• CUNNAMULLA TO DUBBO 22/6-29/6

    July 21, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    CUNNAMULLA TO DUBBO – 22/6/16 to 29/6/16

    On our drive south from Cunnamulla we saw dozens of caravans heading in the opposite direction – towards a warmer climate. The countryside was still mostly flat and scrubby in places with lots of water lying beside the road due to overnight rain. We checked into Kidman Caravan Park in North Bourke with rain still falling intermittently. The Darling River flows near the camp and the paddle boat PV Jandra stops at the small wharf there. The next day we went in to the centre of Bourke to the Info Centre and Back O’Bourke exhibition where we spent a couple of hours absorbing more information and watching an outback show with horses, camels, cattle dogs and a bullock team which was very entertaining. We drove around and looked at some of Bourke’s historic buildings and the old wharf and that night enjoyed dinner at the Port of Bourke pub.

    We continued our journey down the Kidman Way to Cobar through lots of Mulga countryside and after setting up camp, went for a walk around the streets past some old buildings and on to the site of one of Cobar’s old copper mines where we saw some of the old equipment and poppet head. Cobar’s main street has beautifully paved footpaths and looks really neat and well cared for. Obviously some of the mining wealth has been put to good use. The weather was cold with icy winds. The next morning, before leaving, we visited the Cobar Heritage Centre and looked through the two storey museum which housed lots of mining information and relics. We went on to see the very deep open cut gold mine which is still in operation. We then drove on to Nyngan where we camped for the night.

    The next day we headed off to Dubbo through mostly grain producing and grazing countryside. We’ve left the outback behind! The weather still freezing with some rain. Our friend Bev Meyer met us at the Info Centre in town and we followed her to their new home on 10 acres just out of Dubbo where we spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening with them. Because of the rain and recent building work there was lots of mud everywhere but we enjoyed our first night indoors since we left Melb. We spent the next couple of nights at a caravan park in Dubbo and on one day we drove to Wellington where we went on a couple of tours of the caves, one of which was mined in the early 1900’s for phosphate. It contained lots of bone fragments of mega-fauna which were tens of thousands of years old. The second cave contained huge limestone stalagmites. Returning to Dubbo, we visited the Western Plains Cultural Centre, Museum and Gallery.

    FW
    The road to Bourke was flat and straight (great for caravaners) with lots and lots of road kill again. Bourke itself was interesting as it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be more an outback town the likes of Birdsville etc.
    Nothing more to add from me except that Heather failed to mention the major disincentive to visiting Duddo, the SUB zero overnight temperatures. Our little fan heater must have clocked up 100,000hrs by now on this trip.
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