17th May 2012 - Lightning Ridge

16th May 2012 - Onwards to Lightning Ridge

 

15 May 2012 - Exploring what "Back 'O Bourke" has on offer

Nick drew the short straw and was up for the morning run and after this it was full steam ahead with breakfast and down to the Darling to catch the Jandra paddle steamer at 9am.  Em was more excited to see whether “Dragon the Ballerina” was still in need of her help and brought a bag to bring the bird back in if it needed a trip to the vet. Obviously we hoped it would be gone…..but alas, no, Dragon was still there, on the bank, looking worse for wear as the whistling kites circled waiting for their chance to eat her. She was renamed Polly, and Em was very disappointed I would not allow her on the boat – against the rules I said.

We enjoyed a 1 hour cruise down the Darling with great commentary on the river, the floods, the history and the wildlife. Em and Lachie fought over who got to hold the camera and take the pictures en route.

After the cruise we headed to an orange and mandarin farm next door to the campsite where the kids got to pick a mandarin fresh from the tree and we bought a huge bag to keep us going for a few days – delish.

Then onward to town to the “Back ‘o Bourke” Exhibition Centre to learn about the history of the area. We were amazed at the centre and the money that must have been poured in here in the last few years. It was great. But as usual, pity about the kids as we didn’t get to read half of what we would have liked. I decided this was the last time we would go to such a centre with the kids – you just don’t get your money’s worth and it isn’t a very pleasant experience for anyone else in the centre at the time.

After this we headed for lunch at the Old Wharf in town. The kids ran amuck, throwing sticks, stones and anything likely to take ones eye out. After lunch they were treated with a walk down under the wharf to throw stones as we watched the egrets and herons dive for lunch.

Pulling out the “Mud Maps” of the area we headed in search of Major Mitchells Fort, but found the road closed (as we had we told by Tourist Info). We chose to check for ourselves and sometimes they err on the side of caution and Nick was keen to see this, it being rather unlikely we will be back in the area for some time. We passed the Cemetery where Fred Hollows is buried and the local cotton gin before heading homeward and letting the kids have a much needed snooze en route.

In the evening we took the kids for a bike ride across the Bourke Bridge and down to the wetlands on the way to town. They again threw stones and we saw the sunset as we headed back for home.

Another freezing night and I was thinking was being back in NSW such a great idea after all….

Boat Trip, picked oranges, Exhibition Centre , Major Mitchells Fort, river for lunch, evening cycles, skyped Isla

14 May 2012 - The Road to Back O Bourke - the Edge of Nowhere

Decided to take a hit and spend a long day in the car with not a lot worth stopping for between Charleville and Bourke. Having arrived in Bourke we agreed driving 450+km listening to kiddie music and whinging is not such a good idea and we would stick to 3 hour drives where possible for the rest of our trip.

We did stop in Cunnamulla, home of Slim Dusty’s “Cunnamulla fella” song. We saw the statue to commemorate this as we lunched in a park, but as usual, Lachie cracked it and we packed up and left amidst crazy behavior having refused to allow the boy on the “kiddie” swing.

We chose to pay a little more for our campsite for the night and stop at “Kidmans Camp” about 8 kms out of Bourke. Nick had heard it was along the same lines as Wilcannia, with a lot of boarded up buildings, so I was happy to go with this.

With camp set up Nick headed to town for beer while I took the kids for a walk in search of the Darling River, not seen since we left Wentworth all those months ago. It is beginning to feel like we have gone full circle in outback NSW, with the tourist information offices having the same “Darling River Run” brochures that convinced us Wilcannia would be a beautiful heritage town.

At the Darling we spotted the Jandra paddle steamer that we would be crusing as we take to the waters in the morning. Also I was in awe of the birdlife – and this was truly a birdwatchers paradise ….til the kids started screaming. We saw a corella take flight rather poorly and land wings outspread in the river. We watched on as he fought to free his wings from the water, and was very fortunate the flow brought him back to the side. Em and Lachie wanted to bring him home (as was done in the book “Bird with the Broken Wing”), but I convinced them we would leave him for the night and check in the morning to see if she was still in need of aid. Em named her “Dragon the Ballerina” – very suitable for a crippled bird J

Another freezing night, and no port…..what were we thinking?

13 May 2012 - Mothers Day in Charleville

Although it was Mothers Day, it was Clare's turn to go running so she was up bright and early to head out. We made pancakes with bacon and egg as a special treat. Later in the morning we joined some of the locals who had walked out to the campsite (about 7km out of town) as part of an annual fund raising event for breast cancer. There was a BBQ, coffee, music and raffles. Unfortunately we did not win anything, although we must have been the only people who didn't.

Later in the day we went for a wander around Charleville but it was a bit of a ghost town, probably being a Sunday afternoon and headed back to camp.

12 May 2012 - Charleville, WWII and stargazing

We booked in to do a tag along tour of the airfield and base that was built by  the Americans in WWII. Not much remains of the base as the Americans destroyed most of it at the end of the war. Charleville was used as a base for the B17 Flying Fortress. They were far enough away from the coast to be out of range of any of the Japanese planes. It was very interesting and the guide was very passionate about what they had so far uncovered. They have a group of Uni of QLD archeology students arriving later in the year to try and uncover more artifacts and remains of buildings.

We played a few games in the afternoon with the kids including kicking the football as high as possible into the air and have them chase it. Unfortunately the ball landed on some of the  nasty outback prickles and had to be thrown out a few days later.

I was booked into a session at the Charleville Cosmos Centre at 7.30 to do some stargazing. The centre is very new and was one of 16 tourist attractions built in Western QLD with state and federal funding. The original plans were for a 'Waltzing Matilda' style museum. The locals however thought this was a little 'parse' and requested an astronomy centre instead. This is certainly a bit different and the session I went to was full. We looked at some dying stars, new stars, Saturn and Alpha Centauri. It was a worthwhile session but it would have been good to spend some more time on the telescopes.

11 May 2012 - Tambo Teddies and on to the Bilbies

After starting the day with a not-so-inspiring run we packed up and stopped off to visit the home of the Tamba Teddies before leaving town. With price tags of approx.. $90 for a small one, we didn’t purchase any additional travellers for the homeward run of our trip.

Without much on the road between the two towns we drove through, listening to kiddie music (as we do best) al the way. Having had a look at a few camping options, we decided to stay out of town, and chose to try out a “Station Stay” as our campsite for our few days here.  The station – Thurlo - is a 33,000 acre cattle station about 8km outside of town. As per usual, the bad behavior and screaming started as we turned in the gate of the park, and the peace of this beautiful spot was broken – not to return until we leave.

The campsite were fab and I loved their description of the sites as “marriage friendly”. How true I thought as I am not sure how many “disputes” we have had about where/how/which direction to park the damn camper on arrival at campsites. My idea is just “whack it in, get it up and don’t worry about the detail”, Nick takes the more “considered approach” and likes to think about it and get it right before we start. Anyway, not much to dispute here, it was easy.

Whilst there was an Aboriginal visiting the campsite to give a talk, show some of his art work and play a little didgeridoo in the arvo, we chose to head for town and give the kids 40winks en route. With the Bilby Experience that night we knew tired kids would be a disaster.

The campsite runs a campfire and happy hour every evening, but we skipped this too to head to hear about “Save the Bilby” campaign. We had a very interesting talk by National Parks and Wildlife and then went to see the 3 little critters (Mom, Day and Baby Baza) they had secured “out back”. Em was just fascinated with feral cats after seeing a photo of a dissection of a feral cats stomach which showed 2 bilbies, numerous mice and other wee creatures, all consumed in one night. The cat weighed in at 8kilos. I think this just may be her new obsession and true to form that’s all she talked about for the rest of the night.

Anyway, it was an incredibly inspiring evening about the difference a few people with passion can make, and left us questioning yet again why the hell we are returning to Sydney to sit in an office and make very little difference to the world other than lined some fat cats pocket. Hmm.