Day 2

Saturday, 15th September
Gilgandra - Bourke

Gilgandra
Collie
Warren
Nevertire
Nyngan
Byrock
Bourke

Distance Traveled

Today - 366 km

Total - 824 km

Blog

The idea was to get up very early and travel from Gilgandra to Charleville, 1100km away. This was to be one of our big legs of the trip.

We did get up early, but the car needed a repack, so we could get a lot of the stuff into the trailer. This took a while. I then packed a bunch of caches to drop along the way.

We did manage to get away at a reasonable hour. Before 9am.

The countryside looked great. We headed off towards Warren. Everything before Collie was lush and green. Once we passed Collie crops became a bit patchy, but not too bad. In need of a bit of rain.

We saw some our first wild emus in a wheat crop.

The travel north was good. We stopped at Warren and planted a cache, and got a few supplies. Next was Nevertire. This place had a 60 population and joined us onto the Nyngan road.

We headed north at a good pace, but I did notice a big pull from the trailer. Hope it isn't anything to do with the brakes and we weren't using too much unnecessary fuel.

We stopped at Nyngan and checked out the flood memorial, which was a helicopter. This meant something to us as we (grandma and me) had helped out after the flood wiped out the whole town back in 1990s. The flood had come quickly and the water banked up against the raised railway line. This filled the town up and the water rose over a metre throughout the entire town. When I was on the cleanup crew there were cups in the cupboards still full of water. There were still cars abandoned down many streets half full of water. It was a real mess.

We then Travelled on the straight road to Bourke. This was the furtherest I had been along this road. I was expecting the road to be surrounded by desert plains, but it was mostly tree lined and reminded me a lot of areas around Gilgandra.

Many of the roads were very straight for a very long time. There were a few bends, usually around the little towns.

I planted caches all the way along, giving us many breaks.

It was about 5-ish by the time we got to Bourke, so we grabbed sime fish and chips and sat in the very green park, and then stayed at a "Back of Bourke" campsite.

Setting up camp took a while as it was our first time, but we managed.

We hadn't even really get half way on what I had planned for our first stop. At this rate we will never get around where we are expecting to travel.

That night the local police did a couple of rounds of the caravan park. We could hear some party noise back towards town.

Time for a repack and last check at Gilgandra.

... and off we go.

A dead fox hanging on a street sign in Collie

Our car and trailer outside of fhe Collie pub

Things are looking green, though we need a bit of rain out here.

Just a bit further down the road and things are looking much dryer.

Warren. We stopped for some groceries.

"Tiger Bay Wildlife Reserve". It shows the natural state of the Maquarie Marshes and is setup as a santuary for the flora and fauna.

Some birds enjoying them treetops at the "Tiger Bay Wildlife Reserve"

Us at "Tiger Bay Wildlife Reserve". Funny title as it is a long way from any bay and there are no natural Tigers in this neighbourhood.

Back along the road and things are getting a bit dryer.

"Nevertire". A great name for a town. This town joins the road from Dubbo to Bourke.

An interesting Tree

A crop along the way. Love the mirage look on the horizon. Some of these crops had wild emus on them.

This is where they picked up people from Nyngan to get them out of the flooded town back in the 90s flood.

The Nyngan entrance sign. They are on both sides of the road into town.

The Nyngan Flood Memorial. An actual chopper.

The Nyngan railway line. Going as far as the eye can see.

A small town on the way to Bourke.

The old railway station of Girilambone.

A distance marker at Coolabah... Captains Flat?? Strange, but it actually means something to us.

A large bit of machinery that we had to get out of the way of.

Funny the towns fighting on who is the real outback.

About half way from Nyngan to Bourke. Things are looking a lot dryer and more outback now.

This is the entrance to Bourke. The Fred Hollows memorial.

We are now truely in Bouke and the Real Outback.