Phillip Island, Great Ocean Rd, Coorong, Murray-Darling

[Tweaksta]

Soon enough it was time to press on to Menindee. It was a few hours but a brilliant drive.

We checked out a few camping options around the township before settling on this place. Not bad eh?
These are all the actual view from our campsite.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 31 - around Menindee and Kinchega National Park..

Woke up to this view.......gobsmacked again!

Fun with panorama mode (or is it paranorma?)

Sunset - Evening #2 - same spot as last night

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 32 - Menindee to Wilcannia then Cobar

Woke up to another glorious morning:

Darter

Menindee Weir

Burke & wills campsite

Having a cuppa and a laugh at Miss Barretts in Wilcannia - the best coffee for miles.

In our efforts to try to get as close to Louth as possible we drove until it got dark and pulled over in a bushy campsite a few hundred metres off the main road. We were approximately 60kms from Cobar.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 33 - Cobar to Trilby Station

Woke up quite surprised at how decent our campsite had been.

Once at Cobar we had a look at a big hole in the ground. I hear Kalgoorlie has a better one!

After another 100kms or so along another rough road we made it to Louth.

We made it to Trilby just before sunset.....in awe of such a nice spot on the banks of the Darling.

Exhausted, we had a big feed and relaxed for the evening. As remote as we were I was able to get Next G internet using the external antenna so we had plenty of entertainment for the night.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 34 - Trilby Station

This day was a pure relaxation day, with only a few days left until we were back home we made sure we enjoyed every last minute.

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want (whacha want?)......sorry this fisheye effect reminds me of the Beastie Boys back when I was young and groovy...

Walking around the station

A bit of a kayak...

Sunset Panorama of Trilby's billabong

View from the camper at dusk

Then, during the last moments of light we did some birding on the river banks....

You can't quite see him properly but we spotted a Nankeen Night Heron.....a bit of a fave of ours!

Once it got dark we did a bit of relaxing before making dinner.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 35 - Trilby to Bourke - then on to Walgett.....

We stopped for coffee at Bourke and had a look around. The river is still very beautiful this far upstream.

White-Necked Heron - taken from Bourke Wharf

Real, working Crossley Engine...

Old Bourke Bridge

Brewarrina Weir

Soon enough it was beginning to get dark......and we were getting low on fuel. After almost running out, we pulled into Walgett with the fuel gauge needle resting on the bump stop - about 2mm below the empty line.....

At Walgett we went to the club for dinner then set up camp in the town's free tourist camping area......it wasn't too bad, but not spectacular either.

 

[mr turbo]

What can I say apart from wow, wow, wow, fantastic pics & report Tweaksta

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Tweaksta]

Thanks for the kind words Mr Turbo!!!

Day 36 - Walgett to Clandulla

Had a blowout just out of Walgett. It was the rear right side so the camper was hard to control and went into the shoulder on the other side of the road. Luckily there were no road trains coming the other way or I wouldn't be typing this.

We really liked Gulargambone. It's Aboriginal (Wiradjuri) for 'Place of Galahs', since we like birds we thought it was hellacool. There were heaps of sculptures of galahs and a poem about hanging "upside down on the power line" which John Willamson made a song out of.

The river walk at Gulargambone

Main street of Gulargambone

After Gulargambone we headed down the Castlereagh Hwy to Dubbo then to Mudgee. We accidentally stumbled across the Ballimore Hotel which we stopped at for a while because Julie's family owned it 60 years ago.

Then it was onto Mudgee where we bought some takeaway Italian for dinner which we carried to Clandulla where we camped on private property belonging to a close friend of ours - which was bloody nice being somewhere that felt secluded but was familiar territory.


Day 37 - LAST DAY - heading home to Sydney

This is our friend's farm, we still slept in the camper because it is cosier and comfier than the homestead. It got down to zero degrees celcius overnight so being in the corrugated iron building would've killed us.

The second last photo of the entire epic jouney

And the final photo of the entire epic journey...

and finally.....the first photo once home. Ahhh the joys of being home and seeing loved ones....

Thanks for reading.....I hope you enjoyed it.

If by any chance you didn't find it boring and you want to read the full, blow-by-blow, uncencored, unadulterated version with all 15GB of hi-def video that we shot, check out my blog of the trip here -> https://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog/tweaksta/2

Thanks!

 

[Barnboy]

Looks like an amazing trip Tweaksta!!! makes me want to pack up now and go.....

Thanks for taking the time to share it.

 

[Tweaksta]

Glad you enjoyed it Barnboy!!

 

[Scooby2]

Tweaksta thanks so much for sharing. Not every1 is able to up & go on trips like you have just made, and your pictures are glorious. Thank you thank you thank you

 

[bobbotron]

Tweaksta, it looks like you two had a blast! What fun photos, thanks for sharing!

I went out a bike tour in Australia a few years ago, it's such a wonderful place to travel...

 

[Tweaksta]

So happy to know that you guys enjoyed it.

This trip report was only a condensed summary of the trip.

Click here for the FULL blog - https://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/tweaksta/2/tpod.html

 

[Ratbag]

Looks like a terrific trip, Tweak :biggrin:.

Great trip report, with interesting info and some wonderful pics.

Thanks for sharing these.

 

[Kevin]

Yes, fantastic - thanks!

 

[carljwnc]

Wow!!! Awesome.:ebiggrin:

I had to put this one off till I had proper time to read and enjoy your amazing photos, glad I did, it was great to be able to soak it all in.

Great trip, great report, and great pics, thanks for the time and effort of posting it.:biggrin:

 

[Barry]

Louth is a great little spot, the first town 'up stream' from the village of Tilpa. Tilpa is worth a visit for anyone in that part of the world for a look at the war memorial. 2 names from the Boer War, one of them being Harry Harbord Morant, aka "Breaker" Morant. He was a stockman on that part of the Darling before he enlisted.

 

[NachaLuva]

Really great trip report, looks like you had such an awesome trip!

Really great photos too...what camera do you have?

 

[Tweaksta]

Thanks for all the good feedback Ratbag, Kevin, Carl, Barry and Nachaluva.

Indeed it was an amazing trip. There was still so much that we missed out on. The original plan was to continue up to the Darling Downs but there is so much history and there were so many great stories associated with each place that it gobbled up all our time.

It's a wonderful thing having your home in the back of your car, basically we could pull over and be camping with minimal set up time. We like to mix-n-match though, sometimes we need the extra traction of the Subie, next trip will be another Subie trip for sure.

Nachaluva, the camera was a 7 year old Nikon D50. Pretty out of date in camera terms but it still takes extremely good pictures for it's age. It is about to be replaced but I haven't settled on a new model to purchase yet.