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Monday morning - full of enthusiasm. Breakfast? not likely! lets get going.
And we did. First stop was Monday night at Narromine Tourist Park, in the
airport where they charged $25 for a patch of dirt with no power, no amenities,
nothing! I joined two lengths of hose to reach a water tap and filled our water
tank. Thanks Narromine
.
Tuesday we drove through Nyngan and received a hero's welcome - (below). Well .. the welcome signs were there, but they must have got the timing wrong because there were no crowds.
Because the welcome at Nyngan was a little subdued, we continued on to Cobar for lunch (below).
I tried to catch some wild goats (below), but they ran much faster than I could - and a lot further. Fail!
This big long legged bird should be easier to catch because it can't fly. I discovered that they don't need to fly. They can run the pants off a kangaroo, you'd better believe it, I do now.
Tuesday night was spent at a roadside rest area about 70klm east of Wilcannia. But it rained most of the night and Wednesday morning was a worry (below). I hope this rain hasn't spread as far as the Birdsville Track.
On Wednesday as we approached Broken Hill we were persuaded to dump all our fruit and vegetables in special roadside bins in order to protect South Australia from fruit fly. Ok, thats reasonable, but why the hell did they not have signs way back at the previous town where we had just done our shopping? This meant doing more shopping at Broken Hill to replace the fruit and vegies we had just thrown away in the roadside bins (I make this point because the saga continues).
When we reached Broken Hill the weather was nice - it was raining and bloody cold (12 degrees). We set ourselves up in the Broken Hill City Tourist Park and enjoyed a cup of hot coffee with a good dash of Bourbon for lunch. Connie told me that visitors to the caravan park are invited to a free "pancake breakfast" tomorrow morning at 8:30am ..... eh! who gets up then? I'm hoping Connie brings mine back to me in bed.
kasi... your recipe has left me wondering! was that for real? By the way, this morning it was raining and so cold that they cancelled our pancake breakfast.
Talk about cheeky... in the main street of Broken Hill, in full view of the public, he parked his muddy truck next to MY Landcruiser!
I moved my Landcruiser further up the street.
Friday is a day I'll remember for a while...
As we approached Petersborough in South Australia we were AGAIN told to hand over our fruit and vegies at a roadside quarantine point. I protested - "But we have just purchased these at Broken Hill, you've got to be kidding" No, he wasn't kidding. For the second time in 24 hours, under a seemingly suspicious quarantine banner, they have taken about $20 worth of stuff from us. Don't get me wrong, I'm on the side of quarantine when it's genuine and needed, but this looks like blatant stupidity.
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Today we had "the perfect puncture". Let me explain... We were at a roadside rest area having lunch when I noticed one caravan tyre was looking "a bit sad". I checked the pressure and it was near flat. But the good news was that we were on a flat area, tar sealed, well away from the road, it wasn't raining, it wasn't windy, it was sunny and just warm enough to feel my fingers and so I
fitted one of our spare wheels.
The bad news was given to us at Peterborough when the mechanic showed me a crack in the alloy wheel. He is going to find me a spare second hand steel wheel to use as a [second] spare. What a helpful guy, he must be from interstate!
Petersborough has steam engines & carriages everywhere to symbolise it's history. However, I thought it more significant that this slightly impressive building in the main street (the pink one in the centre of the photo) is being offered for a mere $300,000. Does this symbolise the future?
This is why I love the Australian outback ... sigh!
On Saturday, as we approached Hawker we passed a dozen or so ancient houses (ancient by Australian standards). I was amazed at the amount of labour that must have been involved in the collecting of the stones, then in the shaping of them, and finally sticking them together with something?
These houses would have needed a lot of firewood in the winter - but there's not a stick of wood or a tree to be seen outside for kilometers. Maybe thats why they moved house, or died of frostbite.
Will somebody explain this HUGE roadside sign please.
It took us a while to discover why the town of Hawker was SHUT. Look closely at the blackboard.
We did find the "Sightseer's Cafe" was open. It was an excellent cafe that sold hot meat pies and muffins.
The station master hasn't been here at the town of Parachilna for a LONG time. The sign on the door warns that the building contains asbestos. Er... that could be why there is no station master, AND why they cannot get a replacement. (just because there are no trains, it doesn't mean the South Australian Government would not employ a staion master - after all, they have quarantine stations at each town!).
There's only a handfull of people left at Parachilna - is that because the fridge is empty maybe?
No kidding... when we settled down at the roadside rest area at the end of
the day...
THIS WAS THE VIEW FROM OUR CARAVAN WINDOW.
This is why we are here. Um?.. I'm not so sure about Connie but it appeals to me.
Farina ruins includes this building that was once the "Transcontinental Hotel", then a "Bush Nursing Hospital", then finally a "Boarding House". It is now "a lot of hard work" for the people who are restoring it. Believe it or not, they have restored the Bakery and are using an underground wood fired oven to bake and sell bread, pies, etc to the sight seer's who come by.
There's not much at Marree but the pub makes up for that. They even serve meals on Sunday Night! and they have wifi internet. We parked in their car park for the night.
... no sign of a boat! just empty beer bottles.
I was glad to see this!!
kasi.. you can talk a lot, and it sounds like you enjoy eating and drinking too! Do you own a winery? ;-)
As soon as we left Maree we were on the Birdsville Track and I have to say I
was a little apprehensive. Just how far along the 570 kilometers might we go
before things got too tough. The Jay Walkers (left) told me that WE were in
THEIR back yard.
This lonely looking dingo was not intimidated by our presence. It just strolled off across the desert.
The first night along the track was spent at Mungeranie, about 200 klms up the track. So far, the dirt road was no great challenge and I could see that Connie was breathing easier already. The "track" is in fact quite good.
At 200 kilometers from the nearest town, it seemed unlikely that a bus from the "Adelaide Bus Company" would actually be on time so we only waited long enough for our photo to be taken by another traveller.
The next 311 kilometers had a few little surprises for us. Patches of the landscape actually looked like the desert we were expecting to see (left).
Half a kilometer away, we saw steam rising at the side of the road. When we arrived we found this hot spring just meters from the roadside. The water was near boiling. I threw in a line and caught some freshly cooked fish for our lunch ..
But .... we had reached a landmark. We have now crossed the Birdsville Track.
Continue onto Part 2.
< Index & map page > < another year > < Part 1 > < Part 2 > < Part 3 > < Part 4 > < Part 5 >
< Part 6 > < Part 7 > < Part 8 > < Part 9 > < Part 10 > < Part 11 >