Opal Mine Fields Are Not Good for Cars!

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It rained on and off throughout the night but not too heavily. When Barry went out to check how boggy the ground was, he was met with a horrible surprise of a different sort. One of the tyres on the ute was flat. The ground was too wet to try and jack the ute up, it would have just sunk into the soil. He decided to pump it up and hope the leak was a slow one so he’d have time to get into town and find a tyre repairer. Allan, the caretaker of the caravan park, told him where to find one.



I stayed back to stow all the food into the new plastic boxes and get us ready to roll, if we could. I was very happy to get a phone call to say he’d arrived safely and the tyre was being repaired with a patch. Evidently we had picked up a screw during our Blue Car Door Tour yesterday. We’ve been on such rough ground doing the tours it’s a miracle we didn’t have more. Barry also said that the dirt road was a bit muddy but firm enough for the van, thank goodness.



About an hour later, we were heading out of town and passed the place where he’s had the tyre repaired. It was closed already – at 11.30 am. Just as well Barry found the problem in time or we’d have had to wait until Monday to get it done.



We needed fuel so did a slight detour back to Walgett and the fuel depot, where the diesel was still only $1.61. We had a picnic in Alex Trevallion Park, where we’d stayed before for the freebie and Barry went to see if the ruts we’d made in the mud were still there – they were, to his delight. Then we set off for Moree.



Everywhere was mostly flat but dry and scrubby, but the drive was easy, though very rough in places. I’ll have to open the fridge carefully when we stop!



It was close to 3pm as we approached Collarenabri and Barry was getting tired. We still had about one and a half hours to go before we reached Moree and we prefer to be settled well before dark so we decided to stop for the night in a free park in the town. It was in a pretty location, not far from the river, with quite firm gravel to park on. Unfortunately, it was also close to the highway and trucks had to begin the pull up hill just at that spot, so it was noisy.



There was also loud music coming from somewhere over the river, maybe a pub. It didn’t really matter, though, as we were both quite tired and fell asleep soon after dinner.

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Photos

An Unpleasant Surprise
Barry took it to a local tyre repairer and was lucky to catch him on a Saturday. He was locked up tight when we passed at 11.30 am! We'd picked up a screw on the opal fields.

Free Camping at Collarenabri
With the late start due to the tyre, we didn't make it to Moree so we stopped here for the night.

A Black-Backed Magpie
Melbourne Magpies are white backs. They still sing just the same every morning!