The day got off to a slow start. I got up about 8am, and took dog for her morning walk. John slept in.
It was certainly much warmer than we’d been used to.
Drove into town to the Information Centre, as I wanted material on parts further north.
John tried in a couple of shops to buy a small grease gun – no luck. He wanted to put some grease on the lubrication points of the tow hitch.
We went to the Bowls Club, but he could find no information displayed there about possible games. Not a very productive morning for him.
John wanted chicken drumsticks for tea, so I bought some of those, and a pull apart loaf to take back to camp for lunch.
The rest of the day was quiet. I read, and did some embroidery. John read, briefly, then napped for a longer time. He’d said he was too tired today to go exploring any of Charleville’s attractions. We’d seen much of the place anyway, on previous visits. I would have liked to go to the bilby centre, though. Years ago, we had donated towards the cost of the predator proof fence that was being built in Currawinya National Park, as part of the scheme to both preserve bilbies and build up populations in the wild again. I’d have liked to go to the centre in town, to see details of current progress.
Took Couey down the back for a ball throw.
Great spacious sites at Evening Star. Bus in warm weather set-up mode.
Tonight, there was on offer at the campfire area, dinner of beef stew or curry, for $15 a head. There were meals available, every few nights, done in camp ovens by a couple who were here for the season.
It did seem that the staff who were working here were doing a very good job. The place was clean, bins regularly emptied, amenities spotless, and special events like happy hour and the campfire meals created a great atmosphere. It made the place more of an experience in itself, rather than just a caravan park.
We didn’t take up the meal offer, but the cooking smell, drifting over our way from the cooking area, was mouth watering. However, we did enjoy our “roasted” drumsticks, cooked in the electric frypan.
Although there was some blue sky this morning and the weather looked to be clearing, it was definitely departure day today! After the night’s steady rain, there was so much water lying around – and red, red mud.
We were better off than some because at least we had a dry area around part of the Bus. Some rigs were totally marooned in huge puddles. We were able to negotiate a fairly non-muddy route to walk dog out for her morning business, and to reach the amenities.
Aftermath of a rainy night. Amenities block to left.
I felt really sorry for whoever had to clean that building today. Even though campers were mostly trying to be careful, there was so much red mud tracked into the building.
We had to move Bus forward before hitching up the car, as the back area was over a large puddle.
Although we only stayed the one night at Riverside, this time, would certainly stay here again – in fine weather.
Lots of red mud
Left the camp at 9am. Drove back through Cunnamulla and on to the highway north. The road was quite bumpy in sections, the effect of which was to really bounce Bus up and down. We discussed whether this was accentuated by the distance between the front and back wheels of Bus, and its leaf springs. I hoped we weren’t on the way to needing to replace those. The ride was quite uncomfortable.
Refuelled in Charleville, at a servo conveniently on the way into town. $1.569cpl.
Drove through town, then out the Adavale road to the Evening Star Caravan Park, about 9kms NW of town. I had phoned ahead, this morning, to book us in for three nights. Good thing I did because the park was full by late afternoon.
We have previously stayed several times in Charleville, in the town, and at those times had seen most of what the town had to offer. In 2009 we stayed at the then-new Evening Star and I thought it would be a pleasant place, this time, for a few days’ break from driving.
The place looked more established now – four years later – and was very nice. The plantings between sites and around the grounds, had grown up.
Evening Star before the arrival of the afternoon rush
Sadly, the founding owners had split up and the property had been sold earlier this year. Its upkeep seemed to be very reliant on the managers, as the new owner lived at another property he had in the district. The managers seemed to be keeping it well, but I wondered if there would be much more of the developmental work done, like the unusual and quirky stuff that gave the place atmosphere. Things like the windmill pumping water into a tank, the old machinery dotted around and the like. Summer would be a test, with the watering. The adjacent original homestead, where the owners had lived, appeared to be empty. I so hoped the place would continue to be such a great place to stay.
Our site cost $29 a night. It had plenty of space, and shade. Dog could be on a long rope and had grass to lie on.
This was a very dog friendly park and we could play ball with Couey on the grassed area at the back.
There was, however, a major drawback, only discovered after we were settled in. Telstra 3G reception was very poor out here. Thus, no internet for us. No World of Warcraft for John for three days! I was firmly instructed that, in future, I must check the 3G status before booking us in anywhere! Travel priorities had certainly changed since we started out in 1998, without even a mobile phone……despite the convenience of the current technology, I think I liked it better when TV and internet reception didn’t govern where we stayed.
After setting up camp, drove the car into town. I wanted to collect the mail that had been sent here. John requested chow mein (made with a packet of chicken noodle soup – very sophisticated cuisine), so I bought mince from the butcher.
We were able to give Couey an off lead walk at the gardens by the Vortex Gun display. There was a small lake area in that park. Couey spotted a mob of geese by the water, but – very wisely – decided to ignore them.
The Vortex Gun displayed in that park was one of several used, in 1902, in an attempt to cause rain and break a long drought in the area. The theory was that firing into clouds would cause them to drop rain. Scare them maybe? It didn’t rain, some of the guns blew up and the experiment was abandoned. There’s lots of interesting historical trivia to be found when travelling……
Vortex guns
Relaxed back at camp. There was little of note in the mail bag, mostly end of financial year paperwork.
At least John was able to get TV coverage and after our chow mein and rice dinner, we watched Kitchen Cabinet again.
During the night, Couey did some occasional growling at the kangaroos grazing around Bus. She couldn’t see out of the front, so must have been able to hear them.
I hurt my arm this morning. Was letting Couey outside, on her lead. John was out there and dog was so anxious to get out of Bus, to join him, that she exited in a great rush and dragged my arm against the door frame. The arm was grazed and bruised and there was a chunk missing out of a finger – not sure what bit did that. Guess I am learning when to take extra care, brace myself and so on.
Again, dog was not a willing traveller. After we packed up, she was tempted inside by peanut butter on a treat, then snapped at me as I got in.
Dog-related dramas aside, we were away in good time.
Must admit that I looked wistfully at Kidmans Camp as we passed by. Had always enjoyed staying there, and often managed to get some great sunset photos from the camp area.
Just like the other day, we needed to make five stops along the way, for John. We were noticing that after about two hours, the need to stop regularly seemed to ease off. But, obviously, this is yet something else medical related that will have to be checked when we are home again.
A quick stop under threatening skies
At one of the stops we took dog out for a walk on the lead. This time, she got back in Bus quite willingly. I daren’t hope that we are making progress….
The road was a bit “bouncy”, especially in the NSW part. All that increased truck traffic had not done the road any favours.
Rain had been forecast and this showed as increasing banks of black clouds to the west, as we drove. Eventually, there was some rain, but we seemed to drive out of that rain band.
Definitely rain…..
So – we made it to Qld, after three weeks on the road. Guess we didn’t exactly hurry. There had been some past trips, when we were coming north to work, when we had reached this far with only two or three overnight stops. But, with Bus, it seems more appropriate to travel in a more leisurely style than we once did. Maybe getting older also has something to do with it?
Previously, we would go from Bourke to Charleville in a day, but not this time. Cunnamulla was another place we’d only ever passed through. This time, it warranted a stay.
Refuelled at the big servo at the highway junction. $1.639cpl. The Qld government subsidized diesel but you wouldn’t know it from these prices.
From the servo, headed on into town and then out the Weir Road for about 3kms, to the Warrego Riverside Tourist Park.
This place was only opened last year and we found it very pleasant indeed. The sites were drive through ones. We got the last powered site available, right on the end of the row. It was not the best site, but that served us right for not booking ahead. It cost $32.
The last powered site…..
The amenities building featured a central hallway, or breezeway, that was both laundry and camp kitchen, with the bathrooms off each side.
This park was genuinely dog friendly – the owner’s late husband had been a vet. She told us places where we could walk dog, and where she could run off lead. The emphasis was on the can-do, rather than the can’t-do, as in Bourke.
There was a nice grassy area along the river bank, and a campfire pit.
The Warrego River itself was starkly scenic.
Warrego River
The owner had told us our site was one of the shorter ones, and she doubted we’d be able to leave the car on the back. We unhitched it and the man on the next site, with a Winnebago, very kindly said we could park Terios on the front of his site and he would be able to back out in the morning. He had to leave very early to go into Cunnamulla. He had stripped a tyre on the way here and then been told that, at best, he’d need at least a couple of new ones. He’d bought the used motorhome in 2006 and hadn’t replaced any of the tyres that were on it. He didn’t know about age related tyre deterioration, though he was finding out the hard way. I tried to explain as best I could and advised him to get the tyre dealer to show him how to read tyre ages.
Sharing site with obliging neighbour
Took Couey across to the river bank area for a walk, and I took some photos.
John then took her out on one of the designated tracks where they could play ball fetch. Dog was suitably tired then, for the rest of the day.
At 5pm, took our chairs and the dog across to the camp fire area, for happy hour. We’d not long settled there, when rain began, so the gathering was abandoned.
I cooked pasta with tuna, capers and olives, for tea.
The rain became steady all through the night. Before that, we’d almost decided to stay another night here – it was our sort of place, but reserved the decision once the rain set in.
Couey was back to being reluctant to get into Bus at moving time. She actually snapped at John when he lifted her in.
We had to get fuel before leaving Cobar. Had intended to do so on the way in the other day, but our way into Cobar brought us to the caravan park first. Today, we joined the rush of travellers fuelling up before leaving town, and had to queue. Hint to travellers – refuel when you arrive in town, not departure morning, when everyone else has the same idea!
Diesel was $1.569 cpl.
We’d driven the Kidman Way a number of times before. The way north from Cobar was the usual flat, not very interesting country. There were more trucks using this route than we had seen before. Not as many as on the Newell Highway, but still too many. The lack of truck traffic used to be one of the great attractions of going this way.
John needed to make five stops along the way. I estimated one stop for every thirty kms of travel! We could sort of joke about it – what else can one do?
This time, fuelled up as we arrived in Bourke, at the BP servo, where we paid $1.639 cpl. This morning, back in Cobar, also at a BP outlet, and not that far away, it had been 7 cents a litre cheaper – quite a price differential over a short distance.
In the past, we’d always stayed at Kidmans Camp at North Bourke. But they did not take dogs, so this time we went into the Mitchell Caravan Park, in the town. Our en-suite site cost $35. The gravelled site was small, with no real space to put out our awning, had we wished to, and not much space between us and the next van. Our little bathroom was clean and well fitted out.
Bourke site
Although the park accepted dogs, it could not be described as dog-friendly! The manageress was insistent that dogs be taken out of the park to do their business. Try explaining that, after the long night, to a dog with a full bladder…… But I got the impression that they’d had too many guests who didn’t abide by the normal common rules, as – unfortunately for the rest of us – is too often the case.
I thought that next time we came this way we should take an ordinary powered site – those were nicely grassed and would give us more room and a better spot for dog.
After basic set up, drove Terios to the Back O’Bourke Exhibition Centre, a very impressive new building on the northern edge of town, with really helpful staff in their information section.
Having just done a part day’s travel, we were not in the mood to do the full exhibition experience on offer, featuring aspects like history, aboriginal culture, outback lifestyle, so just had a short browse around there. Another item for the next-time list.
Drove back to town, to the Old Wharf area, where there was an interesting display of old machinery and a viewing platform on what was actually a replica of the original wharf, back in the days when Bourke was an important inland port. As the Darling River level fluctuated greatly between seasons, platforms at different levels allowed for the loading and unloading of the paddle steamers, regardless of river height.
Darling River ……again
Took Couey for a walk from there, on a path along the river levee, on the lead. This short walk tired John out, not so the dog.
Drove around the streets, looking at some of the substantial old buildings of the town – some interesting architectural styles that seemed unique to the town. I would like to spend time wandering slowly about the place, photographing some of these relics from the glory days. But not today….I would need to be driving myself, and alone!
The town did not seem to be as rowdy or threatening as it had on previous visits.
There wasn’t much of the day left by the time we got back to Bus.
Tea was ham steaks, potato and pineapple.
Spent the evening as usual: watching some TV, reading. John played his World of Warcraft computer game. I had an early night.
We really hadn’t needed this fourth day here. Couldn’t spend any time with our friends, as they had a local function to go to. There were no bowls today available to casual visitors like John.
I broached the possibility of the Heritage Walk, but John didn’t feel up to it.
So I did the other available option – the washing.
Interesting phenomenon: it cost $5 to use the front loading washing machine, but only $3 for the conventional top loader. I couldn’t work out the rationale for that. Maybe the front loader took more in a load? Maybe it washed better? I did know my rationale for using the front loader – it was the only available machine at the time.
We drove down the street to get the Saturday papers. John bought a multi-outlet plug for the bus cigarette lighter, so he could run multiple items at once from it: the GPS, my ipod, and he was talking of getting a dash mounted camera. Going to be gadgets on wheels.
Sign at entry to town, utilizing old mine workings
I spent much of the rest of the day reading the papers and exercising Couey up the back and dodging the friendly goat.
The nights have been warmer here, the days too, but I was still in winter clothes.
I made home-made meat patties for tea, with fries and salad.
I was determined to do some sightseeing today. We were not going to leave Cobar, this time, without seeing its main attractions.
Went to the Information and Heritage Centre, housed in a superb old two-storey stone house that was built in 1910 to be the administrative centre for the Great Cobar Mine – a copper and gold mine. Copper mining started here in 1870 and the mine became one of the largest world copper mines. Since then, several other mines had operated, following a line of lode that stretches from the NW to the SE of Cobar. In recent times, with fluctuating demand and prices, local mining has been somewhat up and down, with local employment following suit. The town’s fortunes are very mining dependent.
I bought an attractive polo short at the Centre. I would have liked to do the Heritage Walk here, which was supposed to take about an hour, but John didn’t feel up to it.
We drove out to Fort Bourke, a hill just out of town, that was the site of Cobar’s first gold mine.
Cobar open cut mine, with the town beyond
Today, there is a lookout at the top, with views across the surrounding flat plains, and down into a big open cut mine, where one can see entrances to underground workings too.
In the shadow is the entrance to underground workings
Cobar’s water supply comes from some 400kms away to the east and is piped/pumped up into storage tanks on top of Fort Bourke.
From the lookout, the line of lode was made obvious by the line of mine poppet heads we could see.
Whilst John and I walked up to the Lookout, which was all of about 50 metres away from the parked car, Couey must have had one of her anxiety attacks at seeing us walking away. When we got back, she had managed to wriggle right out of her car harness and was loose in the car. Houdini dog!
Flat plains surrounding Cobar
Back down the hill, at the entrance to town, there was an unusual “welcome” feature, made from part of the smelter remains of the early Great Cobar Copper Mine workings. It looks kind of “industrial” and could not be called pretty, but seemed an appropriate way to use this long existing dump area. But incongruous green boxes house the lights that illuminate the Cobar lettering at night.
I wanted to look at the Old Reservoir area, a free camping spot that I’d read some good things about. Now that we had the self-contained Bus, I was hoping to convince John to do more of this informal, often “bush” camping and lessen our use of caravan parks. But suspected I would have my work cut out…. The Old Reservoir area was nothing spectacular, so we didn’t linger.
John had faded fast and had enough of sightseeing, so it was back to Bus.
Mid-afternoon, friend V and her sister came round to the park and we had a pleasant get together for a couple of hours. She and husband F were hoping to leave for parts north in another week or so, aiming to get to Cooktown, So were we. They would keep in touch, so we might meet up again, further along.
V excelled herself and bought me four casks of port! That would keep us supplied for a good time to come.
There was no fish and chip shop in Cobar, so we got take away Chinese from the Bowls Club. V had said the RSL’s Chinese place was better, but she wasn’t sure if they did take away. The food cost us $40 and was really disappointing. John’s sweet and sour fish was like leather. I couldn’t find any traces of prawns in the oily pieces of sesame seeded bread that passed as prawn toasts. There was a lesson there for us, about take away meals in small country towns!
We had to make sure to get up and going in time for John to be at his bowls by 9.30am.
I dropped him off there and kept the car, intending to do a bit of sightseeing and maybe take dog for a long walk.
Unfortunately, it was raining lightly. John hoped the bowls people would wait and see if the rain lessened, then start the bowls later. If not, he would phone me to go back for him.
So, I couldn’t really go out and about and get involved in doing something, being uncertain whether I’d have to go at short notice to collect him. The rain was a disincentive, too.
In the end, the bowls was played and he was happy because he’d won and collected $10. The players were also fed Chinese type snacks after the game, so that was his lunch. The phone call to pick him up came at 1pm.
John was very tired, after the bowls. He had a nap.
We did little for the rest of the afternoon, except give Couey a ball chasing session up the back. I read and spent time on the computer, while John slept.
Cobar site
Tea was an impulse buy of mine, yesterday – pre-made rissoles from the supermarket. There were four different flavours of rissoles in the pack. They were not as fatty as I had feared they might be, being sausage mince, but were not all that nice. That was not an experiment that would be done again!
Got up at 8am, after another chilly night. The pleasant days more than compensated for the night time cold – except maybe during that late-night trip to the loo!
Pack up was unhurried and then we took Couey for a last “freedom” walk, part-way around the lagoon. Suspected it might be a while before she got lots of free-ranging off-lead exercise again.
The drive to Cobar was enjoyable.
This was not a section of road that we had travelled before; it’s good to go somewhere new. There would be a new bit of black line on the map of our travels, that hangs on a wall at home.
There were a few mildly bouncy sections.
I noted there was a roadhouse at Emmerdale – just a roadhouse – for future reference. Lonely spot.
The road followed low ridges for a while, so there were interesting outlooks across the flat plains, and some variety.
Between Wilcannia and Cobar
There were also lots and lots of goats, which are at significantly feral levels in these parts. Some of them had such beautifully multi-coloured coats. I commented to John that, although we’d seen road kill kangaroos and the occasional sheep, we’d never seen a dead goat. Discussed whether they had greater road sense than other animals.
There were several stops for John’s needs, then we stopped for coffee and to give dog a walk, at Meadow Glen Rest Area, This would be an alright place to free camp overnight – a number of spots tucked in amongst the native pines, with toilets and some tables. But we were aiming for Cobar and greater creature comforts.
Booked into the Cobar Caravan Park, for two nights, at $33.50 a night for a powered site. The site was drive through style, which made things easy. The wide grassed separation sections between the sites made for good dog resting places. Very pleasant.
Although we’d passed through Cobar several times, had never stayed there, or explored it. So I wanted to do that, plus our Griffith friends often visit family here, so I thought we might catch up with them. I texted V, saying we were here and asking where they might be. The answer came back – still in Griffith, but she was coming up on Friday to spend the weekend with her sister. So – we would catch up then, staying an extra couple of nights to do so. Great – we hadn’t met up in person since 2005.
After setting up, drove into town, firstly to the bowls club. John was determined that the extra time here would be put to his definition of good use! He booked himself in for a game tomorrow morning.
Then to the supermarket and a much-needed stock up of fresh foods. Potatoes again!
John was amazed that I agreed to his suggestion that we buy a cooked chicken from the deli section, for tea. Normally, I do not eat chook that I haven’t cooked myself, but this was obviously freshly cooked and looked really nice. I bought a tub of coleslaw to go with it. Cook’s night off…..
I wanted to get a couple of casks of port to take on into Qld, being unsure that we would be able to buy same where we were intending to go. I had not really kept up with the alcohol restrictions imposed in the last few years, but had an idea they had really tightened up, especially for things like fortified wines. However, the shop did not have any. They had run down their stocks for stocktaking and would not be getting supplies until next week. Of course, as soon as port was unavailable, I could envisage a prolonged drought of our nightcap…..So I texted V, asking if she could bring some up from Griffith, where she could source casks from the winery there. She replied she would. Nightcaps would be assured for some time – I could relax!
The caravan park was large, and busy, Cobar being at a cross roads of both east-west and north-south routes. There was a big grassed area right up the back, behind the unpowered camp sites, where we were able to throw a ball for dog and give her some running exercise.
Unfortunately, there was also a stray young goat wandering about the park, that seemed to think it was a dog, or would like a canine new best friend to follow around. Couey didn’t agree, so we had to take evasive action whenever goat appeared in the distance. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to wander down the front of the park, where our site was.
Upon waking, we decided to have another lazy day here, since it was such a pleasant place.
Went up to the office to pay for another night, then showed manager lady the forum location and Badger’s site.
I read for a while, then tried to download some more e-books to my reader. Couldn’t quite remember how I did that, the first time, at home. Did not manage it well, this time. I did get some transferred to the reader, but not all that I tried for.
It was too nice a day to spend for long in Bus, playing with technology.
Warrawong on Darling. Camp kitchen just visible behind car.
We walked Couey around the lagoon. She’d had such a great time here. She had some good wallows in the shallows, then actually ventured into deeper water, after thrown sticks. She almost – but not quite – got to swimming depth. This was followed by much rolling in the dust – and, much later, by a big brushing session, before she was allowed in Bus again.
I inspected the Terios front bumper closely. It was more stone pocked than I’d realized, on Sunday. I thought there were a couple of small marks on the windscreen too. It really would have been much better to drive the two vehicles separately.
I showered and washed my hair. The bathrooms here are so great – I doubted we’d be using any others as good for some time.
In the late afternoon, John lit the fire in the communal pit and we sat round it talking with other campers. One couple came from Clunes and were neighbours to an artist who was a good friend of my brother. The old small world thing again…..
Options for tonight’s tea were a bit limited by lack of fresh produce, but we enjoyed macaroni cheese with tuna. Yummy.
Daughter texted to say she’d forwarded mail today, to Charleville.
Watched the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet again. Not as good as last week’s episode, because the two politicians featured were not really very inspiring or interesting ones.
Decided to stay another day, because it was so peaceful and relaxing here.
I took the opportunity to do a load of washing in the brand new laundry.
John filled our water tank, trusting that the treatment of the Wilcannia town water was trustworthy! It took ages to fill. NOW he believed me that we were really low on water – previously he’d been sceptical, of both me and the gauge. We did not have such things in the van and he seemed slow to trust the levels that they showed for fresh and grey water tanks.
Drove back into Wilcannia and cruised around, looking at the beautiful old stone buildings. In the late 1800’s, Wilcannia was the third largest inland port in Australia. Unfortunately, too many of the buildings were damaged or decaying. Two of the best remaining ones were the Police Headquarters (which originally had another purpose), and the Courthouse. I guessed that both were well-used these days! There were people milling about in front of the latter, and more people out and about in town, in general, being a week day.
I went to the supermarket. Their loose potatoes were a brilliant shade of green. I wasn’t prepared to buy a packaged bag of same, where there was no way of seeing in to check the colour of the contents. So we were still spud-less. I felt quite angry that the shop manager obviously thought it was alright to try to sell produce like that – an insult to the locals.
I did buy a bottle of pasta sauce, having to hunt a bit to find a variety that wasn’t past its use-by date. Disgraceful.
Posted cards I’d written at Copi Hollow, to assorted family and friends.
After lunch back at camp, walked Couey – and Bidgee – round the lagoon circuit. Bidgee actually managed to tempt Couey into the shallows of the lagoon, and they had a great frisk and wallow. Bidgee startled a kangaroo and then chased it off into the scrub; we didn’t see her again, but she was back home by the time we finished our walk. Couey was quite mystified by the kangaroo and not inclined at all to join the chase – good!
This morning, we were the only campers left in the place, but in the afternoon four more lots came in.
I went online and put a review of this place on the Badgers site, where travellers review parks, and also made a comment on a travellers forum I frequented. Told the lady manager I’d done this. She hadn’t heard of either – I got the impression she was feeling her way a bit with technology – and wanted me to show her those two sites, which I will do tomorrow.
The manager lit the campfire and we joined a really enjoyable happy hour gathering.
This Adventurous Age 