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.