14th - 16th September

Bourke is a boom and bust town, just ask the locals! Having boasted a population of up to 10,000 with over 20 pubs, it now hosts about 2,200 and 1 pub! Bourke holds a solid place in Australian history having been a substantial trade centre being serviced by camel trains, bullock trains, horse drawn carriages, paddle steamers, trains and now road trains. Bourke sits on a series of bends in the mighty Darling River and has been the home of many colourful characters. This is a Google moment for you readers!

We have opted for a three night stay at the newish Kidman Camp at North Bourke. We visited the Info Centre to find it is also home to the "Back o' Bourke" exhibition and also the "Outback Show". Doing the tourist thingy, we bought a ticket package to both these and also a Darling River cruise on the JV Jandra paddleboat, we opted to do the later that afternoon. The Skipper of the boat talked for an hour straight on the cruise, and was both entertaining and informative about the river based history of Bourke and some of the people who formed it!

On Saturday night a Wedding Party was in full swing about 1klm away across the river, providing all the campsite with fireworks and very loud music till 3am. Sweet! At first we thought it was music from a group of campers about 50 metres away, so at about 11pm Roscoe stood to his full height and strode over to ask them to turn the music down. The reply from the campers was "we'd love to, but it's not us" pointing across the river!

Sunday, the town like all outback towns, is very quiet making it a perfect day to take in the Outback Show and the Back O' Bourke centre. The show is hosted by a garrulous character who has camels, horses, bullocks and dogs showing how each played a part in the Aussie Outback. It was a really entertaining 90 minutes. The Back O' Bourke exhibit is housed in three very modern buildings and follows the line of the Stockmans Hall of Fame in Longreach. We wandered through there for a few hours following the history of Bourke....but we went in the wrong door and found we went back through the history rather than working forward! Was still great!

Our friends Peter and Meredith had arrived at the campsite by the time we got back there, and after an early-ish Happy Hour we wandered 15 metres over to join "Poetry on a Plate". This is hosted by a local poet and storyteller named Luke, and is set around a large firepit under some big gumtrees. For $25pp Andrew provides a couple of hours of tales and some excellent poetry accompanied by himself on guitar, and a scrumptious meal and dessert. T'was a really good evening. We sat there for another hour or so after everyone had departed and enjoyed the fire with a wind whispering through the gums.

Monday, and it has rained all night, and the wind howled! We said farewell to Meredith and Peter who departed for home in Adelaide and settled in to await a break in the rain so we can have a good look at downtown Bourke.