Jetty Tour Day 4 - Wilcannia

Ring Neck Parrot

As I have previously said (May 2017), Wilcannia is a town I find confronting. Not in the sense that I feel scared - although there are places and times of the day I would avoid, like most towns - but in the sense that I find it hard to imagine a place where the difference between Australia's non-indigenous population and its indigenous population is more pronounced.

This is blatantly obvious in the infrastructure of the town, where splendid examples of the white colonial past, which took everything from the culture that was insitu, are still standing in the form of huge limestone buildings. Magnificent as they are - the courthouse, the police station, the post office and several others - they are an in-your-face reminder that in the 1860's, white fellas arrived and took over the place. Meanwhile, much of the other buildings in the main street are ramshackle dwellings or the remains of shops and businesses long since gone and beaten up and beaten down by locals. Everywhere, decay and disadvantage stands beside everlasting privilege. 

The cafe we visited last time is no more. "Miss Barrett has gone to Tasmania" we were told. Next door, an old shack with damaged corrugated iron roof, was having solar panels fitted!

We tried the road house for a cuppa but that was as limited and as expensive as it was unfriendly. We retreated back to our campsite.

A drive around the property revealed what we already knew from looking at what used to be the billabong in front of the campsite. The larger billabong was cracked mud with a fresh layer of green that some sheep were enjoying. In 2017, they would have be covered by water. One small puddle still battled the sun for survival. Not that it stopped the Red Tailed Black Cockatoos. A mob flashed past as we drove along. The red sand dunes seemed to have denser tracks and even in low range there was some  tyre slippage. The Darling itself sort of sat there, way down the bank, with all of the fallen trees exposed like piles of old bones (Sue's description).

They need rain out here.

Today's photos

The afternoon was spent chatting with new chums as they arrived and other relaxations. Sue read a book while I spent an hour updating our financial records. In the late afternoon, I enjoyed a few beers while sitting in my campchair with my camera in my lap, snapping the odd little birdie. I had been hearing a Whistling Kite for two days but hadn't been able to capture it, until late in the day, just as the last orange light was leaving, I caught it high up in a tree about 200 hundred metres away.

A lovely place Warrawong, despite the lack of water in the billabong, there are plenty of birds to marvel at, tracks to explore and peace and quiet. 

Broken Hill tomorrow.

Jetty Tour Day 3 - Cobar to Wilcannia

On the surface of it, 260km is a relatively short hop but we sill made four hours of it. Traveling at 90km/hr and with Sue needing lots of breaks at the moment as her back has been troublesome, we get nowhere in a hurry. The speed is purely to aid fuel consumption and as we like to take it all in around us, along we plod.

Sue had a sleep in this morning, not realising we are approaching the western edge of the eastern time zone and as such, there is considerably less daylight at 7:30am than there is in Tamworth so it was about half past nine before we left. We were escorted out of town by half a dozen policeman, although they may have been setting up a checking station for heavy transport drivers.

Meadow Glen Rest Area

I am constantly amazed at the jerks who travel our highways. For instance, Cobar Council have set up an overnight stop (no power or water but toilets and lit and covered picnic tables) at Meadow Glen Rest Area. There is a big, level asphalted pull in area on either side of the Barrier Highway, with facilities replicated on both sides of the road. Well, that's how it was when we came through here in June 2017. There is no lighting in the shelter sheds on ether side of the road anymore, as someone broke into the switch boxes and stole the solar batteries! You can't wash your hands because someone stole the tap handles!

The other thing of note at Meadow Glen was an abandoned pop-top van which broke down here when its chassis broke. The old bloke who owned it wrote his farewell on the table top and drove away and people have been gradually stripping it for parts.

I guess because of the drought, there is a distinct lack of road kill along the highway. Many roos have perished already and those left are clinging to water sources. We haven't even seen many. The goats are still ever present - in all shades of brown and black and white but they are wary of the road and its a very rare thing to see any goat carcasses on or beside the road. Its so dry. We haven't seen any stock in paddocks since before Warren.

We stopped at Baden Park rest area for lunch. I must admit, boiling the kettle and having sandwiches inside our little mobile cubby house is something I love about being away.

About 45km from Wilcannia, we crested a hill and the real outback was revealed for the first time. Low saltbush, the few trees were little more than over-sized shrubs and long, rolling red sandhills stretched away as far as we could see. Willy-willies started suddenly, threw twigs and dirt into the air and just as soon were gone.

Today's photos

We are spending tonight at Warrawong on the Darling, a camping area and motel just outside Wilcannia. Its camping area backs onto a billabong which was mostly water two years ago but now is mostly dust. Despite the lack of water, we've still seen Magpies, Willy Wagtails, Black Cockatoos, Ravens, Black Fronted Doterills and Welcome Swallows. I just heard a Whistling Kite. I don't think we'll be identifying the 63 species we did last time! Delightful spot, back off the highway by six hundred meters, a camp kitchen and the best amenities block anywhere in Australia.

Maybe a couple of nights here.

AAA Tour - Day 12 - Wilcannia to Broken Hill

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It was really hard to leave Warrawong on the Darling. Such a beautiful spot. Imagine having your caravan backed up to the edge of a billabong, with hundreds of birds feeding. Got the picture yet?

We drove the 200kms to Broken Hill without event.

After booking in, we visited the information centre for details of some things to see and then drove up onto the top of the original mine to the Line of Load Miner's Memorial. Towering over the city, it is situated over the line of ore body which bisects the city and remembers the more than 800 miner's killed in the history of mining in Broken Hill.

Nearby is the former Broken Earth Cafe; Restaurant which has been closed. Its located in one of the outstanding places over any city in Australia. Its to be hoped that it reopens in some form rather than sit like a the elephant in Broken Hill's room.

AAA Tour - Day 8 - Cobar to Wilcannia

Back on the road today, along the Barrier Highway to Wilcannia. It was mostly straight road driving but for two thirds of it, we were up and down over gentle rises of between ten and twenty metres in rolling hills.

Morning tea was at a road side rest area called Lilyvale, 90 odd kms west of Cobar. Located on both sides of the road, it has a fully bitumen and wide surface, roofed tables and chairs and a long drop toilet - and all of it pretty new. We opened the lid and had a cuppa.

The following ten kms had an interesting array of roadside trees. First there was a bottle tree, then a shoe tree, an undies tree, a bra tree and several others. Odd but in a 110km/hr zone and bad road edges, I wasn't prepared to stop to more closely investigate.

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We arrived at our destination, Warrawong on the Darling and backed the van into our spot on the edge of the a huge billbong, which was once the Darling River. The venue is a fully fledged caravan park on a working farm about three kms from Wilcannia. Grass sites, brand new, state of the art amenities, power, water, camp fire and cheese and biscuits at 5:00pm each night and then there is the view. Birdies, lots of them. The camp kitchen doubles as bird hide. We'll be here for the next three days just chillin' (literally ... 15C daytime and OC at night. Air conditioner and electric blanket will manage those issues.