Sunday 25 June 2017

A trip to South Australia - week VI

Monday 5 June, 2017

Again it's a cold start in the morning, as we are still so far inland.  We have a late breakfast and morning tea at Cobar, from where we will turn northwards on our way home.

We find a dump point at the information centre and walk from there across the road to search for a geocache.  It's hidden near some mining equipment and sculptures.  We find the cache, which is to be the last one for this trip.


Hard to see, but I photographed two ground parrots



Mining past (#1659)






There also is an earth cache close by, but we give it a miss, because they are not Patricia's favourites. Instead we walk back to the camper and drive to Bourke where we arrive at 1 pm and have lunch.

With the greater distances to drive right now I feel in need of a rest and sleep for an hour while Patricia walks into town.  Next we push on to Brewarrina.  My intention is to drive to Four Mile Reserve (#378) S29 59 06, E146 55 02, just outside of town.  We arrive at 16.00h and stay for the night.  It's a beautiful spot with plenty of camp sites along the Barwon River and a spot where I could easily stay for a few days, but..... it isn't to be.... ;-)

We're early and there is plenty of time for a walk before dinner.  I catch the setting sun over the water.








Tuesday 6 June, 2017


We have to space our last few days, because we are heading for St. George as Patricia's final destination.  At this stage it's just possible to get there in one day, but it didn't quite work out like that...

We leave at 08.00h and drive to Walgett first.  I wanted to take pictures of Stephen and Tori's house.  The first time I was unlucky, because council trucks were busy in the street.  This time I take pictures of the wrong house! I wasn't sure about the street number, so wanted to take pictures of the two houses that looked like the one I remembered.  Unfortunately a big council truck was again parked in front of the right house! :-(

As it's morning tea time we stop at a nearby park before driving to Lightning Ridge where we arrive just before lunch time.  We enjoy a dip in the Artesian Bore baths again and have lunch after.

We need to push on and in my haste I forget to go back for fuel after we leave the baths.  Outside Lightning Ridge I discover my error and Patricia thinks that the fuel station at Hebel has closed down.  It's too risky to keep driving, so we return, get fuel and all of a sudden I don't feel like driving any more.  We pick up some groceries and book into the Lightning Ridge Caravan Park for the night.


Wednesday 7 June, 2017


We leave at 09.00h as we are not in a hurry and I am still very tired.  I had a short night with bad dreams.  A coffee stop at Hebel is more than welcome.  Patricia knows and likes this little restaurant and wants to shout me a coffee.


The dining room in a very, very old building

On our way to St. George a while later we are surprised by kangaroos hopping across the road in front of us, but still far enough away not to cause any problems.  I get the time to slow down to a complete stop, necessary, because after the first three there are another three and they keep coming until we have counted approx. 20 of them.  Lucky kangaroos and lucky us.  No one got hurt!  We also still see plenty of emus, but they will be our last ones now we get closer to the coast and bigger cities.

Upon arrival at St. George I pick up some more FG port from the winery and then we arrive at Elizabeth's.  Elizabeth has visitors and is very busy, so we opt to have lunch in the camper which we park in front of the house.

After that Patricia gets her camper and we start unloading mine.  She is going to stay here for a few days.  I am going home by myself from here. We say goodbye and I drive to Westmar Rest Area (#761) S27 55 09, E149 42 55, where I camp for the night.


Thursday 8 June, 2017


I leave at 08.30h and stop for morning tea somewhere along the road at 10.00h.  Twice I come across kangaroos hopping across the road in front of my vehicle, but luckily not close enough for a hit.

I have lunch at Cooyar at 12.30h and afternoon tea at Kingaroy at 15.30h.

It's pushing on today, but I can make it home in one day now and want to do so.  I arrive at the decent our of 17.00h and have made a round trip of 5604 kms!  I have also found 44 geocaches on this trip.

At the weekend I visit both boys and their families and I am happy to also be home in time for Tori's birthday on the 9th.







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