A Brief Pause at The Cotter

The blue light of the Wikicamps app illuminated Anth’s face as he weighed the logistics. With only forty-eight hours to spare, distance was the enemy; he needed a pause, not an expedition. Cotter Campground emerged as the logical compromise—close enough to Canberra to be practical, yet skirting the wild hem of Namadgi National Park.

When he mentioned the destination, Sal’s expression softened, the name sparking a sudden warmth.

'The Cotter! That's one of the places I used to camp when I was little.'

Her voice carried the echo of childhood summers, a nostalgic blessing on a journey he would be taking alone.

The drive was brief, a mere thirty minutes before the suburban sprawl dissolved into the scrub. Upon arrival, the campground held a heavy, welcome silence; only two other sites were occupied, leaving the rest of the grounds in a state of dormant anticipation. It wasn't the rugged isolation he usually sought. Here, order prevailed: designated bays, a brick amenities block, and the promise of hot showers . It was a far cry from the wild, dusty tracks of the interior, but it beat the claustrophobia of the suburbs.

As the week bled into the weekend, however, the solitude fractured. Tyres crunched over gravel in a steady rhythm as the city emptied itself into the reserve. Tents bloomed like nylon mushrooms and the air filled with the slam of car doors and the murmur of neighbours . By Saturday, the empty bays were a memory, the campground swelling to capacity.

Anth waited out the surge. On Sunday, as the weekend warriors packed down their eskies and collapsed their awnings, the quiet began to seep back in. He took the opportunity to wander down to the Cotter River, watching the clear water thread its way through the landscape, indifferent to the temporary invasion . The walk offered a moment of stillness, a brief communion with the land that the crowds had obscured.

Two nights away from suburbia had taken the edge off the restlessness, though the hunger for the road remained. With his wanderlust only slightly appeased, Anth turned the wheel back toward Canberra, trading the river’s flow for the rigid schedule of the V-Coach and train that would carry him south to Melbourne.Read more