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.
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| Nature Reserve |
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| Back Road |
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| 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.
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| Road through the cattle station |
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| Hungry Cattle |
Further down the road we passed some large herds that were being hand-fed with hay by the cattle farmers.
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| 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.
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| Road to Wanaaring |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Free Camp |
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| View from Campsite |
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| 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".
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| Outback Inn |
I found your blog from a comment you left on Elefantz. The name intrigued me, and I thought you might have done what we did - which you did, in a different way and a different country. =) The last 5 years of my husband's life, we lived in our 5th wheel full time (the kind of caravan where the bedroom part comes up over the bed of a truck), and we traveled back and forth across the United States. I loved every minute of it, quilted in every state, and would do it all again, if I only could. It was bliss! Reading your post was a reminder of good times. It's so sad what the drought has done.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment on our Blog. We often wonder if others enjoy reading about our travels. We are glad that reading our post was a reminder of good times for you. We try to make the posts interesting for others to read but it is also a journal for us as a reminder of the beautiful places we have found in our big and beautiful country. We hope you will continue to enjoy following our future travels.
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