We left Broken Hill about am on Sunday morning to drive to Bourke. It was another sunny morning and there were not many other cars on the road.We were listening to Peter Fitzsimons Gallipoli on CD. We were headed to Wilcannia and had been warned to watch out for wild goats on the road. The country side was very green and puddles of water were on the side of the road but the road itself was fine. We did see many goats, but they ran away from us as we passed by. They were all colours and there were many kids with their nannies.At Wilcannia, we stopped and had an icecream and a drink and then pushed on. The next major town was Cobar. Here we parked and went looking for some lunch. It was nearly 2pm and the one cafe told us there was a wait of 40 minutes for food. We certainly couldnt spend that long. As it was Sunday, everything else was shut, even the Bakery. We bought a Primo lunch pack, consisting of cheese , crackers and salami at the IGA and drove on. There was a nice old pub in the main street but it
Nothing much of excitement was to be had between Cobar and Bourke. We arrived about and drove down to the Port of Bourke. It had once been a major trading port on the Darling River and the river was running high at the moment. There were a few people strolling about but the cafe was closed.We then drove up river a little to where there is a museum called Back OBourke, which was closing at 4pm. We parked and walked down to the river at the back. A beautiful scene with many birds around.At least we can say weve been back of Bourke!! The water level in the billabong was so high that it was covering parts of the fences and gates.We then found our motel and rested. The receptionist the Chinese restaurant at the Bowling Club for dinner. This proved to be an excellent choice. We walked there in 5 minutes and it was run by a very energetic Asian man who literally ran around taking orders and delivering food. The prices were low, the food, excellent and the wine well priced. A great meal of entrees, seafood and Mongolian beef really hit
On Monday we woke early and were on the road at This was to be our longest day of driving, about 10 hours. As the sun rose we could see it was another fine, though cloudy, day. We were really outback now as we soon learnt. Fletcher had to slow down to avoid a mother emu and her brood as she slowly walked from the middle of the road , seemingly indifferent to us. Further on we saw a kangaroo on the side of the road who, as we approached, instead of running away from us, started hopping along right in front of us. We were driving about 20k an hour but the determined animal kept hopping along . If Fletcher tried to pass it, it swerved in front of us. Eventually, after what seemed ages it veered off and hopped across the grassland.
We drove on northwards, along the Mitchell Highway passing through Cunnamulla and on to Tambo. Here we had to get petrol and the one station had only two working pumps. A policeman was hogging the bowser, chattting to two other men who had their
ute against the second pump. They took no notice of us waiting behind both of them. We lost patience and drove up the road to see if there was another station, but no we had to go back. They were still chatting and then two bikers pushed in front of us and when the policeman drove off they grabbed the bowser. Fletcher was not happy. Eventually, after much exasperation we were finally able to gt petrol but we had to use a prepay machine which the woman from the shop helped us to do. It was a frustrating 20 minutes or so!!
From there Google maps indicated the shortest route to Clermont but the road was not bitumised and the sign 4 wheel drive only. So we went the longer way driving on to Blackall. This prved to be fortuitous as we found out that in Blackall was the original Black Stump, used as the starting point to survey the surrounding land by British settlers, Of course, we had to see that.
