Our time in Cobar was short. We wandered down town to a newsagent and the quilt shop. In the evening we enjoyed a meal at Cobar Thai, so much nicer than our meal at the Bowls & Golf Club on our last visit. Next morning I took a picture of the car park at the motel – full of mining Utes.
From Cobar we hit the dirt on our trip to Bourke via Louth. This was once a bustling port on the Darling River. Now there is little there except a few houses, a school with 3 students and the pub. We visited the pub, had a drink and something to eat. It backs onto the Darling and does quite a good tourist trade.
The story of the tombstone is about the founder of Louth, Thomas Mathews, who came to Australia to make his fortune at the goldfields leaving behind his wife and children. Gold didn’t work out so he moved to the Darling and set up the pub at the port. His wife then travelled out, had some more children and died in childbirth at 42 in 1869 Thomas then had the Celtic Cross built, sent out to Louth and placed on her grave in 1886. The cross glows at sunset and on the date of her death, reflects onto the house she lived in. It is officially a National Monument.
From Louth we drove to Bourke where the water was very close to the road in a couple of places but all was dry. Back in Bourke, we shopped for dinner and visited an Art Gallery and made a purchase – a painting of wilflowers nearby.
While we have been away, the Darling keeps rising. We noticed a lot more water and there was lots of noise – insects, frogs, birds and mosquitoes.
We left Bourke early and now are at Goondiwindi.
Tomorrow we will be home.