Travelling though NSW to QLD
Our first stop after leaving SA was by another lake, Lake Benanee near Euston. Earlier in the day we had a brief moment in Victoria for lunch in Mildura while crossing states from SA to NSW. The lake was a great free stop and you couldn’t fault the view from the van.
Then the next day we are on the road again, via Balranald and Hay onto the next Lake. As previously seen on other trips the road to Hay was long and boring , the countryside never changing much.
Hay we filled up with water, had lunch and visited the painted silos, which we hadn’t seen in our last visit here.
Then onto
Lake Cargelligo which is in the middle of NSW and was a huge expansive of water.
A peaceful setting with nice weather and some lovely Sunsets and sunrises.
video of the Lakes
We tried our yabby nets here but caught nothing and spent the rest of our two days and three nights with me working on the blogs and relaxing and John working on improving his video techniques, improving resolution and working on methods of downloading. John had a quick swim but I didn’t bother. A very peaceful free camp for three nights.
Then it was onwards to Cobar via the township of Lake Cargelligo , where we checked out the other free camp and took a picture of the unusual silos in town
Cobar, we are here to see Johns brother Paul who is once again the catholic priest here, his last stint in Cobar was 10 years ago, he liked it here and was pleased to go back.
The first afternoon we went to the old reservoir to trial the yabby nets again and had some mild success, three, but not much in size so they were kept and we hoped for more at a later time. Afterwards we went for a brief visit to Devils Rock.
Then the next day it was off with Paul to White Cliffs, where we all stayed in the underground motel after stopping at the local pub for a drink, which had a great poster on the Outback.. White cliffs is a opal mining town 95 kms of the highway north from Wilcannia, which is 250 kms west from Cobar, so it was quite a long drive. The town has a population of 200.
It was different staying in an underground hotel where the temperature is 22 deg constant temp, we enjoyed a swim and a lovely meal with a bottle of Gernache. It was a 2005 bottle for only $30.00 obviously it had been there for a while and no-one had ever put the correct price on it. It was so nice we had a second bottle!!
There was a storm forming after dinner and everyone went to roof of the hotel for sunset and storm pictures
The next morning we woke to more rain and a great view of the rain coming in again.
When the deluge had stopped we were off to explored the opal fields and the old buildings of the town Plus we did a tour of an underground home, the lady very creative with her arts and crafts. At the cemetery it was sad to see how many young children had died so young trying to live in these harsh conditions in the late 1800,s, no fresh water and eating birds and stolen sheep just trying to survive. Many were simply abandoned by there desperate parents.
The landscape is mostly flat and harsh and it was strange seeing it full of puddles. The old opal diggings leaving little mounds and holes everywhere. The weather bleak giving an eerie backdrop to our photos.
On our last day in Cobar after domestic chores we went back to the old reservoir and again just caught a few yabbies’ so we left the yabby trap in the water over night. John went back early the next morning and got 15 a large improvement and enough to leave some for Paul and for us for dinner with a salad. Then it was off to see the old railway and say goodbye to Paul.
While we in Cobar we mostly went out for dinner and the club for drinks and the raffles and of course being true to style we didn’t win a thing but enjoyed a few games of pool and seeing Paul.
See our video of time with Paul.
Our next move is onto
Bourke
The area was green from recent rains and the river quite full but it was a town that didn’t impress. Once a thriving wool centre it is now run down and in obvious decline.
It was a hot 39 degrees when we arrived, so power for the air conditioning was a must, we booked into the Mitchell caravan park in town and spent the rest of the afternoon inside the van taking it easy out of the heat
The next day we were woken up by a very noisy flock of cuckoos to find it was raining and had turned very cool. How two days can be so different.
then the following day we visited some attractions around Bourke. First stop was the
Back O’ Bourke exhibition centre which had lots of information but a bit arty farty for us and made us lose interest preferring just to read the history.
Then out of town to see the old bridge built in 1888, the first lift bridge built in NSW, the Darling river and the old paddleboat the PV Jandra, currently not operating.
Back into town to see the old jetty (above) , Bourke’s link to the river trade and the Crossley engine restored in 1923 which is a oil fuelled engine that was used in many areas of Nsw including Coffs Harbour.
past the church and convent and out to Fred Hollows grave. Fred Hollows was buried here in Bourke in 1993 as he loved the aboriginal people and the outback.
our last night in Bourke did give us an amzing sunset.
March 15th, we leave Bourke
Via Brewarrina
Where we stopped to see the fish traps, a network of rock pools and weirs used by the aboriginal people to trap fish and believed to be 40,000 years old.
We learnt a lot about Aboriginal culture in the area from local guide Bradley who works for the Aboriginal cultural centre in Brewarrina.
Then it was off to Walgett, the drive showing amazing green pasteurs after all the rain and where after taking a photo of the painted silo in town depicting Jimmy Little we left the town as quick as we had got there. Another very sad and run down town
Lightning Ridge
We stopped here for three nights in the In-Town caravan park run by a lovely young couple that serve free pizza at happy hour, a lovely touch.
Our first day in Lightning Ridge was a walk around town going past
Coppers House and the old heritage house in town
We visited the info centre for maps of the towns “car door tours” and walked the Main Street, visiting John Murray’s art gallery where we bought a poster which is the first picture on this blog. We thought it was a great picture to have on our van wall.
That afternoon we went on two of the car door self drive tours seeing the opal fields and
a collection of rubbish and some very eclectic old houses and sites where the opal miners live. Doesn,t look like they make much money!!
We stopped and visited a walk in mine
Day two
A very wet rainy day which unfortunately meant most of our plans for today are cancelled due to the roads not being able to be accessed in the wet conditions
Therefore, the drive to The Grawin and Glengarry with all the old and quaint pubs was off as was the green door track which had been closed the day before.
We had a tour booked at The Chambers of the black hand mine and this mine is where many of the sandstone walls and non opal producing areas of the mine had been hand carved with 800 statues using a butter knife. This was amazing,… see Johns video.
And then we finished the yellow car door track, past three mine and four mile opal fields and the lunatic open cut mine.
The rest of the day was spent indoors finishing our blog and below is our picture showing how wet it was outside the lightning ridge information centre.
Next off to Queensland.
Hi John and Deb, great to see your pics Paul.