Bourke Bound

2nd Offline Entry
19 April 2008

I have broken up my first entry in order to include a slideshow of our first real day on the road - to Bourke and the start of our exploration of the Darling River Run. Apperently, the river only drops 30 metres in the 2200 kilometres between the Queensland and Victorian borders, hence its slow current and tendency to inundate surrounding land for miles.

Sunday, 20 April 2008
4.50am
Kidman’s Camp
Bourke, Far West, NSW

Up early with the full moon today. Rob has kindly told me I did not have to sneak around quietly as he was also awake so I have fired up the old Toshiba to record our journey yesterday.
We set out from Orange pretty well laden to the gunwales with the overflow from Mike’s vehicle. With four on board, he has a full Prado but it seems to cope effortlessly with it. My Rav has also performed in typical Toyota style ie. Nothing like a Landrover! Mike took us on a few detours from the direct Mitchell Highway route including a visit to Bev’s school; at Molong and a scenic drive to Dubbo which brought us in near the Lion Park.
It was very cold as we filled the tank and searched in vain for an SD card for my video camera. We passed through Trangie and Narromine on our way to our lunch stop at Nyngan. With its brightly painted railway station and old Huey, it provided us with our first photo op. See link below. The food in the local café was acceptable and Rob performed a public service at the ATM for an elderly gent with a few under the belt (it was 1pm by now). He gave Rob his card, told him his PIN and told Rob he was “a gentleman” after receiving back his $100 and keycard. Such trust! I can see Oki doing the same in his rapidly approaching dotage in Kandos. May be a good way to defray fuel costs on outback adventures.
Off again with another driver change in both cars, with Russell accumulating valuable driving hours and Rob learning to use the Cruise Control. Ahead lay a 200K straight stretch to Bourke but we stopped regularly for more driver changes and photo shoots. The road and towns along the way have not been as dire as my Broken Hill born and raised Head Teacher (Hi Di) had warned me they were and so far we have even avoided food poisoning!