III. AUS - OA/NSW 3; Bourke-Mildura EN

Tu, 20.12. Bourke - Cobar
Long day on the roads through Australia's Outback. Unfortunately there was not so much to see in Bourke and we then enjoyed another outdoor swimming pool in Cobar (another small mining and farming town).
Pretty common for Australia we had to pay extra for Ester to use the water slide - especially in the Outback they are pretty much after your money :P
In the evening we found a very nice free campground close to a river, enjoyed the sunset and im the night an awesome sky full of stars :)
Unfortunately there were a lot of issues with Aboriginals who turned off our gas and thus the fridge and punched a hole in one of the tyres on Ester's bike - unbelievable.

We, 21.12. Cobar - Broken Hill
Another long driving day: we drove through the Outback for roughly 5hrs and the only thing we saw was a very little bizarre and remote looking Aboriginal town named Wilcannia and a petrol station.
After arriving in Broken Hill we went to a playground before enjoying a beautiful sunset and a nice stargazing in Australia's Outback desert.

Th, 22.12. Broken Hill
Broken Hill was finally again a bigger town with nice buildings, a lot of shops and plazas.
It is especially known for its chocolate factory as well as an Art Gallery with a huge painting, the so called 'The Big Picture' - but unfortunately you were not supposed to take any pictures or videos.
After a short Christmas shopping we drove to Silverton, another mining town 20km outside Broken Hill. There was a traditional cafe as well as an old pub and for Car addicts a Mad Max Museum.
The region is also known for sand sculptures and its Geo Centre.
On the way to our campsite we took some funny pictures with a headless Santa and enjoyed another nice stargazing night.

Fr, 23.12. Broken Hill - Mildura
From Broken Hill we continued our road trip to Mildura. It was another interesting drive through Australia's Outback: a lot of desert, stones, some bushes every now and often or even trees as well as emus or kangaroos - when we suddenly spotted a bra tree in the middle of nowhere :P It was located on the Silver City Highway and people had put up a lot of several types of bras and bikinis over the last few years; bizarr and funny at the same time ;)
I then had a butter fish for lunch - a speciality and apparently only available in Wentworth and Mildura or on South Australia; very delicious, soft and yummy.
We then crossed the border from New South Wales NSW to Victoria VIC via the Murray River and thus had another time difference of plus half an hour (1 - 1:30pm).
After 5 days in the Outback and dry desert landscapes to see green landscapes and more fauna again. There were a lot of farmlands, wineries and palm trees everywhere - holiday feelings at its best :)
Later we went to an adventure swimming pool inclusive wave pool before heading to our first paid campground in a caravan park for this and the three following nights. It was located on a beautiful river with many amenities such as 2 great pools, a jumping pillow, playgrounds, shops and especially toilets & showers - perfect for the Christmas celebrations :)))

Sa, 24.12. - Mo, 26.12. Mildura
Oh yes, this was definitively a completely different and special Christmas for me.
It was already 35* at 7am and went up to 42* during the day and night, amazing blue sky and sun, a lot of time for riding the bike along the river, have a swim in one of the pools, doing some exercise in the fresh air surrounded by palm trees etc. ;)
With 35* we also bought and wrapped up the last presents before I got creative and made a Christmas tree and some elves out of fruits together with Ester :)

On Sunday morning we put on our Santa heads and opened the presents - see pictures in the German post ;)
I did a little bit of washing afterwards (which dried within an hour) before we went again to the jumping pillow, pools or just rode our bikes, played frisbee or relaxed.
By the way, there is also some Australian snow coming down from the surrounding trees ;)
In the evening we then enjoyed a nice Christmas light show and very beautiful decorated winter wonderlands :)

On Monday / Boxing Day we went to the cinema to watch Trolls, a really nice movie about happiness :)
We then went to a playground before relaxing for the rest of the day - Mildura was really relaxing and a clean, also richer looking town. Speaking about that, our campground was located on the other side of the Murray River in NSW, Mildura in VIC - daily border crossing ;)Read more