Day 78 (27 July) – Longreach to Charleville (Bailey Bar Caravan Park) (Coolish day – up to 19o – 531 km)
We finished packing up and went to the local FuelMap low-price station. It was pretty hard to identify as there weren’t any signs on the side we came in. As it was almost the end of the road, I did a U-turn and found the verge very wet. I was concerned I’d get bogged but kept the momentum up in the motorhome and managed to get through. Refuelled and drove through puddles on the way out to clean the tyres.
A pretty uneventful drive for most of the way through Barcaldine, Blackall, Tambo, Yandarlo and passing Augathella on the way to Charleville. I’d checked the FuelMap app and identified a service station in Barcaldine which we put into the GPS. When we got there, we had the wrong street and so I used the IOR app – FuelCharge – to find a service station. It’s good! Not only did it know where we were, it provided the list of pumps when we got to the site and used my previously stored credit card information to authorise and pay for the fuel. I only wish I’d known how good it was for cheap fuel (it was 5 cents per litre cheaper than anything else in the area), finding an outlet and processing the payment.
Just south of Tambo we started noticing dirt and dung on the road and deduced that it may have been a cattle drive. Around 2 km on from where it started, we came across a mob of cattle and horses being driven along the road by drovers on horses with their cattle dogs. Lyn took it very slowly through the cattle, so it took us around 5 minutes to travel a couple of hundred metres. Interesting though. A bit further on, we saw another mob being driven along the road (apparently Sundays are the days for driving cattle) but they were well off to the side and didn’t trouble us.
We arrived in Charleville just as the Demons Saints game was starting. I checked in to the Bailey Bar Caravan Park Park and discovered that Lyn had included a meal that night in our booking. We were told to bring plates, cutlery, glasses, drinks and chairs and to be there at 18:00. We quickly set up the motorhome then I started to watch the football. A great start by the Demons but the final quarter was a disaster – the Saints won with the biggest comeback in a final quarter in the history of the game. It was quite disheartening. Fortunately, the game finished at 17:55 so we had to go straight to the meal. The meals was a red wine-beef stew which Lyn couldn’t eat and an apple crumble. At least the meal came with some damper and Lyn was able to have a small piece of the damper and the dessert. We had some interesting conversations with our fellow dinner guests about the value of motorhomes versus caravans and the value of the Iveco chassis.
Back to the motorhome for a night of watching Netflix (Lyn) and YouTube (me).
Day 79 (28 July) – Charleville (Coldish day – starting at 5o in the morning and only up to 17o)
After talking to our fellow dinner guests and hearing there wasn’t much to see in Charleville – just the Bilbies, the WWII exhibit and a visit to the bakery – we decided to have a slow morning.
I updated the blog, decided not to watch the replay and then tried to process the films and photos from over the past week.
First stop was the Bakery for breakfast and coffee. We walked all the way (around 2 km) to the information centre where the Bilby attraction is also housed in the railway station. We were told the main exhibits were the Bilby show (09:00 and 15:00) and the Secret WWII base tag-along tour (09:00, 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00). We booked the 11:00 tag-along tour which included a visit to the display and the 15:00 Bilby Experience.
Off to the tag-along that started behind the WWII Secret Base exhibition building. We checked in, were told to line up behind the lead car and wait for the host to come out.
Luke was our leader/host. He gave a brief description of what we were to do then led off down the road. Our first stop was where there were some pits in the ground. Luke started by telling us this base was secretly set up in the middle of Australia and that no one outside knew of its existence. It was initiated by the Americans with the aim of being able to bomb any coast of Australia if required (overrun by the Japanese). It was really well built with very sophisticated plumbing and services and was excellently camouflaged to avoid detection. The pits we were shown were used to “delouse” the people on the base with DDT used every 3 months to remove ticks, lice and other parasites. Luke also interspersed the description of the various areas with tales about people and anecdotes of what had occurred during the war, both in combat and in the Charleville area as well as this base in particular.
The next area was one of the kitchens – only a concrete base remained but the quality of the concreting was amazing with Luke telling us about how the design catered for potential fires, sloping floors to handle fat from the cooking, flyscreens around to protect from insects and extremely high standard construction. The buildings all had to be removed at the end of the war so there was very little left to see.
Next, we went to the dance hall. There was only a very small area left but Luke explained how big the hall was originally. The hall was alter dismantled, taken into town and rebuilt for the RSL club. Like a number of buildings in Charleville, it was burnt down. Thankfully, the RSL club has been rebuilt on the original footprint.
The final part of the tag-along was the RFDS site and a bomb bunker which housed a bomb computer used in WWII and Vietnam. It was an amazing piece of machinery that no one else was given access to in WWII. The British asked and were not given access. However, the base at Charleville was used to repair these devices because of the lack of humidity and lack of salt air. One of the guests on our tour, John, gave a description of the construction and use of the bombing computer. He explained that the device allowed for altitude, airspeed, wind and the bomb type to calculate the bombs’ trajectory. The wires were wound in silk for protection. The internals included a gyroscope that had mercury bearings and the whole device was filled with liquid nitrogen. Absolutely amazing.
After the tag-along we visited the exhibition which provided more detail on the secret base and activities. The Tag-along and exhibition certainly exceeded our expectations and, with Lukes additional stories and information, made for an experience that we’d highly recommend.
Back to the motorhome where we had a call from Lach who was getting Lyn’s car repaired. I got a bit frustrated with all the questions the person doing the quote was asking such as our insurer and the excess. I don’t know why they need that information.
Off to the Information Centre (and train station) for our Bilby tour. At 15:00 we were given an introduction and slide show by Sky. It is interesting to hear how the bilbies have been decimated by the introduced feral species – cats, foxes, rabbits etc. The bilbies burrows aerate the soil and were part of the ecological sustainability for thousands of years before white people messed up the balance. It was great to see there are efforts being made to rebuild the populations including a very carefully fenced area in southern NSW to rebuild their populations.
Off to the RSL club for a meal – it was interesting seeing the place after learning of the history of the area.
Day 80 (29 July) – Charleville to Bourke (Kidman’s Camp) (Coldish day – starting at 6o in the morning and only up to 18o in Bourke – 456 km)
Up very early as we wanted to get to Kidman’s Camp relatively early in the afternoon. Although there were no pre-booked sites, we were told that check-in was from 11:00 to 15:30 (probably a best time).
First stop, the IOR at Charleville – on our route although the price went up by 2 cpl over the last 2 days. Very muddy on the way out of the refuelling station.
The drive down South was fairly uneventful – an amazing rainbow; some kangaroos out on the side of the road; emus in the fields; some bird life and, as we headed South, some light rain.
Not much to see but we stopped in Cunnamulla for brunch and more fuel at their IOR depot. Then on through Barringun (close to the NSW/QLD border) and on down to Kidman’s Camp, just short of Bourke.
We checked in, selected a site near the amenities block and, with an open overhead for the Starlink aerial, set up then had a look at our options for the next day or so.
We were told on arrival about the PV Jandra which ran daily at 09:00 and 14:30 from the jetty 400 m from our caravan park on the Darling River. So down we went, arriving at 14:00. At 14:30, one of the guys (later we found his name was Jonathan) advised that the paddleboat would not be running that afternoon due to a cooling pump problem but would be running the next morning definitely. On the way back to the caravan park, we chatted with a couple from the Gold Coast who said they’d take the afternoon cruise the next day. I was hoping to do the morning cruise as it frees up the rest of the day for activities.
We headed in to town to the pharmacy to top up my pill collection. It’s an unusual town where there are trees in the main street that hide the shops. After getting my prescriptions filled, on the way out of the store, I asked a guy if this was the main street or if there was another somewhere and he said – this is it. We had a brief look around then out to the Information Centre to get some ideas on what to do. The key activities were the PV Jandra, the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre, the Crossley Engine, the Weir, Percy Hobson on the Silo Art and the Back O’ Bourke Gallery. We’d arrived at the Back O’ Bourke Gallery around 15:30 and were told it would take from half an hour to two hours to see. We also booked in for the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition and the PV Jandra tour. Our initial guide kept looking out of the building and commenting on the rain that she thought was coming. We decided to do the Back O’ Bourke main exhibition that afternoon. It was an interesting display full of history about the area, the people and activities that took place around Bourke and beyond.
We finished just before 17:00, so decided to go to the pub for dinner. As we entered, we saw the couple we’d walked back with from the Jandra already having drinks prior to having dinner there. The Northy had been recommended by a few people and we were told it would be a good idea to book. Arriving at 17:00 enabled us to get a table and so to have dinner when service started at 17:30. A great meal, then back to the caravan park for the evening.
Day 81 (30 July) – Bourke (Cold morning – starting at 8o in the morning and only up to 14o in Bourke)
Rain overnight – confirming the thoughts of our guide at the Information Centre the previous afternoon.
I spent the first part of the morning updating financials as I found I’d missed some payments over the previous couple of weeks.
We decided to do the 09:00 PV Jandra trip and drove down to the jetty by 08:50 to find a number of people already aboard. We boarded and went upstairs where our captain, Beresford, introduced himself and his mate Jonathan and gave the mandatory safety briefing. Off down the river on the old reconstructed paddleboat. We gently crept down the river at less than 5 knots with a whistle on departure and another as we passed the rear of the Back O’ Bourke Gallery. “Go in and have a look at Jen’s gallery – there’s some great art in there” announced Beresford as we continued down the river. It was fascinating to see the life down the river, lots of pelicans, data birds, a whistling kite, an egret, some goats sheltering under a log, all while cruising sedately down the Darling River and back to the jetty. We passed under the old North Bourke Bridge that had been used in the past to provide paddleboat clearance by raising the centre section using pulleys with counterweights in the bridge legs. I spent most of the trip talking with Beresford and hearing about his home in Moama, that he’d only been on this river for 7 weeks (the river was too high before that), some of his travels and the jobs he had before as well as a new job driving a ferry that he’d been offered a couple of days before. A fascinating man with multiple qualifications to drive the boat down and back up the river. A wonderful trip, and at the end I found out that Jonathan, his deck hand, ran the Crossley Engine demonstration in the town at 12:00 each day.
We drove in to town to the Silo to see the painting of Percy Hudson (an aboriginal gold medallist for the high jump from the commonwealth games), then headed to the weir for a look before returning to the site of the Crossley Engine.
As we were waiting, we saw the couple from the previous day and evening at the pub and started talking. Doug was a mechanical engineer and Kathy was a teacher and they now reside in the Gold Coast and are on their way down to the Nullarbor then over to Perth to catch up with family. Another amazing connection with similar backgrounds.
Just before 12:00 Jonathan arrived, gave a presentation whilst preparing the engine – oiling almost all of the external points visible – then giving a history of the engine, explaining how the engine worked and proving some data on it. It was an amazing scene watching the procedure to start the engine using compressed air to turn the crankshaft where it finally burst into life combusting the mainly diesel fuel (it used to be diesel and oil). The engine ran for around 5 minutes purring away after the unusual starting process. Jonathan explained that he only had a 2-hour training session by the person who refurbished the engine before he had to head back to his station.
We left town and decided to visit the Back O’ Bourke Gallery that the Information Centre and Beresford had recommended. As we walked in, we were met by the artist, Jen, who provided some background on the paintings on show and explained that there were prints available for some of the works also. I noticed that a number of the works were of the landscape taken aerially and asked about that. Jen said that she had been taken up with a friend who had a gyrocopter and had used the images from these trips. The art was inspiring and beautiful. Having purchased some recently from Mark Norval in Derby, we weren’t sure where anything would fit back home. I did buy a pack of 12 cards that gave a sample of Jen’s work. We’d recommend a visit to the gallery if you are anywhere near Bourke.
A quiet afternoon in the motorhome – raining outside. and then off to The Port of Bourke Hotel for dinner, returning to the caravan park to prepare the Jimny for the next leg of our journey.
Day 82 (31 July) – Bourke to Griffith (Cold morning – starting at 6o in the morning and only up to 14o on the way – 548 km)
Up relatively early, finish preparing for our last major travel day (540 km to Griffith) and then on our way.
We left Kidman’s Camp just after 07:00 and got as far as the Northy Hotel when a number of lights came on the dashboard. As I was hooking up the Jimny the previous night, the guy next door, who had a Jimny on a trailer, came over and started talking to me. Due to the distraction, I hadn’t fully locked the A-frame to the tow ball. Fortunately, with Lyn’s help I was able to reconnect the Jimny and lock it on whilst stopped on the highway, only taking a couple of minutes. I thought I’d re-checked everything but there always seems to be something forgotten. No major problems apart from a slightly broken plug on the motorhome. I’ve fixed it before and it’s fairly easy to do. The connection worked all the way to Griffith at least.
We drove through Bourke onto the Kidman Way, through Gunderbooka and Tindarey and on to Cobar where we refuelled at Cobar and then went to the Cobar Hot Bakery for coffee and breakfast (just after 09:30). We also bought our lunch from the bakery as the food looked good – a ham and salad roll for me and a salad for Lyn.
We continued South, passing through Gilgunnia, Mount Hope and Wallanthery, reaching the IOR station in Hillston just before 13:00. After refuelling, we decided to continue and eat our lunch on the way but a few minutes later we pulled into the rest stop just South of Hillston and ate our lunch before continuing through Merriwagga, Goolgowi and Tabbita. We reached the Griffith Caravan Village just after 14:30. Not bad, 7.5 hours for a 550 km trip which we took fairly slowly.
We were given a brochure on Griffith from reception as well as advice that all the main restaurants in town (Italian) are very good.
Lyn had a look through the book and suggested we play golf at the Griffith Golf Club on the following day as it’s rated really highly in the Riverina region.
A quiet afternoon at the motorhome where I looked up the address of the Leagues which Lyn said she’d like to eat at. I’d noticed several options for meals which looked good. So, off to the Southside Leagues Club where I asked about the Chinese option only to be advised that was in the Northside Leagues Club! In any case we had a couple of good meals and then I came back to watch an interesting game where the Storm narrowly beat the Eels. At least one Melbourne team can win at something.
Day 83 (1 August) – Griffith (A very cold morning, cloudless and calm starting at 3o and only up to 15o)
A slow start as I didn’t want to get out of bed too early (it was 3o). Having said that, I turned on our Diesel heater around 06:00 and it was quite warm in the motorhome by 07:00 when I got up. We really like the Webasto Diesel heater!
We went to the Griffith Golf Club, hired a cart and played 18 holes in the morning. The course was very good with very fast greens. Lyn is struggling more and more with back and general pain problems so missed a few holes towards the end of the round. We did enjoy the round although both could have played better. When I returned the cart, I asked about golf in the morning (which was a Saturday and medal day) and was told they had around 130 entrants and it was fairly well booked out. One of the ground staff was sitting there having lunch and said “You had a good 12th hole, up next to the green in 2 shots and then 3 putted. You were too chicken to chip.” I said “You’re right, you haven’t seen me chip – I’m sh1t at chipping – that’s why I putt.” He said “The 12th hole is our hardest and you put your ball next to the green in 2 – that was wasn’t bad – pity about the three putts!”.
We left and went to the airport to see if they had coffee and food there (it was right next to the golf club) but no coffee, no cafe, so off we went into town. We found the main plaza and managed to get some coffee, a couple of brownies and a muffin for brunch/lunch. We were actually surprised at the extent of the main street which was full of Italian restaurants.
Back to the motorhome to check on some plumbing repairs – the sink wasn’t draining properly. I also managed to get some screenshots of Anthony making the whips from last week which have now been added to the blog.
As we arrived back, our next door neighbour arrived and started setting up. He knocked out our power cord so I want and had a chat whilst reconnecting the power. He was from Shepparton, had been gone a couple of weeks and wanted to catch up with his son and family but they weren’t leaving for another few weeks. He told me that the morning temperature at Orange the day before was minus 3o – evern worse than our 3o that morning.
Finally, off to the Northside Leagues Club for dinner – in the Chinese Restaurant. It was much better than we’d expected although Lyn ordered scallops and was told they weren’t available so had to order a prawn dish. Our waitress came out, gave Lyn the prawn dish and said “Just imagine they are scallops”.
Back home for a quiet evening – less than 200 km tomorrow and we can’t arrive before 12:00 so we can have a slow morning with a 09:30, or so, departure.
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Day 84 (2 August) – Griffith to Tocumwal (A coldish morning starting at 6o and only up to 17o – 202 km)
Updating the blog again, posting some updates on the Winnebago Iluka Facebook page and then preparing to leave.
We left around 09:15, about 15 minutes before I was expecting to leave and I had a brief chat with our man from next door who was packing up also. I thought he was staying another day but he was heading home to Shepparton.
We got a Facetime call from Charlotte, Wren and Luna just before 10:00 and had a great chat with them.. They were going to a Bluey DIY workshop at Bunnings that morning. The girls were excited whilst James had gone to Newcastle for a Murder Mystery party with some friends. Another great chat with the girls.
As we left and turned on to Sturt Highway from Kidman Way, we saw a car and caravan pulled over on the side of the road right at the intersection. I realised that it was our neighbour from last night and so we stopped and helped him. His caravan draw bar had come off from the tow ball and was on the ground under the back of his car. I got our crow bar and some wooden blocks to help when a couple of other guys came along. Nick, a local, just lifted the draw bar so we could put down the jockey wheel. We then disconnected the car, Derek drove it forward and then Nick just walked the caravn on to the tow bar – much easier when you think about it. He then gave Derek some advice on how to secure his caravan ind siad sometimes the chain can dislodge the locking tab allowing the socket to dislodge from the tow bar. I’d been using a padlock on our Jimny A-frame, now I can see that was a positive idea although I did it for security. We got Derek squared away and headed off.
We arrived in Jerilderie where we had decided to have coffee and brunch and pulled in to the side of the road – behind Derek. We still aren’t sure how he got in front of us but Google Maps was telling me that it had redirected us to avoid road closures. The probably weren’t working on Saturday.
We invited Derek to have his coffee and lunch with us then said our good byes and headed for Tocumwal.
We arrived at the Tocumwal Boomerang Way Tourist Park at 13:10 – just as the Demons Eagles game started. I quickly connected the paower and water, disconnected the Jimny then set up the motorhome cabin and then settled down to watch the game. Lyn went for a walk into town, booked us in for dinner and had a look around the area.
We were booked into the Bend Restaurant in town so walked in to the restaurant and had dinner. It was great, nice to experience fine dining again.
Back to the motorhome to watch the replay.
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