Goondiwindi – July 18th

Another night spent snug and warm in bed while it was freezing outside then when the sun rose so did we. We tried to be quiet because everyone else seemed keen to stay in their warm vans, campers and cabins. Despite the early rising it was still 8:30 when we drove out, we decided to have another look around Bourke before heading towards Brewarrina. There are some lovely old buildings in Bourke including the police Station and Courthouse. It’s also where Fred Hollows is buried.

There were no goats anywhere, they don’t seem to go “back of Bourke” but we did see a lot of emus, a couple of foxes and kangaroos. We went straight through Brewarrina intending to stop for breakfast in Walgett. That was a mistake we quickly realized, it’s very rundown and depressing. Instead of getting food there were continued on until we found a place we could stop and get food from the fridge. We were surprised it took so long to find a stopping place, unlike the Barrier Highway the Mitchell Highway didn’t have frequent Rest Stops and the shoulders of the road didn’t look at all reassuring. There were deep ruts where vehicles had gone off the road and sunk into the soft, wet dirt.

The countryside is incredibly flat and along the verges are plants that look just like Canola, but we didn’t see any paddocks sown with that.

Moree was a lovely surprise, it’s a very well maintained town with lovely lawns and gardens. Next time we’ll plan a stop there. After Moree we saw plenty of evidence of cotton farms, not the plants, (neither of us would recognise them) but the road verges were covered in bits of cotton. We saw a couple of signs to Cotton Gins. At one point I thought I glimpsed a very big eagle or a plane low in the sky. I couldn’t understand it because we were nowhere near a town let alone and airport. Suddenly a plane swopped down just ahead of us and another one seemed to come right over the top of us, they swooped into the paddocks next to the road and let go of their “dust”. It was disconcerting not only the low pass but knowing it was some chemical being spread, I hope it we were out of range by the time the dust settled.

Tonight we’re at Goondiwindi, I had to stay here because of the name. After checking in at the Caravan Park I now know we’re considered, “Mexicans” by the locals because we’ve come from south of the border! Tomorrow we should have some time to find out what the town has to offer.

Eagle near the Darling at Bourke.

Guest House in Bourke, note the lovely wide street.

Old bridge crossing the Darling at Bourke.

Canola?

Cotton lying beside the road.