Left our beautiful riverside retreat very reluctantly this morning, passing out through the front gates at a very tardy 9.30. Much later than we had hoped with a 400km plus drive ahead of us. Destination Broken Hill.

There were 2 roads to choose between which skirted either bank of the Darling. We opted for the road north of the river for no other reason than we were already on that side of the bridge. It was dirt all the way to Wilcannia- quite corrugated in some places- which gave us a chance to practice our vibrato as we blasted the Mundi Mundi playlist.

Stopped briefly at the Tilpa pub on the way through- like all these outback pubs it has its own  rustic character- its claim to fame is the writing/signatures all over the walls and roof. They were only serving schooners and sausage- with a big drive ahead of us we decided neither of those was suitable at  11 am, so headed off quickly to avoid sharing the road with those that had partaken.

Next stop and many a dusty mile later- Wilcannia- sporting some beautiful old sandstone buildings AND  a cafe with great coffee.  Also had the last petrol stations before broken hill the first we went to had  a 250m queue (we estimated more than an hours wait) to refill.  Chasing daylight we opted for the ‘other’ one which had a very short queue but was 25c/litre dearer.

From Wilcannia to Broken Hill was tarmac road – yay- with nothingness as far as the eye could see.

Arrived at Broken Hill Racecourse around 4.30, tired and starving. Like last year the grounds are filling up fast with excited pre-bashers. 

We are camped right in the middle of the course with the first drops of rain of our holiday falling on the tent. We ordered dinner from the Thai food truck (one of the many food vans that have come in)- while our pad Thai was probably no more Thai than I am, it was delicious- especially to two starved travellers.

Now tucked up, heater on (we have power tonight) looking forward to tomorrow when A & J join us (they’re currently camped about 3 hours away).