Everybody has heard of Bourke but usually it is as part of the “its back of Bourke” quote that indicates that something is way out in the outback. Few people get to visit this town to find out what a gem it really is. Bourke is a regional centre that tries really hard to appeal to tourists and encourages support of its local businesses. The Mitchel caravan park is a good example. It is a medium sized caravan park with van sites around a central area of lawn that contains the camp kitchen, fire pit and a playground. Every day there is some sort of activity. This includes billy tea with muffins, hot dog night, burger night, happy hour and a BBQ night. These either occur near the camp kitchen or around the fire pit. Some ... read more

Sunday morning started with our traditional omelette breakfast. As we sipped our coffee Joan announced that her throat was still feeling really sore and probably it was time to seek medical attention. What better place than Broken Hill, the last city we would see for quite a while. An internet search found two medical centres but showed that in Broken Hill you can not be sick on a Sunday, as this was the day they both were closed. We were heading through Wilcannia, but that did not inspire confidence. Bourke was the next major town and they had a number of medical centres, so that will have to do in a couple of day’s time. Stopping for mid-morning coffee we spotted an old 4WD connected to a very old Kombi van on a trailer. It looked ... read more

Directly opposite the caravan park in Ouyen is a train line … a very busy train line, especially on a Friday night. We suspect they were doing a lot of shunting backwards and forwards loading grain carriages. Then early Saturday morning more train noises. This challenged our belief that trains no longer operate in much of rural Australia. Maybe this only applies to SA. This together with the noisy bikie, who made regular trips around the caravan park, made for quite a noisy evening. Thank goodness all was quiet by bedtime. Our next stop was Loxton via Pinnaroo. Our GPS was not keen on this idea directing us to Pinnaroo then back to Ouyen, up to Mildura then down to Loxton. Suspend navigation was the only option … besides we really did know the way and ... read more

As we travel around we are constantly asked where we have been and where we are heading. The answers we give get some interesting reactions. There are nods of approval when we have visited the most popular tourist spots and quizzical looks when we say we are heading somewhere more rural … like Deniliquin. A common response might be, ‘Why do you want to go there? There’s nothing there!’ Fortunately we don’t pay much attention to these comments as we like to go to places a little off the beaten track, exploring the countryside and seeing what’s on offer. As we headed away from the wine regions and into cropping country we couldn’t help but shudder at the large number of open irrigation channels wandering over the countryside that are obviously used to flood irrigate paddocks. ... read more

The morning after the Baileys dinner we rose to a very cold morning but the sun suggested that the day might warm up a little. Our traditional Sunday morning omelette allowed us to procrastinate a little more before we headed off to Milawa to sample its gourmet delights. We had no sooner started driving than the phone rang and since we were on a back road Greg pulled over to take it. It was Greg’s sister Angie who was staying at our home along with Greg’s Mum. The hot water at home was not working and water was flowing out of the hot water system! This did not sound good at all. After discussions Angie turned off the gas to the HWS and attempted to also turn of its water supply. To be safe a plumber ... read more