Want to stay at Nil Desperandum?

I think I’ll be heading out there with the boys over summer Looks beautiful, and not an X-box in sight. 🙂

It’s a little bit expensive for me. I would prefer to be somewhere alone with my man and not a whole group of friends. Birragai is a lot cheaper for a crowd. It’s on the Tidbinbilla web too.

Masquara said :

You absolutely don’t need a 4WD to get in there. We used to drive in in a Barina. Sad, so sad. Nil Desperandum used to be twenty bucks weekend before the bushfires, and you had to pick up the key somewhere in Woden and unlock the gate. I simply can’t bear to go there and see the renewed one: the old Nil had a visitor’s book dating back decades, and there had been (before my time) a whole bunch of O’Connorites who used to go out and do working bees on the place. The floorboards were ancient hardwood and 25 cm wide. The furniture was old and saggy, especially on the back verandah, and people would take their own stuff out to replace chairs that had actually fallen apart so old kapok cushions weren’t enough. You had to get the hot water system going with trickery advised on bits of paper stuck to the wall. Everyone left spices and supplemented the kitchen for the next stayer. Clearly the garden has all gone, along with the outhouses. It was one of those gardens with old feral crabapples and firs all the way down to the little swimming hole nearby (where you could swim in the nuddy). The guy who had Nil Desperandum built was some kind of remittance man in disgrace, clearly not allowed home to the UK or Ireland, and paid a stipend to stay away.

It looks very appealing in the photo. Sad to think what has been lost though. Thank you for sharing your memories.

Never even knew. Sounds great.

Never knew it existed. It seems pretty close to the parking lot at the visitors centre – only an 8km return trip, so a an appetite-building afternoon walk up the track then out the next day with a pack sounds marvellous. Have to keep this one in mind! Could you take a tent in to pitch in the back yard to add a few more people (I’m aware that water is likely the limiting factor for capacity, so we’d take what we need)?

Conan of Cooma said :

Madam Cholet said :

cmdwedge said :

Is it.. normal for a government to act as innkeepers? This seems odd.

NSW has a lot of properties for rent as well, except theirs are quite a bit more expensive.

I think that goes with have more properties and higher admin costs – The ACT is tiny and has an inrcedible budget. That said you can get into a lot of the huts in Kiandra for much less than this.

I can’t wait to visit. Provided it’s not trashed by the Hitler Canberra Youth.

There are not a lot of huts in Kiandra.

You absolutely don’t need a 4WD to get in there. We used to drive in in a Barina. Sad, so sad. Nil Desperandum used to be twenty bucks weekend before the bushfires, and you had to pick up the key somewhere in Woden and unlock the gate. I simply can’t bear to go there and see the renewed one: the old Nil had a visitor’s book dating back decades, and there had been (before my time) a whole bunch of O’Connorites who used to go out and do working bees on the place. The floorboards were ancient hardwood and 25 cm wide. The furniture was old and saggy, especially on the back verandah, and people would take their own stuff out to replace chairs that had actually fallen apart so old kapok cushions weren’t enough. You had to get the hot water system going with trickery advised on bits of paper stuck to the wall. Everyone left spices and supplemented the kitchen for the next stayer. Clearly the garden has all gone, along with the outhouses. It was one of those gardens with old feral crabapples and firs all the way down to the little swimming hole nearby (where you could swim in the nuddy). The guy who had Nil Desperandum built was some kind of remittance man in disgrace, clearly not allowed home to the UK or Ireland, and paid a stipend to stay away.

Madam Cholet said :

cmdwedge said :

Is it.. normal for a government to act as innkeepers? This seems odd.

NSW has a lot of properties for rent as well, except theirs are quite a bit more expensive.

I think that goes with have more properties and higher admin costs – The ACT is tiny and has an inrcedible budget. That said you can get into a lot of the huts in Kiandra for much less than this.

I can’t wait to visit. Provided it’s not trashed by the Hitler Canberra Youth.

Such a beautiful little building.

cmdwedge said :

Is it.. normal for a government to act as innkeepers? This seems odd.

NSW has a lot of properties for rent as well, except theirs are quite a bit more expensive.