Back O’ Bourke

17/6/2018 Sunday R & R woke at 7:00am to a cool morning of 2*C and a very light mist; just enough to make things damp.  After breakfast and tidying up, RL read while RA put up the post they had been working on the night before.  By 8:30am they were packing down and twenty minutes later RL was driving back in to town to catch 9:30am Mass at St Lawrence’s.  They had a lovely new stained glass window that was created after the January 2013 fire in the Warrumbungles and featured the four most important facets of the town of Coonabarabran.  The sky is related to the astronomy facilities in the area, the background was all about the volcanic activity that has resulted in the Warrumbungles, the river represented the Castlereagh and the white gum featured as the tree of life in its rebirth after the fires.  They were a very welcoming group and despite the fact that the westerly wind was icy cold the temperature had risen to 6*C.  At 10:40am after a cup of coffee, R & R drove out to the Siding Spring Observatory, 27kms towards the Warrumbungle Range and National Park.  It was truly amazing to see the result of the 2013 fires when 56,000hectares including 35% of the Warrumbungle NP was burnt.  In some places the damaged was so severe that there were still scorched patches up the mountain sides, in others the trees remained as sticks right up to the top of the hills, but for the most part, there was regrowth that impressed.  It reinforced the whole concept of new life.  When R & R arrived at the turnoff to drive the last 4kms up to the Observatory, a sign instructed them that they should not take the camper any further so they left it in the designated area before heading upward.  There had been mist hovering over the tops of the hills and mountains as they drove up, but as they drove higher they found themselves in the mist.  It was icy cold as they got out at the car park (about 1000m above sea level) and their suspicions were confirmed as they walk the last hundred metres to the Australian Astronomical Observatory which contains Australia’s largest 3.9m telescope.  R & R shivered in the mist blasting as they walked past iced patches around the bottom of trees and plants.  The temperature was -0.5*C.  It was a blessing to shut the door behind and take the lift to the viewing room at the top to see the telescope.  To get the circulation going, they walked down the stairs.  When R & R arrived back at the camper about 12:20pm, they hooked it back up and emptied the jerry cans into the tank before heading back into town, stopping for a couple of photos on the way.  On the way back, RA noted that they had passed over a bridge saying Castlereagh and surmised that the Castlereagh River begins just there at the lower eastern end of the Warrumbungles.  The day had warmed just a little to 7*C in Coonabarabran as R & R sat to enjoy lunch and a coffee. They popped into the Crystal Kingdom which was a unique display of local minerals and fossils, about three quarters of which was the collection of one family from their property.  Very interesting, especially for R & R who are more interested in all things geological, than astronomical!  About 2:00pm and again a little warmer at 8*C, R & R set of north on the Newell Highway for Narrabri 118kms away.  For the most part the road was flanked by bushland, state forests and National Park and where it was not, there was a wide nature strip in front of farming land.  There was not much to see.  To make some remarks: the road was mostly flat, straight, in quite good condition and had great truck and picnic stops.  About 20kms before Narrabri it opened up into farming with some irrigation.  At 3:30pm RL stopped in Narrabri, a large town servicing the agricultural needs of the area, for fuel.  R & R heard “Eight metre wide … southbound.” on the CB and witnessed two loads of massive haul pack tippers being moved on trucks over the Namoi River.  There would just not have been enough room for another vehicle on the bridge.  The Pilot vehicle and Police escort were also holding traffic at the roundabout so that the truck could traverse it in the wrong direction.  So it was 4:00pm with the Ute facing west into the setting sun that R & R drove the 90kms to Burren Junction.  Broadly speaking, Wee Waa, a township just under half the distance, again, was a centre for agricultural services.  It had a cluster of 12 silos.  The Kamilaroi Highway followed the rail line and the Namoi River quite closely.  A notable feature on the Navigator was the “numerous channels” which support irrigation for agriculture from the river near the road.  Besides a couple of research stations, the primary visible activity was cotton farming interspersed with a little irrigation for cattle feeding. Nearly 80kms continuous cotton farming!  Auscott had a Gin but there was also Gunindgerra, Yarraman and Merah North.  There were acres of round yellow bales and some plants still to harvest but mostly clean smooth earth ready for the next season.  The already flat land had been levelled, terraced and walled in places to facilitate irrigation and sowing and harvesting of cotton.  Flat as … !  About 7kms out of Burren Junction, R & R saw the first signs of cattle grazing, not on irrigated or prepared ground but, eating sections of scrubby land.  H, R & R’s eldest daughter rang to reply to a missed call and, as she was out shopping, it was agreed to ring the next day.  R & R drove into the Burren Junction Baths free camping area about 5:00pm and had a walk around before setting up.  It was packed even in the over flow area and there were lots of people taking advantage of the free thermal baths.  R & R set up and were just having coffee when their other daughter, S, rang.  R & R cooked and enjoyed dinner before reading and writing.  The thermal baths … looked like a must do in the morning!  

18/6/2018 Monday  R & R slept well and woke at 7:00am to a warmer 8*C.  As soon as they had tidied up after eating breakfasted, they headed for the hot spring.  It may have been 8*C but an icy wind from the south made it difficult to get undressed.  It was well worth braving the cold as the water was delightful, pleasantly warm and refreshing.  At 8:00am, R & R packed down the camper and after RL had checked the air cleaner and oil, they were on their way to Walgett, approximately 95kms, on the Kamilaroi (after an indigenous group that lived in the area) Highway.  RL passed through the little township of Burren Junction itself, at 163m, which had a big Grain Corp set up with yards and silos. Along the way R & R saw grain and cattle farming on flat country side that had patches of trees. They passed a disused set of cattle yards with a loading ramp that was originally used for putting cattle straight on to a train.  At Cryon – Golden Plains where there were a couple of 90* bends in the road, there was a massive grain handling facility on the rail line. There also appeared to be another large grain operation but on second thoughts, R & R believed that it may have been new money invested.  The names of the farms posted on signs of similar style, did not match those on the Navigator.  The country side was very flat and more open.  R & R saw no livestock but there were water troughs at tanks which indicated that stock may have been there.  Birdlife included eagles, emus and small black birds that may have been starlings. About 10kms out of Walgett, which in on the Namoi River, R & R noticed one very large cotton farm.  In Walgett, R & R walked up and down the main street, watched a pair of hawks hovering in their search for prey and popped into the information centre.  There was a book swap where they found three books for RL.  He also scored a free sew on badge about the Wolseley handpiece and RA scored a complimentary Walgett Shire biro.  At 11:00am, R & R were heading 6kms out of Walgett, then up the Castlereagh Highway over the Barwon River towards Lightning Ridge 77kms north.  Interestingly, the Bogan River joins the Barwon River just near Walgett.  It was open flat grain and sheep station country which was not treeless and they saw more hawks, eagles and emus. On the latter half of the drive there were cattle feeding in the greener patches on low lying, prone to flooding areas, otherwise it was dry.  R & R saw the first of a few stock grids in the area called Warrambool.  At noon, RL stopped to take a photo of the welcome sign about 5kms out from Lightning Ridge and the giant cement mixer (like those used for washing rocks for opal). Lightning Ridge claimed to be Black Opal Country and the Black Opal Capital of the World. Shortly after, R & R were at the information centre where they sought advice and were permitted to fossick on the opal rubble in the car park. After enjoying lunch and coffee, they fossicked in the rubble.  It was most enjoyable scratching through the dirt and rock, picking out any slither that appeared to be shiny or glazed in the hope that it was a speck of opal.  It was a wonderful childlike feeling digging imagining something special may be found.  RA gathered a few small pieces but after a while RL went to a different area and found some large unbroken rocks that had little seams of glassy stone in them.  Happy enough with their takings, R & R went down town.  Lightning Ridge was an extremely clean and tidy little town but it did appear that many of the shops and business may be suffering a down turn.  RL was determined to look in some of the opal stores.  In one he just asked if they had anything that matched RA’s bracelet and the assistant new exactly where to find it.  It was a perfect match so RL insisted on buying it while also allowing RA to choose a delightful little moon shaped opal pendant.  H, their daughter, rang so they sat and chatted a while. Mission accomplished, R & R headed for the artesian baths on the out skirts of town.  It was much warmer (so much so it made the patrons pink like lobsters) but again it was a lovely experience.  The temperature was 15*C at 3:30pm as R & R drove south towards Cumborah about 47kms on the Llanillo Rd.  It was unfenced and had many grids.  There were a lot of dead kangaroos, more than the birds could manage.  The country was low and flat and open, followed by a section which was quite wooded with small and medium trees, some gums, cypress and a tree with a lovely weeping/drooping habit.  There was a free camping site at the Cumborah oval but as there was still some good daylight left, RL decided to drive the last 50kms back into Walgett to sleep at the Alex Trevallion Park with the Wolseley Scoop.    There were a couple of Merino stud farms, some big silos, a very big chaser bin with other farming machinery, stock grids on the road and one farm with its own airstrip.  There were also a couple of paddocks with irrigation near drains.  Although there was quite a bit of road kill, mostly kangaroos, no crows were to be seen.  There were, however, many very large flocks of scrubland birds, like plovers, pee wee and starlings.  It was then six kilometers east, back to Walgett and the Barwon River. In essence RL had driven under 200kms in the day in the shape of an isosceles triangle.  Walgett did have the title of being the largest producer of chick peas in the southern hemisphere but it is likely that with the rise of cotton there was less emphasis on chick pea farming.  It was still a warm 13*C at 5:00pm when R & R set up the camper at Alex Trevallion Park, had a cup and walked to look around.  Their daughter, S, rang after dinner and was pleased with her progress for the day.  RA did not quite get her diary finished but it really had been a special day ... thermal baths and opals … so good she would gladly do it all again.

19/5/2018 Tuesday.  R & R woke at 7:00am to a cool 4*C with a promise of reaching 17*C.  They ate breakfast and tidied up before braving the icy wind to find the spare air cleaner for the Ute.  Its fuel consumption was up and RL was not happy.  About 9:30am, R & R refueled and filled one spare jerry can just in case.  They popped back into the information centre to take in a few book for the book recycling shelf before heading for Bourke on the Kamilaroi Hwy at 10:00am.  Brewarrina was 130kms and from there to Bourke another 98kms.  Aware that they were in for a long morning, and because she had fetched the playway audio books from the back of the Ute while RL was doing the air cleaner, RA played “McQueen of the Tumbling K” by Louis LÁmour for a treat for RL.  Needless to say she enjoyed it too.  For most of the journey to Brewarinna, the road ran quite closely to the Barwon River to the south with the Castlereagh River joining it about half way along.  Then in the section, about halfway, between Brewarinna and Bourke the Bogan River joined the Barwon.  Again about half way between that point and Bourke, at the confluence of the Barwon and Culgoa Rivers, was the point at which the Darling River begins.  The journey was fairly unremarkable with flat country side, mostly grain or scrub like land and sheep farming and quite a bit of road work.  R & R stopped a couple of times for a break and at one other time to help a motor cyclist.  He had slowed to turn around and go back to look at something and managed drop his bike and become bogged in the soft sand on the side of the road.  He had a sore but not broken leg and it was a simple task for three to encourage its 350kg mass out.  Almost impossible for one man alone!  There was cotton fluff on the side of the road most of the way indicating that cotton was being grown and moved, even though it could only be seen in a couple of places.  R & R drove through Brewarrina and it was only later that they learned of interesting attractions that they may have looked into but didn’t.  It had a particularly strong aboriginal focus with places like fish traps and the site of a massacre.  After Brewarrina the Navigator showed a Lake Wirracanna and RA wondered if it was the one referred to as “little lake with lovely name”. R & R had the CB on most of the day and were able to move over for a truck with 5.4m cones on it.  The driver was heard asking another if he could “… drop a wheel off there buddy?” Mount Druit at 164m could be seen for quite some time to the south as could Mt Gunderbooka about 50kms to the south.  At 2:00pm R & R were at the information centre enquiring in particular about the Toorale National Park.  They needed to do some shopping but opted to check fuel prices and have a look at the cemetery first.  Fred Hollows, the famous eye surgeon was buried there at his own request even though he was born in New Zealand. He so loved his time in Bourke working to improve vision in the indigenous community.  After shopping, RA, armed with a mud map, instructed RL about finding the free camp at Mays Bend, because it was not listed in the Hema Map Book or on the Navigator.  As RL drove out of Bourke they passed over three bridges: Polygonum Billabong (100m), Polygonum Swamp and the Darling River.  The one over the Darling replaces the now unsafe old lift span bridge.  The trip to Mays bend was only a total of about 16kms, the last 6 of which was an unsealed road come track which ended up at a bend in the Darling River.  By their calculations, R & R figured they were approximately 10kms (not much more) from the beginning of the Darling. By 5:00pm, R & R were sitting for a cup of coffee reading maps and planning the next day.  They had agreed to treat themselves to a pizza for dinner so it was a novelty to use the griller to brown the top and the fry pan to toast the bottom. Having added a little extra cheese, they really enjoyed their pizza while chatting with S.  RL was particularly happy with his effort changing the air cleaner … he could sleep well knowing that the Ute’s fuel consumption would be better next time.

20/5/2018 Wednesday.  R & R slept in till about 8:00am as they were in no hurry.  It was already 8*C with a forecasted cloudy 17*C day.  They planned to leave the camper and drove out to the Toorale National Park for an excursion, to pop back into town to look at the historic precinct and wharf and be back at Mays Bend by evening.  The tap began to splatter which meant that it was empty and time to switch to the second tank.  R & R calculated that the pair of them using one tank in a week equated to about 5 litres each per day including their drinking water so they were happy with that.  RL had spotted a sign for oranges for sale on the way out the evening before so they stopped in and bought a carton for $16.  Immediately, out of Bourke, there was another cotton facility.  The first 30kms of the journey was on good sealed road and although there were kangaroos and emus on the road it went quickly.  It was heavily timbered country with mulga, gidgee, bimble box, wilga, sandalwood, leopard trees, beefwood and coolibah.  Once RL had turned onto the unsealed Toorale Road about 10:00am, he engaged 4WD and immediately the going was much slower.  It was a choice of bad corrugations down the middle or deep red sand on the sides.  RA did think that if it didn’t get any worse she would cope, but fortunately the road improved a little. The distance between the beginning of Toorale Rd and the National Park entrance was about 40kms with the first half being much worse than the second.  It would appear that one sheep station called Nulty with a big wool shed and yards ran the whole distance to the park on the eastern side of the road and possibly similarly one called Booka to the western side of the road.  The welcome sign at the park’s entrance was a real surprise.  It was new and the fencing was brilliant white, but more than that, it was flat and treeless with one lone emu the only thing other than the sign in sight.  RA had wondered why the Navigator was not showing green for the park and, now, she knew why!  Shortly into the park, about 11:00am, a sign indicated Darling River Drive.  It was a one way 40km unsealed drive over the grey soil of the Darling River and Warrego River flood plains, towards the Darling River and back out again with several points of interest.  Now it was dry and appeared barren but after a flood it would be flourishing with growth and activity. The track was in excellent condition and everything was well sign posted.  R & R naturally took their time and stopped off for photos along the way. Points of interest included: red sand hills where flora flourished and fauna and aborignals were able to take shelter in times of flooding, a stone quarry, Mt Gunderbooka to the east, the gidgee fence on the edge of the park, Ross Billabong, the camp site on the Darling, the picnic area at Many Rocks where there were pelicans, hawks soaring above and swallows darting over the water as it babbled over the rocks, a male emu protecting its nest (males care for the clutch of eggs in a mound covered over with leaf after they have been laid in May/June), three types of kangaroo (Western and Eastern Grey and Red) and stock holding yards. As RL came out of the park, he turned south about 3kms to the Toorale Homestead which sits alongside the Warrego River.  The Warrego joins the Darling River about 30kms further south at the southeastern end of the park.  R & R were in awe of the grandeur of the homestead and could only imagine, from the stories on the panels, how grand it all must have been at its heyday.  Toorale Station was part of the McCaughey wool empire in the 1880’s and, at its peak, one of the largest (over two million acres) sheep stations in the world.  In 1894, 265,000 sheep were shorn in its 46 stand shearing shed. In 1892 Henry Lawson lived, worked and wrote at Toorale.  By the late 1960’s Toorale began to fall into disrepair and in 2008 it was purchased by the NSW and Federal governments for conservation as a National Park.  R & R had lunch in the picnic area and marvelled at the brand new toilet with solar and pump that parks NSW had recently installed. Shortly before 2:00pm the Hum was heading back for Bourke on the 38kms of unsealed before reaching the last 32kms of sealed road.  RA had been taking directions for the days outings from the Back O’Bourke Mud Maps provided by the information centre. It was agreed that Fort Bourke (Apparently, the only fort ever built by an Australian explorer, was Major Mitchell building a stockade in 1835.) was too ambitious at that late hour (3:30pm) but they would take the River Road track to look at the wharf from the other side of the river and to see the wreck of the PS Wave which ran aground in the 1929 flood.  About 4:30pm R & R refueled, stopped to take a photo of the lift span bridge over the Darling and headed out to Mays Bend. After a look at maps to plan a route for Brisbane, R & R chatted with S while they cooked and ate dinner.  They were both looking forward to the next day … crossing the NSW/QLD border.