Tibooburra and Noccundra

We rolled into Tibooburra, checked in at the local service station cum supermarket and booked into the only van park in this very old mining settlement. It is a popular place for small prospectors to come in the winter months with their gold detectors but there are some permanent prospectors who live here all year. This very small town has the reputation of being the hottest place in New South Wales but is beautifully comfortable in wintertime.

The very effective town sign with silhouettes of early settlers.

We quite like these small outback parks because as long as your dog is well behaved, they don't mind if he is off-leash - which certainly makes for a happy dog. Charley has proved to be a wonderful 'ice-breaker', as everyone, it seems, loves Border Collies and stops for a pat and then stays for a long chat.

Peter went off one day with Charley and his metal detector whilst I stayed at the van with a book and my knitting. Unfortunately when he returned - no gold nuggets yet. There's not a lot of attractions in Tibooburra, but we were told that pizza night at the local pub was the place to go on Sunday evening. While waiting for our order, we overhead a young family at the next table speaking in a foreign language. Peter guessed Sweden, and was proved right later when I started chatting with them. This Swedish couple were here in Australia for a year. He was a doctor working for the NSW Air Ambulance out of Sydney and Orange. This is similar to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, but for more urban areas nearer the coast. They had some leave so had come to see the 'outback' - and you can't get more outback than Tibooburra. No television reception (only with a satellite dish).

Cameron Corner with the Dog Fence

Next day we drove to Cameron Corner - the very remote spot where the corners of Queensland and New South Wales meet the border of South Australia. It is about a 300 kilometre round trip, and the road through the Sturt National Park not only has plenty of kangaroos and emus but has some wonderful scenery and from the top of the escarpment it was just breathtaking. On reaching the Corner, who did we meet but the Swedish family once again.

At Cameron Corner you can see the Dingo Fence or Dog Fence which is a pest-exclusion fence that was built during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence - around three thousand, five hundred miles long!

Back at Tibooburra a walk around the town showed us some interesting spots - even a small very rustic drive-in cinema (not in use) and a replica of the whaleboat which explorer Charles Sturt in 1844 brought up from Adelaide with his expedition believing he would find an inland sea. He finally gave up and abandoned the boat here in Tibooburra.

Also on display is a massive very ancient fossilised tree trunk found and excavated locally.

Moving on and checking road conditions, the next stop on our trip was an overnight free-camp on the banks of the Wilson River at Noccundra.

There is no town as such just a pub with a few motel units, fuel bowsers and alongside public showers and toilets. These latter facilities are used by the free-campers who like to stay by the river about half a kilometre away. Campers have to be self-reliant - there is no power or drinking water and you're definitely out of mobile phone range. No television either!

However you have a riverside spot with birdsong, peaceful and beautiful - and at night a campfire to sit around with stars above that are just brilliant.

Travelling on next day to Quilpie on our way to Charleville.

Whitecliffs, Broken Hill, Milparinka

Travelling further north, we came to Whitecliffs - a small opal mining community - and set up in the caravan park there for four days. While Peter was most interested in the mining of opal and a little fossicking, I was content to sit with a book or knitting when he joined a Mine tour one day.

Looking down at Whitecliffs

Red Earth Goldmine shop and tour

Pioneer children's cemetery

Whitecliffs has a constant changing population of campers who come - sometimes for several months in winter months - to fossick for opal in areas surrounding the settlement. There is a pub, a petrol station and a very small general store but not a lot else going for it. A 4 litre bottle of milk and a loaf of bread cost me a staggering $14.50, so I think the owners take advantage of the remoteness of the town to make a good profit.

One night we went to the local Sporting Club for their weekly 'roast dinner'. $20 each gave us a bowl of Pumpkin Soup, followed by either Chicken or Corned Silverside with white sauce, plus vegetables. Not really a roast dinner, but it certainly filled us up. Seated nearby was a roughly dressed man I took to be a truck driver however when he began speaking he had a soft South African accent. Hugh had been born there, went on to University and was now a Professor and lectured and advised on Arid Land Management. We had an interesting discussion about his birthplace and spoke of some of the places we had visited in Africa in 20..

Peter & Charley at the Line of Lode lookout

Leaving White Cliffs we drove to Broken Hill for a short stay. There we stocked up on groceries, did some washing and revisited some places we had seen on a prior visit. I love our old architecture and stopped to take some photos in the main street. Visited the Line of Lode lookout, drove past the delightful 1950s styled Bell's Milkbar and waved as we sailed passed artist Pro Hart's gallery and said a silent 'hello' when I glimpsed my Scottish grandmother's Lang family's (James Lang & Son) massive industrial lathe still on display at the Railway Museum.   (All of these were visited four years ago on a much longer visit to Broken Hill).

Argent Street, Broken Hill

Torpy's Store in Argent Street

Such an extravagant Trades Hall.

Leaving we drove along the Silver City Highway with a brief stop at Packsaddle whose roadhouse was one of the best we had seen - clean, tidy and welcoming.

Packsaddle Roadhouse dining room.

Onwards then, to our next stop which was to be a Stationstay (camping on an outback farming property).

The countryside near Theldarpa

It was Theldarpa Station and it took quite a few hours along some rough roads to get there. Unfortunately, when we phoned the owner, he was most apologetic saying he and his family were in Brisbane for a couple of weeks. However he did tell us where to set up, find power, water and showers and toilets in the Shearers' quarters. We enjoyed the wide open spaces there, but with no-one around, we only stayed one night and headed back along the long unmade road to Tibooburra stopping around midday for a good look around the historic own goldfields town of Milparinka - a remote and very dry area.

Milparinka's old Courthouse (left) and Police Station

The old Police Lock-up with original doors.

This was once the main town for the Albert goldfields from the 1880s to the early 1920s. I quote from the Albert Goldfields information sheet: "Most of those who rushed to the new fields of the Albert Gold District were ill prepared for the conditions. They started, with their picks and shovels and Miner's Right, on a journey of more than 300 kilometres into an area only recently explored, and described by [Explorer] Sturt as 'stoney, waterless waste'. Once there they set up their tents or built a hut, pegged their claim and set to work". Being so remote, "...miners ran out of food and were starving". Eventually a string of camels were loaded with food and provisions and sent. The cameleers were predominantly Afghani, and provided the settlement for many years. Interestingly most of the deaths were either due to scurvy (later Chinese grew vegetables in market gardens and so prevented many deaths), or, surprisingly, to drowning (flash flooding in some years). A really interesting place to visit and learn some of its history. Next stop Tibooburra (another town in the goldfield area).

2017 Caravan Travels - with Charley

Our trip this year began last Tuesday with our caravan all loaded up, the car newly serviced and everything set up for an expedition to warmer climes to the north of Australia. With our Border Collie dog, Charley with us we headed north from Hastings in Victoria and had our first overnight stop at Deniliquin in New South Wales.

Next day was warmer after a very chilly night and gradually throughout the drive the sky cleared and in mid afternoon we arrived at Ivanhoe (central-west NSW). Now we were in typical outback territory - very flat landscape and ochre coloured soil. We checked in at the small caravan park that we had stayed in several years ago hoping to continue north to Whitecliffs. That time we had heavy rain and the road was closed which meant a very long drive back to Hay and then over to join the Kidman Way to go north.

This time we were luckier - no rain! Not long after we set up, another van pulled in and of course we had a chat with Sully and Wendy - also retirees enjoying their travels. Sully had worked on the railways and liked a beer and a talk. Over the road we went to the local pub for dinner that night - fantastic fish and chips, so a good start to our trip.

Next day, Sully and Wendy headed off to Menindee Lakes and we continued north to Wilcannia. We have stopped here for a couple of nights as we have a great spot by the Darling River with wide open spaces and plenty of room for Charley to run around  without a lead. There are some very old, massive river gums here, but with signs saying 'Limbs may fall' we have been careful not to park beneath them.

There is also a nice little stone weir just upstream with a few pelicans and herons waiting patiently for a fish feed.

Wilcannia is a small town with a large Aboriginal population with just the basic post office, garage workshop, police station, small supermarket, etc. The one popular spot for tourists is a small, attractive coffee shop with indoor and outdoor seating. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor setting, so with a nice cappuchino, we chatted to a young family nearby about dogs. Charley is always an attraction and conversation starter.

At one time it must have been quite a prosperous locality going by a few very substantial buildings dating from around the 1880s. There is also a very large Catholic Convent here that has long since been abandoned with massive damage at one end. There is a sign saying 'This Heritage building is due to be repaired and restored in 2012/13'. Somehow, sadly, I think it has been forgotten!

Tomorrow, we'll head on up to Whitecliffs where there is opal mining, so a good look around that area is planned.