Allthegobro

Left Trilby in a frozen state with the temperature at 0.4C in the caravan next door, in our little van it was more like 4 below. Leanne hasn’t been so cold for a long time, I just took it on the chin. All the Station dogs were frozen to the trees. We were late getting away thawing out in the morning sun. Leanne decreed that it was to be a night in a motel, I didn’t disagree. Had a steak sandwich at the Tilpa hotel and signed our names on the pub wall along with every other person who had passed by over the last however many years. The road from Tilpa to Wilcannia was closed due to flood impacts so we had to go the long way round out towards Cobar and then cut back to Wilcannia, where we arrived around 5pm and booked into the local. Met up with Wayne our long-lost friend who works with RTA out of Broken Hill. The three of us enjoyed a chinese dinner at the Bowling Club and reminisced about the past and all the old times in Wilcannia and other parts of NSW.

Afternoon tea at Trilby Station

Leanne is in good spirits she met some people to talk to today. They were a nice couple who were planning a trip around Australia next year in a van for an indeterminate time, just going.

Today we went for a drive around the property seeing some of the key bits of equipment, holding pens, dams etc. Also some of the historic buildings from earlier ownership periods, including a homestead abandoned in 1965; seemingly not that long ago, with a copy of a Dolly magazine and the boys from Sherbert festooned in the pages lying around one of the rooms, ringer washing machines and boilers and a couple of old Toyota pick up trucks. Somewhat older was an old steam engine used on the property in the late 1800s.

It was all quite green and fresh looking, dams full of water and long grasses. More kangaroos, emus,sheep,goats and this time a rabbit for good measure.

Chilly again tonight but we are at least dry, it is something everyone should give a go. But Leanne is saying ‘why’? At least we are in good humour and looking forward to a new day. Off to Wilcannia tomorrow, route is a bit uncertain due to a road closure along the river.

We have now settled into our van for another  night under the stars. Chilly is an understatement although tonight we have enjoyed a camp fire looking up at the Milky Way, it is a crystal clear night no cloud just endless blackness punctuated with little twinkling lights.

Trilby is about 25k south of Louth on the western side of the Darling. It is a large sheep station that offers various types of farm stay accommodation, we of course are at a powered site no fancy cottages or shearers quarters for us.

Animals abound, kangaroos, (including road kill), emus,sheep, goats,an echidna, also numerous types of river birds. The country is very green.

Rocks on Mt Oxley

We are now settling down for night 2 in Bourke at the Kidman Camp Resort, last night was great, well not too bad. It is nice and close in this van, me in the top bunk and Leanne down below next to the fridge.Leanne says all was great until about 3am when nature called, it was a bit nippy outside on the way to the facilities. Major drama was actually get out of the van. Comfortable though as we slept in until 8am when we awoken by the call of the xxxxx bird. Hamburgers for dinner with clear skies and no doubt a chilly morning awaits.

Today we took off on day trip to Mt Oxley, in amongst all these flat endless plains I managed to find a cliff drive to get Leanne’s blood circulating. It is about the only hill in the district and no wonder Major Thomas Mitchell climbed up it on his expedition to find the inland sea. Some great rock photos on the top.

We leave Bourke tomorrow for Trilby Station via Louth for a couple of nights camping out by the river.

Reporting in again from Bourke this time from the Kidman Caravan Resort  camping out under the stars. Leanne encountered some minor dramas in setting up the van site eg not enough tent poles for the annex and some lighting issues which Russell saw the way through.   We have given the River View Motel the flick. We could not SEE ourselves staying another night in The Fred Hollows suite in the Heritage room section. The park is quite good with excellent facilities, not long finished our dinner of pasta, mince with sauce care of Paul Newman, followed by Tim Tams and port. Tripped around today looking at the ‘Back of Bourke’  Centre, a short cruise onboard the PV Jandra on the Darling River.

We are now about to call it a night and crawl into the comfy bed situation, it is as warm as toast in the back of this truck! We will just see how long it takes!

Sunset along the road to Burke

We have arrived at Bourke, but can’t find Wills. I suppose Kate knows were he is?

We have had a long day today on our search for the grave of Elizabeth Ann Furner at Bugilbone Station which dates back into the 1800s. Elizabeth is a great grandmother of our friend Tony Watt and died on Bugilbone in 1890 and it is thought is buried there. Bugilbone is shown on our map between Walgett and Burren Junction on the Kamilaroi Hwy, but this is only a disused railway siding. We drove into Burren Junction without sighting a ‘Bugilbone Station’ . So we decided to consult some locals at a garage in Burren Junction. Yes ! We were told that the Station was just a mere 20k up the road to Pilinga. Now the curious thing is that one of the locals was none other than Bill Kerr, well-known to Tony. Tony, Bill apologies profusely for not getting pictures to you of the gravestones. So we headed off to Bugilbone, drove into the property and was taken to the graveyard area by the son of the property manager. We will fill you in on some detail later Tony but unfortunately we could not locate the grave.There  is a similar surname of ‘Moore’ but first initials are different. There may be some more detective work for you to do Tony.

We returned to Walgett and headed to Brewarrina where we saw the Aboriginal ‘fish traps’ in the Darling River that are thought to be upwards of 30,000 years on the go. Quite interesting! When then chased the setting sun into Burke and alas were forced to stay overnight in a motel rather than under the stars. Tomorrow is another day!

Left Goodiwindi after a short tour around the sights, or should that be sites? Doesn’t really matter. Gunsynd hasn’t changed since last seen on the memorial near the old Border Bridge, hasn’t won any more races either. Leanne availed herself of discounts at Goondiwindi Cotton Co before we headed off down the road to Moree and then onto Collarenabri on the Gwydir River. At Collarenabri we chased a flock of ducks into the river before having a milkshake in the local cafe. There is not a lot of commerce on the main street which has seen better days it seems. The drive into Walgett went well passing  great expanses of harvested cotton fields. It is a big night in town tonight and the local bottle shop ,is doing a roaring trade, there should be a few headaches in the morning. We enjoyed some Chinese takeaway and a bottle of red back in the motel. Last night under cover before the first camp out in Bourke tomorrow, after some grave hunting at Bugilbone.

After a slow start this morning we have arrived at Goondiwindi, home of the ‘Goondiwindi grey’ Gunsynd. Our vehicle has performed well with no mishaps. First time for both of us driving one of these 4wd tanks, parking can get a bit tight and I can see why shopping centre car parks should be a no go zone for them. A bit tight for time on arrival so we are spending  tonight in a motel rather than camping under the stars. In the morning will have a quick look around the town before moving onto Walgett for the next stop.

Well arrangements are now in place…almost…for the start of our road trip on the Darling River Run. The trip takes us from Brisbane in Queensland out west through Warwick and Goondawindi into NSW for our first night in Moree. From there we head to Bourke and down the Darling River to Wentworth where the river joins  the Murray River,Australia’s longest, which forms the border with Victoria.

We set off on Thursday 2 June in the early morning.