WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL   HAY TO BOURKE   580kms

John went to the park office and found the number for a dentist in Griffith – there was none in Hay! We had not actually intended to go through Griffith, but…. John phoned the dentist. He had no room to squeeze an appointment in for him in reasonable time. John tried to phone another one in that town, was told they would check and call back. They didn’t.

I twisted the ankle on my good foot, this morning, stumbling on some uneven ground.

I used Sensis to get some different dentist contacts in the areas we would be going to. Found one in Charleville, but when I phoned, found there was only an emergency dentist there now and there was no hope of a transient getting in.

Then found one in Mt Isa, where we were able to get an appointment for next Monday. So we would be detouring to the Mount, instead of turning north at Cloncurry, as usual. Well, that would be better than a side track to Griffith, anyway, and the tooth repair would just have to wait a few days.

I came to two conclusions after this exercise. One was that Telstra sucks, for eliminating the old, friendly, Directory Assistance, and replacing it with Sensis. I bet the charges would be high for my efforts today. Secondly, the bush was very badly served for dentists!

It was a long day, but it was nearly 10am before we left Hay.

Refuelled at Hillston – 311kms. $1.43cpl.

It got warmer through the day. Some cloud developed later and it was actually a bit cooler between Cobar and Bourke.

We found a good roadside stop, about 100kms south of Cobar, to stop and eat our packed lunch – at Gilgunnia.

There was some roadside water lying about – there had been rain, in recent weeks, through these parts.

At Cobar we debated whether to stay there, or press on to Bourke, a further 170kms. John wanted to go on and, in the end, I was pleased we did, now that we must reach Mt Isa in four days.

Filled Truck on the way through Bourke, at the fuel depot there. 430kms. $1.40cpl.

Continued on to North Bourke and booked into Kidmans Camp. $22.

The clouds that had developed led to a very pretty sunset. We sat out on the lovely grassed area outside our van and watched the sunset. It reminded us of happy hours at Pungalina, last year.

At shower time, John discovered he didn’t pack his soap container – or soap! It had taken him a week to find this out??