16th June 2011
We had extended our stay in Cobar as there was a bit of wet-windy weather ahead; as we intended to camp alongside rivers, we should wait and see, we thought. The electrical problem eventually resolved itself as “one-of-those-things” that had no immediate resolution. Let’s put up with it if it happens again.
There is enough to see and do around Cobar, a nice walking trail, a big turnover of vans in the park for added interest and a couple of books yet to be read. Took it easy, watched others mow the lawns and had a restful time.
When we did leave, it was north to Burke, the NSW town that advertises itself as being the gateway to the real outback, Aussies talk about being “......back o’ Bourke....”, way beyond the Black Stump. This was our second visit to the town but we revisited the Info Centre at the old railway centre, the grumpy owner still the same. We went back to look again at the memorial and burial site of the great Fred Hollows, a true hero. Have a look at his story here:
http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/fred-hollows
At the old Darling River wharf at Bourke, there is housed a 1923 vintage Crossley Twin Cylinder Oil Fuelled Stationary Engine, that produced 128BHP at 260 Revolutions Per Minute, its 6 tonne flywheel assisted momentum between strokes to drive Electrical Generators for Sydney, (1923-1936). Later it was used in a Butter Factory at Coffs Harbour and in 1949, bought to the bush to be used to drive Irrigation Water Pumps until taken out of service in 1964. The makers in Manchester UK, would be delighted to see the engine still running. The engine, restored and maintained by volunteers is run as a tourist attraction at noon, 3 days a week. We were lucky this time to see and hear it run. Have a look at photos in the album.
After our lunch break at Bourke, headed east to a small town Brewarrina, (can’t get my tongue around this one.) We camped on the banks of the Barwon River, flowing steadily now but there was plenty of evidence of the flooding deluge that had passed this way earlier this year. Some camp areas were still closed after the floods.
When we passed this way in 2006, the effects of many years of drought were starkly evident. The incredible difference after the rains, how do grass and other vegetation survive the arid conditions, just to regenerate as soon as rain comes? More incredible, fish, Yabbies and frogs all survive the long dry, to re-immerge when the rivers run again. The bird life around the river is abundant, Egrets, Shags and ducks; parrots and the legendary Kookaburra made for a delightful few days.
20th June
Further east to Walgett, another small town that sits on the junction of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers, once busy river transport centres, the rail came and the riverboats disappeared, over time, commerce has disappeared and now the town is a service centre for part of the major irrigation and farming areas. This is another town that encourages caravanners; there is a free camp for 3 days that encourages one to spend a bit of money in the town. One thing that we did notice in Walgett was the number of dogs wandering around the town. It seems that the Indigenous population like to keep dogs but are not totally responsible when it comes to controlling and restraining them.
From Walgett, we headed north, to look for Lightning Ridge, another iconic town in the Australian outback.
Lightning Ridge; (http://lightningridgeinfo.com.au/)
Lightning Ridge got its name from a story of two people who were killed by lightning on a rocky ridge outside of where the town is established. Lightning Ridge is famous for Opal, the spectacular Australian gemstone; in particular, Lightning Ridge has a rare variety of “black opal”. This town and the myriad of opal mine sites is different to that of Coober Pedy and Andamooka Opal fields in South Australia. Here the miners live in “normal” above ground houses and bore their mines in much the same way as digging a well. If Opal is found, they follow the seam and hope to become rich.
Lightning Ridge is one of the towns in Australia that claims to be the hottest place, summer temperatures soar to around 45o Celsius, sometime to 50. Not a place that I would visit in January-February. However, winter nights can be very cool; we had below zero on at least one morning. There is a nice thermal mineral spring spa pool in the town, close to where we stayed, a very popular attraction. The water comes from deep in the Great Artesian Basin and the pool temperature is around 40o, ideal therapy to warm the cockles and old joints.
There are several mine tours available, one called “Chambers of the Black Hand”, it is a working Opal mine, the owners have an underground shop, but most spectacular, is the series of carvings that have been sculptured out of the sandstone below which, the opal is to be found. The owner started the carvings to entertain him but as it progressed, has become a major tourist attraction. At $30 a head to visit, it probably makes more money than the original opal mine. The sculptures include copies of Egyptian carvings, modern pop culture and mythology, animals and political satire. An amazing collection, follow links above to see for yourselves.
Self drive tours can be taken from the town around the mine workings, following the “mud-map” from the Info Centre, the tours are marked at intervals by old car doors hanging on trees, one follows the colours, red, yellow , blue and green car-door self drive tours. Quite unique to Lightning Ridge, we loved it. The new Opal Caravan Park where we stayed had everything to make our stay very comfortable. In the park, amazingly, there is a vehicle wash bay. Everywhere else in Australia we are discouraged, if not forbidden to wash cars with hoses. Here, in the middle of the driest country, plenty of water, quite an anomaly. We washed the van and the car as we don’t expect to be able to do it again for a while.
Queensland
On 28th June, we moved north again and crossed the border between NSW and Queensland, across the border sits the small hamlet of Hebel, basically a famous old pub and a store that was once the towns dance hall, now well know for quality meals for tourist and truckers alike. Further north, the township of St George, and a 3 day camp at the Kapunda Riverside Camping Ground. This is another town that suffered from two serious spates of flooding, both caused isolation of the town and the camp area had damage that will take a few years to restore. We felt that our camping fees would help just a little.
Driving up to St George, the roadside is littered with the white cotton bolls from the huge cotton plantations. These plantations are a source of controversy as one of the biggest properties is said to store more water than the Sydney Harbour. There would be millions of dollars worth of cotton on the roadsides, looking like snow all the way from Hebel, St George, and all the way to Goondiwindi. Vast areas of the country side are laser-levelled; with irrigation channels to flood irrigate these fields for cotton, rice and sorghum. Vicki picked a couple of cotton bolls from wayward roadside plants that escaped the last harvest.
Nindigully
Another well known camping place in the west-Queensland boarder country is at the old hotel at Nindigully, on the banks of the Moonie River, another source of the masses of water needed for the huge irrigation areas of this part of Australia. The pub of course, is the attraction; the place is quite busy with caravanners from all over Australia, staying from one day to a few weeks. The pub supplies the campers with free showers and toilets and put on great meals. They advertise a Hamburger at $50, what! You may ask? This is no ordinary Hamburger, supposed to feed 20 people, they need 3 days notice to make one. Also, their 2-inch steak at $50 dollars needs the same 3-day notice and there are legends about stockmen and truckies who have endeavoured to consume these enormous meals. The yearly rodeo surely adds to the legends, hard men need hard tucker!
Goondiwindi
By 4th July, we were booked in to the Goondiwindi Top Tourist Caravan Park, booked three days but extended to a full week. On the drive across to here, the cotton trucks were everywhere, transporting up to 12 230kg round bales, and 2x 9 tonne compacted 40ft modules. We had seen these bales alongside the roads, awaiting transport to the Cotton Gins. Goondiwindi has two Gins, and the cotton is sorted, cleaned, the fibres separated from the seeds and prepared for transport to cotton mills around the world. Cotton has been grown in Australia since the arrival of the First Fleet and is a substantial component, albeit controversial, of the agricultural industry of Australia. About 55000 Hectares of cotton plantations are around the St George-Goondiwindi areas. The business is worth billions of dollars to the region so it would be a brave visiting South Australian that complained that the cotton fields were taking all our water, (and not to mention rice!).
Goondiwindi is a major service centre of the border region, once a main crossing from NSW; the old Border Bridge Customs house would have been very busy before federation. Now the town services agriculture, transport and several government centres.
The MacIntyre River forms part of the border between NSW and Qld, Goondiwindi sits entirely on the northern bank of the river and therefore, a Queensland township. The town history is that of a major border crossing and this is still true today, literally thousands of heavy transport vehicles pass through the town 24/7 along the Newell, Cunningham, Barwon and the Leichhardt Highways, thousands of tonnes of road transport freight to and from the Eastern States.
Goondiwindi is also remembered for a race-horse, nicknamed the “Goondiwindi Grey”, registered name was Gunsynd and won many famous horse races across Australia during the 50-60’s. The information centre has a great display of the horses achievements, followers of the “sport of kings” would be delighted to explore the museum display.
Texas
A day drive took us to another small border town named Texas, not a lot there but the town is RV friendly, free camps down by the river and a small caravan park within the town. We always wanted to say “we’ve been to Texas!” Nice eatery, friendly lady at the newsagency and for travellers, free showers in the toilet block in the main street. Texas is working hard to attract tourists on route to the more popular Queensland venues.
July 10th V
icki’s birthday, we are packing up and getting ready to move on, not really sure to where, but a bit further north and hopefully, a bit warmer climes.Click on the link below to view the photo album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/CobarToGoondiwindi?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIOG3J-8z7n_QQ&feat=directlink
