18/19th September

A big day out for us, Brewarrina to Yarrie Lake which is south of Wee Waa is about a 350klm day. We did stop for 20 minutes at Walget, which was more than enough. Onwards, we are travelling through the beginnings of the wheat and cotton properties....kilometres of billiard table flat lands with the remains of the last harvest pointing to the sky. Then we stopped in Wee Waa for lunch at the bakery and a walk around town.
 
Our destination is Warrie Lake about 22klm SE of Wee Waa. Good friend, Di Mouser, born and raised on a Wee Waa cotton property tells us of the parties the young locals had at the lake and in the old Warrie Sports Hall...we wonder what sports a young Di played there?
 
The lake is almost perfectly round, a kilometre across and only about 5ft deep with a sandy bottom. At the southern end is a small gap to a large wetland full of birds and wildlife (Di not included). The rest of the shoreline has dedicated campsites with a concentration of them on the western shore near the office. We opted for a site on the east bank providing drinking water, a firepit and a shelter with BBQ table, and, at least 100 metres to the nearest neighbours.
 
The east shore gave us two spectacular sunsets over the water and the low tree-line on the western side. From about 5:15 to 7pm we sat and watched as the full day turned through multiple shades of dusty brown, orange, red, purple and the lake became a silver polished glass surface under the rising full moon. Venus and Saturn shone above the western horizon and the Southern Cross gave us the opportunity to drink our daily "cheers" to Nick at 8pm.

Both evenings were spent around the fire-pit with an inviting warmth and flickering of light on the overhanging river-gums. We were both hit with the emptiness of losing Nick on the first evening, and conversation was at minimal. The following evening we introduced a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey (Ash, we thought of you) to the camp and the conversation flowed somewhat.
 
That day we had started with a 2 hour hike around the lake and the adjoining wetlands. It was another clear day, and thankfully only about 24c making it great hiking weather. There was little I the way of land wildlife, however, we could almost understand why people become bird-watchers....some people, not us!
 
After lunch we visited the CSIRO Australian Observatory which comprises six huge satellite dishes, each 22 metres across and standing about 7 storeys. They are on rail tracks allowing them to be positioned up to 8 kilometres across the array. The info centre is excellent and we spent an hour or more browsing and learning.

Forgot to mention, we threw in the yabby pots as the lake is known for its large Blue-Claw Yabbies, but not this visit. All we caught was five European Carp....useless things!