Total km – 1883km

After one final coffee we parted ways with the clan this morning, so grateful to have had a few days together but  sadly couldn’t convince them to drop everything and stay on the road with us!

was good to know the coffee shop shared our sentiments

It was an easy but slow road to Charleville, much more windy than we expected given we were in the ‘big country’.

Definitely out in the big skies today

For the first half of the journey we travelled behind a 3 trailer road train. He was travelling at 80 most of the way but unlike the locals we were neither brave enough or foolish enough to try passing with the unknown bends. Thankfully he did let have ‘the smell of money’, coming from his cargo !

We all stopped at the Marven Roadhouse for lunch and we munched through our steak sandwiches quickly to be on the road ahead of the truckie.

And of course no visit to an outback roadhouse would be complete without the obligatory jerky purchase (even if it is made in NZ).

Arrived in Charleville round 2.30. Were staying at the Charleville bush camp- a fabulous camping park about 5k out of town- we are camped up in a beautiful shaded spot under the canopy of  a bottle tree that’s keeping us nice and cool.

Last thing for the day was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre . It was really informative, they do such amazing work in rural  and remote communities both in terms of emergencies and  health promotion. It was a bit sobering to know they do over 350k emergency flights a year.

Finished our day with a cool drink in our shady spot, salad and some locally sourced lamb cutlets. We have 2 nights here so we are looking forward to being able to  have a relaxed morning tomorrow.

Neighbour just came over and told us they had a brown snake just slither through their cam site EEEEEK. We are now making lots of noise and preparing to scurry into our tent!!!!

TRIGGER ALERT:  vegan folk perhaps don’t read.

We arrived at the Roma saleyatds round 7.45 this morning, not quite sure what to expect. It was easy to spot the city slickers – all those wearing shorts and not wearing a western shirt.

By the time we arrived all the cattle were penned in their lots (apparently they-have to be installed by 8pm the night before and on a water only diet so as not to inflate their weight.

It wasn’t quite the assault to the senses we were expecting, a little bit stinky (‘the smell of money’s we’re told) and lots of weaners bawling. The veteran  cattlemen who conducted the (hugely informative) tour assured us that the bellowing didn’t mean the cattle were in pain- just that they were missing their mums……gulp.

The auctions themselves were so quick.  With 5000 cattle to sell they aimed for no more than a 50 second auction per lot. The auctioneers stood on long walkways  above pens and literally ran from pen to pen. Even after an hour or so none of us managed to master auction speak other than the final clap of hands that clearly meant the deal was sealed.

The stockyards run like a well oiled machine with stock being ferried from sale pens to weigh bridge (you buy a cow by the kilo so you don’t know exactly what you’ve paid until all cattle in the lot are weighed (the best price we saw was for a group of Angus which was 6.20/kg. Most went for round the $5/kg mark.  Most were heading to feedlots after purchase to be fattened up for re-sale.

Hot, dusty and smelling a bit like bovines ourselves we headed for an air conditioned lunch and a soak in the caravan park pool before a hearty pub dinner.

Slow start this morning as we couldn’t step away from our breathtakingly peaceful camp site. Finally dragged ourselves away round 9 and headed into St George to refuel with diesel and coffee and some groceries.

We had a shorter drive today continuing up the great inland way to Roma- very excited knowing the fam were  heading west from Brisbane to join us for a couple of days. 

First stop was for a quick peek at the Beardmore dam (named after a local MP). Water levels weee low- surprisingly its maximum depth only gets to 2.5m.

From there we headed to Surat  for lunch in the Timber Crate where David said he had the best burger he’d ever eaten (possibly an artefact of the very healthy meals I have been serving up to him over the last couple of days).

Landscape was dry as a chip

We arrived in Roma at about 2.30, just in time to set up camp before the others arrived, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring all things ‘big’- Roma hosts the the biggest bottle tree, the biggest rig, and the biggest windmill  all of which we paid appropriate reverence..

We were also lucky enough to be here for the outdoor sculpture exhibition, which had the most incredible metal sculptures by artists as young as 14 years. They were displayed spectacularly along the river bank with the backdrop of massive gums that were glowing in the sunset.

Finished the day with the ‘biggest’ pub meal and off to get our beauty sleep so we can get up bright and early for the cattle sales

Total km: 1450

Woke to the stirring of river birds and once the kookaburras got going we knew it was time to get out of bed.

Lovely people at our camp site last night so the morning ‘yarns’ meant we were a bit slower packing up. However we were on the road by 8.45 and heading north to St George.

Much more barren landscape today but  still beautiful under the big skies. Temperature heating up so we broke out the shorts and t-shirts.

This is cattle country- lots of calves in tow. We’ve seen lots of emus (living) and plenty of Roos (sadly most of them flat) and billions of flies. We’ve become very adept at jumping in and out of the car quickly so as not to let the flies in.

Crossed the border into Queensland round 10.30am with that ‘ok, now we’re really on holidays’ feeling. Stopped just over the border at the Hebel Pub and General store for a homemade beef pie, coffee and to refuel – ironically the most remote yet cheapest fuel yet on this journey. 

From there we followed the Great Inland Way all the way to St George.

We set up camp in the Kapunda camp site (a station stay right on the banks of the Bellome river). It was stinking hot when we arrived so we set up as quickly as we could under the only bit of shade we could find and set off in search of cooler surrounds.

Found our way to the Riversands Winery (thanks for the recommendation S & J) where we sat under a huge shady veranda with a cheese plate to die for until closing time. 

Back to camp in time for a shower and sunset. It’s now a balmy 20 degrees – the river is like glass and all is well in the world.

Total km: 1097 (we cracked the ton!)

Awoke to the morning chorus and 6.30 sunshine. Leapt out of bed (at least in our minds) and got the coffee pot humming.

We aimed for an 8am departure and were on the road, coffee and banana in hand- unshowered but hey, we’re camping!

First stop to take a picture of the local playground for you know who…then on to Condoblin

Arrived in Condoblin round 9.30. The town was a mass of people and horses with the local camp draft underway. It’s a beautiful, thriving regional  town, beautifully preserved buildings and obviously a vibrant community. 

Resisted the temptation to buy a prized lam- or property but could see us living here in a parallel universe.

Stopped off at the ‘Utes in a Paddock’ art installation which has a couple of dozen Australian utes painted by famous artists reflecting outback history (mostly post colonial mind you).

Fully caffeinated and fed we continued north.

Next stop was Tottenham whose claim to fame is being the geographical centre of NSW. On arrival we discovered the true centre is marked 20km west of town. Given the long drive ahead we opted out  of the photo op and decided near enough is good enough.

Followed the ‘Bogan Way’ today north through long miles of lush cattle and canola country – easy to see how this region gets its Kings in grass castles reputation.

We are listening to the book ‘Outback Stations’ as we go – a historical account of the Aussie meat industry and the 8 biggest cattle stations in Australia, some of them along the route we are taking.  A & J you’d love it!

Arrived in our riverside camp spot right on the banks of the Barwon River. We stayed here a couple of years ago and it’s still magical. We are all set up and David’s in the process of cleaning the 5000 mashes insects off our windscreen (no exaggeration) before settling in for our sunset G&T.

Using our stellar organisational skills we were packed ready to go with car and camper on street ready to rock and roll by 8pm last night (a PB for us). We were very relieved to wake up and find it still there’s this morning!

David assured me he was securing the gerry cans and not just checking out the view!

we aimed to leave at 6am and at 5::59 we were in the road feeling very proud of ourselves.

it was a pretty uneventful drive today. We fast tracked it up the Hume. Breakfast in Seymour which has grown exponentially since we last went through, and lunch in in Culcairn in a cute little courtyard cafe (Feed the Soul) – and it did.

Frm there our GPS took us on a bit of a Tikki Tour mostly through farming backroads. Farm lands were as green as except for the vibrant gold canola crops. Mostly cropping and or beef.

Arrived in West Wyalong mid afternoon in glorious sunshine. A bit of a shock fuelling up at $2.90/litre- given we are averagi 7.8km/l.

Now camped up at the West Wyalong Showgrounds- lots of people here but pretty spread out. Most people like us have remained hitched so I’d say it’s a popular overnighter and there will be a mass exodus in the morning.

Now sitting in Sun, G & T in hand. Life doesn’t get much better than this!

It’s just magic here in Mungo, warm days, big sunrises and sunsets and utter peace. Loving it so much we decided to extend our stay to a third night.

After our first night of rain and flapping canvas we woke to absolute quiet. Unfortunately we were about 15 minutes late to catch the sunrise but lovely nonetheless.

We set off early to drive the 70km 4WD loop around the park- it was closed last time we came. It was a bit slow going in places but led us through the very varied landscape front m desert sands to red earth/saltbush plains and bore wells to mallee bush land. We stopped in the numerous picnic areas and did all the walks which are smattered with info boards giving great info on the local history, flora and fauna.

Today’s roadblock was this little bearded dragon, totally unperturbed by our presence.

Arrived back round 1.30 much dustier than we left and drove down to the Mungo Lodge (only no camping option in these parts) with promise of a coffee. Unfortunately coffee machine was on the blink and they we awaiting the repair- person and their chef was in a weekend off. so it was a quick sanga and ginger beer and then back to camp for our home brew (which we think is great but it’s possibly just that we’ve been on the road too long!).

At 4pm did the Chinese Wall sunset tour. This was a 2 hour walk around the incredible sandstone ‘wall’- which is actually a moving landscape – shifting 1 metre per year. The Elder who led the tour gave us great background on the park, the Aboriginal and colonial history- the latter of which including the introduction of rabbits and goats has pretty much decimated the environment. The Chinese wall gets its name from the Chinese workers who were put to work by the early settlers after having come to Australia  during the gold rush.

Of course the most momentous recent event is the return to country of Mungo Man and Mungo woman along with the remains of over 900 other Aboriginal people which have been held all over the world. The remains we buried just 9 months ago.

The pictures of the magic sunset don’t really do it justice. 

We also set the alarm and made it to sunrise over the plains.

Our morning walk through the saltbushes sped lots of little black tipped Roos – ver dainty and apparently one of three species of Roos here.

Lamb shanks on the open fire for dinner tonight

Woke at 1 am to the sound of owls hooting- this bush camping sure is magic. Fell back to sleep until the bush alarm clock woke is at  round  6.30 and titis time we heeded their calls and got up for an early start. Having sussed out that  the local bakery also did coffee we opted to pack up and get breaky in town before heading north.

Balranald is a tiny town with a real community feel. The senior citizens hall is the most prominent building heralding an aging population I guess.  The  bakery seems like the morning meeting place- everyone very welcoming and friendly.

After a quick breakfast pastry and stocking up in the local IGA we headed off. 

just out of town came to a road block of a very different kind

The road was narrow tarmac for about half the way with lots of truck traffic, meaning we pulled over lots for oncoming vehicles. Once we turned off to Mungo it was red dirt and big skies most of the way- but roads looked recently graded so other than being a bit muddy  it was fairly good driving. 

Arrived in Mungo round midday wearing the red mud badge of honour.

Took a while to find and set up camp. It’s pretty windy today and spitting rain but about 26 so a bit humid.

Flies are relentless!!! Fly nets and Bushman’s are fully deployed and keep the flies  at bay (almost) – one of the few occasions where practicality supersedes style!.

Did a late afternoon walk to the lakes viewing platform – a very different view to last time with the recent rains covering the red dirt with low green foliage.

Decided not to light a fire tonight because of the wind so we are enjoying  a hearty spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

After a day doing all things touristy around Echuca and a pub lunch for the boy’s birthday we came back to our little camp, packed up all the gourmet goodies we’d purchased and read our books by the fire (or at least until the battery on my kindle went flat!). We were one of only two sets of campers on the farm last night so gloriously quiet overnight.

We woke early to the cacophony of kookaburras and enormous flocks of cockatoos, showered (you never know if/where you’ll find your next hot shower) and set off north towards Mungo National Park. First stop was less than an hour up the road at a quirky cafe that promised (like all bush cafes) the ’best’  pies. Not quite as good as the Harrietville pies inn our humble opinion but good nonetheless.

Took the Sturt  highway north stopping only for fuel in Swan Hill.

passed a controlled burn on the way through which was a bit disturbing – it was giving out a huge amount of heat.

So lovely to be under the wide open big blue sky again.

Used Wikkicamps to locate a free camp right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. It certainly lives up to its 4.5 star rating so far. Just one other couple camping here well round the bend, so it’s us and hoards of cockies. Flys are pretty tenacious but we have nets and aren’t afraid to use them and we know they’ll disappear in an hour or so.

We’ll do a one nighters here and head up to Mungo tomorrow.

As I type this we are just starting to get a few drops of rain. Cloud cover is light so hoping it will pass quickly – upside- it’s got rid of the flies!

Woke early to view the sunrise over our beautiful view and it was certainly worth getting up for. It would have given any outback sunrise a run for its money.

After taking in the magical colours for a short while we retreated back to bed to ward off the icy cold. Woke about an hour later to the cry of ‘rain’ from Rick. This got the camp moving and we managed a record time pack up before our canvas got too damp. So by 7.30 ish we were off  a bit hangry for want of  coffee and breakfast- it to be honest  it was me who needed the coffee most!

We headed down the long winding alpine road slowly making our way through the little towns. We managed to secure fabulous coffee and lamb and rosemary pies in the warm and dry of the Harrietville Bakery and were relieved to be able to fill up with fuel in Bright.

After a few very quiet off grid days bustling Bright and Myrtlefird  weee an absolute contrast.

After some rapid online booking we managed to book a station stay at Murray River Bush Camp. David and I have stayed here once before and even in the midst of school holidays it remains a peaceful oasis- and warm!  Excitement at many levels   1) temperature of 24 when we arrived meant we could strip off to short and T’s 2) we could at last have our campfire paella beautifully cooked by Bei 3) – and this should have been number one- we had our first real shower and flush toilets in  5 days!

Sitting here under a beautifully clear night sky unable to see an inch in front of us listening to cicadas singing.