Chapter 2 - Broken Hill to Lightning Ridge and Into Queensland

Wednesday 4 June was the day to depart Broken Hill for the Menindee Lakes district, about 100 east of Broken Hill.  However our departure was delayed by four hours by (what turned out to be) a faulty fuse in both the car and the caravan. The significant labour cost failed to dampen our spirits as we arrived at a place with the unlikely name of Copi Hollow.  The back of our van was about 10 metres from the waters of one of the Menindee lakes.

Some time later our neighbour caught a European Carp, which was discarded and duly snapped up by a waiting pelican.  The following three photos show the pelican’s success.

I see lunch

 

I have lunch in my grasp

 I know a good spot to eat lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The local views and the weather made it a great place to sit and ponder, and this continued until the communal camp fire was commissioned and people gathered to tell “tall tales and true”, although maybe more of the former than the latter. Red wine seemed to be the preferred drink.

On Thursday 5 June I rose early and went for a walk, easily in time to see the sun rise.  The colours were magnificent.

Soon after we received the phone call to advise of the passing of a dear friend. The rest of the day was fairly sombre.

However we went for a drive and visited Menindee and Kinchega National Park. 

While there we also checked out the old woolshed that saw the shearing of over 6 million sheep.  See photo of Kinchega woolshed below.

 

Burke and Wills also visited this area and we visited the monument.

We retuned to camp in time to see another pelican enjoying a free European carp, just before we witnessed another beautiful sunset—from the back of our caravan.

 

That night Darryl and I lead the team in cooking roast lamb in our cast iron camp ovens.  The roast veges were in a second pot.  The tender lamb was excellent. Needless to say a fine bottle of shiraz accompanied the meal. The photos below show our cooking style.  Of course by the end of the night we all had clothes that were very smoky.

 

 

Friday was a lovely day as 19 pelicans arrived in pairs at the spot where the aforementioned free carp were provided. It was a great sight as they drifted in like jumbo jets.

 

We then drove out of Copi Hollow and back to Broken Hill.  After a short stop, for provisions and fuel, we headed north.  Some of the country is pretty boring, some quite pleasant to drive through.  It was fairly windy but more of a cross wind than a head wind.

We gave up trying to find a free camp spot when we saw a sign to a new campground  - Warrawong On The Darling.  In a sign of the times Kay checked out the place, using Google on her phone, and decided it was a good idea.  We then camped near the banks of the Darling river with shower cubicles about the size of our caravan.  In times of drought we could all shower and dress in the same shower cubicle without being cramped for space.

We went for a walk along the river and around an adjacent billabong then headed back to the
caravan, for blog update, happy hour and left-over lamb for dinner.  The photo below is the view from near our caravan.

 



A White Hills Dunny

On Saturday we drove the 95 km north to White Cliffs which is Australia's oldest Opal field.  It developed from a chance finding of Opal in the 1880's by a group of kangaroo shooters. Its population peaked in the late 1890's at around 5,000 and started to decline after WW1 and now boasts a population of around 200.  It is the sort of place that is OK for a quick visit, but not the sort of town to move to.

The famous Australian cricketer Bill O'Reilly (1905-1992)  is White Cliffs favourite son.

We bought a coffee, had a look at some opal, drove around the town, and headed back to the caravans at Wilcannia.

Darryl and I decided on stew and damper for dinner so we lit the sole campsite fire (inside an old metal tractor wheel) and 90 minutes later commenced proceedings.

As the damper was made and put in camp oven # 1, the meat was diced, then rolled in flour then placed in a pre-heated camp oven # 2. Over time many veges were added (onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, parsnips, zucchini and potatoes) plus some fresh herbs.  Other campers who used the fire for warmth and conversation were left open-mouthed—specially when I offered to sell some stew, damper and a glass of red for $25.  We had a great dinner.

The fire

The stew














The damper

 

 

Sunday 8 June was Day 12.  I rose early and made enough noise to get Shirley up so that we were on the road towards Bourke by 8:30.  We travelled through a heavy fog for some time. 

However, it was mainly an uneventful drive of around 350 km, when we pulled about 250 metres off the road into a quiet free camp spot.  However we did buy some lovely fresh pies in Cobar.  At this stage we were about 65 km from Bourke.

Free camp 65 km south of Bourke, NSW

Camp Fire & Damper

Darryl and I proceeded to collect some wood and light another one of our brilliant campfires.  More damper was cooked (camp oven again) and the stew was reheated and expended with broccoli, cauli and more potatoes. 

Dinner was eaten around the fire. 

Darryl with an impromptu didgeridoo

The entertainment was provided by Darryl who played the didgeridoo on a piece of hollow wood that we found for the fire.  It is lucky that I cannot include the sound in this story.

The following morning (Monday) I was up at 6:15 and re-lit the fire so that we could all have crumpets for breakfast around the fire.  It worked out pretty well.

We hit the road about 8:15 and headed towards Lightning Ridge, via Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett.

We arrived about 2pm and checked into a fairly new campground called the Opal Caravan park.  It is an excellent park.  A BBQ at the camp kitchen was the method of cooking for tonight.

 

It is now Tuesday 10 June and Day 14.  

Lightning Ridge is quite a nice town.  It has most things a gray nomad camper may want, camping shop, hardware shop, IGA, IGA Liquor, fuel, hot artesian spa, heated pool in camp ground and lots of tourist stuff to visit.  I bought a smaller cast iron pot to complement my larger camp oven. I resisted the temptation to buy lots of other goodies.

 We had a quiet morning, coffee, stroll around town, some shopping, some sightseeing and then a roll for lunch. I did, however, buy some yeast for the home made pizzas for tonight.

Artesian Spa around 40 to 46 degrees

 After time to digest our lunch we visited the local artesian spa where the water temperature varies between 40 and 46 degrees C.  It was very relaxing— until it got too hot.

Can/bottle shop on the Green Car Door tour

We then tried, what is called, the “Green Door Tour” so called because all the direction markers are denoted by a green car door.  One of the minimal highlights was the bottle house/can house (see photo).

Yellow Car Door Sign

 

We are still to try the Yellow, Red and Blue Door tours.  The green tour was pretty ordinary.  Still, we had a few laughs. 

Dinner was another example of a Darryl/Chris inspired meal—pizza.  We made the pizza base (yeast, flour, etc), added many (obvious) ingredients then stuck both of them in the pizza oven at the caravan park.  Dinner was excellent.  The photo shows the raw and cooked pizzas.

 

Day 15 was another lovely sunny day.  After a slow start we followed the red car door tour.  First stop was Amigo’s Castle—who built it “because he could”.

Amigo's Castle

 

The next stop was “The Black Hand”, an underground plethora of carvings in the sandstone, still being expanded by an amazing 72 year old local.  The following photos give you an idea of what he has achieved.  Access to the gallery is gaining by descending 86 steps.

86 Stairs Down

 

 

 

 

We then visited a mine that was operational with rock repeatedly coming up the hoist and being dumped.  It seems like hard work.

 

Stanley

 

 

My final photo of the morning was a 14 metres high metal emu called Stanley.  Stanley’s parts include the bodies from two VW Beetles and two satellite dishes.

Stanley resides on the Castlereagh Highway just outside Lightning Ridge.

Thursday 12 June was Day16

After another slow start we followed the Blue Car Door tour.  

Our first stop was the Cactus Nursery where we saw many things prickly. 

There was no need for a “Do not touch” sign.  Some of the cacti were more than 100 years old.

 

 

For lunch we tried some caravan-baked scones. 

They were OK, according to reports.

 

We had a quiet afternoon then used the courtesy bus to get to the Bowls Club for dinner.

We had a drink then ordered our dinner.  Forty minutes later it had not arrived.  Investigation indicated that a computer error (fancy telling me that) had lost the order.  So, without raised voices, the club duly cooked our re-ordered meal and fully refunded the cost of the meal. 

Bangers n Mash n Full Glass of wine

But wait, that is not all—we also got a free drink.  Notice how full the wine glass was to complement the bangers and mash meal—which was superb.  Shirley and Kay had to use a straw to extract the first mouth full from the glass of wine.

We caught the courtesy bus home, with a few local identities, and were given a “cooks  tour” of some more remote Lightning Ridge locations.  Even I was completely lost and was surprised to see our caravan park suddenly materialize out of the Lightning Ridge back blocks.  It was a great night.

 

Friday 13 June.  We departed Lightning Ridge and headed north.  We had enjoyed our time  there—with lovely weather to help.  But there are more things to see.

Hebel Pub

We stopped for morning coffee at Hebel, just over the state border into Queensland.  The feature of Hebel was the General Store (lambs fry on the menu) and the pub, which wa one of those magic old Aussie pubs that beckon you inside.

On the wall of the pub was the farmer’s lament below.

The rural recession has been explained in simple term by an old time farmer who said “It all started when back in ‘66 they changed from pound to dollars, that doubled me overdraft.  Then they brought in kilograms instead of pounds, and me wool clip dropped by half.  After that they changed rain to millimetres and we haven’t had an inch of rain since.  If that wasn’t enough they brought in Celsius, and we never get over 40 degrees – no wonder my wheat won’t grow.  Then they changed to hectares and I ended up with half the land I had.  By this time I’d had enough to sell out.  I put the property in the agent’s hands and then they changed miles to kilometres.  Now I’m too far out for anyone to buy the bloody place.

 

We drove on to St George and after a walk around the town, we camped for the night. 

Darryl and I cooked curried sausages for dinner—this time in the camp kitchen—in a big pot.

It was pretty good.  The left-overs went into our fridge.

 

It rained for most of the night and we were greeted next morning by puddles and mud.

 

 

 

 

We said goodbye to St George and headed north to Roma.

 

This the end of this posting. Stay tuned for a new post.
Remember if you click on any of the photos you will get an enlarged view.