Day 3: Road testing road tourism

Leaving Griffith, we were joined on the road by ABC Stateline which will be broadcasting their report this Friday night, for NSW viewers. The caravan park owner told me that the weather that morning (cold drizzle) reminded him of what the weather was like in Griffith 15 years ago.

I thought perhaps that we were instrumental in helping to break the drought because Griffith is on category 2 restrictions. The Stateline crew arrived late due to being fogbound in Orange so our program has been delayed and we’ve had to make compromises.

While I was there, I called in to the information centre in Banna Street and ran into an old colleague from my earlier tourism days. Ellen worked in the industry with me when I was the Tourism Officer in Mittagong and we often met at conferences.

Tonight we are camping in Balranald and the owner, Jim, hails from Pambula on the NSW South Coast, just outside my electorate. Once again we faced a head wind as we travelled to our first stop Hay via Darlington Point on the Murrumbidgee River and after two days of arriving on a near empty tank, we refuelled at every major stop.

Hay was an eye opener. While we were having lunch, we spoke to one of the waitresses and asked her how things were. She had a revealing tale to tell. Apparently the local hotel at South Hay would normally prepare about 60 to 70 meals each day. Now he is only doing 30 because the road touring business has dried up dramatically.

The café in which she is working has cut back the hours of all staff and other businesses are going through similar experiences. There is no doubt in my mind that unless the government does something urgently to address this problem, some towns will die.

The information centre was particularly hospitable and oozed country charm. They could not do enough.

Just to illustrate their positive outlook, we had earlier driven around behind the town and took a look at the so called mighty Murrumbidgee.

It had dried to barely a trickle and looked no more than a large pond. Certainly I didn’t see any flow and I wonder how the town survives with water that low.

The day seemed like one continuous drive. I had not been across the Hay plains for a long, long time and the road seemed to go on forever. The terrain just seemed to get flatter and flatter.

From Hay to Balranald, we seemed to be driving continuously uphill with little relief from the unending horizon. In fact so repetitious was it that we started welcoming every sign that told us how far we had to go.

We arrived in Balranald just after 4.30 to find that the information centre had closed so we went to the park to book in. Jim the Manager was very helpful and we came across a number of touring campers who were interviewed by the Stateline team, all with a similar story.

I think we are starting to realise that the high price of fuel is here to stay and that we have to develop policies to get around that and still maintain the health of an industry upon which many country townships rely. I’m working on a concept now and will be fleshing it out as we continue to travel.

Tomorrow, Mildura, where we will have to make up some time so it’s an early start for us in the morning. All I can say is that you can help country folk by promising to take your next holiday in one of these towns. You won’t regret it and neither will they.