Monday 23rd June
We had a pretty noisy night due to the wind and were not looking forward to the potential driving conditions this morning.
Sure enough the skies boded ill first thing and as soon as we got under under way I could feel the effect of the wind on the rig. It didn’t take long for the effect on the fuel gauge to be seen either! We had about 80ks of these conditions to Peterborough before turning up onto the Barrier Hwy. As soon as we turned north east the wind was on our port quarter and we were running nicely before the wind with the subsequent improvement in the fuel consumption. Sorry if fuel appears to take a disproportionate amount of blog space but it is our biggest expense when travelling, ie; about $4,500 for this trip!
The Barrier Hwy runs from Giles Corner, north of Adelaide in South Australia to Nyngan in New South Wales, 1012 ks, through very sparsely populated country, not unlike the Nullabor, though much greener, as you can see from the photographs. It gets its name from the Barrier Range, a line of relatively high ground in the far west of NSW, through which the road runs.
For the most part it runs alongside the transcontinental railway line, we kept a look out for the Indian Pacific, which is a passenger train running, as its name suggests from the Indian Ocean (Perth) to the Pacific Ocean (Sydney).
We eventually did see a train, not the Indian Pacific, in fact it was being hauled by an engine which normally did the north / south Adelaide to Darwin run, called The Ghan.
There are a couple of small communities between Peterborough and Broken Hill and I mean small. At Manna Hill, there are several houses, a pub / hotel, a town hall and a shop, while at Olary, there is a pub, a shop and a station but only two houses. These places still exist largely because there are some relatively small gold mining operations in the vicinity (ie; within 50 – 100ks).
The occasional bit of excitement is generated by passing trucks, especially if it’s on a stretch of road with some bends or hills and dips. Generally we let them know we’re aware of them and suggest that they let us know when they are going to overtake so that if necessary we can slow up to let them back in. These guys know the road well and will tell you when they want to come past and are usually pleased with the cooperation. Basically, we’re doing 85 and they want to be doing 110. One driver today told us he was on his way back to Brisbane, so when we said we were heading that way he suggested a caravan park at the back of the Sunshine coast where his wife worked. We looked it up on WikiCamps; it didn’t get a very good write up, so we won’t be staying there!
We cross into NSW at Cockburn but the fruit and vegetable checking station isn’t open, so we could have bought more stuff in SA.
Tuesday 24th June
We spent last night at the Racecourse in Broken Hill and were awoken by the sound of horses hooves as the trotters came out to train!
We have been here (Broken Hill) before (see 2012) but this iconic outback place seems to have lost a lot of its magic and with all the primary retailers in town, it has lost its rural identity. At least it seems like that to us, even when we went through here in 1996 it seemed a bit more exciting.
Today’s travelling is through much of the same scenery as yesterday, at least as far as Wilcania. This place, about 200 ks from the Hill has a terrible reputation as a town, sadly because of the indigenous population, but it is also reputed to have two very good caravan parks, one with what has been described as the best caravan site toilet block in the country!
Wilcania stands on the Darling River, the older readers amongst you will remember that when we were at school we had to be able to draw a map of Australia and one of the things we had to be able to locate was the Murray – Darling Basin river systems! On the ground the countryside changes but not to fertile soil immediately, it’s still mostly saltbush because like most of these outback towns it is surrounded by a treeless area because the trees were all cut down for building, firewood and pit props.
So from Wilcania we now have a 300k run into Cobar, a copper mining area and reasonably sized town, with this sort of scenery about 150 ks before we approach the McCulloch Range, which is really just a row of sandhills that are 20 metres higher than the surrounding plain but it makes a change and the road has recently been re-surfaced.
And then there’s road works, yes, half way between the Wilcania and Cobar, so that’s 150ks each way to the nearest habitation, even a traffic light, haven’t seen one of those since Port Augusta!
Just through the range we notice that the trees are well pruned up to about 1500mm from the ground, the culprits, feral goats, apparently there are 100s of thousands of them, originating from escapees probably a couple of hundred years ago. They, like the camels are literally devastating large areas of natural bush.
We see them all the way into Cobar and beyond.
In Cobar we find the ‘Newie’ Dam Reserve and find a spot for the night, seems very peaceful, until feeding time at the kennels about 200 metres away – just like home!
Wednesday 25th June
Feeding time is about 0650 so at least we weren’t woken up too early by the dogs and their barking only lasted a few minutes anyway.
We only have 350 ks to get to Dubbo and fortunately once again the wind is reasonable, so easy travelling with wide open spaces and big skies still, gradually changing to cotton fields nearer Dubbo. The cotton has all been harvested but the evidence is all along the roadside and then the storage areas.
Of course, no trip would be complete without encountering an RBT, NSW style – “just count to ten please”, at 11 o’clock in the morning, in the middle of nowhere! I beg its pardon, it’s actually a place called Trangie.
Just wait your turn!
We have a problem with one of our taps and have located a caravan repair place that might be able to help, plus we have lost one of the rubber tie–downs for the stoneguard and are hoping to be able to replace them it in Dubbo. However, it is getting a bit late in the day for finding somewhere to camp so we decide to go and find a suitable place and go into Dubbo tomorrow as we have more or less a spare day.
We also refuelled in Dubbo having travelled from Pt Augusta 1172 ks and we still had 50–60 litres in the tanks.
Tonight we’re camped at Terramangamine Reserve, about 10ks out of Dubbo, along with quite a few other thrifty grey nomads!
Thursday 26th June
This morning we needed to go into Dubbo to get some help with the leaking tap, best advice we could get was ‘replace it’. So after shopping for other important things like food, we eventually found a plumbing supplies shop, after criss crossing the town of Dubbo, bearing in mind this in a 13.5 metre long rig, and bought a new one, $50!
After Dubbo we had a night in hand before we needed to be in Denman, so we decided to stay at the Bowling Club park in a wee place called Caisilis. We expected there a few vans there but were surprised to see 12/13 there! As we drove in we could see a banner announcing the Hunter Ramblers (caravan club) who were having a muster this week! Fortunately there was plenty of space so we just parked ourselves on the oval and made ourselves comfortable.
First job (after a cuppa) was to change the tap, no problem ’til we discovered that the new connecting pipes had a different fitting to the old ones (they were identical externally but inside had a flat sealing face where new ones had where conical! Out came the tap again, changed back to the old connecting pipes and we’re away – success. A lovely hot shower with plenty of water and we were ready to go over to the Bowls Club to pay our, very modest, $10 fee and managed to slip a couple of beers in at the same time.
A lady in the next van told us “it’s gonna be cold tonight’ – she was not wrong. So, when we tried to get the diesel heater going , it wouldn’t fire up properly, I guessed because the diesel was too cold. The solution apparently is to bung some kero (paraffin) in it, which we don’t carry around with us – we don’t do cold in WA!
Friday 27th June
It WAS a cold night and we had ice on the car in the morning.
However, the sun soon started to burn this off and it turned into a really beautiful sunny day.
We only had a drive of an hour and a bit to go today and by the time we got to Denman, it was time for lunch and having explored the options Denman had to offer settled for a little cafe (Graze) where we had a rather nice piece of quiche with a very respectable salad for an equally respectable price, what’s more we were able to eat it outside in the sunshine!
Then it was back up the Golden Hwy for about 10 ks to the cottage which our friends Jackie and Robert from Sydney had rented for the weekend. We arrived before them and were met by the landlady and two dogs, a stupid Dalmation and a smart Labrador.
We decided to back the van up the hill beside the cottage so we could plug in the power, mainly for the freezer in the troopie as much as anything. So we had got ourselves settled in with the kettle on by the time the others arrived. Really nice to see them again as it had been two years since we last got together.
A couple hours and two years of ‘goss’ and it’s time to head into Denman for tea at the Bowling Club. In Australia, especially in country towns, large and small, the ‘clubs’, bowling (lawn bowls) and RSL (Returned Services Leagues), are all usually open to the general public for meals, which are often very good and also usually very reasonably priced. The Denman club has a Thai restaurant and it turns out to be pretty good, the wine list is a little limited both in scope and quality but adequate. A bit more catching up before bed.
Saturday 28th June
After breakfast we get ready for a trip to Singleton for some bellringing. Singleton has a delightful little eight bell peal which was installed after we left Sydney and neither of us have rung there. Unfortunately, due to holidays, only a small number of Singleton ringers are available, which would have meant that we could only have rung 5 or 6 bells but a few of our friends have driven up from Sydney (2.5 hours each way) to ensure that we can ring all eight.
When we arrive the locals have laid on lunch in the form of a really delicious and hearty stew with lots of crusty bread, followed by fresh fruit. Suitably fortified we repair to the belltower and have a good afternoon helping the local ringers and hopefully increasing their confidence. The others are going to another tower, Maitland, to give the locals there some help, on their way back to Sydney but for us it is a long way in the wrong direction so we cannot help.
Having thanked the locals and said our goodbyes we head back to the cottage in the wind and rain, the weather having changed dramatically since yesterday, and have a welcome cup of tea. The wind has also increased a lot and we might be in for a noisy night.
Out to dinner in Denman tonight, this time to the supposedly upmarket Gerards Restaurant. It was packed, a good sign, the food was very good, not extortionately priced and the wine list interesting. The downside – a table of about 12 adults (their kids on another table). The adults? were very noisy, which spoiled the meal really. The restaurant owner admitted that they were a bit OTT but couldn’t really do much about it, pity. We found out it was the Denham horse trials weekend and we had encountered the noisy, horsy brigade. Hey ho!
A log fire awaits us back at the cottage and another glass or two of pinot to round the evening off.
Sunday 29th June
A leisurely start today, well the wineries don’t open ’til 1000 or 1100! Jackie (an enthusiastic Birder) and Robert go off to spot a two-barred something or other, I believe unsuccessfully, well it was there yesterday!
The first winery (St James) would be a very nice spot in the summer, this time of year bloody freezing both outside and in, the latter particularly disappointing as tasting red wines at around +5 is rather pointless! To make up for it they did make some nice semillon but even this was almost too cold. I bought some on spec as it had the makings of a nice drop in 6–8 years, should it last that long! The problem with buying wine to lay down when you’re travelling is that it has to be shipped back to WA, usually at about the cost of another bottle. The problem is that you have to trust the neighbours not to drink it when it arrives in Karnup (John please note, why do you think I sent to Sue & Keith!).
Having told the guy who was managing the tasting what we thought of the temperature we moved on to the next winery, where at least the temperature conditions were more comfortable. At both places we were lucky to have the place to ourselves, you get a much better service that way. In particular, once they realise you’re serious they often produce a bottle of something that is not on the tasting list. There’s a good reason for this, essentially, a lot of people just use wineries as a cheap way of getting plastered (it’s not difficult, in the Lower Hunter for instance, there are probably 30 wineries within a 10 k radius), say 8 wines available at each winery …………………..! Once Robert and I were at a winery in the Upper Hunter (it was called Montrose in those days) and there was a coach tour in, well the first wines they put out for were rubbish and we said so, whereupon he produced a better grade of wine, which again we weren’t impressed with. At the third attempt we got some good stuff and resulted in a sale for him because I bought a case of Barbera, which in fact was still drinking beautifully when we finished it in WA ten years later.
Although the temperature was better at the second place (Two Rivers), most of the wines weren’t but they have an unusually well-oaked chardonay and a surprisingly dry late harvest Verdhello, which we decided would make a nice pudding wine – more shipping costs! Fortunately we don’t expect to encounter any more wineries for the rest of the trip, so refuelling will be limited to the troopie!
All this hard work brought us to lunchtime, after which we returned to the cottage for a cup of tea before Jackie and Robert had to leave so that they could get back to Sydney at a reasonably hour, it was great catching up with them.
Pat and I had decided to stay on in the cottage for another night and used the time to plan the next few days, heading north to Armidale and QLD. Armidale is reputed to be the coldest place in NSW and just to enhance its reputation our friends there sent us the weather forcast for the next few days;
Armidale temperatures for the next few days are:
Monday: -2 to 8 (50% chance of rain)
Tuesday: -4 to 11 (Frosts, then sunny and 5% chance of rain)
Wednesday: -5 to 14 (Frosts, then sunny and 5% chance of rain)
Thursday: -4 to 15 (positively balmy)
You are welcome to stay in the house if it all seems too much.
We put another couple of logs on the fire and looked forward to tropical north QLD!
Monday 30th June
We were not in real hurry this morning as we didn’t plan to go too far, so having paid the bill and taken a photo, in a sunny patch,
we made our way to Muswellbrook where we had to stop to harangue the bank and get some shopping done. We found a suitable car park but I had to parallel park the rig which is fun – ish!
As well as food for the inner persons, I had to buy a new pair of shoes (Jackie please note!) because the soles and uppers on my everyday shoes had finally agreed on a divorce, in spite of my several efforts to keep them together using glue! I also managed to find some kero to go in the diesel.
So mission accomplished we head off up the New England highway to Tamworth (the country music capital of Australia), so we won’t be stopping here. We are climbing up into the Great Dividing Range all the time now and the weather up there is not looking good from here,
and it doesn’t look as though it’s getting any better higher up.
About 1500 we decide that that’s enough for today and we stop at a little place called Kootingal, who’s claim to fame is that it has five bars of Telstra signal.
With the heater working overtime we’ve had a cup of Lapsang Souchong (well I have), got the blog up to date and Pat has done all the accounts; must be time for dinner.
Alloveroz 