Thursday, December 01, 2005

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TRIP 2005

Tuesday 22 November to Saturday November 26
Bourke to Sydney
Blog 4

We followed the mud maps supplied by the information centre to explore Bourke. Our first stop was the cemetery. Apart from seeing very old graves dating back to 1832, particularly of small children, Fred Hollows is also buried there. It is a very simple but beautiful grave located in a grassed area with trees around it. He operated on a lot of the aboriginal people and saved their sight and loved it here. We then headed off to a replica of the stockade that Charles Mitchell the explorer built along the Darling River, which was the beginning of the town Bourke.

We then drove back into town and headed out the other direction to the only weir and loch that was built on the Darling. The loch is no longer functional but in a beautiful spot. It is amazing to see how high up the river bank the trees are that are affected by the flooding river. Apparently at its flood peak it can be 80km wide. We then drive to a lovely little picnic spot where we could walk out on sand bars between the billabong sections and see an amazing number of birds, including pelicans and brolgas. It was a great spot.

We travelled along the Darling River at Bourke on the Paddle Boat, Jandra.
Joining us on the journey was the ex-mayor of Bourke and still councillor, Wally.Mitchell The morning was beautiful and warm and there were lots of birds, including a family of ducks and their little ducklings. The cruise was for 1 hour and Wally explained lots of things about the river and irrigation from the river.

After the cruise we hitched up and gave Wally a lift into Bourke and on the way he took us to the airport and explained to us that the council had sold the old airport for $200,000 to someone you was using it extensively and then they had sold off some of the land around the airport and the local community built a new airport. The building is a great very friendly building that looks like a homestead. He then took us to a cotton gin which is a factory that processes picked cotton, removes the dirt and rubbish and puts it into bales.

We spent about an hour being shown around and we had each part of the process explained. It was a fantastic experience. Our last stop with Wally was that he took us into the courthouse while a case was being heard. What a great experience it was.

Having finished with Bourke we headed down the now bitumen road of the Mitchell Highway through green and wet Nyngan. The countryside was certainly different. No more red dirt and dust, there were green fields, trees, many sheep grazing in the one field and quite a large town at Nyngan. There was traffic again and we were back in civilization. Even our ordinary mobile phones worked again for the first time in 3 weeks.

Next morning we were confronted with having to deal with a smashed window in our car where someone had broken in during the night but not stolen anything since they couldn’t find anything of any value. After ordering a new window and cleaning up the mess we spent the afternoon and part of the next day at the magnificent Dubbo Zoo. What a magnificent place. It is definitely worth taking the time to soak in what it has to offer. The pictures can’t really capture the smells, the sounds and the peace but they give you some idea. There were storms and a lot of rain in the evening. The first we had seen for weeks after 30C-40C heat. Some of the rivers around us had flooded and some of the crops had been damaged particularly the cherries and wheat.

We got our car window replaced and then headed back to the zoo to complete our journey. It was well worth the return trip.

The rest of the trip is really just heading home but as we drove from Dubbo through to Orange the countryside was so green and undulating with the grass so high in places that it hid half the cattle. Orange is over 900m above sea level and considerably colder than the surrounding towns. We didn’t stop to take photos but it certainly was a picture book scene.

We spent overnight in Bathurst, a town we had explored before, and then headed for home in the morning. Our second caravan journey was over. We saw some spectacular countryside and met some interesting people. It wasn’t the journey that we thought we were going to make.

We didn’t get to Kangaroo Island or the Clare Valley or the Eyre Peninsula or Victor Harbour but we saw our spectacular red deserts. We will get to the rest another time. That is the beauty of our travels, we can change our plans to whatever takes our fancy.

And so our second journey ends - hope you enjoy our blog

North Bourke Bridge over Darling River - built in 1883

North Bourke Bridge over Darling River - built in 1883

Bourke Historic Cemetary

Aboriginal carved rock at Fred Hollows grave in Bourke

Grave of famous Australian eye specialist Fred Hollows - he never lived here but gave sight to many aboriginals and loved the place - Bourke

Muslim Mosque at Bourke historic cemetary

Afghan tombstone next to Mosque

Replica on the actual site of the Fort Bourke Stockade built by explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835

View of the Darling River - Bourke

Another view of the Darling River

Emus in the scrub

Old loch on the Darling River - Bourke

Mike scared this kangaroo drinking at the Darling River

Exposed tree roots some 10 metres above the Darling River shows how high the river rises in flood

Paddle Steamer Jandra on the Darling River - Bourke

View of North River Bridge from the paddle steamer

Family of ducks getting out of the way of our paddle steamer

Serene is the only way to describe our feelings on the paddle steamer trip down the Darling River - Bourke

The new Bourke Airport

Michael (Gin manager), Carol and Wally Mitchell (ex Mayor of Bourke) touring North Bourke Cotton Gin

Incredible plant and equipment used to process, clean and bale 50,000 bales of cotton per season

Back of Bourke Hotel - built in 1883

Dept of Lands building in Bourke with fantastic air ventilation system

Bourke Court House

Bourke Post Office

Old Post office Hotel - Bourke

Dubbo Central Caravan Park - huge storm coming in at sunset

We woke up to be told our car had been broken into overnight at the Dubbo Central Caravan Park

Dubbo Zoo - you drive yourself around the 6km track to enjoy all the animals and birds

View of lake where we had lunch on arriving at Dubbo Zoo

Ducks at Dubbo Zoo - Lunch!

Innocent baby duckling - just gorgeous

How would you feel if you lost part of your horn?

Baby Rhino born at Dubbo Zoo

Dubbo Zoo

Dubbo Zoo

Dubbo Zoo

Hippo at Dubbo Zoo

Black Rhino

Rare Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby

Maned Wolf

Dubbo Zoo

Smaller than an Ostrich and an Emu - South American

Neither a rabbit nor a kangaroo - South American

Brazilian Tapir

The colours were fantastic

These are called Kangaroo Paws

Flowers

Cheetah on the move