At Tibooburra we discovered that we had a problem with the towing hitch, it looks like the bearings have collapsed in part of the universal joint.     I rang the manufacturers and discussed it with them, we decided to replace it but this means us getting one by post and fitting it somewhere.    Having talked to the lady in the Post Office at Tibooburra it seems that we could be waiting a couple of weeks for the spare to get here.    Bourke was another option but apparently most of that road is pretty badly corrugated and we really don’t want to be travelling on those with a potentially weak towing hitch.   The guy at the manufacturers said he thought it should be alright to drive, so we decided to get it posted to Broken Hill (NSW).  On Saturday we (and the other 2 vans) set out to do the 330 ks to Broken Hill.    Some 60 plus ks of the Silver City Highway are still dirt but are not too badly corrugated and we managed to complete half the distance before camping just to the north of Packsaddle. We had a really good fire to keep the cold out and counted satellites and met an interesting character called Ted, who arrived in the dark and like a moth to a flame headed to our campfire with a tinny in his hand.

The following are few shots of the scenery down Silver City Highway. (They don’t show the rather large amount of road-kill that littered the Highway – roos, emus, the odd goat and feral pig!)

        

     

So we arrived in Broken Hill on the Sunday afternoon and decided to free camp outside the the Showground.   We all  went to visit Silverton, an old silver mining town to the north of Broken Hill, but much to Brad’s disappointment the café was closed and we had to make do with the pub.     Alan and Sandy finally caught up with us after all their trials and tribulations with their 200 Series Landcruiser, which was caused, as Brad and Roger had decided right at the beginning, by a computer problem.

Monday was spent organising spares, servicing cars and shopping.     Tuesday something similar.   Wednesday morning a telephone call informed us that the replacement hitch had arrived, a day earlier than expected. It was duly fitted  and  we were ready to roll.   Unfortunately, Toyota weren’t so efficient in servicing Brad’s car so it was the afternoon before it was available.  In the meantime, Graham, who was leaving us today to drive to Lithgow, discovered that his batteries were cactus and had to have them replaced, so we all decided on a Thursday start and that we would all go on to Wilcannia!

Thursday morning and we are on our way, four BTs now.   Some shots on the Barrier Highway.

   

No dramas today and a leisurely drive down to Wilcannia where we arrived just after lunch and made camp down by the billabong, a really lovely spot with plenty of birdlife to keep us amused with binoculars and bird books for handy reference.

     

        

       

Friday 1st September

This morning we said goodbye to our travelling companions, Brad, Denise, Alan & Sandy are going down the Darling river and then the Murray river to Echuca and Graham and Jan are going to Lithgow before going to Echuca.    They are all going to get colder and colder….!       We are heading north to QLD and hopefully some warmer weather.

We will keep in touch with Alan and Sandy and may catch up with them later for the drive back to WA.   It is possible we could go via the Gawler Ranges and the Old Eyre Hwy, we shall see.

We had a good run today through to Cobar and then managed another 100ks up towards Bourke, before finding a really nice camp site, sitting in the sun, lighting a fire, wine and nibbles before dinner.

Map update; https://1drv.ms/i/s!AksnrQT2cvoGxUVXu1fEOqW9rQTu

Saturday 2nd September

As we passed through Bourke we calculated this small detour to be about 821 ks!

So now we are back on track but about seven days behind schedule.    We’re making for Collarenebri some 75 ks towards Moree for tonight, a rest stop with hot showers.    The road is pretty awful, just all uneven, so we are constantly being bucked about, on top of this it seems to be the main truck route from Adelaide and Perth into QLD and we are constantly on the radio talking to truckies and helping them to pass us. This is cotton growing country and the edges of the road are white with cotton balls. The flat fields are divided by wide channels and as the cotton has already been cropped  this year there’s just bare soil. The free campsite is just outside town next to the footy ground, it is well laid out and indeed there are hot showers.   It is quite tiring travelling on these roads so the first glass of white goes down pretty well.    We can tell that we’re getting further north as tonight we could sit outside without our coats on, for the first time since we left home!    We sent an email to others with some temperatures, knowing full well that they were going south and getting colder and colder!

Sunday is another day of very similar road conditions and traffic, we refuel in Moree and have a cup of tea overlooking the river, there is a Field Day happening and there are a large number of people around.

           

Back on the busy main highway road we have a more mixed landscape and several times we had to slow down to herds of cattle munching alongside the road with no one actually tending them, although someone had put out a warning sign ‘Cattle ahead’.  The road is lumpy again but also starts to have hills to go up and down. We see lots of prickly pears forming hedges along the road and more tall fir trees.  By 4 o’clock we are quite happy to stop at the showgrounds in Millmerren, which is about half way to Towoomba.    We should be able to have a reasonably good day tomorrow but going through Towoomba we will be of the main drags for a while.

Map update; https://1drv.ms/i/s!AksnrQT2cvoGxUVXu1fEOqW9rQTu