Bourke, Brewarrina, Walgett and Grawin

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Cumborah, New South Wales, Australia

Tuesday 11 July

We left our Darling River camp today and drove into Bourke for a look.

After crossing the new North Bourke Bridge, we took a walk on the Old North Bourke Bridge, which is now the oldest vertical lift span bridge in NSW. At the Wharf Precinct we watched the old 1923 Crossley Diesel engine get fired up at noon - yes, it's a blokes' thing. Then we drove east towards Brewarrina, where I was keen to see the 40,000 year old fish traps.

At Brewarrina we drove out to the camping area on the Barwon River, but found the river gums too crowded and creaky to camp under in our opinion. We drove on towards Walgett, totally forgetting about the fish traps, you know, the 40,000 year old ones! Bugger! We'll just have to go back one day.

About half way between Brewarrina and Walgett we stopped at a spot near the Big Warrambool Bridge, and enjoyed the serenity again, all by ourselves, except for the huge cotton trucks trundling past now and then. We never did find the Small Warrumbool Bridge.

Wednesday 12 July

After a peaceful night we moved on to Walgett, where the beautiful Somalian girl in the Information Centre told us about wonderful camp spots where the two rivers (Barwon and Namoi Rivers) meet.

The 1923 Crossley Diesel engine.

Off we headed with the mud maps, only to find rubbish dump sites and tracks getting smaller and messier, so, with a bit of help from the tour leader on foot, Rick turned the rig around and we gave up on their "delightful" river camps.

We drove on north towards Grawin, the Pubs in the Scrub place west of Lightning Ridge. And here we camped at the Club in the Scrub (a golf club set up by the locals in the mid 70's when the Pub up the road put the price of beer up during a flood (flying the beer in was pricey) but didn't lower it once the roads cleared.

After lamb chops, corn and broccolini for tea, Rick put on his QLD jersey and fronted up at the bar, the only QLDer in the place, to watch the kickoff of the State of Origin decider. At half time he returned to listen to the rest on the radio. In case you didn't know, he (well Queensland) won!