Anne Gibson

After 6234 kms, we are home. No more emus or kangaroos, just cows and horses.  Around Goondiwindi, there where wheat farms as there had been all the way from Mildura.

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.

We left Mildura on Friday morning, crossing the Murray and drove towards Broken Hill.  We stopped at Wentworth, about 30 kms from Mildura to see the confluence of the Darling and Murray.  The Darling is muddy and the Murray is supposed to be clear but it isn’t at the moment because of the flood waters.  It was about 10 degrees but was was blowing an icy wind.

From there, we drove on a little further to see the Perry Sandhills.  These sandhills are just in the middle of ‘normal’ land.  They have similar origins to Mungo and have also found bones of early animals there too.  There is a large gum tree, named God, where the trunk is buried so you walk among the canopy.

From there we drove north pushed along by the wind, to Broken Hill.  The land was low (< 50m above sea level most of the way) with low scrubs.  We saw a few goats and a couple of emus.

We spent our day in Broken Hill visiting more art galleries and interesting sites.  But we started off the day at the local coffee shop,  The Silly Goat, where I had poached eggs on prosciutto and kale chips on a fried muffin and hollandaise sauce.  They are trendy in the silver city.

One of the galleries we visited was Jack Absolom’s.  He was there and he is a cranky old (89) bloke.  He reckons anyone can paint you just have to work at it.  We also visited a site where some Turks attacked a train full of picnickers on New Years Day.  Some people died.

Today, we drove east until we reached Cobar.

We drove along the Murray from Swan Hill to Mildura passing vineyards, orchards with citrus, olives,almonds and wheat.  Into Mildura, we decided on a motel near town so we could walk.  We found a mini brewery where the food is cooked by Stefano of A Gondola on the Murray coooking series.   So we went there for dinner.  I tried a rice ale and Craig had a tasting tray.  Then we ate snapper or pork belly.  The food was very delicious. And we particularly enjoyed the vegetables.

Today we went out to Mungo NP, the place where Mungo Man was found in 1974 which dated aborigines back to 40000 years.  It is a dried up lake bed but with a crescent edge known as the Wall of China, names by Chinese workers on the station as looking across the lake it looked like the Wall.  It is where the lake bed has blown up and across the edge of the lake.  Reminded me a bit of Bryce Canyon, Brendan.  Craig has taken lots of photos but here are a few of mine.

The NP was once a couple of sheep properties. The have kept one but knocked down the other.  But, for those who remember their school days, we saw a stump jump plow, invented in Australia to ploughing up the mallee trees.

We left Mt Gambier to drive to Bendigo but not before checking out the lakes and sinkhole.  We then drove and drove across Victoria – Casterton, Colaraine, Hamilton, Dunkeld with stunning views of the Grampians, Ararat, Maryborough, Castlemaine and the Axe Creek! where Kathy and Ron live. We spent a lovely night catching up with them.  They built their own home with mud bricks made from their property.

From Bendigo, we drove to Echhuca where we spent a couple of hours exploring.  The Murray is also very high at the moment and very full.  There are lots of good shops to investigate.

we then drove on from Echuca, across the flood plains, I suppose.  We had to stick to the highway as the scenic route along the river is flooded.  We arrived at Swan Hill and found a cabin in a riverside park, right beside the river.  It is a very beautiful spot.  We are so ending two nights here.

On Friday afternoon I joined the photography group on a trip to Fleurieu Peninsula.  We stopped at a few places to take photos.  The first stop was Strathalbyn, a pretty town with old stone buildings, antique shops, art galleries – oh, and a quilt shop.  From there we went to Goowla near the mouth of the Murray River where we saw a paddle boat which still plies tourists up the river.  We moved onto Victor Harbor, the Bluff and stopping for sunset photos at Cape Wilunga Lookout.  We had a lovely fish and chip picnic with South Australian wines and cheeses.  Then the serious went down to the beach for photos through the broken pier.  Then back to Glenelg.

On Saturday, Greg and Jenny left for Hay on their return journey.  Craig and I enjoyed the delights of Glenelg with breakfast and coffee and purchased some Haiges chocolate.  In the late afternoon we went over to Edwin’s for a lovely paella, macerated berries and ice cream and a game of cards. Neil was there too and it was a good night.  Seb taught us a new game so I’ll have to reach you James.  I won?.

Today we drove to Mt Gambier.  It rained most of the way and there was a lot of water about. Everything is green.  We drove along the Corong which was full of water.  It is also cold (11 – 19).

We have been here for a few days now and today is the sunniest and least windy. The place we are staying in was to be part of a retirement living place but this bit didn’t sell so it is rented out for holiday stays.  So we are sort of in a retirement village. The place is one street back from the beach and just near Jetty Road where the tram goes down.  There are plenty of shops and eateries and the lovely promenade to walk along.

Craig has been going to workshops at APSCON.  we went to dinner and I met some of the people and we are about to go on a bus tout down to Victor Harbour where we will be taking photos of sunset.  We are both still sniffling and my chest is still noisy.  But it should be warm on the bus.

Yesterday I went over to Edwin’s and we talked sewing, went to a fabric store ( yes, I did buy something), then had a great lunch at an Italian goods shop and talked family history.

Greg and Jenny visited people they had met in Singapore where they    had a good day except Greg got bitten by a dog.  So another round of  doctors for them.

We spent two nights in Auburn in a house looking out over a vineyard and wheat fields.  We even got domestic and baked some bread which we had with our dinner of bacon and eggs.  Auburn is an old town, where C.J. Dennis was born.  There are many old stone buildings.  On our first morning there we stayed the day in the old grocer store which is now a wine tasting bar mostly but opens up for coffee in the morning.  I posted three postcards to the Gibson men from the old post office there.

From Auburn, we visited Clare and then Mintaro, another old town. Craig and I were there last time we came to Adelaide an Easter that coincided with Anzac Day, where it was bustling.  We spoke to an old lady in a house, whose son died in Vietnam, and who was off to help at the Tea Shop.  Her house is now empty.  Only one place in the town was open – a cellar door and restaurant.

Craig and Greg went off wine tasting but Jenny and I drove back to the house.  Since Bourke, I had been struggling with a cold and cough. I eventually saw a doctor in Broken Hill who gave me antibiotics as it was on my chest but he thought I had asthma.  But I have now spread it to all and we are all unwell.  Greg has bronchitis, jenny is off to the doctor this afternoon and Craig is coughing.  We are certainly going through the tissues.

Still we have now arrived at Glenelg, stopping to see Edwin on the way.  Craig went to a session at APSCON this morning and we are going to the dinner tonight.  Edwin and I are getting together tomorrow while Craig spends more time at sessions.

Sunset at Broken Hill was not until 7:15 pm so we decided to eat early from a local chicken burger takeaway. It was our first (and last) encounter with the famous Broken Hill delicacy, cheese slaw. It is coleslaw with cheese not cabbage. Not so nice but they are very proud to it. The reason we needed sunset times was so the we could watch and photograph the sun setting from the sculpture place. A local artist got together a number of stone sculptures and they placed them onto a hill outside Broken Hill. It is a quite amazing. There were lots of people up there including a tour bus “Brendan’s”.

The next day we checked out the art galleries and museums. Broken Hill is known as the home of Pro Hart, and we visited his gallery. We also went to the Regional Art Gallery where the art was really good and it would have been nice to have a couple of extra thousands for a piece. We went shopping for memorabilia, too. Broken Hill centre was quite busy and people very friendly and proud of their town. We ate out at a local restaurant, Red Lush, and the food was great and beautifully presented (and reasonably priced). The chefs were born and bred in Broken Hill and proud to be there.

Today we drove from Broken Hill to Auburn. The scenery changed from desert to green valleys. From land with few livestock, no crops but lots of emus to land of sheep, green and at the just near here, vines. From deserted towns with ruined stone houses to proud old towns with well maintained magnificent buildings.

We have arrived at our lovely cottage at Auburn and just enjoyed a hearty meal with Greg and Jenny.

We decided to stay in Bourke to watch the Outback Show at the Exhibition Centre. One man and his assistant showed us camel, horses, a sheep dog putting sheep through their paces. It was a bit corny at times but good but then he took 6 bullocks, harnessed them up while reciting a C.J.Dennis poem. He then got them to haul a piece of timber onto a wagon. After the show, we had some lunch and headed off to Cobar.

Cobar was a surprise to us as it is bigger than Bourke – probably because of the mines. It was not a long trip and we saw quite a few emus. While in Cobar we went out to see the mine pit and to another mine thing. We looked around town and visited the quilt shop and made a few purchases.

From Cobar we drove down to Broken Hill traveling west. The trees got smaller and there was more spinifex. We stopped at a truck stop for MT and Craig chatted to a truckie who was having his hour break and shining his truck. He invited Craig to have a look inside his cabin – he was very excited. For lunch we stopped at Wilcannia a town on the Darling. While pretty deserted, it is full of beautiful stone buildings from when it was a port for the paddle wheels on the river. Onward to Broken Hill which is a big place in the shadow of the mine.

Today we went out to Silverton, an almost ghost town of stone buildings left over from a thriving mining community. The pub was a hive of activity as there is to be a ball there tonight for local pastoralists.