[Pictures are not in order that they were taken]
The road north of Bourke, straight and smooth. It goes on a long way. This is the Mitchell Highway which we entered in Bathurst.
The lonely pub at Barringun:
Post office at Bourke:
This is what I believe to be a "canoe tree" which we found near the Darling River. The bark has been stripped out to make a canoe, many moons ago:
Toilet facilities for the ladies are a bit primitive at our Charleville caravan park:
Our departure had been delayed waiting for the air-conditioning to be fitted to the caravan which we collected on Monday, and then we had some minor DIY repairs on Tuesday.
We set off at 1.30 pm Wednesday and headed west. We went into rain just over the Blue Mtns but were rewarded with some great views through the storm clouds. Sadly no photos, not opportunity to stop.
Inevitably it wasn't long before we remembered the things that we had forgotten to pack. Not serious omissions - just a bit annoying. One being a USB to mini USB cable for getting photographs onto the laptop. The laptop refuses to read an 8 MB card so a cable is needed, a cable is also needed for the SLR which has a big memory card which the laptop does not cater for. We had to await a few days to procure a cable - in Charleville.
Bathurst was very wet and cold, we stayed one night and soon found the reverse cycle air conditioner a bit on the noisy side,although very effective. At this point I regretted not bringing the little blow heater, this was added to the shopping list for Dubbo.
The rain was causing some local problems and Molong Creek was forecast to overflow. It certainly looked about to burst its banks as we drove alongside it.
Thursday - headed into Dubbo, rain not so heavy and air not quite as cold as Bathurst. We checked early into the Top Tourist park and went about our shopping. A nice little blow heater was procured for $17! This did the job quite well and we had a cosy night.
Next day we set off earlyish for Bourke stopping at the Bogan River picnic spot at Nyngan for morning tea. The river was flowing over the weir at some pace. I had been to this spot quite a few times before when investigating a new water supply for Cobar and had never seen this much water in it. Lots of picturesque landscapes from the car - Canola in bloom etc. As usual no safe stopping places for photos.
Bogan River Nyngan:
About 15 km out of Bourke the bush seemed to come to an end and it was just open dry land.
Weather was clearing and things were looking up. We booked in for 2 nights at Bourke. We did a few touristy things like a paddle boat cruise (PV "Jandra") and a look through the relatively new Back 'O Bourke museum. There are some significant heritage buildings in Bourke and an interesting cemetary. We are now full bottle on history of Bourke.
Sunday we headed off north under clear blue skies stopping very briefly at Enngonia and arrived too early at Barringun to enjoy a beer at this isolated post on the Queensland border. Population 4, they have 2 houses each. We stopped at Cunnamulla for lunch and to visit the "Cunnamulla Fella". We continued on to Charleville to get some more kilometres under our belt. We booked in 2 nights at Charleville. We got to see the Bilbys in a red-lit enclosure. They breed them here for release into a feral cat-free national park further south. They were very cute and very active little creatures. There are reportedly only 1000 left surviving in the wild. It was not possible to take photos.
Tonight we view the stars at the Cosmos observatory. Tomorrow - on to Longreach.
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