We left Port Macquarie on the 14 Oct after five days of catching up with friends and appointments in our home town of Port Macquarie. Our eight week stint of looking after Johns mum in Wyong is finished and we are both excited to be on the road again. Although we very nearly got held up sitting around for another six months. John was diagnosed with a severely torn extensor tendon in his left arm. Which has been getting worse for the last six years. A surgeon he saw told him it was too badly damaged to repair itself over time and needed to be operated on straight away.
He decided that we were not going to sit around any longer and decided against the operation. He may get it done when we get back in a year or so and in the meantime will wear arm braces and try to manage the injury.
The suggestion is
South Australia here we come and where after that to be determined by border closures, how long we spend here and the covid virus. We have decided never to call our ideas “the plan” only the suggestion, as 2020 has taught us never to plan and to just have an idea and see what happens.
Our first night was with Kriztina and Jj for a celebration dinner as she has just finished her four year degree. The restaurant in Newcastle was really nice and the food great. I’m so proud of her always but she has excelled during her four year degree. It was great to see them before we head off for an unknown time.
The first day was a long drive to Nyngan via the New England Hwy, initially, this was mainly to dodge the rough roller coaster section of the golden hwy. We crossed over to the golden highway at Scone, a windy 64 kms road to Merriwa, it wasn’t a great road but not as many dips and bounces as on the early section of the Golden hwy and worth the detour for the scenery.
The Country side as we travel west is much greener than last year and it is so good to see some greenery and the drought gone.
However the effects of covid could be seen in Nyngan, as 80 percent of its shops are closed and we could not see a pib open anywhere. We stayed in a great free camp in town, it was just a walk over the old railway line to town and the site provided a dump point, flushing toilets, water and shade.
Below is the Silos at Dunedoo showing the race horse Winks, this was just a brief stop on the way on the Golden Hwy.
silo art
After our stay in Nyngan we were up early and off towards Broken Hill. We are moving fast through NSW to get to the SA border just in case they close it with the increase of virus cases in NSW. I am helping with the driving, something I do rarely.
Morning tea was at Cobar
We chose Newey reserve for coffee to see the water levels here which have double since last time we were here in Jan 2019.
And At Wilcannia, we stopped to view the water in the river. There still wasn’t a lot of water in the Darling river but definitely more than last year.
Our over night stop was the little Topar roadhouse on the hwy, a good stop but the toilets were unusable. Very dirty and full, yuk. This stop is just 77 kms from Broken Hill and the temp today was 35 and it was a warm night, a pleasant change from the cold from winter and the weather we had for some weeks later.
Day three , we drove into Broken Hill, a place we have visited twice before. this stop just a morning tea break but after the
rain in the last few months , the grass plains are so green and different than the dry scenery previously seen when travelling this area before.
That afternoon we drove to Petersborough to a free camp spot in town. Overnight was freezing down to 5 degrees so different to yesterday. We had visited here before so no sight seeing was done, it was just an overnight stop.
Next day set off to go to Port Augusta via Oororoo our stop for morning tea.
We stayed here in Oororoo 2019 and John had played golf here hitting a hole in one, on the dirt golf course which today had a foot of green grass cover over it and the slasher was out clearing it.
So after leaving here we went through Wilmington and decided to stay 3 nights and do some walks in this lovely area.
The first walk Mt Maria trail for a great look over of this “beautiful valley”, which is what Wilmington means.
We are staying at a park by an old dry creek bed on the outskirts of town , it is peaceful and rustic. They served a great pizza too.
Relaxing at the Caravan park in Wilmington
The valleys and paddocks around this area are covered in Salvation Jane also known as Pattison’s curse , a pest but so pretty. Also a white flower and little yellow flower are prominent.
We walked through Alligator gorge the next day stepping from side to side over the shallow water across stepping stones. The track crossed over the creek about 15 times and finding the right rock to balance on wasn’t to hard just slow progress and then we tackled the 250 huge steep steps up to the top car park. A lovely walk. This is typical of something you could easily miss if traveling too quickly.
We spent the afternoon at Melrose and Mt remarkable having lunch, explored the district and drove up to the memorial and lookout .
The next day we did a trip to Quorn and did the heritage walk of old buildings with some beautiful roses gardens and admired the Flinders ranges as we drove around this very scenic area
Flinders Ranges
and then drove inland to an old deserted railway town of Bruce, the bridge showing signs of better days.
On the way back we detoured to Hansen’s lookout with amazing views to Spencer’s gulf
After Wilmington it was over to a semi free camp, $7 per night, in Port Augusta, a popular spot for vans providing water and a dump point next to the rugby club.
Here we shopped for essentials , fixed the creaking tow ball and visited the very interesting Waldata information centre.
The weather has turned and we had thunder storm activity all night but with a mild break in the rain mid morning we took off to Kimba, we had picked a good free camp but with this weather, power is needed, so will stay in a van park. An old park next to a roadhouse which served a great curry, but the park is basic. The free camp in town much nicer so weather dependent we will stay there next time.
We stopped at Iron knob on the way to Kimba for lunch and visited their little museum with a DVD about the mining of steel , this was closed when we went through here last time.
We arrived in Kimba to the cold and light rain. The trip over wasn’t nice with heavy rain and water crossing the roads as we got close to Kimba and at one point we wondered if the flooded roads might cut us off before we got there. The next morning was showers and a cold wind so we visited the silos , big Galah and half way across Australia sign.
We saw some statues of the explorer Eyre and his mate Wylie at the lookout then we had looked around a craft workshop in town.
We had wanted to Visit the museum at Kimba having missed it last time but it was closed again so the afternoon was a drink and a pool game at the pub. Me winning 2-1, which is rare.
We had also planned to visit the Gawler ranges and Mt Iva but with the wet weather a lot of the 4 wd tracks are impassable and the ranges are closed for pest management, so hopefully we can see these areas on the way back.
Next blog the Eyre Peninsula.
