It’s been a few weeks since the last blog as we’ve been out of internet access areas on safari with the Campervan and Motorhome Club.
We left Gilgandra (eastern central NSW) on the 2nd August and travelled west and north through Cobar up to White Cliffs which is an opal mining area with underground homes and tourist accommodation. In places the roads have torn up patches of seal from flooding earlier in the year but repairs are mostly complete. It is good to see water in creeks and rivers and green growth in the flood plains.
That was the end of the sealed road and from there on we were on sandy, dusty gravel and much of it was badly corrugated.
We left Gilgandra (eastern central NSW) on the 2nd August and travelled west and north through Cobar up to White Cliffs which is an opal mining area with underground homes and tourist accommodation. In places the roads have torn up patches of seal from flooding earlier in the year but repairs are mostly complete. It is good to see water in creeks and rivers and green growth in the flood plains.
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| Roller coaster dirt roads |
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| Milparinka courthouse at sunset |
From there it was on to Innaminka on the Cooper Creek and here it was repairs to the right hand side of the trailer, then on to Dig Tree famous for the Burke and Wills expedition final camp. Wide areas of this country were flooded and these small communities were cut off for several months in 2010.
Even though these areas have very sparse populations often towns have populations in single figures, the wider local communities are all very active supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service and we were treated to fund raising BBQs at several sites on this trip and camp fees were usually a donation.
We travelled on to Noccundra (just an old pub by a river) then to Targomindah and finally we were back on the sealed road taking us to Cunnamulla and finally back into NSW to Bourke were we had a final official dinner, this one as a fund raiser for local Meals on Wheels service.
These small outback towns all have fascinating and often unique history and wonderful characters keeping it alive. They are all struggling to survive often in very different ways but all have the great outback spirit and down to earth approach to life.
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| Roadside patch-up on trailer |
From there it was on to Innaminka on the Cooper Creek and here it was repairs to the right hand side of the trailer, then on to Dig Tree famous for the Burke and Wills expedition final camp. Wide areas of this country were flooded and these small communities were cut off for several months in 2010.
Even though these areas have very sparse populations often towns have populations in single figures, the wider local communities are all very active supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service and we were treated to fund raising BBQs at several sites on this trip and camp fees were usually a donation.
We travelled on to Noccundra (just an old pub by a river) then to Targomindah and finally we were back on the sealed road taking us to Cunnamulla and finally back into NSW to Bourke were we had a final official dinner, this one as a fund raiser for local Meals on Wheels service.
These small outback towns all have fascinating and often unique history and wonderful characters keeping it alive. They are all struggling to survive often in very different ways but all have the great outback spirit and down to earth approach to life.
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| Cooper Creek, Innaminka. Dark tree trunks indicate flood level |
The colours of the outback are so vivid – red earth, blue sky, silver and green vegetation and sandy blond grasses and it seems to go on for ever. The nights have so many stars with the milky-way like a fuzzy stream across the skies. This was a wonderful time to see the outback with water in many of the creeks which can be dry for years and the waterholes are alive with birds including pelicans by the hundreds.
It has taken us 4 days to clean the dust out of the bus and try to seal up the worst gaps. We had a wonderful adventure and made some new friends along the way. We enjoyed it so much we are off on another safari in a few days, some of it over the same roads but taking us into new territory.
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