Thursday 15th July: We left Adelaide and headed north through Burra then north-east on the Barrier Highway and camped the night in the small town Yunta, between the highway and railway line. Ahhhhhhh, feels like home! LOL
Friday 16th July: Still heading north-east we drove across the border into NSW to Broken Hill where we stopped in a caravan park for the night.
Saturday 17th July: From Broken Hill we visited Silverton, 24km west, the site where the Mad Max movies plus many other movies were filmed. Another few kms to a lookout to see the Mundi Mundi plains; what a big view!
Back to Broken Hill, then 112km south east to the Menindee Lakes, where we camped beside Lake Pamamaroo. Very peaceful spot.
Sunday 18th July: Down the dirt road beside the lake to see the Main Wier, then we had a look at the small town of Menindee. We were thinking of driving to Wilcannia on the 150km dirt road, but it was closed due to recent heavy rains, so we back-tracked to Broken Hill.
Continuing east towards Wilcannia we camped at Spring Hills rest stop; good toilets and even a playground for the kids, beside the highway.
Monday 19th July: We left Spring Hills at 9am and drove 74km to Wilcannia where we filled up with fuel. Very expensive here!
We had 260km to Cobar, so stopped for a break at a lonely looking roadhouse at Emmdale, in the middle of nowhere. Rats, the fuel was a lot cheaper here.
Road signs showed kangaroos all the way To Cobar, but we only saw one; thousands of feral goats though.
We camped at Cornish Rest Stop near the Cobar information centre; not pretty, but the toilets were clean. Busy place with trucks in and out all night.
Tuesday 20th July: Woke to cold and fog this morning, brrrrrrrrrr. We decided to take a bus tour of the gold mines near town, very interesting.
We met up with friends from Tasmania travelling north in their motorhome, so we are following along; they are a very nice couple.
We camped beside a lake called Old Reservoir just 3km out of town. Lovely! No facilities though.
Wednesday 21st July: For the first time in a long time I was up and out at 7am to watch the sun rise over the lake, it was beautiful, and COLD! Rick had put his nets into the water overnight and found 4 yabbies in one of them this morning. Yabby snack for happy hour this evening.
We left camp at 8.30am and drove the 160km to Bourke for our lunch stop. Now we have been to Back'O'Bourke!
About another 130km north to the Queensland border, then another 30 or so km looking for somewhere to camp before dusk. It is dangerous to drive when the sun gets low as that is when the wildlife tend to be near the road, and it would not be good to hit a big roo or emu.
Lucky our friend knows about the Stock Route; he spied a small sign pointing into the paddock, walked down the track for a look, so in we drove. Top spot beside Tuen Creek. We built a nice camp fire and had happy hour as the setting sun lit up the Outback sky. This is what we love about travelling like this.
Thursday 22nd July: Woke this morning to FROST! Boy it was cold! Brrrrrrrrrr. The coldest morning we have experienced for a long time. I thought Qld was warmer than this. LOL
Still heading north, to Cunnamulla. Nice friendly town. Starting to get a bit warmer now, around 17 C today.
35km north of Cunnamulla we stopped at Nardoo, a bush camping park with all facilities. They have hot tubs using the underground Artesian water so we had to have a soak. They also build a big camp fire each evening and all the travellers sit around and have a good yarn.
Friday 23rd July: Another cold morning but no frost. Temperature rose to 19 C this afternoon. Soon we can get out the shorts and t-shirts!
160km north to Charleville, lunch stop, a bit of a look around town, booked the Cosmos Centre for tomorrow night. Hopefully the sky will be clear for looking at stars and planets through the big telescopes.
We are camped in the bush 10km east of town, very quiet spot called Rock Pool. No facilities here.
Some photos. Click to enlarge.
In Tasmania, camped beside the ocean at Swimcart Beach, near St Helens
Still in Tasmania, in the mountains between St Helens and Scottsdale, a tree blocking the road. So we had coffee and bikkies while we waited for the tree to be moved.
Silverton, near Broken Hill
Looking out over the Mundi Mundi Plains, near Silverton
Lake Menindee
Sunrise over Old Reservoir, Cobar
Reflection in Old Reservoir, Cobar
The yabbies
Back 'o' Bourke
Sunset at Tuen Creek stock camp
