Bere's Blogspot: Week 1 - Purposeful Meandering Around Oz

Home – Dubbo – Bourke- Charleville

Kilometres 0 – 1715 km

It took us 5 years of planning and 3 years of saving but the day had finally come for us to head off on our trip around Oz. After a restless night’s sleep and with some friends on hand to bid us farewell, we left right on 10am. As we headed towards the Blue Mts we couldn’t grasp the concept of what lied ahead, driving over familiar roads and through towns that we often visit made it feel like any other trip out west for us, but after a long days drive we arrived in Dubbo for a 3 night stint. Our first night was dogged with errors. Our preferred caravan park was booked out, we had issues with our mains pressure water and to complete the trifecta our TV antenna chose now not to work.

Sam, Aj & Ethan at Mudgee

Dubbo reminded us of what winter’s supposed to be like with early morning temperatures plummeting to -2 deg before warming to balmy temps of 15deg. We spent our time in Dubbo adjusting to the lifestyle of “slow n steady”. We managed to repair our minor van hiccups in between a visit to the Old Dubbo Gaol, a dose of retail therapy for the girls and we squeezed in a visit with Aleesha-Jayne, our last for the next 6 months.

Kids at Old Dubbo Gaol

By Thursday we were on the road again, heading NW towards Bourke and into un-chartered waters as we’d never been north of Nyngan before this trip. A steady stream of highway caches kept all of us amused as we laughed and chuckled at each of the tiny one-horse towns along this section of the road. The caravan mirror flying off the car at 110km provided some much unwanted angst to what was a rather boring day on the road. By mid-afternoon we’d setup camp at the Bourke caravan park.

Crossley engine in Bourke

Keeping up the “slow n steady” pace we had a lazy morning around the van before heading out to see some of the local sites which included a ride on the paddleboat PV Jandra which cruises the Darling River, a visit to the Back O Bourke exhibition centre, the old wharf and an educational lesson for the kids on Fred Hollows as he’s buried at Bourke.

PV Jandra from Nth Bourke Bridge

Another chilly night with subzero temperatures made us grateful of our powered site in Bourke, but as the first rays of Saturday dawned we soon thawed out and were packing up for another day on the road. We left Bourke via the old North Bourke bridge which is a spectacle to see and I’m sure would have been impressive fully operational in its day. The road north was flat and boring but we couldn’t believe the amount of road-kill which dots the highway. We learnt of a new animal which can be found in these parts, it’s called “Wassa-roo”. It comes in many shapes and forms but the most common is the pancake variety. All of which provide for the best fed Crows and Eagles you’ll ever see.

The big "Fella" at Cunnamulla

At the border crossing we stopped for the obligatory photo and the kids raced to see who’d be the first one to go interstate. Pressing on as we still had over 300km to travel we headed into Cunnamulla where we had lunch with the big “Fella”. By late afternoon we’d arrived at Charleville where opted for some bush camping at the Red Lizard. With a full moon providing the natural light we sat around our first fire toasting marshmallows.

Our setup at Charleville

Sunday dawned with a hearty dose of bacon n eggs and a lazy morning around the van. Our bush setting was very conducive to our relaxed approach. By late morning we headed into Charleville where we quickly realised that the country way of life means that nothing opens or happens on a Sunday in the country. After checking out some of the sights in town which included these crazy weather cannons we returned to the van for a lazy afternoon and another night by the fire.