By Sunday we were starting to think about moving on from Bingara. We would both have been happy to stay a few more days but with less than 4 weeks to get to Porepunkah in Victoria, we figured we should get a wriggle on. We might come across another spot that we love and want to spend a few days. While I was doing my weekly Blog, Brian pulled out the maps and Camps 7. We had been intending to go south to Lake Keepit, but I wanted to visit Bourke, which was northwest. Brian read a travel article about Trilby Station and it looked interesting, so we gave them a call to check we could come, which was ok, and the Darling River on which the station sits was still flowing, which it was - sort of. Excellent - decision made - westward ho! The next consideration was when to depart. Maybe Tuesday.
Sunday was going to be hot. A Total Fire Ban was in place. The wind started to get up mid morning and with it so did the the tiny puffs of smoke from the remains of the bushfire which was still smoldering a couple of kilometers away. It was quite a hot walk into town for our morning coffee and really quiet when we got in there. The Nomad presence in Bingara had died off massively in the twelve days since our arrival. The pretty main street was all but empty, which provided a perfect opportunity for me to photograph the murals that were painted on the walls of various buildings.
As soon as we got back to the boat ramp near the van James was in the river in a flash. He needed to cool down big time.
From the van we could see that the smoke had really intensified along with the wind strength while we were in town. We jumped in the Beast and drove to a spot where we had a clear view of the fire. It was really getting a hold. We decided to ready ourselves once again for evacuation. That meant packing everything away, so it made sense to plan our departure for Monday instead of Tuesday.
Brian spent the afternoon putting stuff away, the Webber included, and invited me to dinner at the pub. What a great idea, especially seeing as we couldn't have a fire. We hadn't dined out since we were in Cairns back in September. We wandered into town around 6.30 and had a couple of beautiful meals that were ridiculously cheap. By the time we got back the wind had died down and so had the fire, though the ridge was aglow and looked amazing in the evening light.
We had the van all packed by 8 Monday morning but didn't hitch. Instead we went into town to the dump point, bought supplies and a hose at the IGA/hardware store and had coffee. By the time we'd connected the van and filled up with water at the park it was ten o'clock. Our plan was for a fairly easy sub-200 kilometer run south west to Narrabri, then north west to Burren Junction for an overnight.
The drive across to Narrabri went through the Mount Kaputar National Park, with some large, irregularly shaped peaks. Once on the other side the landscape really began to flatten out and get more of a barren 'outback' feel to it. The area is 'cotton country' and all along the roadside are little balls of white fluff. It actually looks a bit untidy. Narrabri was quite a nice spot. Proclaimed as a town in 1860, it now has around 7000 residents. As a Regional Centre it has a large shopping precinct and all the services of a big town. It sits on the Namoi River at the junction of the Newell Highway and the Kamilaroi Highway, named after the Kamilaroi People who still form a significant portion of the population.
Twenty-five kilometers west of Narrabri is The Australia Telescope Compact Array. We detoured from the main route to have a look. Located at the Paul Wild Observatory, it is an array of six 22 meter antennas used for radio astronomy. Five of the dishes can be moved along a three-kilometre railway track. The sixth antenna is situated three kilometres west of the end of the main track. Each dish weighs about 270 tonnes. While we were there the dish in front of the visitor centre was being re-directed and we watched the huge dish change the direction it was pointing. The images on display in the centre are mind-boggling. The size of the universe is incomprehensible to me. I can't get my head around how insignificant Earth is in the 'Big Picture'.
From the ATCP it was a short hop to Wee Waa which Brian had flown over on several occasions. He was keen to have a look. Wee Waa is Australia's Cotton Capital and sits on the Namoi River. According to my research it is a rural community encompassing several outlying smaller towns situated in the rich agricultural heartland of the Lower Namoi Valley. The Aboriginal meaning of Wee Waa is "Fire for Roasting", and it was the first town on the Namoi River, having had its beginnings in 1837. The birthplace of Australia's modern cotton industry, in April the area apparently transforms into a snowy white landscape from horizon to horizon as the cotton harvest gets under way. The town has 2 motels, 4 schools, a preschool, ABC Learning Centre, 2 hotels and 2 Caravan Parks as well as several eating-places, a swimming pool, picturesque 9-hole golf course, bowling club, tennis courts, a modern sporting complex, a hostel for the aged and a new medical centre. (The web is a wealth of information!)
Burren Junction was another 50 kilometers on. Camps 7 showed a free rest area by an artesian hot spring. I thought a lovely soak in a thermal spring would be a great idea to end the day. Wrong! It was horrible. The area sat out on a barren, dusty flat plain with a railway line and the highway right beside it and not another soul in sight. The swimming hole was a grubby concrete pool and the water in looked really manky. We pulled up, had lunch and decided to travel another 90 kilometers on to Walgett. As we left we passed by the local pub. It had a sign out front saying it was a "Husband Day Care Centre" - very funny!
When we got to Walgett we made a fairly spontaneous decision not to stay any longer than one night. Judging by the bars on most shop fronts in the main street it might not be the friendliest place. That might have been jumping to an unfair conclusion, but it was sooo different to Bingara I think we went into culture shock. We opted to prop at Alex Trevallion Park, near the airport. It was actually quite nice for a council freebie - well maintained, clean with shady trees, water, bins, picnic tables, bbq's, toilets and dump point. We lit a fire and cooked up a delicious beef roast in the Webber.
Tuesday. Melbourne Cup Day. Brian had received an email about his aviation medical (which he had lost) and decided he needed to get home (to Victoria) and sort it out ASAP. Bugger! He had 'get-home-itis' (much to my chagrin) and we drove south from 8am until nearly 5pm, eventually stopping for the night at the caravan park at West Wyalong. We left West Wyalong at 7.30 am Wednesday, our destination Yarrawonga. We had always planned to go there, but later in the month in time for my niece's wedding on the 30th. Never mind - the Mighty Murray River is my favorite place in the world and Yarrawonga my second home.
It was early afternoon when we set up in the bush (free camping - no amenities) right on the riverfront, opposite the golf course and just a 2km walk out of town. We chose a spot that had good access down to the river and space enough for family and friends to join us in their tents and vans during the 3 months we planned to stay. Brian still had to get a further 350 km to Tyabb, but was pretty tired so decided to spend the night before going back. With some business stuff to sort out as well as his medical he would be south for a few days. He got me organised with everything I would need to be on the river alone. He put up the small tent so it would look like there were more people around for security purposes (and it could be our 'Guest Bedroom'), set up the generator, refilled gas and fuel and off loaded the water bottles and other stuff I would need. I would drive back with him the next morning to pick up my car (which was being looked after by our dear friend, Blackie), then drive straight back to Yarrawonga so the van would not be left empty overnight.
We left the Murray around 8am Thursday and arrived at Blackie's around midday. It was lovely to catch up again with Rob and Jill, but I still had another four hours of driving ahead once I detoured to pick up a few things. I was also mindful it was Oaks Day and didn't want to get caught in traffic transiting Melbourne. It was nice to get back in my little 'Deuey' car again (Mazda Maax 3 Sport). James even got to take up his 'normal' spot in my car, the front passenger seat (with harness on). We stopped for coffee, fuel and a loo break on the way up the Hume and had a great run, then just out of Benalla I pulled over and loaded on some firewood from the roadside. By the time we got back to the van it was 5.35pm. We had covered a lot of territory in three days...poor James. It was a really warm evening, but I lit a fire anyway we sat out front of the van just relaxing by the river.
After a very comfortable, quite warm night, I was awakened by the screeching of Cockies at daybreak. They made a heck of a racket! I fired up the generator and got on my laptop to sort out my Nomads Notes Travel Journal. I decided I should end the trip we started almost 8 months ago so I could summarize all the data and start a new trip as of Thursday. Three months on the Murray would skew the figures too much. That took a while so It was after nine before I was done.
At 9.30 James and I headed into town on foot through the bush. It was only a kilometer at most through to the back of the caravan park, then maybe another kilometer into the main street. The place was abuzz with a Hot Rod and Classic Car Rally that was happening over the weekend. The cars were amazing. It was really festive and fun. James got smothered in attention by passers-by as I sat and had coffee. He loved that. We wandered along the street and checked out all the new changes to the shopping strip. I'ts less than a year since I was in Yarrawonga, but there have been lots of shops come and go, some relocation's and some new buildings. It seems to have grown quite a bit. On the way back toward the caravan park we met an old guy in a gopher. He reminded me of my dad. He wanted to pat James, so we got into a conversation. He loved dogs and did dog minding. Excellent.....you never know when that might come in handy! His name was Peter and he gave me his phone number.
We were back by 11.30. I hadn't done any housework in the van since arriving at Yarrawonga and and it was disgusting. I spent a couple of hours cleaning and re-arranging cupboards and stuff, then worked out a way to manually siphon the 20 litre water containers into the van without stuffing my back up. Around 3.30 I left James on the bed and took the empty water containers, the rubbish and the toilet over to Muwala (across the river and in NSW) to do a dump and water pickup. There were so many old and interesting cars just cruisin'...it was excellent. The cops had set up a breathalyzer on the NSW side of the bridge. They were clearly going to keep a really tight rein on all the rev-heads over the weekend. I managed to work out how to fill the containers with water without lifting them. They are really too heavy for me when full. On the way back I popped into the ski club (mum's old favorite haunt), had a champs and a poke. I put $29 in a machine and walked away with $40.20. My mum must have been giving me some assistance from above I think. When I got back home I topped off the water and lit the fire. The evening was quite a bit cooler, so my fire was bigger than the first night. I cooked yummy lamb chops and roast veggies on the Webber.
Saturday morning was cool. The wind had changed to a moderate southerly and it took some time before James and I ventured out. We took the bush track into Nosh, one of our favorite cafes, leaving the van around 11am. It was partially sunny with the temperature in the low 20's.
Yarrawonga feels like my second home. Mum and dad lived here for close to 20 years, so I had made the three and a half hour northerly trek from my place at Seaford many,many times. I always stayed at least a night - often longer. Pretty well all of our major family do's had been held at the house in Mary Court and Brian and I had bush-camped on the Murray in the area lots of times since getting the van in 2011. With the passing of both my parents, the sale of their house almost a year ago and our 8 month trek around Australia, it's probably 10 months since my last visit. It feels sooo good to be here.
If I thought Yarrawonga was busy Friday, Saturday it was frenetic. It was difficult to cross the street with streams of immaculately presented old cars and hot rods cruising up and down, very slowly. There were groups of people looking under lifted bonnets, standing around cars chatting and wandering along the footpaths. What great fun. It was getting on for 1pm by the time we got back to the van.
After lunch, a read and a rest I left James in the van and went exploring in Deuey. First stop was Mary Court to see how our old house looked. I was pleased to see that it was getting some TLC. The front garden and lawn had been given a makeover and a new set of side gates did give the place a nice lift. I think mum and dad would be pleased. Next to the Yacht Club to check out the "Sparnon Tree". It had been planted in the lawn in front of the clubhouse in honor of my parents who were Honorary Life Members. It needs a weed (which I will do after forecast rains in the next few days), but aside from that the Apple Gum has lots of lovely, healthy new growth. From there I went to the Rowing Club where we had spread dad's ashes. There has been a bit of recent housing development in the area and it has a new road in and the lake edges have been landscaped. Finally I stopped at the park in front of Lake Mulwala to check out a display of timber speed boats. Some of them were beautifully crafted.
The main street was being closed from 4pm to 10pm for "The Cruise". When I got back from my drive I took the bikes off the van and got mine dusted off and set up so I could ride back in to town for a look. It had cooled significantly by 6pm, so for the first time in several months I put on long pants. Bugger eh! It only took a few minutes to ride the bush track into Belmore Street. I parked and locked the bike up by the Post Office and did a wander to the lake end of the street, taking lots of photos on the way. There were spectators everywhere, heaps of cars and police in droves. I stopped at "The Deck" at the Criterion Hotel where I was able to get an elevated view of the action while sipping on a chardy.
.
It was nearly eight by the time I got back to the van. Time for a nice big fire and some dinner.
In my next Blog post I will detail all the data, costs etc from our trip to this point.
Sunday was going to be hot. A Total Fire Ban was in place. The wind started to get up mid morning and with it so did the the tiny puffs of smoke from the remains of the bushfire which was still smoldering a couple of kilometers away. It was quite a hot walk into town for our morning coffee and really quiet when we got in there. The Nomad presence in Bingara had died off massively in the twelve days since our arrival. The pretty main street was all but empty, which provided a perfect opportunity for me to photograph the murals that were painted on the walls of various buildings.
As soon as we got back to the boat ramp near the van James was in the river in a flash. He needed to cool down big time.
From the van we could see that the smoke had really intensified along with the wind strength while we were in town. We jumped in the Beast and drove to a spot where we had a clear view of the fire. It was really getting a hold. We decided to ready ourselves once again for evacuation. That meant packing everything away, so it made sense to plan our departure for Monday instead of Tuesday.
Brian spent the afternoon putting stuff away, the Webber included, and invited me to dinner at the pub. What a great idea, especially seeing as we couldn't have a fire. We hadn't dined out since we were in Cairns back in September. We wandered into town around 6.30 and had a couple of beautiful meals that were ridiculously cheap. By the time we got back the wind had died down and so had the fire, though the ridge was aglow and looked amazing in the evening light.
We had the van all packed by 8 Monday morning but didn't hitch. Instead we went into town to the dump point, bought supplies and a hose at the IGA/hardware store and had coffee. By the time we'd connected the van and filled up with water at the park it was ten o'clock. Our plan was for a fairly easy sub-200 kilometer run south west to Narrabri, then north west to Burren Junction for an overnight.
The drive across to Narrabri went through the Mount Kaputar National Park, with some large, irregularly shaped peaks. Once on the other side the landscape really began to flatten out and get more of a barren 'outback' feel to it. The area is 'cotton country' and all along the roadside are little balls of white fluff. It actually looks a bit untidy. Narrabri was quite a nice spot. Proclaimed as a town in 1860, it now has around 7000 residents. As a Regional Centre it has a large shopping precinct and all the services of a big town. It sits on the Namoi River at the junction of the Newell Highway and the Kamilaroi Highway, named after the Kamilaroi People who still form a significant portion of the population.
Twenty-five kilometers west of Narrabri is The Australia Telescope Compact Array. We detoured from the main route to have a look. Located at the Paul Wild Observatory, it is an array of six 22 meter antennas used for radio astronomy. Five of the dishes can be moved along a three-kilometre railway track. The sixth antenna is situated three kilometres west of the end of the main track. Each dish weighs about 270 tonnes. While we were there the dish in front of the visitor centre was being re-directed and we watched the huge dish change the direction it was pointing. The images on display in the centre are mind-boggling. The size of the universe is incomprehensible to me. I can't get my head around how insignificant Earth is in the 'Big Picture'.
From the ATCP it was a short hop to Wee Waa which Brian had flown over on several occasions. He was keen to have a look. Wee Waa is Australia's Cotton Capital and sits on the Namoi River. According to my research it is a rural community encompassing several outlying smaller towns situated in the rich agricultural heartland of the Lower Namoi Valley. The Aboriginal meaning of Wee Waa is "Fire for Roasting", and it was the first town on the Namoi River, having had its beginnings in 1837. The birthplace of Australia's modern cotton industry, in April the area apparently transforms into a snowy white landscape from horizon to horizon as the cotton harvest gets under way. The town has 2 motels, 4 schools, a preschool, ABC Learning Centre, 2 hotels and 2 Caravan Parks as well as several eating-places, a swimming pool, picturesque 9-hole golf course, bowling club, tennis courts, a modern sporting complex, a hostel for the aged and a new medical centre. (The web is a wealth of information!)
Burren Junction was another 50 kilometers on. Camps 7 showed a free rest area by an artesian hot spring. I thought a lovely soak in a thermal spring would be a great idea to end the day. Wrong! It was horrible. The area sat out on a barren, dusty flat plain with a railway line and the highway right beside it and not another soul in sight. The swimming hole was a grubby concrete pool and the water in looked really manky. We pulled up, had lunch and decided to travel another 90 kilometers on to Walgett. As we left we passed by the local pub. It had a sign out front saying it was a "Husband Day Care Centre" - very funny!
When we got to Walgett we made a fairly spontaneous decision not to stay any longer than one night. Judging by the bars on most shop fronts in the main street it might not be the friendliest place. That might have been jumping to an unfair conclusion, but it was sooo different to Bingara I think we went into culture shock. We opted to prop at Alex Trevallion Park, near the airport. It was actually quite nice for a council freebie - well maintained, clean with shady trees, water, bins, picnic tables, bbq's, toilets and dump point. We lit a fire and cooked up a delicious beef roast in the Webber.
Tuesday. Melbourne Cup Day. Brian had received an email about his aviation medical (which he had lost) and decided he needed to get home (to Victoria) and sort it out ASAP. Bugger! He had 'get-home-itis' (much to my chagrin) and we drove south from 8am until nearly 5pm, eventually stopping for the night at the caravan park at West Wyalong. We left West Wyalong at 7.30 am Wednesday, our destination Yarrawonga. We had always planned to go there, but later in the month in time for my niece's wedding on the 30th. Never mind - the Mighty Murray River is my favorite place in the world and Yarrawonga my second home.
It was early afternoon when we set up in the bush (free camping - no amenities) right on the riverfront, opposite the golf course and just a 2km walk out of town. We chose a spot that had good access down to the river and space enough for family and friends to join us in their tents and vans during the 3 months we planned to stay. Brian still had to get a further 350 km to Tyabb, but was pretty tired so decided to spend the night before going back. With some business stuff to sort out as well as his medical he would be south for a few days. He got me organised with everything I would need to be on the river alone. He put up the small tent so it would look like there were more people around for security purposes (and it could be our 'Guest Bedroom'), set up the generator, refilled gas and fuel and off loaded the water bottles and other stuff I would need. I would drive back with him the next morning to pick up my car (which was being looked after by our dear friend, Blackie), then drive straight back to Yarrawonga so the van would not be left empty overnight.
We left the Murray around 8am Thursday and arrived at Blackie's around midday. It was lovely to catch up again with Rob and Jill, but I still had another four hours of driving ahead once I detoured to pick up a few things. I was also mindful it was Oaks Day and didn't want to get caught in traffic transiting Melbourne. It was nice to get back in my little 'Deuey' car again (Mazda Maax 3 Sport). James even got to take up his 'normal' spot in my car, the front passenger seat (with harness on). We stopped for coffee, fuel and a loo break on the way up the Hume and had a great run, then just out of Benalla I pulled over and loaded on some firewood from the roadside. By the time we got back to the van it was 5.35pm. We had covered a lot of territory in three days...poor James. It was a really warm evening, but I lit a fire anyway we sat out front of the van just relaxing by the river.
After a very comfortable, quite warm night, I was awakened by the screeching of Cockies at daybreak. They made a heck of a racket! I fired up the generator and got on my laptop to sort out my Nomads Notes Travel Journal. I decided I should end the trip we started almost 8 months ago so I could summarize all the data and start a new trip as of Thursday. Three months on the Murray would skew the figures too much. That took a while so It was after nine before I was done.
At 9.30 James and I headed into town on foot through the bush. It was only a kilometer at most through to the back of the caravan park, then maybe another kilometer into the main street. The place was abuzz with a Hot Rod and Classic Car Rally that was happening over the weekend. The cars were amazing. It was really festive and fun. James got smothered in attention by passers-by as I sat and had coffee. He loved that. We wandered along the street and checked out all the new changes to the shopping strip. I'ts less than a year since I was in Yarrawonga, but there have been lots of shops come and go, some relocation's and some new buildings. It seems to have grown quite a bit. On the way back toward the caravan park we met an old guy in a gopher. He reminded me of my dad. He wanted to pat James, so we got into a conversation. He loved dogs and did dog minding. Excellent.....you never know when that might come in handy! His name was Peter and he gave me his phone number.
We were back by 11.30. I hadn't done any housework in the van since arriving at Yarrawonga and and it was disgusting. I spent a couple of hours cleaning and re-arranging cupboards and stuff, then worked out a way to manually siphon the 20 litre water containers into the van without stuffing my back up. Around 3.30 I left James on the bed and took the empty water containers, the rubbish and the toilet over to Muwala (across the river and in NSW) to do a dump and water pickup. There were so many old and interesting cars just cruisin'...it was excellent. The cops had set up a breathalyzer on the NSW side of the bridge. They were clearly going to keep a really tight rein on all the rev-heads over the weekend. I managed to work out how to fill the containers with water without lifting them. They are really too heavy for me when full. On the way back I popped into the ski club (mum's old favorite haunt), had a champs and a poke. I put $29 in a machine and walked away with $40.20. My mum must have been giving me some assistance from above I think. When I got back home I topped off the water and lit the fire. The evening was quite a bit cooler, so my fire was bigger than the first night. I cooked yummy lamb chops and roast veggies on the Webber.
Saturday morning was cool. The wind had changed to a moderate southerly and it took some time before James and I ventured out. We took the bush track into Nosh, one of our favorite cafes, leaving the van around 11am. It was partially sunny with the temperature in the low 20's.
Yarrawonga feels like my second home. Mum and dad lived here for close to 20 years, so I had made the three and a half hour northerly trek from my place at Seaford many,many times. I always stayed at least a night - often longer. Pretty well all of our major family do's had been held at the house in Mary Court and Brian and I had bush-camped on the Murray in the area lots of times since getting the van in 2011. With the passing of both my parents, the sale of their house almost a year ago and our 8 month trek around Australia, it's probably 10 months since my last visit. It feels sooo good to be here.
If I thought Yarrawonga was busy Friday, Saturday it was frenetic. It was difficult to cross the street with streams of immaculately presented old cars and hot rods cruising up and down, very slowly. There were groups of people looking under lifted bonnets, standing around cars chatting and wandering along the footpaths. What great fun. It was getting on for 1pm by the time we got back to the van.
After lunch, a read and a rest I left James in the van and went exploring in Deuey. First stop was Mary Court to see how our old house looked. I was pleased to see that it was getting some TLC. The front garden and lawn had been given a makeover and a new set of side gates did give the place a nice lift. I think mum and dad would be pleased. Next to the Yacht Club to check out the "Sparnon Tree". It had been planted in the lawn in front of the clubhouse in honor of my parents who were Honorary Life Members. It needs a weed (which I will do after forecast rains in the next few days), but aside from that the Apple Gum has lots of lovely, healthy new growth. From there I went to the Rowing Club where we had spread dad's ashes. There has been a bit of recent housing development in the area and it has a new road in and the lake edges have been landscaped. Finally I stopped at the park in front of Lake Mulwala to check out a display of timber speed boats. Some of them were beautifully crafted.
The main street was being closed from 4pm to 10pm for "The Cruise". When I got back from my drive I took the bikes off the van and got mine dusted off and set up so I could ride back in to town for a look. It had cooled significantly by 6pm, so for the first time in several months I put on long pants. Bugger eh! It only took a few minutes to ride the bush track into Belmore Street. I parked and locked the bike up by the Post Office and did a wander to the lake end of the street, taking lots of photos on the way. There were spectators everywhere, heaps of cars and police in droves. I stopped at "The Deck" at the Criterion Hotel where I was able to get an elevated view of the action while sipping on a chardy.
.It was nearly eight by the time I got back to the van. Time for a nice big fire and some dinner.
In my next Blog post I will detail all the data, costs etc from our trip to this point.
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