Day 104: Sun 7 Aug - Cunnamulla to Bourke to Kinchela Rest Area (Kidman Way)
Towed 299km
8 Deg (felt like 4.6) to 19 deg. It felt much colder than what the BOM indicated, we even turned the heater on again. The remainder of the day was sunny with a few clouds, but remained fresh. After a restless night, we packed up and drove away from Cunnamulla at 8:00am, with intentions of staying overnight at Bourke. There is nothing quite like driving through the outback listening to Macca on the radio on a Sunday morning - it certainly makes the drive much more enjoyable. It is particularly enjoyable driving along decent roads past lush green properties with huge numbers of healthy looking cattle, sheep and goats. Interestingly, between Cunnamulla and Bourke we saw more properties with goats than sheep or cattle. One station near Bourke though was mustering a herd of cattle that must have numbered in the thousands - it was massive. The other thing that came to mind driving today, was how much more pleasant the country truckies are - they wave and engage positively on the UHF radio, unlike others along the coast or closer to built up areas who can be not so nice to caravaners. Just an observation.
We crossed into NSW at about 9:45am, and pulled over into a roadside rest area for coffee shortly after. We didn’t stop for long, and soon we were back on the road again, until about 60km north of Bourke when Noel decided she wanted to drive. We pulled over, swapped over, and away she went enjoying the experience. We arrived in Bourke at midday, and decided to stop first at the supermarket to grab a few victuals, at which time we decided that Bourke was not a town that we wanted to stay in. It didn’t take long to get the vibe. Noel got it in the supermarket, while I got it walking down the street where almost every shop was boarded up or secured with roller shutters. I also saw a group of young indigenous boys running amok nearby - one would have been no older than seven. Thankfully they left me alone, but surrounded a couple of motorcyclists across the street. They didn't threaten them, but they were very intimidating. When Noel and I met back at the van, we decided we would not stay in Bourke, and continue towards Cobar - our next planned stop. 40kms south of Bourke we pulled into a free camp in the bush behind the Kinchela Rest Area along the Kidman Way. There were already two other vans setup here when we arrived at 1:30pm, and by 5:00pm, another five vans had arrived and set up for the night. When we left the next morning, we noticed another six vans had arrived and setup overnight on a hard gravel pit about 50m away which we hadn't noticed. Nevertheless, we had a great spot on firm red soil amongst the bush for the night, at times a little noisy with the afternoon road traffic, but it did quieten down overnight. The flies were horrendous - they were the thickest we have encountered this trip, but miraculously, they disappeared as the sun started to set. We had a pre-dinner drink around our first camp fire for the trip, capping of an otherwise quiet day, followed by dinner. We had no internet or phone service, so we had an early night reading (I read at least one page before I fell asleep - I was tired).
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