Back of Bourke

This was the only petrol station open so early!

There wasn't much open at Bourke so early on Sunday morning.  We were the BP's first customers and they unlocked the toilets for us.  We drove a little further out of Bourke for our second geocache, very appropriately named "Back of Bourke"!  Vaughan very happily collected "fossilised bones" on the walk through the scrub to the hiding place.

Vaughan geocaching in pyjamas and slippers!

The road ahead - beyond Bourke

Byrock to Bourke

When we first got up, the fridges had ice on them too!

We were up super-early on Day 2 - and quite amazed by all the ice on the car!  No wonder it had been so cold inside "the Tinny".  I was showering at 5:30am, wishing I had been clever like Erin and used the amenities block the previous afternoon.  There was plenty of hot water - it was getting out, dried and dressed (while hopping on the very cold concrete) that was the real issue.

It was exactly 6:00am when we left Byrock.  All was very dark - and the trees looked white in our new super-bright headlights. We watched the sun rise as we headed up to Bourke.  There was so much sky to admire!

On the road to Bourke ...

There was a geocache just before Bourke, so we stopped there briefly to record our find (and take photographic evidence).  The air was very crisp and several huge flocks of galahs flew overhead.

We spotted a small goat wandering about near here!

"the Tinny"

Straight stretch of road, between Nevertire and Byrock

I wanted to use this pic for our blog background but haven't managed to do that successfully yet.  The background I chose is one of the pre-loaded options and the closest I could get to the wonderful road/sky views we saw during our two-day drive to and from Yowah.

We saw lots of birds along the way from Nevertire to Byrock - and two quite large feral cats, right beside the road.  We arrived at Byrock around 4.30 pm, just after Vaughan fell asleep!  Our accommodation for the night was in "the tinny" and for a short time we wondered if we would be sleeping in some kind of boat!


"the Tinny" - our overnight accommodation

Erin was sensible and had a shower soon after arrival.  She and I explored a little (while Nick changed the trailer tyre).  We found a trailer-full of ferrets behind the hotel building!  Peter, the hotel owner, was breeding them with a view to holding an annual ferret racing event.  The first ferret race had gone well, a few weeks prior to our visit and we caught a glimpse of the champion.

Peter might be on a winner with his ferret racing idea.  After all, Bylong seemed to be thriving on the day of it's mouse races!

We spent some time in front of the pub, round a 44 gallon drum fire.  A man was visiting from Blackheath in the Blue Mountains.  His grandmother, Annie, had been the Byrock Railway Station gate-keeper for 25 years till 1915.  He and his wife were visiting the area with another family member to see where Annie had lived and read more of the town's history. 

It was rather pleasant at the pub, so we dined in their restaurant and checked the various photos and medals of WW1 servicemen from the area.  We ate our dessert outside by the fire and under the stars before heading back to "the Tinny".  By that late stage, it seemed far too cold for a shower so we huddled in bed with the heater and air conditioner blasting.  At some point during the night, we were far too hot so turned off all heating devices.  Later still, Nick's leg cramped severely in the cold!

Tired at Nevertire

T-intersection point is Nevertire - still 185 km from Byrock (green flag)

528 km from home, we reached Nevertire.  Vaughan particularly welcomed the rest stop and old tractors to "drive".  We were still 185 km from Byrock where we had booked accommodation for the night (quite a few weeks before leaving home).

Our original plan had been to stay overnight at Nyngan (more of a half-way point) but the town was booked out due to a 90th birthday, racing meeting and a few other events!  We seem to have that effect on country townships - last year Merriwa had been booked for a wedding, so we stayed at Sandy Hollow instead!

Cassilis Comfort Stop

Keegan enjoying a break at Cassilis (on the chair box)!

Erin's rainbow lorikeet, Keegan, is an experienced camper and travels with us.  These days the cockatiels stay at home with our two cats.  Some very good friends agreed to holiday in our house while we were away, to look after the livestock (which also included Erin's scorpions, 2 fish and a yabby) - and play tourist on the Central Coast.

It was very cold at Cassilis!  As space was limited, my snow jacket was resting on the floor in front of my seat and I traveled along with my feet tucked into the jacket's folds.  I won't say my feet were cosy but they did eventuallly defrost!  Not long after Cassilis, all traffic needed to pull over for this huge digger.  Our boy was super-impressed and wanted us to buy one!!

What's the going rate for a digger this size?!

Bound for Byrock

Departing home - new super bright headlights!

We were up early on the morning of departure to finish the last dregs of the packing but even so, we were heading down the driveway at a little before 6:30am well-chuffed with our efforts (and the fact that there were still a few stars in the sky)!

In order to streamline departure, we elected to breakfast en route and had a very cold break at Jerry's Plains under the watchful eye of a huge roo - with a mother and baby magpie singing to say please (according to Vaughan) for their share of crunchy nut cornflakes!

The breakfast crew

We were back on the road fairly quickly, partly due to the cold but more because we were quite conscious that we had achieved very little of our intended 700 km.  As an aside, soon after leaving Jerry's Plains there was a crow flying along the road in front of us so we were truly traveling "as the crow flies"!

Yahoo for Yowah!

Nick packing (60kg of) all-important "black death"!!

Although we were keen to go to Yowah in 2009 Nick and I weren't both able to obtain leave at the appropriate time; so booked our July 2010 leave nearly 12 months ahead to avoid missing out two years in a row!  There was much excitement as our departure date approached - and considerable preparation also.  Yowah (pop. 120)  is located in "outback" (south-western) Queensland, 1200 km from home -  and 160 km west of Cunnamulla (pop. 1,200), the nearest large town.

Given Yowah's remote location, we planned to take all provisions - including the usual meat, tinned and dried vegetables, UHT and powdered milk, snacks and so on.  Of course, while some food items would be available, price would be at a premium so we strived to be as self-sufficient as possible.  Nick's Wallangra experience was still sharp in his mind, so a three-week supply of Pepsi Max was high on the agenda also!

We bought another 3-way fridge, as much as our budget could cope with at that stage.  We created a meal plan for the trip and purchased all meat cryovaced from our usual bulk butcher.  (Once packed, it filled one 39 litre fridge). 

We were expecting cold nights, so some bedding modifications were made as a result of our Lithgow and Watagan Forest camping experiences.  eBay culling funded single bed upgrades for Vaughan and Nissa - airbeds on legs in the same style as ours.  I made fleece covers for the air mattresses, inside their checked sleeves to provide an extra warmth layer (sadly, didn't think to make one for our bed also).  We packed a lot of bedding and trialled vacuum bags to condense the load as much as possible.  (Although we had some extra space in the car on the journey up, Nissa was joining us for the final two-weeks so space would be even more limited on the homeward trip).

Given the loss of a camping chair during our Lithgow trip still rankled, Nick built a bigger box to ride on the trailer draw-bar - so our chairs could be stashed more safely inside.  He modified the tie-down system for the table/trailer also, with a view to tightening the ropes more easily/effectively.

Finally, the packing could commence!