Day 222. Bourke to Charleville

From road kill to Bilbies!

It was another early morning on the road. Well, almost! We made it out by 8:30am, which is an early start for us these days.

We were a little late leaving as Scarlett went off to play and say goodbye to some new friends she had made last night, and soon after Bec went to get her - and never came back! I ended up finishing off the packing up by myself, and then jumped in the Pajero and started driving up and down the rows of caravans looking for my wife and daughter; all with the caravan in tow! As luck would have it, I finally found the both of them in the very last row talking to a young couple with kids of their own that were from Dubbo. Bec was talking about ‘our’ trip around Australia, and how achievable it is for anyone to do. They were very intrigued; so much so that Bec passed on our details in the hope that our blog might inspire another Aussie couple to hit the road and see this great big land of ours…

We left Bourke with big hopes this morning, as we wanted to reach Charleville for a Bilby tour on this evening. The tour is run by the ‘Save the Bilby Foundation’, and it was the last evening tour until next week, so we definitely had to be there! Problem was that Charleville was over 450km away!

Crossing the QLD border

Let’s just say that it was a long day on the road. And without a word of a lie, there was road kill every couple of hundred metres along the entire length of the Mitchell (Matilda) Hwy all the way to Charleville. There were kangaroos, wallabies, emus, goats and pigs! The whole days drive was spent either dodging dead animals, or live ones! I have never seen so many emus (alive) – anywhere! On more than one occasion we had to brake and stop in the middle of the hwy, and honk the horn, until they got off the road.

The maion street of Cunnamulla

The Cunnamulla Fella

After crossing the NSW/QLD border (and getting more photos along the way), we ended up reaching Cunnamulla by late morning. Here we took some time out to stretch our legs and have a break. Bec set up a yummy picnic lunch in the local park, while Scarlett burnt off some built up energy on the playground with some local kids. After lunch, we walked down to the main street of town and took some photos of the bronze statue of the ‘Cunnamulla Fella’. The Cunnamulla Fella is a song written by Stan Coster and sung by Slim Dusty, who use wander the streets of this outback QLD town. He is an iconic Australian Bush character. The town of Cunnamulla has erected a statue of the Cunnamulla Fella as a tribute to Stan and Slim and to the 'ringers' of the bush.

We were soon on the road again heading further north into Matilda Country; passing through Wyandra and finally reaching Charleville by mid afternoon. It was straight into the information centre to grab some more travel pamphlets, and find out some more details about the Bilby Experience we had booked ourselves into for later this evening.

Once this was all sorted, we headed north out of town to the ‘Evening Star Tourist Park’. The park is located on Thurlby Station, a 33,000 acre working cattle station. Upon arrival, we were surprised to find huge grassed drive through sites; which are marriage friendly with no need to reverse or squeeze onto like in your usual caravan park. Nice! We also found great amenities, open camp fires, another ‘help yourself’ herb and veggie garden (to Bec’s delight), and a licensed bar (to my delight). The only down side I have found with this place is that there is very limited phone and wireless internet access. A small price to pay for great Australian hospitality though!

From start to finish, it was a seven hour drive, which really took it out of us. Scarlett was a champion, as considering what we put her through today she was very well behaved little girl. Thanks Princess!

Anyways, after setting up camp and getting to know our neighbours (where Scarlett found two more little kids to play with); we headed back into Charleville to the Bilby Experience. Charleville is home to the captive breeding programme of the endangered Bilby, and visiting this facility is one of the ‘to do’ items that we wanted to do on our trip around Australia.

We weren’t disappointed! We got to meet a very dedicated volunteer who ran the tour, and explained the plight of this delightful marsupial. During which, we had the chance to watch a documentary on the Bilby Brothers (the two men who started the ‘Save the Bilby’ crusade), that is now infamous as it’s reached all corners of Australia! At the end of the tour we then went out to the enclosure, and got to meet three very special Bilby’s. There was a male, a pregnant female, and a small 4 month old baby that was super cute! The night was then finished off with a visit to the Bilby Shop, where every dollar spent goes back into saving the Endangered Greater Bilby!

Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby

All three of us enjoyed the encounter thoroughly, and I would definitely recommend a visit to the ‘Bilby Experience’ for anyone thinking of visiting this part of Queensland.

Posted by Shane
No internet service where we are staying

Saved in word doc,

and updated later through Bec's access to the blog

Day 221. Bourke

A day of Bourke discovery

Today we were going to squeeze in as much touring of Bourke as possible. We started with a visit to the 'Back O' Bourke Exhibition Centre', which is a multi-million dollar new attraction to the town of Bourke. It covers Bourke's rich cultural history of the past through to the future of the Australian Outback. There are a series of interactive displays and stunning visual screens showing explaining stories of the Australian Outback.


Display at the Outback centre

There were fascinating exploits of early exploration in the area by Hamilton Hume and Charles Stuart. Poetry and stories of famous poets in the area such as Harry 'Breaker' Morrant and Henry Lawson. And information on the colourful local bushrangers, Captain Starlight, Captain Midnight and Thunderbolt. We all had a great time at the centre exploring the very interesting culture of Bourke. The people here are really proud of their amazing heritage, and it shows in this center.


'Historical Crossley Engine'

Next on the agenda was the midday start up of the 'Historical Crossley Engine'. This engine is located down on Bourke Wharf, which is an historical replica of the original wharf built in 1898 to load wool and other goods aboard paddle steamers bound for South Australia. The Crossley Engine is a fully restored 1923 vintage oil fuelled stationary engine manufactured by Crossley Brothers of Manchester England. The engine was used originally in the Sydney Power House to generate electricity for Sydney. It's still in perfect working order, and is started everyday at midday for the tourists. Shane and Scarlett really enjoyed seeing it run, while I made up a picnic lunch on the river bank nearby. We sat and ate ham and salad wraps under the coolabah trees, listening to the water birds in the river below.

Fox at Mt Oxley

After lunch we took a drive 28km's out of town to 'Mt Oxley'. This rather large monolith was discovered in Jan 1829 by Captain Charles Stuart, and he named it after the late Surveyor General John Oxley. Being situated on a private sheep and cattle station, we had to obtain permission for access. The old Cobb & Co coach route ran through this property in a bygone era, with the 'Mountain House' hotel being the changing station at the base of the mountain.

We found a number of strange craters on it's top; and to this day a number of theories exist about them, but nothing has been proven to explain their existence. While driving to the top we startled a fox on the road, came across feral goats, almost ran over bearded dragons, and were mesmerised the the soaring peregrine falcons and wedge tailed eagles. The view was amazing, and the wildlife made the drive all worth while.

The Strange Craters



How many locks does this stupid gate have



'PV Jandra' Paddle boat

We arrived back in Bourke just in time to take a leisurely ride on the 'PV Jandra', which leaves from behind our caravan park every afternoon. It's a replica paddle vessel built locally by the Mansell family in 2000. We did an hour long cruise along the Darling River, giving us a glimpse of  the river days of old. The river used to be a major transportation route for pastoralists, with wool bound for S.A. Along the river we saw a myriad of water birds such as African geese, wood ducks, major mitchell cockatoos, cormorants and whistling kites. It was a very relaxing afternoon indeed.



Darling River



I had one more item on my agenda before calling it a day, so after the paddle boat cruise we headed back into town to the local cemetery to see Fred Hollows last resting place. After the amazing work Fred did in the region helping people restore their sight, his wishes were to be buried here. Fred's grave site is surrounded by beautiful native trees and encircled by boulders from nearby Mt Oxley which are laid out in the shape of an eye. There is a sculpture carved from sandstone at the western end of the site, with 64 “eye” perimeter boulders, symbolising Fred’s age when he died.

Fred Hollows Grave

Fred's old headstone has been replaced with a black granite sculpture who's polished surface is reminiscent of the surface of those small medical marvels, pieces of clinical grade perspex called intraocular lenses (IOL). IOLs replace the natural damaged lens of the eye and restore sight to those living with cataract blindness. There is also a small ring of stones around a camp fire where a smoking ceremony by members of the indigenous community is regularly held in Fred's honour. It is am amazing tribute to an amazing man.


In the Veggie Patch

This afternoon after a quick fuel up, and grocery stop, Scarlett and I did a run down to the caravan parks veggie patch. We picked some spinach, snow peas, sugar snap peas, parsley, lettuce, and oregano to supplement our menu this week. After a quick call to mum, I had her yummy recipe for spinach slice (usually called something more fancy I can't remember right now) with ricotta, fetta and filo pastry which I will whip up in my oven tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Took this funny pic of Scarlett today on the boat, I just had to put it in.

Day 220. Nyngan to Bourke

Chances are... one in a million...

This morning we woke to the most glorious day. The sky was blue, the air warm - but brisk; and we could tell that we were heading back towards what Spring is suppose to be like. We almost felt sad that we were moving on from this little bit of hidden paradise out here in the north west of NSW, but we knew we were heading north to warmer pastures. Before we packed up, I took Scarlett back down to the animals to feed them our apple cores and peels from last night. 'Incy' the miniature Shetland Pony, 'neighed' in approval when the apple cores were offered. Scarlett was in her element, and even more so when she discovered that there were guinea pigs hidden in the aviary that we didn't see yesterday.

We were on the road by 10:30am, and heading north again. This time our destination was Bourke which was only 200km away. 'Bourke' is nestled on the banks of the Darling River, and is infamous for the saying out 'Back of Bourke".

The road trip north was quite uneventful; other than having to dodge the numerous road kills (roo's and goats mainly) and at one stage I actually had to brake and hit the horn to scare off the feral 'nannies and kids' on the road! (If only I had my rifle handy....). The only other thing worth mentioning was almost running out of fuel on the hwy to Bourke! About 30km out of town the fuel light came on - which I guessed would eventually happen - but the road up this way is 'built up' and the shoulders around these parts are quite steep. From the look of other tyres marks left behind, the shoulders were quite soft and I didn't want to risk getting the van bogged. So all I could do was continue along the hwy until something presented itself. Luckily for me, I eventually found a station entrance about 10km up the road and pulled over to put a jerry of diesel in. The ground was still quite boggy - even on the driveway, so I was glad I didn't try to stop earlier or I would of found myself in a lot of hurt.

Our camp spot at "Kidmans Camp'

2.5hrs later we arrived in Bourke and stopped in at the Visitors Centre. I found the people here very friendly and they couldn't do enough to help us out with providing a wealth of information on what there is to see and do in town. One person even disappeared for a minute or two and soon returned with books for Scarlett to read and colour in.

The 1st pool!

We then headed over the Darling River to a great little caravan park in North Bourke called "Kidmans Camp". We found a nice shady grassed site and set up camp. This is the first time since leaving Sydney that we have had to unhook the caravan, as up till now we have always been lucky enough to find drive through sites where we could stay 'hooked up'. Needless to say that as we have been out of practice 'assisting each other' during reversing and setting up - as we have just spent three rest full weeks in Sydney with Wendy and Russell. There was 'tension', and words were said (both ways), but in the end we got it sorted and I happy to announce we are still happily married! This is all part of the adventure, and on occasion we have enjoyed sitting back and watching the frustrations of other 'Grey Nomads' as they try to set up their vans. It was only a matter of time before we became the 'entertainment' for other fellow travellers. Doh!

The 2nd of two pools!

This afternoon, we ran into two 'old friends' we have met on the road before. We first met Con and Marj in Darwin when they had their children and grand children visiting them from Spain. So imagine our surprise when Bec and Scarlett went for a walk around this caravan park and ran into these two wonderful people again! Con and Marj even got Skype up and running to call their grand children; Max, Grace and Olivia. It was a huge suprise for them to see Scarlett again and be able to say G'day, being they have since returned home to Spain on the other side of the world. It was a chance in a million in catching up in the middle of nowhere, and we were thankful we did.


The 'Vegie patch'

 During her walks around the park, Bec (and Scarlett) discovered that 'Kidmans Camp' have their very own vegetable garden that is available for anyone staying to 'help themselves'. Bec grabbed some fresh lettuce, spinach and rhubarb; that I'm sure we'll enjoy in one of Bec's wonderful meals! (Sometimes, I just don't know how lucky I am).



'Yours truley' - spinning a yarn or two before dinner

 This evening we joined other fellow travellers around the campfire, and enjoyed a cooked dinner that was put on by the local community to raise money for the hospital. We had steak, sausages, veg and mash topped with a fantastic gravy. And for dessert was pikelets with jam and cream! Dinner and dessert were accompanied with some 'bush poetry' recited by the locals of Bourke. It was a great night spent around the camp fire enjoying food, drinks and poetry - not to mention the new friends we met!

Scarlett enjoying dinner and some 'Bush Poetry'

Now this is the real Australia we've been missing!

posted by Shane

(I don't have any excuses

- I just logged in under the wrong name).

Doh!

Day 219. Wellington to Nyngan

A farm stay on the river

It was another chilly night, and I was up around 2am putting the heater back on. I will be glad to hit the warmer weather in the next week or so. We headed out today via Dubbo to do some paperwork for Shane's work. He had to call into the local library to scan and email off some documents for our removal from Brisbane to Richmond later this year.

Huge Wind chime sculpture at Wellington

It was an uneventful but pretty drive. We decided to stop for the night on the 'Bogan River' at a caravan park that is more like a farm stay. Well Scarlett was in her element. This place is like Noah's Arc, as they have just about two of everything. There are camels, percheron's (a heavy horse like a Clydesdale), miniature shetland ponies, alpaca's, sheep, goats, birds, and numerous other animals. After cutting up tonight's dinner vegetables early so Scarlett to take the scraps up, she and Shane spent the whole afternoon feeding just about every single one of them.

There is a miniature Shetland pony here that only stands about 2.5ft tall, and makes Scarlett look fully grown. Then at the other end of the spectrum, she brushed the Percheron (heavy horse) which made her look like a little person. The caravan park is very shady and spacious while situated right on the river bank, creating a very relaxing and tranquil environment. I must admit I'm a little out of practice with the long driving and setting up/packing up everyday; and am in need of a rest already. So this place is just what the doctor ordered.

Trampoline Static Electricity

The Bogan River

We had a lovely lunch outside in the sun, and for the fist time it really felt like spring was in the air. Hopefully we will be able to go back to BBQ's outside for dinner of an evening soon too. I'm missing everyone terribly, so I took a long look at the map and googled 'Lawn Hill' to help me get excited about what lay ahead. I've also been looking at blogs from all our previous travel mates who continued across the top end when we headed south. They are all on QLD beaches soaking it up under palm trees. It will be good to run into a couple of them again!

Day 218. Orange to Wellington

Stepping back in time!

After falling asleep during a rain squall last night, we were surprised to wake to clear blue skies this morning. The temperature felt like it was nudging zero when we finally climbed out of our beds at 7am, but with the heater on all night in the van - it was bearable.

The local megafauna

It was an easy pack up as we left the van hooked up to the pajero, so we found ourselves on the road by 9am. First stop was the Orange Visitors Centre, where we collected a couple of pamphlets on towns we would be coming across during our travels through NSW. Bec found an interesting article on the Wellington Caves Holiday Complex - that had us rethinking where we were going to go today. The caves were only about 100km away from Orange, so it was only going to be a short drive today as we've decided to make this place our destination. As we have only just returned to living on the road, we thought this would be a good experience for Scarlett; as she (and we) re-adjust to living back in the van.

Thats not a wombat!

We arrived at Wellington Caves by late morning, and discovered that we practically had the caravan park to ourselves (bar 3 or 4 other vans). We soon had our camp all set up, and decided to do a little bit of exploring before lunch and our first Cave tour! Although the amenities here are very basic, its a great little spot as there are large powered campsites, bird aviaries, a kids playground, pool, and a well marked fossil discovery trail. Adjacent to the caravan park is a Japanese Garden, a house built from wine bottles, a golf course, and as Scarlett and I soon found out; a private residence that is swarming with chickens (and LOTS of roosters that I'm sure will wake us up tomorrow morning).

Our first tour for the day was a visit to the Cathedral Cave. The main cavern of this cave is an inspiring and majestic 'Cathedral' and is dominated by a large formation whose surface glitters with calcite crystals that have built up over thousands of years. Back in the 1800's this cavern was used for church services, and there is even a bible that has been left behind still sitting on the 'Dias' that is now covered in crystals and has become part of the formation itself. Scarlett loved the glittering crystals and the tour guide told her that it was all "fairy dust". She was hooked! In the lower chambers of the cave we found 'The Well', whose still waters give silent testimony to the power of water, the slow but ever working creator of this underground kingdom.

The bible on top of the 'Dias' formation

After the tour which lasted for about an hour, we went and had a look at the 'Caves Bottle House'. This place is a house that has literally been built out of just over 9000 wine bottles! I know Russell and Wendy have been up this way before, but Wendy never did tell us of her love for the area - so much so that she has been donating her used wine bottles for what seems like years! Great one Wendy!

It was then a walk across the road to the Japanese Gardens. Here we enjoyed the tranquility of this beautiful manicured garden. One of the main features is a man-made 'mountain' from which water cascades into a stream and several ponds before winding its way under a number of bridges to a reflection pond over which a pavilion sits. Scarlett enjoyed watching the Koi, as well as looking for frogs that we discovered are masters at hiding! Maybe next time...

The 'Reflection Pool'

Next we put on our hard hats and entered the 'Phosphate Mine' for our Fossil Tour. Here we discovered a completely restored underground mine from a bygone era. As soon as we entered the 'main drive', we felt like we were transported back in time! Here we walked through red earth deposits that contain easily visible bones that date back about 850,000 years old. We entered a chamber known as the 'Bones Cave', where paleontologists from around the world have come to excavate and study the mysteries of extinct megafauna (giant marsupials). Scarlett absolutely loved this place; as she got to see thousands of fossils and bone fragments embedded in the rock walls of creatures who roamed the earth long before man set foot on the planet.

'Hands on' experiences like this are few and far between. Scarlett loved being able to sort through 'real' fossils and bones

Today was a relaxing day spent exploring the underground wonders that the Wellington region of NSW has to offer.


Wendy's contribution to Australian tourism!

Day 217. 3 weeks in Tahmoor, to Orange

Friends, Family, and fun filled good times...

What a whirlwind the three weeks spent back home at Tahmoor visiting everybody was. We were lucky enough to spend an amazing amount of time with our brand new niece/cousin Isabella. She is so beautiful, and we are so lucky to have her in our lives. Courtney brought her down to visit just about every day we were home, and many a night I was able to go up and help out with the evening routine. Courtney even trusted me enough to get in some babysitting time; turns out Isabella is a huge fan of 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' - just like me. We even swapped kids one day with Courtney taking Scarlett up to her house to make her favourite chocolate cake, while leaving Isabella with me.

Rebecca, Scarlett and Isabella

We managed to catch up and have lunch with both mine and Shane's Nana's, who seemed to love hearing all about our adventures. My Gran is 87, and it turns out she is even following us on our blog - an amazing effort Gran! Catching up with family has certainly been a highlight. Living the last three years before this trip up in Brisbane, we haven't been able to see everyone as much as we would have liked.

Shane, and his brother Paul

We took a trip down to Nowra to visit Shane's parents who were both well at the time, but unfortunately now his step-father is in in hospital awaiting an operation to get a pace-maker put in. Our love and thoughts are with you Len - hang in there your a tough old bugger and everything will be fine. We also visited my mothers sister Karen who is unfortunately also unwell in Nowra. She is starting the fight of her life, and we are praying for her everyday; it was so good to see you. Last but definitely not least in our Nowra visit was Shane's brother and his tribe. Paul and Monique have four kids, who Scarlett had an absolute ball playing with, and congrats to them both as they now have another on the way! We can't wait to meet the new addition at Christmas time.

The Cheney Tribe!
Cousins Jordan, Benjamin, Lachlan, Kaylah; and Scarlett

My best mates were constantly around. Yvonne threw us a BBQ/bonfire on the first Sat night we were there and my other besties Jodie and Michelle came too. We had countless lunches, dinners, BBQ's, movie nights and even a high tea. I have been well and truly spoilt. Michelle was even nice enough to take Scarlett for an afternoon to her horse paddock where they fed, groomed and played with the horses. Scarlett had the best time ever. Yvonne and I also took the kids down to the local soft-play; where Scarlett and Nicholas ran themselves ragged. I'm counting down the days until Christmas and New Years when we'll be down at Currarong together, and not to mention Tamworth for the country music festival in January - they will be here before we know it. You guys are the worlds best friends ever, and we will be till we're old and senile; when we will then be new best friends all over again!

Besties! Yvonne, Michelle, Rebecca, and Jodie

Lastly my precious mum and dad, who are the light of my family's life. We rock up on your door step, never leave and have friends over constantly. You are always so welcoming, and full of love. Thanks mum for the numerous baked dinners, desserts, cakes, and just spoiling us rotten. Many hours were spent with Scarlett on your lap playing facebook games, baking cupcakes in the kitchen, doing craft on the veranda, reading books together, and also taking her to the movies. It's the quality time spent together she will remember forever. The trips to the mall, markets, parks, fetes, friends houses, and just about anywhere else we wanted to go were all appreciated.

Scarlett and 'nana' Wendy

Scarlett, Grumpy and Lucy

Thanks also to Dad for sneaking Scarlett away to the newsagency for secret purchases, McDonald's for brekkie and slushies, down to the local parks for play dates, and even the local cemetery to visit your plot (the dirty plastic flowers she brought me back were priceless). I don't think there was a night he didn't lay with Scarlett till she fell asleep (you usually falling asleep first anyway), watching cartoons on the lounge, and walking her around the yard exploring while she sits high up on your shoulders. Scarlett cried for you both for ages in the car when we left today. She is the luckiest little girl in the world to have you both.

Look at me dad! I'm driving!

Well today the journey continues, and it's with heavy hearts we leave, but happy in the knowledge we will be back before you know it.... So mum, keep my room free!



The end of another hard day - Grumpy and Scarlett



Yvonne arrived early this morning with an arm load of yummy delights for the trip, and stayed for one last cuppa. We were lucky enough to be also joined by Adam, Courtney and Isabella for one last cuddle. After a very teary goodbye we left Sydney mid morning and headed west over the Blue Mountains. The day started out with bright blue skies, but the further west we headed the darker the clouds became until the heavens finally opened up and the rain came down - and it hasn't stopped yet!

Time to say goodbye - again!
Shane, Rebecca, Isabella, Courtney, Wendy (Nana), Scarlett, Adam, and Russell (Grumpy)

We ended up stopping in Orange; where we found out that the caravan park we had planned to stay at was already full! After some quick negotiations, I talked the on-site manager into letting us set up camp on a grassed area beside the amenities block. It actually worked out quite well as we now don't have to unhook the pajero from the van, and we still have power and water.

The other thing, other than the rain, is how bloody cold it is here in Orange! Poor Shane after shaving his head yesterday even had a 'brain freeze' headache while setting up the van in the cold! Tonight I am very thankful that we have power, as the heater is getting a work out like never before!

I can't wait until we get back up to the tropics!