Week one:  Miles/Moree/Bourke/Cobar/Broken Hill

The theme of this week is COLD!!!!  It has not helped that I seem unable to fight off this chest thing that I have had for at least a fortnight now, so probably feel the cold more. 

Our first night in the van was COLD!  We all have great sleeping bags and the Dometic Reverse Cycle air-con seems to work well, but it did make for a sleep in and a slow start to getting going our first morning. We eventually did get packed up and on the road and headed into Miles township to get some diesel (first lesson:  we had decided NOT to get diesel in Banana, then it was 10 cents dearer in Taroom – so now we fill up whenever we come to a new town!).   Anyway, somehow we were so intent looking for the petrol station we missed the sign to the A5 and Condamine. Here’s the train of thought: 

“Gee this is a good road.” 

“Oh, we are in Chinchilla…let’s get some watermelon!  Hang on, why are we in Chinchilla??”

  It was only a matter of backtracking 20 minutes, but it did make us pull in a bit later than planned into Moree.  On the road between Miles and Condamine, we saw two ambulances, and a Royal Flying Doctor Service plane that had landed and was loading/unloading a patient.  Also, around Condamine we could see lots of evidence of the recent flooding.  We decided to try out one of the Free Camps listed spots for the night in Moree, staying at the showgrounds for only $20 for all of us, with power and water.  Well, let’s just say I do NOT recommend it.  Oh well, we’ll give free camping a go later in the trip…



The view...edited with apps :)



 Travelling out of Moree, we had to pull over about 4 times to let cotton harvesting equipment past.  Apparently it has been the biggest cotton season for a very long time.  We would see many huge piles of cotton in the fields and think, “There sits about $10 000 worth of cotton!”  The scenery was quite monotonous between Moree and Bourke so again I amused myself playing with iPhone games and photography apps.  Tony is just a champion at driving and driving.  I just have to feed him and fulfil music requests.  The boys are travelling really well also.  Their limit is about 3 hours without stopping:  that’s if Matt has a sleep and is interested in watching a DVD.  They play, draw, eat, and watch lots of TV (which Charlie thinks is awesome). 

 Bourke was the first town that we took the time to look around.  We went on a Paddle Boat ride on the Darling River.  It was very interesting to hear about the Darling River’s maritime history and its important role in moving goods around in days gone by.  Then there is the politics around irrigation and wildlife conservation.  We all enjoyed a delicious lunch from Morrall’s bakery, which has been around for 100 years. 

The paddle boat and the Darling River:  the dead fish are from the last flood. 

Apparently the water level dropped so quickly there was more mud than oxygen in the water and lots of fish died. 



The boys even got to 'drive' the paddle boat!



Next we headed to Cobar.  On the way out of town, we did hop out of the car at the cemetery and had a quick look for where Fred Hollows is buried, but it did feel a bit weird to treat a cemetery as a tourist attraction so we quickly gave in and drove on to Cobar.  We had a look at a pit mine, and the Cobar Hotel is very nice too.  We had an early night, though, as we were heading for Broken Hill the next day.  I was very excited about this as I had done a lot of reading about the area and knew there was a lot to see.

The trip to Broken Hill was good.  Wilcannia, between Cobar and Broken Hill, is a very interesting town.  We had been warned not to stop there for anything more than fueling up.  We saw many interesting sandstone buildings that appeared deserted.  It looked like there had been an interesting history.  The state of the township nowadays has been the subject of quite a few discussions with fellow travelers here at Broken Hill:  let’s just say it is a curious place to many.  One fellow told us of how he had spoken with the local constabulary whilst there and the fellow had come out wearing full bulletproof vest etc.  Enough said. 

It has been absolutely wonderful to set up camp for a few days, in Broken Hill, and we have taken a leisurely pace to see some of the sights.  We enjoyed a relaxing Mother’s Day afternoon at Silverton, an ‘abandoned’ mining town (I say ‘abandoned’ as there are actually approx 50 permanent residents there who rely on tourists to survive) where we had a lovely meal at the Tearooms.  The view from Mundi Mundi lookout was spectacular – you can actually see the curvature of planet Earth in the horizon – and we enjoyed a cold but beautiful sunset there.  Tony has been enjoying getting back into photography, and has been especially inspired by the landscapes he has seen here. 

Silverton (yep, Tony is just wearing singlet, shirt and shorts...he does not feel the cold!)

Today we toured the Royal Flying Doctor depot:  Charlie would have stood there forever and watched the planes, I think.  Then we went and enjoyed some milkshakes and spiders at the famous Bell’s Milk Bar, which is seriously like going back in time to the 1950’s!  Matt fell asleep in the car after his big drink so I took the opportunity to check out the Pro Hart Gallery on my own, while Tony stayed with the boys in the car.  Bliss.  This afternoon, we headed out to the Living Desert Flora and Fauna reserve, and the Sculpture Symposium.  I thought yesterday was cold, but watching the sun set over the desert gave a whole new meaning to cold!  Anyway, the light was good and we enjoyed some beautiful scenery.  The boys ran around like crazy people and freaked me out as they were treating the rocks like playground equipment…the joys of traveling with young children!

 

Checking out the Living Desert display

 

The sculpture Symposium at sunset



 We are staying an extra night in Broken Hill (we quite like it here, and this is a really nice caravan park!), and are going to Menindee Lake as a day trip.  On Wednesday, we will bid a fond farewell to Broken Hill and head south to Wentworth/Mildura so we can check out Mungo National Park.   After that we will make our way to Port Augusta. 

So, it seems like blogging once a week makes for a bit of a long blog…congratulations for making it this far!  I have heard that there is some difficulty leaving comments:  If you are not a ‘follower’ you may need to submit your comment anonymously (but please leave your name in the comment somewhere so we know who it is from!).  Underneath the ‘post a comment’ box you can select a profile to post as – select anonymous.   To post with your name you have to be able to add a name and a URL (???).  Sorry about that, it SHOULD be easier to leave a comment. 

 It has been absolutely wonderful hearing from friends and family whether via blog comment, text, Facebook, email or phone…so please keep it up!!! 

 Cheers to you all,

Tanya, Tony, Charlie and Matthew