We were very happy to escape Melbourne's cold windy Winter weather in mid-August. Travelling up the Northern Hwy via Heathcote, arriving in Echuca on the Murray River bathed in sunshine was a pleasant start to our 7 week trip. Crossing into NSW heading North along the Cobb Hwy we stopped at our favourite roadside produce stall at Mathoura inside the fruit fly exclusion area to stock up with Mandarins, Oranges, Grapefruit, Apples & Pumpkins. Our first night was spent camped at the rear of the Royal Mail Hotel at Booroorban, 60kms South of Hay. Friendly service & tasty pub grub. The Hay Plains looked incredibly dry for late Winter.
Our next stop was Hillston CP primarily to dine at the Bowling Club which serves the best Chinese cuisine that weve ever tasted. Lots of people time their stays in Hillston to coincide with restaurant opening days, with good reason. The local Butcher is famous for his handmade smallgoods, we never miss stocking up.
Driving further North along the Kidman Way our first bush camp was adjacent to Nombinnie Nature Reserve South of Mt Hope where the Broken Hill railway crosses. We stayed 3 nights as it was a great location for our wildlife photography in beautiful Mallee/Native Pine habitat.
Red-capped Robin Nombinnie NR
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo Nombinnie NR
Cobar CP for 1 night was our next stop mainly to stock up for the trip ahead. If you enquire at reception they give out free drinks vouchers for the Bowling Club. The free glasses of wine that we had were non-cask & were each as big as half a bottle! The food was cheap as well with a voucher discount.
We headed East towards Nyngan & stayed for a pleasant 2 nights at the informal campground behind the Florida Rest Area adjacent to the Cobar-Dubbo & beyond railway line (1 train in 2 days). The land was parched owing to the prevailing drought conditions. There were lots of weakened Kangaroos around some of which could hardly stand up. The birdlife was attracted to the Rest Area water tank.
Florida Rest Area Camp.
Blue-faced Honeyeater Florida RA
Before reaching Nyngan we took a shortcut to Girilambone & then headed North towards Bourke stopping 3 nights in the campground behind the Mulga Creek Pub at Byrock on the Mitchell Hwy. A short walk away is an attractive & interesting Aboriginal rock hole. Once again the country hospitality & meals were great. On our second day & overnight we had steady rain for quite a few hours resulting in a 23mm total. Not drought breaking but very welcome! Within less than 24 hours green shoots up to 2 inches high appeared where there had been nothing but red dust. The animals, birds & insects seemed to come alive all of a sudden including an outbreak of large native c*ckroaches. Bourke had a similar rain total to Byrock.
Byrock Hotel after the rain.
Aboriginal Rockhole
Australian Ringneck Byrock
Apostlebird Byrock
Native C*ckroach, they're not the dirty household variety.
We rang the Information Centre before reaching Bourke & were told that because of the recent rain Mays Bend on the Darling River was inaccessible, the road in being very slippery & boggy. In Bourke Keith did a supermarket shop while Judy stayed with our rig as the ''locals hovered around''. Topping up with fuel we were away, despite being an iconic & popular tourist destination theres nothing of interest there for us.
Heading South towards Cobar along the Kidman Way we spent 3 nights camped in the bush behind Curraweena Rest Area in Mulga habitat. There was great wildlife/birdlife around which was a good consolation because the nearby road into Gundabooka National Park was affected by the rain as well & we couldnt get in. There were lots of feral goats around & undernourished Kangaroos as well. A truckload of brand new Jayco caravans spent 8 hours in the Rest Area while the driver had a snooze.
Grey Shrike-thrush
Yellow-throated Miner on flowering Emu Bush. Not a Noisy Miner.
Goat at Curraweena
A further 100kms South & we were back at Cobar CP for 1 night again before heading West along the Barrier Hwy towards Broken Hill. On all of this part of our journey wed seen a plethora of trucks loaded with hay & Army convoys involved with drought relief.
Thanks for reading/viewing. Part 2 to come.
Cheers Keith & Judy
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Friday 31st of August 2018 05:04:27 AM
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Cheers Keith & Judy
Don't take life too seriously, it never ends well.
Trip Reports posted on feathersandphotos.com.au Go to Forums then Trip Reports.
Hello Keith & Judy
We saw number of Red-capped Robins at Bowra, even at chilly Warrnambool - unfortunately only a few Splendid Fairy-wrens (no photos of the latter this time). We were luck as two Chestnut-breasted Quail Thrush crossed in front of us on a road where we had not seen them before. Did they hang around for photos? Nope, very secretive as usual!
Your cuckoo is magnificent!
What level of cropping do you use on your photos? I know you have a lens that some of us might be envious of.
Dougwe,
When I was young, I had some English books that often showed "Robin Red-breasts". Was I disappointed when we went to England a few years ago? The English, Canadian & American "red-breasted" robins are in fact ORANGE, orangy-brown!!
If you want to see a RED-breasted robin stay home! There are Red-capped, Flame & Rose robins here in Australia Up our way, we get the White-browed, Eastern Yellow, Pale Yellow, Grey-headed Robins, as well as a cousin, the Jacky Winter (seen through most parts of the country) - all have similar traits.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
DD. Have you had a look in the big mining pit in Cobar? I think it says to a lookout and water towers but you go up a small hill and there is a great lookout on the edge of a big mine.
DD. Have you had a look in the big mining pit in Cobar? I think it says to a lookout and water towers but you go up a small hill and there is a great lookout on the edge of a big mine.
Yep we've seen the big hole in the ground & the big beer can, we were in Cobar 2 years ago.
Friends of ours work in the mine, it's the only thing that keeps the town humming.
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Cheers Keith & Judy
Don't take life too seriously, it never ends well.
Trip Reports posted on feathersandphotos.com.au Go to Forums then Trip Reports.
