After Cobar we travelled the dirt roads again to spend a couple of nights at TRILBY SHEEP STATION on the Darling River at Louth.
Sadly, because of the drought, the Darling River here is mainly dry with only a few puddles here and there. But when it rains several hundred kms away upstream this area will flood to the extent that the homestead, which has a levy around it, has been isolated for several months at a time. The area can even be in drought so the flood waters can be very beneficial to the low lying areas. They have over 4 weeks notice that the flood is on the way so they move all their stock and equipment (including two aeroplanes and two helicopters) to higher ground. Gary then goes by boat each day to his aeroplane to tend stock and other station work.
Sadly, because of the drought, the Darling River here is mainly dry with only a few puddles here and there. But when it rains several hundred kms away upstream this area will flood to the extent that the homestead, which has a levy around it, has been isolated for several months at a time. The area can even be in drought so the flood waters can be very beneficial to the low lying areas. They have over 4 weeks notice that the flood is on the way so they move all their stock and equipment (including two aeroplanes and two helicopters) to higher ground. Gary then goes by boat each day to his aeroplane to tend stock and other station work.
While we were there they were building a wild goat trap. There are lots of goats across the outback and can fetch about $15 a head at the abattoir so it's a way to supplement income in these hard times.
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| The Darling River - puddle? |
Gary and Liz have recently purchased another 70,000 acres to add to their 90,000 to make the station more viable.
It's a tough life out here during drought times and I guess you have to be born to it.
Gary and Liz love the lifestyle and keep a very tidy place.
Hospitality again was great and when we did a self drive tour of the property Liz gave us 3 yabbie nets to put in a dam on the start of our tour and picked up on the way back a couple of hours later. To John's delight he pulled out 49 - well, you know what he's like with shellfish! But, in truth, they weren’t very tasty.
The countryside is very dry but a small amount of rain a few days ago has started the grass growing and it's wonderful to see some green areas. Will be even better if they can get some follow up rain.
The sheep are being hand fed every second day which costs about $1 per sheep per week and they presently have about 13,000 sheep.
About 100km up the dirt road is BOURKE, a town truely suffering from the drought. The cotton hasn’t been sown, the sheep haven’t any grass and the town’s solely relying on tourism. So much so that the guide on our tour of the area praised it up .............. too much ......... saying what a great place it was to live even though we were passing smashed shop windows etc. There is a problem with Aborigines here and we were advised to stay at a Caravan Park a few kms out of town.
We were shown a large estate comprising citrus orchard and vineyard that has had their water allocation cut by 65% and are now bankrupt. Millions of dollars down the drain. Sad but why try to grow such crops in this drought prone area in the first place?
The sides of the road from Bourke to LIGHTNING RIDGE was sparkling with broken glass - a sad indictment of the drink problem in the area.
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| A abandoned opal mine |
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| A grate covering an abandoned mine shaft |
It’s one of only a few places in the world where the “black opal” is found. There are many miners trying their luck, some may strike it but mostly not. The roads in this area are very rough bitumen, I think worse than most of the dirt roads we’ve been on.
Then a 350km drive to DUBBO. Another place to make sure one locks up ones valuables.
We thoroughly enjoyed the open range Western Plains Zoo. It covers a large area and you can either bike, drive or walk around it. The animals have plenty of area to roam but visitors still have good viewing opportunities.
Travelling south to Forbes on the Newall Highway in the rain it was interesting to listen to the trucks being ‘called through’ by a leading truck, even on winding roads. Using his UHF radio he’d let following trucks know if it was safe to pass slower traffic. Scary stuff!
It was lovely driving through Forbes, PARKES, Cowra areas. The land is green. We visited a spectacular Japanese garden in Cowra. There’s quite a history of Japanese POW’s here.
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| The Japanese Memorial Garden at Cowra |
BATHURST was fun. We drove up Mt Panorama and pretended we were racing down the ‘esses’. Just hope I can speed up the movie I took -a speedy 4WD would look good!
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| Bathurst race track |
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| The ZigZag railway viaduct |
We stayed at KATOOMBA in the Blue Mountains and the walks and views were just lovely.
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| The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains |
Enroute to Brisbane we called at all the lovely coastal towns and completed our round, well, maybe figure eight, trip of Australia.
We’re now house sitting a lovely home at REDLAND BAY, Brisbane, for June and July 2007 and have been very lucky to have sold our vehicles as a unit for what we considered a very good price although, as caravans have increased in value since we bought, our purchasers consider they got a really good deal too.
What an adventure we’ve had! Seen so many spectacular sights, done so many fantastic things, met so many interesting people. So glad we’ve “been there, done that”. So many amazing memories.
Our vehicles have been superb and if we were starting over again we’d choose the same tow vehicle and caravan.
What have we learnt:
That Australia is a land of magnificent scenery mostly, as yet, undiscovered by the rest of the world.
That Australians are very friendly and hospitable.
That Australia has mining operations wherever one goes. So rich in minerals the rocks sparkle in the sunlight.
That so many Australians were killed in Australia during the 2nd World War. Places like Darwin, Broome, Geraldton all lost hundreds of people. Even Sydney lost civilians........ so close to home................
Who’d have believed that I’d have enjoyed the desert areas of Australia so much and now would far rather visit the outback than the cities????? .................... What has this trip done to me ??????????
Any regrets: We should have done the “Horizontal Waterfall” trip from Derby in north-west WA. At the time, we thought we were seeing enough amazing sights but after viewing photos from friends who’d done it we think it would have been worthwhile .......... but it’s something to look forward to in the future if we ever venture that far again.
So glad we did this trip while we were young enough to enjoy all kinds of activities.
Would we do it again …………………… no …... BUT .......
(Edit: there are a lot of roads we 'd still like to do ????)
WE ENVY ANYONE JUST BEGINNING THEIR ADVENTURE AROUND AUSTRALIA FOR THE FIRST TIME
