Day 24, Saturday 14/07/2012, Tamworth to Lake Macquarie and the week after. (The End, for 2012)

This morning Lisa and I headed into town at Tamworth to get the rest of the birthday presents for Madison, Chelsea and Katie. I am so tired! I feel like I have hit a brick wall, or someone has slipped me a couple of sleeping tablets. I’m not sure if it is physical exhaustion or the post holiday blues already hitting.

We returned to find Col upset that it had taken so long at the shops. I had completely forgotten the headlights weren’t working (it wasn’t a simple fuse), sorry Col.

After a very quick gift giving for Madison 10yrs and Chelsea 1yr we did a racing departure, arriving home right on dusk.

 

 



Total kms:                         6,500km

Total fuel:                          916L

Total fuel cost:                 $1,478

Average Fuel Economy   14L / 100km

The following week:

Peter lost his hiking boots. He last remembered them in Bourke. He phoned Kidman Camp and sure enough, there they were. She plans to post them to him.

Col pulled the headlight switch apart. A metal contact was worn away. He had to replace the switch.

Peter dropped the T Van back to Newcastle. The lady wasn’t too worried about some damage on the van. She said “you expect worse than this in the Outback!”

We had a lovely baked dinner here with Peter, Pockrans and mum and dad as a welcome home.

Peter went and spoke to the boss at the workshop in Tamworth that set up and wired his car for the trip. The boss was shocked by Peter’s story and somebody’s skills will certainly be reviewed. He was horrified by the potential danger the Freeman family were placed in by the less than satisfactory job done on his vehicle. Peter was reimbursed $400 to cover the Ceduna bill and they plan to do a thorough check of the entire car.

The T Van people got in contact with Peter to let him know that he still had their coupling attached to his car. He will post it back.

Day 23, Friday 13/07/2012, Lightning Ridge to Tamworth

Black Friday! Our plan had been to tour a mine today. The guy that owns it has spent the last 14 years carving statues while mining (for decoration). It was closed due to the rain so we did a self drive tour instead through the older section of town. It is called the “Red Door Tour”. Lisa and Stuart lead the way, reading the guide as we went. It is a novel way to see old Lightning Ridge, with red car doors as our guide. It was a 4WD tour as the dirt roads had again become creeks with the downpour we’d been having since last night. There certainly are some crazy buildings out here. I’m not sure about their council building codes.

Following this was a spot of opal shopping.  We had to wait for the shop owner to be phoned. He hadn’t come, thinking there would be no tourists on such a wet day.

There was some beautiful artwork in John Murray’s Gallery with beautiful and novel paintings of Lightning Ridge and the outback in general.  Michael purchased a poster, then it was time to head to Tamworth. There was a rain cell sitting over us the whole way.

Heading into Wee Waa Col hit a galah. I could hear it scream moments later. The poor thing was still alive, caught up near the front wheel. Col helped me get it out. There didn’t seem to be any broken wings. Hopefully there’s not too much internal damage. I took it back into the bush away from the road, getting a decent bite for my troubles. A flock of galahs came to its cries of distress. I hope it will be alright. I totally swamped the bite in antiseptic gel. There can be all sorts of nasties from parrots.

The plan was to take the kids to Macca’s for lunch which they think is an amazing treat. Our headlights stopped working, so we had to follow Stuart closely into Tamworth, arriving at dusk at the Freemans for a little reunion and a one night stopover.

It was a very enjoyable farewell dinner at the Safari Club where we ate, drank, were merry and celebrated some amazing memories from an epic adventure. Time to plan the next one!

We gave Madison part of her birthday present, an opal necklace (more to come tomorrow). Col ordered 1 of everything in what were already massive meals. Even he couldn’t eat it though.

Day 22, Thursday 12/07/2012, Bourke to Lightning Ridge

I awoke at 6am to go to the bathroom and could see lightning to the south and clouds closing in from the north. Col and I decided to wake everyone up early as we thought they would prefer to pack up now rather than when the weather closed in.

It absolutely bucketed down while we were at the bakery in Bourke, with flash flooding in the streets. We didn’t end up leaving Bourke until 9:30am, so lucky we started so early.

At Brewarrina the Darling and Barwon Rivers flow through what is thought to be the oldest manmade structure on earth!! They are estimated to be about 40 000 years old and still work today! They’re not much to look at but you can’t just pass by such an amazing anthropological artefact. There are some great educational signs along the pathway now that explain it all well.

Peter and Anthea have decided to head back to Tamworth today and will part ways at Walgett. This wasn’t much of a surprise with the ongoing rain and mud. What was a surprise though, was that Bruce took this opportunity to bail also. We were a little shocked considering his previous excitement at visiting Lightning Ridge.

We made sandwiches in a park at Walgett, and then parted ways with Freemans and Williams. It will be sad not to have our big group farewell dinner at Tamworth.

Pockrans and Parkes are off to Lightning Ridge now. Michael is crying at the parting of our group which I think reflects how everyone is feeling. It’s hard parting ways when we’ve lived together and relied on each other for the past month. I miss them already!

It was a quick 1hr drive north from Walgett to Lightning Ridge with a huge emu polulation along the way. Lightning Ridge is larger than I expected. We found the new “Opal Caravan Park” that was recommended to us by other travellers at Bourke. It is very clean with good facilities and just far enough out of town to feel a bit safer. Best of all though, was that it was straight across the road from the 42 to 46°C thermal pool.

There was one cabin left which we booked (given the adverse weather). We didn’t really like the thought of swags with flash flooding. Lisa and Stuart had a bed each and the 4 kids shared a couple of beds (bunk) while Col and I slept in our roof top tent in the cabin driveway.

First on the agenda of course was a soak in the artesian spring. It was overcast but not raining. It was a short walk across the road from our cabin. So hot and relaxing but you weren’t able to stay in too long as you’d quickly overheat.

Then it was back to the cabin for showers and a glass of wine on the deck. Cheers to mum who just announced her retirement! Woohoo!

It was a lovely relaxed and scrumptious dinner in town. We went to Bruno’s Pizza and totally stuffed ourselves with food and wine, then headed back to the cabin for a coffee before retiring to bed.

Day 21, Wednesday 11/07/2012, Bourke, cruising on the Darling River

Everyone had quite a relaxing day. Showers were certainly early on the agenda. Stuart and Peter took the littlies for a walk (500m) out to the Darling River where the PV Jandra (paddle vessel) is moored.  They returned with clay feet! It was a beautiful sunny day, drying a lot of the mud out by lunch time. Many of the neighbouring campers moved on leaving us with a big lawn which was perfect for the kids to run around on and for the adults to lounge around on camp chairs, sunning themselves while reading or chatting.

Jamie and Haley spent most of the morning playing with a green frog that Bruce had found for them. They built a home and garden for it with sticks and flowers.

Michael, Jack, Stuart and Col ended up throwing tennis balls around. Bruce, Fiona and Jessica had a drive into town, soon followed by Peter, Anthea, Madison, Haley and Chelsea. Meanwhile Jordan had attached herself to a power outlet with her laptop, using Skype to chat to Lucy and Brendon (woot woo).

After lunch Lisa, Stuart and I enjoyed a glass of wine in the sun and then everyone met to go for a river cruise. Bruce ferried a few of us there in his “people mover”. It was a 1hr cruise on the paddle boat PV Jandra along the Darling River.

It is a very informative, entertaining, if not opinionated talk by the captain. He is well rehearsed as it was just about word for word with the talk he gave us 2 years ago.

The Darling is currently 4.5m deep and teeming with birdlife. Lake Macquarie will be very crowded with pelicans when this 4 year ‘big wet’ dries up. They’ve had 2 floods a year on the Darling for the last 3 years. This is unheard of in caucasian history! The Darling River floods approximately every 2 to 3 years, but had no flood between 2000 and 2007.

Along the bank are huge river redgums, with coolabah trees further back (with the silvery green foliage). The redgums survive for 9 months in flood before they drown. The bridge was made in England back in the colonial days. It was shipped over then transported to Bourke up the river. The kids had a lovely time with Haley crying when it was time to disembark.

A big thanks to Jordan for taking lots of photos. You're a natural!

Bruce drove Fiona and I into town to get some cash and wine. A group of teenagers were wave wildly at us as we were pulling into the car park. Knowing how rough the town was it made us a bit nervous, only to find out they were trying to tell Bruce he was driving in the exit!

Bruce is very excited about going to Lightning Ridge tomorrow. He collected some information on it today at the tourist centre. He particularly wants to go to the John Murray Art Gallery.

The Kidman Camp runs a communal fire, dinner and bush poetry on a Wednesday night which we were looking forward to, but it had been cancelled because of the unpredictable weather. We all cooked, ate and drank together in the park kitchen and BBQ area. Jordan was a wonderful helper tonight showering Michael, Jamie and Haley. She’s such a good niece!!

Everyone’s in pretty good spirits again tonight which is a lovely way to finish our epic journey. It’s amazing how much effect weather can have on people’s emotions. Lisa, Peter and I enjoyed a lovely phone call with mum and dad tonight.

Day 20, Tuesday 10/07/2012, Noccundra to Bourke

The swags were in a perfect place. They were nice and high on green lawn, with no water pooling around them which kept the kids dry inside. The lovely hospitality at Noccundra continues with the publican and his wife putting on breakfast in the beer garden. It was for $10 a head mind you, but we were happy to pay this considering they lent us their lawn, and it means no dishes to worry about this morning. There were a few other Innamincka refugees at breakfast and we all had a lovely time swapping tales of drama. The publican certainly doesn’t ‘get’ Bruce. You should have seen the stunned look on his face when Bruce was being Bruce. Hilarious!

The “Closed” signs just went up for all dirt roads from Noccundra. Innamincka and Cameron’s Corner are closed. For the second trip running we have been washed out of the ‘Corner’, but at least we made it to Innamincka this time and there will just have to be another trip out here. Our revised plan is to head partway to Bourke today, checking out the Bulloo River at Thargomindah along the way. Then head to Bourke with a shorter drive tomorrow. Jump on the Darling River cruise at 3pm, camp the night, head to Lightning Ridge for the night and then on to Tamworth.

I’m not sure how pleasant the rest of the trip will be with rain forecast all the way to the coast for the next few days. I’m a bit teary this morning. I think it’s a combination of others in the group struggling/upset (which makes me feel I planned a bad trip) and the weather, but I think more than anything it’s the washed out Strzelecki and Cameron’s Corner (only tar from here). Our trip is drawing to a much more sudden end. The adventure is almost over. Back to work! If only we’d stayed trapped at Innamincka!

It certainly is hard juggling other’s different needs and expectations. I guess roughing it in the Australian Outback and covering the distances we need to in such a limited time can be a bit of a culture shock. But it is so worth it for the inspiring scenery, adventure and amazing memories we’ll have to share forever. You certainly feel a close bond with this awesome country after such a trip. Getting through some of the hardships is a part of the character building experience of being out here, and can make for some interesting stories and memories. I’m so glad I could share it with some people I love and hope they’ll be back for some more!

So we headed east to Thargomindah on a single lane strip of tar with water pooling at the sides of the road. There was an abundance of emus and the cattle were huge.

Pulling off the road for oncoming traffic was tricky in the wet conditions. It is raining quite heavily now. Stopping at the Bulloo River was out. We topped up on fuel, had a toilet stop and grabbed some snacks from the car and continued on. We drove across the Bulloo River at a crawl pace so that we could have a good look. There are several bridges covering several branches of the river which has plenty of water and bird life. On the other side Col almost hit 2 emus that ran onto the road.

We’ve just pulled over so that Peter could phone Innamincka Hotel. He’s lost his bankcard! Yes they have it and will post it to him. That was lucky Peter!

Just east of Thargomindah is Lake Bindegolly which is a beautiful wetland area with a rest stop at it’s edge, but we had to drive on by as it was pouring.

The Paroo River was also full and beautiful as was Eulo, a small town on its banks.  It is a quaint little town with a population of about 70. Very clean and neat. We ran into a guy leading a bus tour that asked us where we’d come from as he had read this morning that all roads west of Noccundra were closed. Most of us had a delicious stew and damper for lunch at the pub. There is a lovely grassy area with trees out the back of the pub to camp, but everyone voted on making it all the way to Bourke today so we could have a 2 night stay and a leisurely paddle steamer ride tomorrow. I’ll have to stay here on a future trip though as it is lovely and there is plenty to do and see.The kids had fun playing with the little Jack Russel cross terrier pup and Fiona, Bruce and Lisa enjoyed browsing in the local shop.

Heading to Bourke there was prolific road kill, wild boar, kangaroo and emu. We almost hit an emu, a cow and some sheep. 

We were treated by a gorgeous rainbow and sunset, then found Kidman’s Camp in the dark, 6km north of Bourke, on the Darling River. There wasn’t anyone in the office at 1850hrs with a sign on the door saying set up where ever you want. Thankfully the rain had stopped.

It was quite full but we found 4 together up the back. They were half grass and half mud. We put the car over the mud so the swags would be on the grass. Poor Anthea was too frustrated with the rain, mud, dark, trailer reversing and crying baby and decided to find a motel. I wish I could have stopped them before they took off as town isn’t a place you want to go to after dark. It’s pretty rough. There are barred widows and shutters everywhere and basically gets closed down after dark. Luckily they realised this pretty quickly and came back to us.

After tea Col, Lisa, Stuart and I enjoyed a few drinks around the communal camp fire. Peter joined us for a little while as well. We had lots of fun chatting with some boys from Sydney (here to drill deep and test soil) and a bunch of cops here for training. What a fun, jolly, social evening!