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With our caravan in tow we headed for Broken Hill to Tibooburra and Cameron's Corner. With lots of free camping we headed east to Bourke where we stayed for 4 weeks helping with maintenance on the Bourke Christian Church and Darling Farms. On the road to Gundabooka National Park we had an "exciting" experience when our 4WD and caravan started swaying from side to side on a wet dirt road with the Ranger following. Fortunately we kept the car & caravan on the road. Peter suffered severe stomach cramps for 3 days. He could not drive but we could not leave the National Park Time anyway as the road was closed. A scary outback experience. We headed down the Darling River to Wilcannia via White Cliffs, Hay and home.
Outback NSW - July/August 2011
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| Camping at Pine Creek on Silver City Highway 50 kms south of Broken Hill in NSW. |
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| Miner's Memorial at Broken Hill |
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| Peter & Joy found a seat at Lookout overlooking Broken Hill in NSW. |
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| Joy at Silverton Cafe |
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| Peter at Silverton Hotel which has featured in many movies. |
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| Pro Hart's Gallery in Broken Hill. |
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| Camel power along Silver City Highway. |
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| Spanner Tree near Lake Cobham. |
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| We camped at Lake Cobham is 210 kms north of Broken Hill on Silver City Highway. Emus came to drink at dusk. |
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| 60kms to Cameron Corner where the borders of Queensland, NSW and South Australia meet. Surveyor John Cameron placed a surveyor post with the inscription "LAT29" and "Cameron" in September 1880. |
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| Gate and dog fence between NSW and South Australia at Cameron Corner. The wild dog fence is the longest fence in the world. From Jimbour near Dalby in Queensland to Great Australian Bight in South Australia |
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| Road from South Australia into Queensland at Cameron Corner. We had a picnic lunch in Queensland. |
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| Cameron Corner. Ahead to South Australia, leaving NSW behind us. Road to right into Queensland. |
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| Peter throwing a ball from NSW, across Queensland into South Australia. |
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| Joy pointing to dog fence between the boundary between NSW & South Australia. Originally a rabbit proof fence from 1880. From 1914 the fence was used to keep dingoes off sheep grazing lands. The fence is 5614 kms long. |
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| Dog fence between NSW & Queensland. It is located 1 chain north of NSW - Queensland border and maintained by Wild Dog Destruction Board. Boundary riders are each responsible for a maximum 60 kms of fence. |
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| Interior of Cameron Corner Store. A great collection of peaked hats. We gave our contribution. |
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| We had a picnic lunch in Queensland. |
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| Fort Grey within Sturt National Park. On the morning of 18 July while free camping at Fort Grey, the Ranger gave us a message from Robyn advising that Peter's mother was very ill and we needed to return home. Mum broke her hip and had a mild stroke & pneumonia. |
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| 140 kms of corrugated road between Tibooburra and Cameron Corner and the caravan survived! |
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| Waka Clay Pan on road Cameron Corner to Tibooburra in NSW |
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| Gibber plains between Cameron Corner and Tibooburra in Sturt National Park (west end). |
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| Gorge Loop Road (east end). |
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| Small rocky gorges and Gidgee trees along the Gorge Loop Road in Sturt National Park (east end). |
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| Mt Wood Pastoral Museum and Historic Homestead dating back to 1886. |
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| We camped near Mt Wood Pastoral Museum and Historic Homestead. Peter improvised a horse that used to raise well water. |
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| Emus at our camp site near Mt Wood Homestead. Now part of National Parks and Wildlife. |
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| Tibooburra to Wanaaring - 234 kms with 2 nights camping. We saw a large western brown snake. |
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| Free camping on road to Wanaaring. Only 1 truck past us! |
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| Road Wanaaring to Bourke - 195 kms with 1 camping night. |
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| Free camping Wanaaring to Bourke. Where is everyone! |
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| We were in Bourke for a visit in 2010. This visit we wanted to serve the people. We went to their Sunday service on each of the 4 Sundays, also 3 mid week studies and individual times of fellowship with people. |
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| We stayed at Darling Farms owned by the Buster family - cotton growers. |
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| Nearby our camp where we stayed for nearly 4 weeks. |
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| Jack Buster show us around the cotton farm. Huge lakes store water, and irrigation channels carry the water to the cotton or wheat fields. Darling River runs along the south end of Darling Farms. The family grow wheat & cotton on alternate years. |
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| Cotton modules waiting to be processed at North Bourke Ginnery. |
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| Peter painted, cleaned, removed cobwebs, cleaned out gutters and maintenance jobs over about 12 days at Bourke Christian Church. |
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| Joy at Historical Wharf at Bourke overlooking Darling River. |
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| Bridge over Darling River at North Bourke. |
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| Darling River at Fort Bourke. Note where the water levels reached in February 2011- 12.56M. |
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| Peter & Joy picked oranges on Back O'Bourke Fruits - Managed by Darling Farms. |
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| Joy with emu chick at BackO'Fruits |
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| Emus on Darling Farm. |
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| Always a lovely sunset at Darling Farms. |
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| Aboriginal rock art at Mulgowan in Gundabooka National Park, 23 kms from Kidman Highway. |
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While we were at the rock art it started to rain. The Ranger met us as he wanted to close the road into Mulgowan. While driving out, the car and caravan got into trouble with the wet slippery road. The caravan almost jack knifed several times. We slid to a standstill across the road but no damage. The Ranger was travelling behind us. He said that Peter did a great job controlling the vehicle, but an experience we would not like to repeat.
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| We had another 22 kms to get to Dry Tank camp ground, the only permitted camping in Gundabooka National Park. |
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| Earlier in the day Peter was feeling a little "seedy". Soon after arriving at Dry Tank and after our sliding experience Peter was cold (shock?). For 4 hours he had serious stomach cramps. Was it a twisted bowel, or appendicitis, or gall or kidney stones or strained stomach muscles? We had no mobile range, we were 70 kms from Bourke, 130 kms from Cobar. The road was closed so couldn't get to a hospital, call Flying Doctor or Ranger. We were all alone. We just had to trust God. It was a long night. It was 4 days for Peter to return to (almost) normal. His stomach muscles went from untouchable to manageable. It took 4 days before he could eat a meal. He survived on soup. The day after our experience the Ranger came to tell us the Park roads were closed due to the wet conditions. If we did drive on a "closed road" we could be fined $1100 per axle, and we had 3! Interesting coincidence was that the road was closed for 4 days and Peter could not drive for 4 days. |
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| A large kangaroo was inquisitive. Emus & goats were around also. |
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| Red hooded robin is rare but can be seen in this area. We were privilege to see 5 as they are a threatened species. |
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| Joy went for lots of walks while Peter recovered. |
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| The red soil and vegetation was spectacular as we drove through Gundabooka National Park and onto Louth as we did the Darling River Run to Tilpa and Wilcannia. |
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| Camping by Darling River, 57kms south west of Tilpa. |
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| Pulling caravan was no deterrent to where we wanted to go. |
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| Lunch by Darling River 20kms before Wilcannia. |
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| Wilcannia was once known as "Queen City of the West", being 3rd largest shipping port in Australia. In its boom years of 1880s sandstone was quarried locally for the beautiful buildings that still stand today. |
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| Municipal Offices in Wilcannia. |
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| The Cathedral Underground Gallery in White Cliffs.
White Cliffs has the distinction of being Australia's first commercial opal field. In 1889 while culling kangaroos on the vast Momba Station four kangaroo shooters picked up samples of opal. Within a year White Cliffs Opal was available on markets in Britain, the Continent and USA. The first mining lease was taken out in 1890 and within a few months the population rose to 5000.
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| Front entry to Cathederal Gallery where you can buy opals. |
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| Most of the houses are dug out leaving thick rock walls with rooms and underground living. |
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| Camping 50kms south of Wilcannia on Cobb Highway. |
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| Emus at 16 miles Gums, 30kms south of Hay in NSW. |
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| The yellow canola flowers and green in Victoria was vastly different to the red soils of outback NSW. |
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| Lake Eildon full at Bonnie Doon in Victoria. |
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| Women spinning alpaca wool at Station 7 Icecream Parlour & Candy Store in Yea. David Benjamin Olney (1855-1917) college is hanging above the doorway into where Alpaca items are sold. (Memorabilia items were donated to the Yea Historical Society in Yea Railway Station some years later) |
If you have any comments, please email Joy Olney - joyolney@gmail.com
