Saturday 24th.
We were up by 4am, both having showers, before hooking up the trailer to head off on our Darling River Run, a trip we have been planning for many months. We finally left by 4.45am, having only 6kms on the clock. Was a very easy trip at that time of the morning, passing through Lithgow at 7am, having done 153kms.
Straight through, heading to Bathurst, arriving there at 7.45am, with now 210kms. We stopped here shortly to get a coffee and a croissant, then filled the bike up with fuel, before heading out towards Orange by 8.15am. We had been following a fuel tanker, each time he beat us out of town, taking the heavy vehicle route, which ended up being the faster way to go.
Only took half an hour to reach Orange, arriving at 8.45am adding 52kms to our tally. We went through town, the tanker taking the heavy vehicle route, reaching the other side of the town first, making us over take him on the highway again. Cat and mouse it was! We reached Dubbo at 10.40am, having a total of 399kms now. Drove through the town, not stopping, making our to Nyngan. A friend, Tom, had mentioned two things to us, one the road to Nyngan was long and straight and the other, where he met up once to meet his girlfriend, which I will get to later. He wasn’t wrong about the road being long and straight to the point that you could get a driverless car, whack it on cruise control, sit back and take a nap!!
There were a few warning signs stating water across the road, due to all the rain and flooding they had had, and were still having. However there was only one place where there was actual water across the road. We arrived in Nyngan at 12pm, stopping for lunch and a toilet break, having now a total of 533kms. Departed Nyngan at 12.30pm, driving over the Bogan River, that was so high, that it had broken it’s banks and was way up over parklands and kids play grounds. On our way to Cobar, passing a tiny town, that looked to only have one pub called, Hermidale, where Tom came out to meet to his girlfriend, we did text him, asking how his girlfriend ended up in a place like that…blink and you miss it!!
The road to Cobar was as straight, long and flat as the road was to Nyngan, arriving in Cobar at 1.50pm, 675km. We decided to refill the truck, as we were going to do a fair amount of driving still. Left Cobar at 2.10pm making the final push to Gundabooka National Park and sighting our first of what will be many emu’s, with babies in tow along the side of the road.
We arrived at the start of the National Park and stopped to gather some firewood before entering, and letting our tyres down to about 24psi, leaving here after a 45min stop, finally arriving at Gundabooka Dry Tank camping ground where there were a few other campers, deciding on a spot nestled on the edge of the bush. Set the trailer up for what was going to be the first of our 3 night stop here and the first for this new adventure. Got the fire going and had a fire toasted chicken, cheese roll for dinner, before marvelling at sky above, before heading to bed after a fairly long, but enjoyable day in the truck.
Sunday 25th.
Had been asleep for a little bit when we were awoken by thunder, deep in the background. It wasn’t long, however, before this thunder was above us, bringing with it torrential rain. It was nice knowing that the trailer wasn’t going anywhere, we were dry and warm…so bring it on. Was nice lying there listening to the rain, with the thunder, there didn’t seem to be any lightning with it though.
We woke before 7am to what seemed like a beautiful morning, Jason getting up to check we were all good from the storm, coming back to bed, as he said, that although it was clear, it was a bit fresh outside.
As we now had our new radio, we listened to ‘Macca’ in the morning while lying in bed, finally rising by before 9am. Our plan for the day was to do a fair bit of walking, the short walk near the campsite, then up to Mt Gundabooka.
Had breakfast, tea and then coffees, before heading off for the short walk, up Little Mountain (at the end of Dry Tank Campground). It wasn’t a hard walk at all, finally reaching the summit after only 30mins, with a view that could see across the very flat outback to Mt Gundabooka.
Cloud had since started to cover the blue sky, even feeling slightly damp in the air. It was a very pretty walk up to Little Mountain, with the under growth full of a yellow weed, and weed or not, anything in such quantities is very, very pretty, these yellow weeds no exception.
We headed back to the campsite, packed lunch then headed off for the walk up to Mt. Gundabooka. We actually missed the turn off for the start of the walk and ended up at the end of the National Park, with the right hand turn to Bourke, the left to Cobar. Doing a U-turn, we went back to the turn-off that we missed, which is actually called Bennetts Gorge picnic area.
There were a few cars in the car park at the picnic area, although no one was around. We had our lunch,of tuna and crackers before heading off on the small trek to Mt. Gundabooka. We walked the short 500m to the Mt. Gundabooka lookout, passing the many people whom owned the vehicles in the carpark. We headed off on the Mt. Gundabooka trek, which was actually graded as difficult, with an expected return time of 3-4 hours. Making good time, not even near the start of the climb, Jason had a boot ‘blow-out’, where, yet again, his sole had come away from his actual boot! As it was probably wasn’t a good idea to continue the walk with a ‘boot blow-out’ we went back to the truck and taped up the injured boot. Lets, just hope it keeps together!
Headed back to the start of the Mt. Gundabooka walk and off we went. The first part was flat, crossing dry creek beds, (which considering the amount of rain they have had in this area was a surprise the creek beds were dry) then heading up and up and up!. The sign stated the walk was graded as difficult and I would agree, it was very steep and very rocky, switch back after switch backs, snaking our way up to the summit of Mt. Gundabooka. There were stunning views out towards the horizon, during our way up which was flat, very, very flat as far as the eye could see. Thinking we were at the summit, relief, but wrong, we had probably another 20 mins of walking, traversing away along the saddle of the two mountains, before yet another very steep, rocky incline to the final summit. And WOW, when we reached it, what a let down, we could hardly see anything, as it was flat at the top, there were also a fair amount of trees up there, hence we had hardly any view at all.
Started the long trek back down, passing some people on their way up to the summit. It took the same time to come down as it did to ascend the mountain, due to the state of the rocky track, finally reaching the bottom by just before 3pm. It took us 55 mins to reach the summit and 50 mins to the bottom, far less than the expected time, but tough none the less. Was great to finish, both feeling tired, and maybe a touch sore!
Came back to the camp site, having a much needed beer and afternoon snack, before getting the fire ready for our pork dinner, a mixture of sausages, ribs and pork pieces…YUM!
Dinner was delicious, having our pork bits with corn and potato, and grilled capsicum. It had turned into a beautiful, clear and crisp evening, despite the cloud cover that had been around during the day, looking very much like rain. During our meal, the stars started to appear and as it was a clear, still night, the sky was covered, to the point that we had never seen so many stars on any of our trips in the past. It was so lovely sitting by the fire, all warm, the night air rather fresh, looking at the sky above, trying to capture a satellite swinging by, or sighting that all special shooting star. It was a great way to end a fantastic day.
Monday 26th.
We were up by just after 8.30am, to what looked like a beautiful clear day, although still quite fresh in the shade. Had breakfast and coffees, before heading off to Bourke for some sight seeing. We took the alternate exit from the park, heading to Bourke, through Yanda, stopping on the track to grab a photo of hopefully the colours of the outback. The deep rusty red of the sand, to the green bush and then the smothering of tiny white flowers blanketing the ground. It was very pretty to see and according to a fellow camper we had spoken to before we left, it was rare to see as well. He had been camping in the area for years and had never seen such a massive display of wild flowers before, so I think we are quite lucky to see the outback with all its richness of both colour and fauna.
Arriving in Bourke, we went straight to the Information Centre, which also offered the ‘Back of Bourke’ exhibition. While waiting to pay for our entry, Jason noticed some friends whom he hadn’t seen for some years…a very, very small world. His friends were visiting family in Bourke and were visiting the exhibition as well, amazing really.
Was a great exhibition, with lots to read and lots to see, all very interesting and very well put together. We spent a good two plus hours there, which was well worth it. After we left, we drove down the main street and stopped for a pie at a local bakery for lunch, which was straight out of the oven and very nice, eating it on the banks of a very full and running Darling River. Headed to the old bridge of Bourke, which is no longer in use, then back to town for a quick look around, before heading back to our campsite.
We stopped in at the Yanda campsite for a look, as it was a campsite on the river, although we didn’t think much of it and the river was a fair distance from the camp site. We were happy with Dry Tank.
Stopped on the way back to Dry Tank, gathering some firewood for the night, as we were having a small roast, so needed some good coals. The sun was still settling over our campsite, so got the fire going, then sat by it, still in the sun, a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
Jason got the coals going, and got the roast going in the camp oven, so dinner will be yum, with yet again a beautiful, clear, cool evening, so lots of star gazing again tonight.
Dinner was beautifully cooked, a pepper roast beef, with veg and my very first gravy using the camp oven, Jason said it tasted a little oily, I thought it was delicious and could have licked the plate!
Stayed up for a while longer, watching the stars, adding to our personal competition tally of satellites and shooting stars (Jas leading on the satellites, myself on the shooting stars), before heading to bed.
Tuesday 27th.
Was yet again a clear, beautiful morning, although rather fresh in the shade. We weren’t in any rush, so took our time having breakfast and coffee, before slowly packing the trailer away. By this time, say 9am, we were the only campers left at Dry Tank, as one group had left very early, the other group, just before 9am. While we were packing up 3 or 4 drove in to do the walk up to Little Mountain, then, just as we were leaving another 4 or 5 cars, some with trailers, turned up and set up a table for a lunch stop.
Leaving just after 10am for our next adventure, this time to Tilpa, stopping first in Louth, then on to Tilpa. The road to Louth was quite easy, deep, rusty red dirt road, seeing many emus on the way, including quite a few babies, lots of lizards and the occasional kangaroo. Arriving there just before 11.30am and asking the question of the publican whether it was too early for a beer or not? She looked at the clock and said ‘no, it’s after 10am…always a good time for a beer’. Jason and I were the only ones in there, so we had quite a good chat to her, she had been in the area for over 10 years, but that doesn’t make her a local! We discussed schooling, there were 3 children in the Louth Primary School with 2 teachers and most of the high school students go to Boarding Schools, in Sydney, Tamworth or Armidale.
We discussed the recent rains they had had and she also mentioned that she had never seen so many wildflowers either and that everything looked so green and pretty. She also advised that the road was shut to Tilpa and that it wouldn’t be good to drive into black soil country when wet. This threw a spanner in the works as it was where we we heading. After finishing our beer, we decided that we would head out to confer country and try and get to Fort Grey by nightfall, so we made the push towards Wanaaring, hopefully then going on to Tibooburra for a different adventure.
The road was long, red and dusty, the amount of dust we chucked up behind the trailer was massive…all ending up in the kitchen of the trailer too!! It was 195kms to Wanaaring, the whole time we passed one 4WD, one farmer on her bike with her dog, two snakes, one deceased, many, many lizards, a few emus, and no Kangaroos. Made it to Wanaaring, which was a tiny little town, with a pub, petrol station, camp ground, police station and an ambulance station.
Driving straight through, we decided to swap drivers, so pulled up besides a road sign…which disappointed us both, the road to Tibooburra was closed, as was every other road in the vicinity, we think, even the road we travelled up to Wanaaring on was closed, hence why we didn’t see much traffic. Bummer. Swapped drivers anyhow, then went back into town and Jason went and asked at the pub, which roads we could use, and they said, head back up the one we were going and head towards White Cliffs, where she said there were two or three vehicles in front of us.
Deciding to head back to Bourke, as the weather reports we had been hearing, were for more rain in the region and we didn’t want to be stuck somewhere we couldn’t get out of for a few days. Jason was extremely bored on the journey back to Bourke as it was the same 195km road, red, dusty, lizards and more emus with yet again, only a few cars, all of which were travelling in the opposite direction.
Made it back to Bourke and after Jason had done some reading, decided to spend one night at a place called Mays Bend, which was just outside of Bourke, down a used dirt road, ending at the very high Darling River, between two properties, arriving there around 5pm. We set up the trailer, chatting to some locals that had come to look at the river, then chatting to a farmer that had come to check we weren’t camping on his land, it was time for a much needed shower. Used the gas hot water one and it was soooo nice, so hot and felt so good to have clean hair and skin!
Got a small fire going, as we only collected a small amount of wood, before having what we called ‘Roothy Slop’, which was gnocchi with tinned stag chilli. It was a strange combination, but warming on the insides, none the less. Didn’t take long for our little fire to die down, so time for bed, not before, yet again, gazing at the amazing night sky, something we have come to enjoy immensely.
Wednesday 28th.
Up by 7am, deciding not to have breakfast and to pack and leave early, we were ready to leave by 8am, making our way in to Bourke, to fill the truck and get coffees for our trip to The Warrunbungle National Park, via Bewarrina and Walgett. Stopped in at the visitor information centre at Walgett and was surprised to hear a lady in front of us had spent a lot of money in Bewarrina, as we didn’t see anywhere to shop, let alone spend a lot of money. We got some information on the Warrunbungles and headed off in that direction.
We made our way onto Coonamble, later hearing on the radio that the river was rising there and may have had a slight chance of flooding, along with every other river we had passed over. Arrived at the Warrunbungle National Park and had a good look around, but decided it was too much like a caravan park, and rather busy so moved on to our next idea, being Coolah Tops National Park.
Headed south east towards Coonabarabran, where we stopped quickly and Jason picked up his Akubra hat, that suits him down to a tee, as soon as he put it on…that’s the one!
With the new hat in the truck, we headed to Coolah, turning left towards the National Park, after just heading towards Merriwa. Travelled along this road for a while, before another sign, saying Road Closed grabbed our attention. We kept going and took the detour around, what we thought would be water across the road, but was told it was a new bridge going in. We had been listening to the weather reports constantly, and, as it was such a beautiful day, found it hard to believe it was going to pour the next day, be really windy and even snow!
We arrived at the Pines Camping Ground just after 5pm, having stopped at Walgett for 20 mins, the Warrunbungles for 30mins and Coonabarabran for 45 mins getting that Hat, also adding another 570km onto our total. We set up camp, with only one other group here, before setting in for the evening, having a pre-made green chicken curry I had made from home, with rice, which, despite the very cool outside temperature of just 6 deg, it warmed up our insides. We went to bed, after noting that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and being prepared for the wind and rain, in by way of pegging down every corner and side of the trailer, we felt safe.
Thursday 29th.
Right, so they didn’t lie, any of them, the National Parks people, the BOM website and what other locals had said…the wind came up about 3am with the rain joining it at about 5am. And did it rain and rain and rain. The wind sounded strong through the trees, making a fair bit of noise, although it didn’t seem to sway the trailer very much, it was just the rain that was making the thunderous noise on the trailer top. We were warm, as it felt fresh out there, and dry, so lying there, listening to the rain was a lovely way to wake up, then fall back to sleep, not having to rush anywhere!
Rising about 10am, to very, very thick fog, more heavy rain and slight wind, making the temperature rather fresh indeed. We had breakfast and coffees, before going for a drive to look at what else was about, in the very thick fog that was about. Quite a change from driving on the deep, rusty red dirt, as when you look behind you, you can’t see a thing because of the dust, but here, you look behind and can’t see anything because of the very think, dense fog, such a difference, such a large contrast in the countrysides we are experiencing.
Had a chat to the National Parks guy who was on his quad bike, baiting for wild pigs, having just seen a wild pig ourselves only 20 mins before chatting to him. We drove through some very fast running creeks, and very heavy rain before making our way back to the campsite to settle in for the afternoon, or either rain, storm, snow, sun…who knew!
Durning lunch, there were deep, deep grumbles from the sky, what seemed very close indeed, with a little rain, to be lucky when it passed us by, staying to the left. The sun is now out, for hopefully the rest of the afternoon, to dry some of the mud which is everywhere, everywhere!
We got the fire going early, as it was getting rather fresh, even though the sun was out, we still needed more warmth. Sat in front of the fire, while we heated dinner up, which was a pre-made osso bucco brought from home, which was very nice and yet again, very warming to the insides. We couldn’t stay out for too long, even in front of the fire as it was getting really cold, but yet again, it was a very clear night, with lots of satellite and shooting star gazing to be done.
Friday 30th.
It felt cold over night and after Jason had to get up during the night, he kindly let me know it was only 3.3 degs, nice! Yet again, when we woke there was the slight pitter patter of rain on the tent, so we stayed in bed longer and as it was still really cold, there was no point getting up anyhow. Up finally after 9am, Jason cooking a delicious breakfast of a bacon, egg, mushroom and avocado wrap, adding a cup of tea, was the perfect way to start a morning that was only 4.5 degs.
After breaky we headed off for a walk around to some of the falls as it wasn’t raining, just a very slight drizzle, so grabbed the opportunity to have a better look around. We drove to the Pinnacle Lookout first, which had large vistas of open countryside, all which looked green and lush, from up where we stood, it was very cold though and there didn’t look like there was much sunshine on the horizon either. Made the short walk to Rocky Creek Falls, which were flowing, due to the rain, you couldn’t get a great look at them as there was no fenced off area and it seemed to just drop away, so we weren’t going to close to the edge.
Next stop was the Norfolk Falls, which was a walk that included some 500 steps, down, which meant 500 steps up on the return! These falls were very impressive, as there was a lot of water making there way down the stream and off the edge, making for a great view. Walking to the next viewing platform, down on the river, just at the top of the falls, you could here the strength of the water rush past, it is a bummer that it has been raining so much, however, it makes for some impressive sights.
Stopped in at Bald Hill Falls on the way back to the campsite, which yet again had a lot of water flowing down them. It still hadn’t warmed up at all though, with the temp only 6 degs, so we collected extra wood on the way back to the campsite, to get the fire going early again, however, since arriving back it hasn’t stopped raining, so we are sitting under the annex, with extra wood and no fire!
It rained on and off all afternoon, making it one of the coldest days we have ever had camping, also not helped because we couldn’t get a fire going. We did have some enjoyment though and that was watching two cars come in, one a mazda ute, the other a VW people mover, both white vehicles which were both very dirty due to the track in, the mazda ute had one person in it, the VW had a male and female. Now the weather was still slightly raining, with fog, still very very cold, us still under the annex waiting for it to clear, when we noticed the male driver of the VW do something rather odd, we thought anyhow. With a cloth and water in hand, he proceeded to clean the back of the VW, we thought to maybe throw a tarp over it, because of the weather, hence clean it of mud first maybe. Hmmm, not the case, as he then proceeded to refill his container of water and clean the whole car, sides, front, door jams, windows, all of it. Why, you ask? We have no idea, we even said on one of his trips to fill his container that he could do our truck next and he just laughed. We still find it amazing that he did it, his wife (or however), even went over the car again, while he was trying to start a fire.
What amazed us most was that even when there was a break in the weather, he continued to clean his car rather than set up his tent, to the point that when it started raining again and his car was spotless, he set up his camp. Strange, very very strange, considering he had to drive out of the National Park, in which his car was going to get just as dirty as to when he drove in. Still strange, very strange!!!
Eventually, the rain subsided so we got a fire going, which was very much needed as I couldn’t have coped much longer with the 5 deg we had experienced all day. We had chicken cooked on the grill for dinner, which took a little longer than we thought, so by the time we finished it, washed up and sat there for a while, it was also one of the latest nights we had had on this trip, making it to bed at 9pm, still, very, very cold.
Saturday 1st.
Jason got up early then came back to bed after he announced that it was only 2.5 degs, there was no way I was getting up any time soon. There was light rain falling, along with some very strong winds, making rising even more difficult, regardless of the temperature. Jason slowly packed things away, while I stayed in bed, really finding it hard to leave the warmth, rising only when a cup of tea was made for me! Despite the fact that it got so cold, over night and during the day, we were disappointed it didn’t snow, as several people, even the BOM website said it would snow above 1000m, which we were at.
We had breakfast, not really in a rush, as we weren’t travelling terribly far, hoping for a bit of sun before we packed the whole trailer away, which didn’t happen, as there was fine misty rain falling all morning. Finally got the trailer packed away, very wet and very muddy, for our trip to Nundle, which is about 50kms south east of Tamworth, heading off at 10.45am.
Taking the route that took us through, we travelled along a long and muddy dirt road, taking us over Pandora Pass, which had some spectacular views and a lot of cattle to negotiate. This road took quite a long time to travel over as it had so many floodways, causeways and dips, that were not only steep in some parts, but also, flowing with water, making it at times, very slow travel. The countryside was amazing though, the rolling hills were back and they were just so green, that we passed some very fat cows, that were enjoying the rains that the region had had and was still having, also passing some amazing paddocks which were just bright yellow, full of wild flowers, waiting to be cut down to then have the paddock harvested with their produce.
Made it to Quirindi, which was a lovely little town, although nothing much open as it was a Saturday arvo, we did stop to fill up the truck though and noticed at this point the dirt and muck we had picked up on the way, the bike and the front of the trailer were caked in thick, thick mud! Heading to Nundle, finally hitting a highway, making the bitumen a pleasant and clean change. We arrived at Nundle at 3.15pm, visiting the first camping spot, then going for a drive to look at the other one which was just outside of the town up near The Hanging Rock Lookout, but it was such uneven ground and was very busy for the long weekend, we decided to head back to the first one, which was only 2kms out of Nundle on dirt road.
Set up the trailer, then took out all of the wet stuff as it was a fairly dry afternoon and we wanted to try and dry things before it rained again. We ducked out for a drive to get some firewood, up near The Hanging Rock Lookout again, where, on the side of the road there were lots of trees down, so cutting some wood wasn’t difficult at all.
Got the fire going, then we cooked our steaks, Jason’s tomahawk, and my T-bone, with assorted char-grilled veg, which all was delicious, although Jas was rather full after finishing his tomahawk…not a chance in hell I would have finished one!
Stayed up for a little while longer, then headed off to bed as I felt it was rather fresh, no where near as cold as Coolah Tops though, there were a few stars in the sky, but it seemed blurred by light cloud.
Sunday 2nd.
There was something different about waking up this morning…there was sun, we could see shadows in the tent, there were no sounds of rain on the tent, birds were chirping. WOW! We were up earlier than normal, due to day light savings as well. It was just so nice to eat breakfast sitting in the sun and not hunkered down in the annex watching the rain and fog pass us by.
We had a chat with a fellow camper, George, with his lovely placid staffy, Schooner, who had been here for a while and was going to be here for a while to come as well, who was a gold fossicker, grey nomad, told us of a camping ground, at the dam, 6kms away, which had $1 coin donation hot showers…we were there!! Had breakfast, not even coffees, before we headed off for our hot shower and they were hot showers and it felt so nice to be clean, with clean hair again. Came back to camp, smelling nice and had our coffee in the sun, watching our wet gear dry itself. A perfect way to start a Sunday.
Jason went for a bike ride after lunch, having a look down all of the tracks we couldn’t get down due to the wet weather causing the tracks to be too slippery for the truck. I sat in the sun and cross-stitched, listening to the lower grades of the footy finals, while having a cup of tea, it was a lovely afternoon and very warm, unlike the previous few days we had had.
Jason got back just before 5.30pm filthy from all the mud he rode through, making his bike even dirtier than when he started. We got changed then headed to Nundle pub for dinner and to watch the footy grand final, between the Sharks and Storm…the pub was going for the Sharks, as were most of the occupants. We found a spot in the public bar, in view of a large TV, near the bar and ready for a good night.
Had a lamb pizza and hot chips for dinner, which wasn’t the best kind of pub meal, but was good all the same, all while chatting to some locals and other travellers. The Sharks won, a close game, which excited the whole pub, as there were cheers, oohs and ahhs during the whole game. The publican asked a few of the locals how they were getting home as he announced that there were ‘ratbags’ out and about on the roads, so be careful.
We headed off back to camp, having had a great night, it was fairly cool, so was in bed pretty much as soon as we got back, Jason relieved that at least the Sharks won, as he didn’t want the Storm to win!
Monday 3rd.
Now that’s the noise we are used to while camping…rain on the tent! Bugger. It started very light and went all morning, we had breakfast then headed off into Tamworth for hopefully a new hat for myself. The rain didn’t stop, so there was a fair bit of rain on the roads, despite the fact that it looked so light. We got to Tamworth, after only 48kms of windy road, most of it bitumen, not dirt, to find that most of the town wasn’t open, due to it being a long weekend. There were a few shops open, one just happened to be a beautiful leather shop, which had some stunning things in it, including Akubra’s. I tried on quite a few, before the salesman recommended a particular one that it is best seller for females, as it had a smaller crown, this I tried on and yep, found my hat too! We are both now fitted out for our future travels, whether in the bush, or by the water, our faces are now going to be protected from that harsh Aussie sun!
We walked up and down, buying a coffee, before going for a drive up to the lookout, which was going to be interesting as the top was coated in thick fog. When we made it to the top, it was still raining and rather cool, with not really a lot to see as the fog was quite low. Had a quick look, reading the signs that were there, taking note of where the ‘Golden Guitar’ was, as you can’t visit Tamworth and not visit that!
Found our way to the ‘Golden Guitar’, which looked like it was in the carpark of a KFC, which it kind of was, as the information centre was right next door to, which included the Country Music Museum. Had a look around the shop, grabbing a few maps from the information centre, also taking photos of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers guitars.
It was still raining when we left, but there wasn’t much left to see as I had mentioned, most of Tamworth was closed. We headed back to camp, taking note of how much more water was across the roads, even noting how much more Chaffey Dam looked up. Made it back to camp and settled in for the evening, probably not having a fire as everything was so wet. It didn’t take long before we noted how much higher the river was besides us, as we could see the other side’s rocky bottom before, but now, there is no sign of the rocky bottom at all. It was running very fast and covering a lot of area and quite noisey, so made for interesting viewing, not panic yet!!
While writing this and in a few hours, the water has slowly receded and the sun is finally out and a local that popped past the trailer, stopped to chat said that in May, he walked across the river where we were and the water didn’t even reach the ankle of his gumboot! River has dropped quite considerably now, so we can relax as I don’t think we will have to pack up fast to move. It has dropped also in temperature and as everything is wet, we aren’t having a fire, so we have warmed up with a stew for dinner, but it doesn’t really do the trick of sitting in front of a fire and considering it’s our last night a fire would have topped our trip of perfectly. An early night will have to suffice because at least when you are in bed, you are warm, most times anyhow!
Tuesday 4th.
Bugger, our last day, at least when we woke up it was a clear sky, but slightly foggy. Jason was up early as he wanted to go for a bike ride before we left, as it was only 2.5 degs, as he yet again, delightfully announced to me, so I just stayed in bed, still nice and warm. It took the Husaberg quite a while to get started though, because it doesn’t like the cold weather, even though it is a European motorbike, as Jason says, so really it should be used to the cold!
I got up and started to pack up the inside of the trailer, then ventured outside , which was by now sunny and yet again, lovely to sit in the sun and not be cold. Jas came back just before 10am after yet again having a great time while riding through the country side. We had our late breakfast and coffees, enjoying the sunshine and noticing how much the river had dropped beside us, during the night, from the previous day after all of the rain.
Packed up slowly, taking our time while the tent dried in every possible position, it was lovely to pack away such a dry tent, something we obviously wanted after all of the rain we had had. Finally packed and ready to go, George came out and noticed we had packed, so we said our goodbyes, wishing him well with his gold fossicking and travels in the future. We left by 1.20pm making our way back to Sydney, travelling via The New England Highway, which was quite a pleasant trip until we came closer to Sydney, when you noticed the rat race begin. Made it home by 6.30pm, emptying the trailer, starting the washing and counting down the next few weeks before we take off again!