24th – 29th April, 2022

Our first interstate trip!

Tocumwal is a small town located on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, just over the border from Victoria. It’s about a 3.5-hour drive from my home in Melbourne, and just under 300kms in distance, making it the biggest drive for Taylor and me at the time – and our first trip interstate!

So, why Tocumwal? I’d never even heard of it until I had extended family move there, however during WWII it was the site of a major training airfield and aircraft and fuel depot for the Royal Australian Air Force. My parents were heading up in their caravan for some time away and to see the family, and Taylor and I decided to join them for 5 nights over ANZAC Day, taking advantage of the National Public Holiday in Australia, which is also the same week as my birthday.

I’m a great lover of the outdoors, and ever since I adopted Taylor I’ve wanted to take her away camping. I also thought it would be fun to do a trip with my parents, with Taylor and me in my tent, and my parents in their caravan. Unfortunately, only having a little hatchback car meant I could go camping, or I could take Taylor – I simply couldn’t fit everything for both in the car at the same time! The Boomerang Way Tourist Park in Tocumwal was a happy medium as they have dog-friendly cabins, so Taylor and I stayed in a one-bed cabin while my parents had a site nearby with their caravan.

The park is quite a large park with lots of green space, which meant it was perfect for morning and evening toileting walks with Taylor as we didn’t have to leave the park or go too far to find “the” spot (which, as anyone who has a dog knows, is sometimes a challenge in itself!). There is also a fully fenced dog yard at the back of the park, meaning I could let Taylor off the lead and let her stretch her legs safely within the bounds of the yard. With a communal pool, playground, trampoline and outdoor BBQ area, it’s a very family friendly park and the shared amenities were clean and well maintained.

Once we were all unpacked at our cabin, Taylor wasted no time making herself at home at the grandpawrents’ caravan. In fact, later that evening when it was time for bed, Taylor got out of her bed and was standing at the door to our cabin wanting to go outside. Thinking she must need to toilet again, I put her lead on, grabbed some shoes and headed outside with her…where she proceeded to lead me straight back to my parents’ caravan!! Could I be so lucky as to have a camping dog on my hands??

The following day we took a short walk into town past The Big Murray Cod, located near the corner of Deniliquin Road and Murray Street near the Murray River, which measures a huge 2m x 7m. It is one of the more than 1,000 ‘big things’ which can be found all around Australia and is a reminder that the biggest Murray Cod ever caught, was caught here in Tocumwal.

Further down by the river, Taylor found a spot to have a little splash!

Being late April / mid-Autumn, the nights were quite cool during our stay, however for $20 you could hire a fire pit from the park, and they’d drop off a wheelbarrow of firewood at your site. This was Taylor’s first ever campfire, and she took it all in her stride!

As the park rules are that dogs always need to be on a leash, I kept Taylor’s harness on while she was in the park and attached the long lead (15 feet / approx. 5 metres) so she had some freedom of movement. This extra length also provides many options for securing her in situations like this, such as the stabilizers on the caravan, the bulbar of the car, tree trunks, verandah rails etc.

As the night progressed and the temperature cooled further, we made sure she was on a tarpaulin to prevent some of the cool and dampness coming up from the ground, and kept her snug in her coat, snood (neck warmer) and blankets. She was toasty!! So toasty, in fact, that she didn’t want to go back to our cabin that night! Taylor can be incredibly stubborn when she wants to be, so much so that on this occasion I needed my dad’s help to actually pick her up and carry all 29kgs of her over to our cabin when it was time for bed!

I’m sure Taylor would say that the floor of the cabin at the foot of my bed, with multiple layers of coats and blankets, was far less cozy than being curled up by the fire (and I would have to agree!)

A pub lunch was in order for my birthday, so we headed to the Farmers Arms Hotel in town. The pub has a dog-friendly, grassed beer garden out the back, and a side entrance makes for easy access. I’d packed Taylor’s long lead and given it was lunch time on a weekday, the pub was fairly quiet and she was able to roam around and have a little sniff (and a snack!).

The evening called for birthday cake by the fire, a nice surprise my parents had organised. Or, if you’re Taylor, it was time for a nice cosy nap.

After a very chilled few days away, it was soon time to head back home to Melbourne. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to the drive as I’d realised on the way up just how uncomfortable my little car was for lengthier drives like this!! But I was also excited as I’d realised – not only did I want to upgrade my car – I also had a dog that quite possibly loved being outside just as much as me!! And that would open up our future adventure possibilities tremendously 😀

Links (current as of 25 August 2024):

1. Boomerang Way Tourist Park: BOOMERANG WAY TOURIST PARK | CARAVAN PARK TOCUMWAL – Welcome
2. The Big Murray Cod: https://bigthingsofaustralia.com/the-big-murray-cod/
3. Australia’s Big Things: Big things (Australia) – Wikipedia
4. Farmers Arms Hotel: Farmers Arms Hotel Tocumwal (farmersarmstocumwal.com.au)