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!