.<\/p>\n

At Jugiong, Sturt had his first sighting of the Murrumbidgee \u2013 and like him, so did we \u2013 before we pushed on to Gundagai, where Sturt and his men crossed to the river\u2019s southern bank. A monument marking the crossing stands in the local caravan park near the modern road bridge. Back in Sturt\u2019s day, the Gundagai area represented the very edge of European settlement, so from this point on he and his party were heading into essentially unknown country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Along the MurrumbidgeeWe pushed on, keeping close to the Murrumbidgee <\/a>as we headed towards Wantabadgery, stopping just short of the small town at the very pleasant Sandy Beach.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d camped there before, and I knew it would be just the start \u2013 a great introduction to the many fine camping spots dotted along the Murrumbidgee that we\u2019d enjoy in the days ahead. In Wantabadgery we pulled up to check out the small monument to The hero of Wantabadgery \u2013 Senior Constable Edward Mostyn Webb-Bowen \u2013 who was fatally wounded in 1879 while trying to capture the infamous bushranger Captain Moonlight (sometimes spelt \u2018Moonlite\u2019). Moonlight was later caught and hanged for his crimes, and both the policeman and the bushranger are buried in Gundagai.<\/p>\n

Following the Murrumbidgee westward, about 18km east of Wagga Wagga we swung into the Oura Beach Reserve for a look, but with it being early in the day \u2013 and the place already dotted with vans and campers \u2013 we pushed on. West of the city we were back on the gravel, River Road starting out in good condition before gradually degenerating into a 4\u00d74 track as we passed the last of the farmhouses along the river.<\/p>\n

Passing through a gate into what\u2019s known as Jones Reserve, we found ourselves right on the banks of the stream \u2013 a cracking spot to pull up for a night or two. The track continues on, heading away from the water and winding through open forest and across a few grassy dunes before meeting Old Narrandera Road. As the signs on the exit gate later revealed, somewhere since leaving the river we\u2019d passed into Saw Pit Reserve which, as a designated Travelling Stock Route, doesn\u2019t allow camping. I\u2019m never quite sure why that rule applies to these open bush areas of Crown Land \u2013 or whether it applies to those actually driving stock.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Camping and the Murrumbidgee Valley Regional ParkEast of Narrandera we had a look at the camping options at Berembed Weir and at the Rocky Waterholes. My pick is Berembed Weir; it was far quieter than the Rocky Waterholes site.<\/p>\n

West of Narrandera, on the north side of the river, a series of disjointed forest and bushland parcels make up the Murrumbidgee Valley Regional Park (MVRP \u2013 pronounced Mer-um-bid-gee if you\u2019re not a local). Along here the riverbanks and their big river red gums look much as they would have in Sturt\u2019s day. The park offers plenty of campsites dotted along the river, some with sandy beaches ideal for swimming or paddling.<\/p>\n

To stay close to the river, take River Road west of Yanco, where you\u2019ll find access tracks leading through the red gum forest to the water\u2019s edge. When we were here a few years back the tracks were strewn with fallen timber; this time around it wasn\u2019t an issue \u2013 but be warned. Most of the tracks are easy going when dry, but when wet these mostly black-soil plains can turn even a simple trail into something slippery and boggy. In the Willbriggie section of the regional park, west of the small town of Darlington Point, you\u2019ll find a half dozen campsites along the river with Swaggies Beach being our favourite.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Crossing the Hay Plains and Sturt\u2019s TreeAs you head west, the road crosses the Hay Plains well away from the river and seems to stretch to eternity across a flat, dun-coloured landscape of saltbush, bluebush and drying lignum.<\/p>\n

The only relief from the monotony comes from the lines of trees marking an ephemeral watercourse or an occasional stand of hardy acacias such as mulga and myall. Even Sturt recorded similar thoughts on the monotonous landscape stating, \u201cOur route during the day was over as melancholy a tract as ever was travelled\u2026 It is impossible for me to describe the kind of country we were now traversing, or the dreariness of the view it presented.\u201d He\u2019d be amazed at the transformation that irrigation has brought to much of the region.<\/p>\n

About 4km east of Hay, a small carpark on the south side of the highway \u2013 close to the river \u2013 marks the site of Sturt\u2019s Tree. A plaque erected in 1979 identifies the location, the blaze on the tree now sitting at its base after being found almost buried under flood debris and mud built up over the intervening years. Hay itself has the popular Sandy Point Reserve along the edge of the Murrumbidgee \u2013 Sturt camped close by \u2013 but just west of town is the small Wooloondool section of the MVRP, which offers about half a dozen camping areas along the river. The western-most camp, Mad Dog Bend, is the best and largest in my view; like most sites in the MVRP, there are no facilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Through Maude, Balranald, and the MurrayAt the tiny hamlet of Maude we turned onto Nap Nap Road \u2013 there\u2019s a camp right on the river\u2019s edge just after the turn \u2013 and headed south-west, the route skirting the fringe of the vast Great Cumbungi Swamp.<\/p>\n

The swamp sprawls across a huge expanse around the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers. It stopped explorer John Oxley in 1817 and forced Sturt to take to his boat \u2013 which he\u2019d dragged all the way overland from Sydney \u2013 only a short distance downstream of Maude. Today, much of the swamp has been drained, but you\u2019ll still see remnants of lignum and cumbungi close to the road.<\/p>\n

At Balranald we explored Yanga National Park, which protects more than 170km of Murrumbidgee River frontage \u2013 much of it looking much as it did when Sturt and his men rowed past. Centred around the historic Yanga Homestead, the property was once the largest in NSW, running in excess of 100,000 sheep in its heyday. In 1922 the 40-stand shearing shed shore 93,386 sheep and produced more than 2000 bales of wool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Back in the 1980s we used to chase feral pigs through the lignum here \u2013 great fun, and we were doing the environment a favour. Today there are a couple of camping spots in the park, both on the river: one close to Balranald and the other at the very northern tip of the park, which is by far the more remote and quieter of the two.<\/p>\n

The Murrumbidgee ends where it joins the Murray, the point where Sturt and his party were swept out onto \u201ca broad and noble river\u201d. That junction of the two great streams isn\u2019t easy to reach from the NSW side, so we crossed into Victoria and made our way to Junction Camp, east of the small township of Boundary Bend, in a section of state forest slated to become part of the proposed Murray River Park. Much of the track network here has become overgrown, and the camping spot at the actual junction leaves a lot to be desired. Passage Camp, just a few kilometres away, is a far better place to pull up with a camper or throw down the swag.<\/p>\n

We followed the river westward and stopped at Junction Park in Wentworth, where we viewed the junction of the Darling and Murray rivers. It was here that Sturt had a tense confrontation with a large group of Aboriginal people \u2013 but throughout this expedition, and in his journeys before and after, his leadership meant no blood was shed on either side.<\/p>\n

Back on the road we headed along a good dirt run to the Rufus River \u2013 named by Sturt after his friend\u2019s red hair, believe it or not \u2013 and found a small camp beside the stream, just south of the large, shallow Lake Victoria.<\/p>\n

Into South AustraliaNext day we crossed into South Australia<\/a> \u2013 the state whose very foundation, just a few years later, was shaped in part by Sturt\u2019s journey down the river.<\/p>\n

Here, amongst the vineyards and orchards of Australia\u2019s food bowl, there are a number of parks and reserves that remain much as they were when Sturt sailed past. These include the Murray River NP and, further west, Morgan CP, to name just two. We like camping in the latter, on a bend of the river opposite the great cliffs Sturt wrote about, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (the river) increased considerably in breadth and stretched away before us in magnificent reaches of from three to six miles in length. The cliffs under which we passed towered above us like maritime cliffs, and the water clashed against their base like the waves of the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later we were standing on a low headland overlooking Lake Alexandrina, just on the outskirts of the pleasant Aboriginal community of Raukkan. You reach it via a short ferry ride across the narrow Albert Passage, which links Lake Alexandrina with the much smaller Lake Albert. Overlooking the passage is the small but distinctive Point Malcolm Lighthouse \u2013 the only lighthouse in inland Australia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

28<\/p>\n

On the outskirts of Raukkan stands a monument to Sturt, erected by the local community in 1930. It must be the only monument erected by Aboriginal people to a European explorer in all of Australia \u2013 I\u2019ve certainly never heard of another.<\/p>\n

On the western side of the lake is Point Sturt \u2013 visible from the monument at Raukkan on a clear day \u2013 from which Sturt sailed on the final leg of his journey. The headland is reached via a gravel road that cuts across flat farmland before giving way to a more natural landscape as you reach the low promontory overlooking the expanse of water. It\u2019s not a bad spot to camp, especially if the wind has eased.<\/p>\n

Sturt then pushed on down what we know today as the Goolwa Channel and camped near where the present-day barrage crosses the stream to keep saltwater out of the lake and surrounding country. From here, he and his men walked across the intervening dunes and along the beach to the Murray Mouth. Not being that energetic, I headed to the local Surf Life Saving Club and took to the beach for the final run in Sturt\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

It had been an enjoyable and enlightening trip in the wake of one of Australia\u2019s great explorers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I slipped the Cruiser into four-wheel drive and eased onto the sand track that dropped down to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-508645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}