Mud, Mud, Mud!!

Wed, 24th Apr 2019

Today our 'Mystery Adventure' turned into an action-packed 'Nightmare Adventure'. The road to Broken Hill (BH) was "Open" according to the sign in Tibooburra so we departed at 9 am planning to drive to BH.

We turned off into Milparinka for a little exploring but the wind was so cold and strong we only stayed long enough to chat with another couple who had left TB around the same time as us. They were also travelling through to BH and Silverton. We will have to return to explore the history of the area.

Milparinka Hotel

Silhouette at Milparinka

   They departed ahead of us but stopped at the end of the bitumen to chat with another van driver. We were surprised to hear from them via the UHF that the road was closed about 50km south of us. Expecting the road to be closed around Packsaddle we elected to continue. Big mistake!

  The road to BH has sections of bitumen and sections of dirt - today it was mud, mud, mud. The first section of mud after Milparinka was a trial for the OWO as he tackled the sliding of both 'Peter Prado' and 'Ada Avan'. At the end of this section, back on the bitumen, we stopped for a breather, hoping that was the worst of it! One can always hope!! 

Dirt Again

   

It was at this point that our "Angel", in his small truck, pulled alongside us and we had a chat about the road ahead. It was not good news. We let him go ahead of us and we followed in his wheel tracks. On this section we passed the car, we had been told at Tibooburra  the previous day, that had overturned. 

Our "Angel"

Wrecked Car

  Although it was had work keeping 'Ada' on track the OWO did a great job. Then we hit a really bad patch and 'Ada' decided to go her own way instead of following the "Angel's" directions. End result "BOGGED" - we were not going anywhere from here without help.

 

Thank goodness we had a guiding "Angel" who towed us onto the side-track, the way we supposed to go in the first place. Of course by this stage there was little traction because of the build-up of mud on our wheels, but we continued to follow our "Angel" guide.

End of the Dirt

Mud

 
The next section of unsealed road was actually dry, good condition, and only a short distance onto the bitumen which continued all the way to Packsaddle Roadhouse. We stopped for a much needed break and breakfast. Whilst here we noticed the road information sign - Packsaddle to Tibooburra - ROAD CLOSED! Oh yes, definitely closed. Why didn't the Tibooburra end say road closed?
What an action-packed trip that was.

Rain, Rain, and more Rain!

Monday, 22nd Apr 2019.

Road Conditions

Sign at Tibooburra

It rained off and on throughout the night and at 5.30 am with more thunderstorms and heavy rain. We had planned to travel on towards Silverton! All roads in and out of Tibooburra - CLOSED.

Tuesday, 23rd Apr.

Bushland

Road out to Broken Hill was opened around 3 pm but we chose to stay another night hoping the road would dry out a little more. We took the opportunity to walk along the Reserve trail, accompanied by many flies which seemed to have increased since the rain, for some photographic scenes.

Friendly Flies

         

Tibooburra countryside

All ready to leave early in the morning!

Change of Plan

Sunday - 21st April 2019

Early morning rising today and we witnessed the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. Such a brilliant colour.

Sunrise

We had planned a trip out to Camerons Corner but after discussing the road condition with the locals we decided not go. Instead our foray today would lead us to Mount Wood. What a great decision.

Mount Wood is located in the Sturt NP with the entrance about 27km east of Tibooburra. Another stage of our 'Mystery Adventure'!.

First stop was the Pastoral Outdoor Museum. One place not to miss if travelling in this area and are interested in history. Fascinating history of the local sheep station and the techniques and equipment used for scouring the wool in the early days of settlement at Mount Cook.

Walking Beam

Whim

 Of course a sheep station must have a Shearing Shed and Shearer's Quarters. So that was our next port of call. Fabulous photo opportunities here. Although camping is allowed in the Quarters, it was obvious from the amount of dust covering everything that they had not been occupied for awhile.

Shearing Shed

Inside Shearing Shed

Shearer's Quarters

Further along the track is the main homestead, now occupied by Parks & Wildlife staff in season. There is also a campground here.

The road through the Park is a 71km loop road to Tibooburra. It's a dirt road and is closed in wet weather. There are a few interesting historical spots along the way, including the original old Horton Park Homestead, unfortunately in poor condition. When the lease ran out in 1949 this became an Outstation of Mt Wood.

Horton Park Homestead

This is traditionally sheep country and there really is nothing here. It is rough, rocky and very, very dry - even the wildlife is struggling to survive.

Rough Country

  Evidence can be seen with the enormous number of kangaroo carcasses found in the stony paddocks and dry dams.

 It was an interesting drive and a good decision to make! As we drove back into town we could see the rain clouds building in the west (towards Camerons Corner!) and around 1pm the rain started.

Back at camp we watched the dry creek bed beside us become a flowing stream.

Once dry creekbed

 Strong gusts of wind shook our 'Ada' and within 10 mins the campground changed from a dry dust bowl to a muddy mire! Thunderstorms continued most of the afternoon.

Campground

We had planned a drive to Sunset Lookout but after the rain decided there would be too much cloud and no sunset. Wrong!! Mother Nature really shone through with the most amazing sunset we have ever seen - matching the morning sunrise!!

Tibooburra Sunset

On to Tibooburra

Friday - 19th April 2019.

An early start, leaving the campsite at 8.30 am as we expected another rough drive for the next 230 kms to Tibooburra. Mr Garmin said 5 1/2 hrs - so it must be right!! Yes, the road was rough in sections, and dusty, but not as bad as the Bourke to Wanaaring road.

The road to Tibooburra

Rocky Road

We arrived in Tibooburra around 1.30 pm. The country we travelled was amazing and once again ever-changing. It was not at all what we expected. I thought it would be mainly sand dunes but, in fact, it was very rocky. Large granite boulders with spatterings of salt-bush.

Camped at the Reserve for $15/night. Toilets and showers. Only one or two other campers here. The sunset was wonderful, dispersing a lovely soft orange light over the landscape. In the west the sun was setting and in the east the full moon was rising. A beautiful sight.

Sunset at Tibooburra

 

Moonrise at Tibooburra

The Family Hotel

Mural

Dropped into the Family Hotel for a coldie and to pay our camping fee. This hotel is 140 yrs old and has been well restored by the current owner over the last 4 years.
The walls inside have some interesting murals painted on them. Across the road is a great mural painted on the external wall of the Tibooburra Hotel, the oldest pub in the area.

Tobooburra Hotel Mural

Our adventure so far has presented many photographic opportunities. Today there were a few more. What I thought was a dead tree stump was actually a Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Dust devil

In the distance I spotted a Dust devil rising from the ground and, as we reached the outskirts of Tibooburra, there was an arrangement of black metal silhouettes depicting the diverse history of this area.

 

Tibooburra Silhouettes

I'm sure there will be many more photos added to our "library" before we leave here.

Saturday - 20th April 2019 - "Forced" Rest Day.
After all the rough road travelling and two one-nighter stops, it was time for a rest day. Not complete rest as I managed some stitching and we took a short drive to the Dead Horse Gully campground and Sunset lookout. Added a few more photos to our library, taken in the local park (a great place to find out about some of the history of the area) and from the lookout.

View from Sunset Lookout

Sturt's Expedition

Sturt's Boat

Back Roads

Wednesday, 17 April 2019.

The day started late, leaving Grawin after a lovely hot shower. Departing at around 11am we travelled via the back track out to the road to Brewarrina. En-route we passed one entrance to Narran Lake Nature Reserve. Unfortunately this entrance was locked so we were unable to explore the area.

Nature Reserve

Back Road

Repair time

This road was dirt all the way through to the Kamilaroi Hwy, and in places very rough and extremely dusty. So rough that the step on 'Ada' kept falling out and we nearly lost our fishing rods when the cap on the storage pipe worked loose!!

I found travelling through here very sad as we witnessed the signs of the severe drought conditions in this district. Many bones scattered through the dusty, dry paddocks were the remains of cattle that had perished from lack of food and water. But the saddest sight was when we stopped along the dirt road to fix the steps on 'Ada' and a herd of cattle came towards us thinking we were there to feed them.

Road through the cattle station

Hungry Cattle

Further down the road we passed some large herds that were being hand-fed with hay by the cattle farmers.

Drought Sadness

We also passed a number of B-doubles loaded up with hay as we travelled the highway into Bourke.

We decided to stay in Bourke at the Major Mitchell van park for one night. This allowed for the washing to be done before going bush to Camerons Corner. Actually a good decision as we met some great travellers at happy hour and enjoyed a lovely evening meal.

Thursday, 18th April 2019.
After checking at the info centre for road conditions we started our drive on the road west, via Wanaaring, towards Tibooburra. Our plan was to overnight in Wanaaring at the "free camp" beside the Paroo River.
The first 60km was a good bitumen sealed road, but then it changed. At first it was a good gravel road but soon deteriorated.

Road to Wanaaring

Bitumen Section

Corrugations, sand areas, bull-dust holes and white silica with the occasional very short section of bitumen. After 40km of bone-shaking concentration the OWO pulled over for a break.

Break Time

The distance from Bourke to Wanaaring is only 180km. It took us 3 1/4 hours!!! The average speed was between 40-60 kph.

The campsite at Wanaaring was quite pleasant but the Paroo was dry. I took an afternoon walk along the dry river bed and found all sorts of things. It was a much quieter night than in Bourke and was very bright with a full moon shining.

Free Camp

View from Campsite

Paroo River

The OWO was disappointed to find the pub closed and vowed to find out why when the sign on the door declared "open, please come in".

Outback Inn