Back in NSW!

 We pulled into Broken Hill just in time for the weather to turn foul! This was how we left NSW. Broken Hill caravan park was packed, and the care taker was old and cranky and probably should have gotten out of the tourism industry years ago, as she wasn't real keen with all us travelling folk! We crammed in to a small windy spot and as we were setting up a crowd gathered to see us put together the Tvan. One guy was getting a step by step instructions from James, he was thinking of getting one. James and I are by now well into the routine of setting up so we put on a quick show!

Pro Hart

 The following day we checked out Broken Hill, visiting Pro Harts gallery, a silver show room and of cause the chocolate factory. Broken Hill is steeped in mining history and the buildings in and around town still have that federation charm. We had heard about an old fashion milk bar that had been operating since 1882 and the last renovation was in the 50's, so it was like stepping into the Happy Days TV set! Daniel ordered a spider, James a milk shake and Me of cause, a coffee. We wandered around their museum which was a tribute to the first milk bars in Australia. They were all started by Greeks and it is a shame that Fast food chains have taken over and these classic places are far and few between.
 After re stocking the stores at Woolies we headed out towards Menendie to camp along the river. After the crowds at broken Hill it was a lovely peaceful camp.

Setting up at Tipa Weir.

 Time was running out so next morning we packed again to find a spot closer to Bourke, spend a few days and relax before we start making tracks for home. We were told of a nice camp spot along Tipa weir where you could catch a fish and light a fire so that was where we headed.
 It was a great spot but the roar of the weir was deafening. There was hundreds of birds but for Daniel, the fish weren't biting. We made a great fire and got settled in, happy to spend a few days here.

The weir

 The next morning was over cast and it wasn't long after breaky, a light rain started. Straight away the ground turned to thick mud and it stuck to our shoes and it was like we were walking on platforms! It was then decided to pack up and move on as we thought we could out run the rain, but also, we didnt want to get stuck before the roads became impassable. It took only half an hour to pack up and take off, we, by now, have the set up and pack up down to a fine art! We decided to find some shelter in the Gundabooka NP but the rain followed us. We got there by about 4 and the roads were thick with red mud and by the time we set up we were wet and muddy, and the tent was also splattered with red mud. we knew that we would be there until the roads had dried out, so, after a nice bowl of lentil and vege soup, Daniel set up the Tvan cinema and we had an early night watching a dvd.

Cold, wet and red red mud!

 When we got up the next day the sun was out and we were able to dry things out and go for a nice walk through the Park. Just like a lot of our camping we were on our own enjoying the beautiful bush and all the wildlife around us.
 The next day it was off to Bourke to find yet another tyre place to invert the Tvans tyre, hopefully it will get us home. From Bourke we wanted to find a camp spot for the night before heading to Lightning Ridge. Thankfully, James got the tyre done quickly and we headed off towards Brewarrina.
 Brewarrina is a lovely little town that sits on a river,sorry can't remember the name, and the people are very friendly. There is a very helpful lady in the info centre who let us camp through the gates of a campground on mile creek, allowing us access to the river but best of all no pesty caravaners! she also gave us some great tips on Lightning ridge and we couldn't wait to check it out, but first to camp.
 What a lovely spot, Daniel fished all afternoon, doing his bit for conservation and catching Carp and then disposing them much to the delight of the Magpies!

4 mile River

Pie anyone?

 We had a big warm fire and I made an apple pie in the camp oven and after a game of celebrity heads it was time for bed. I could have stayed another day but Lightning Ridge was waiting for us and time was against us.
 As soon as we pulled into Lightning Ridge we knew this was going to be a quirky town. Everywhere there are crazy paintings, sculptures and piles of rocks and rubble. The towns population sign was a ? , and the houses! I don't know how half of them are still standing. We couldn't wait to explore.

Piles of rubble along the streets of Lightning Ridge, you can find opals by just kicking dirt on the streets.

 We stayed in a small caravan park and the owners were lovely and had an old timer come by to give Daniel some tips on specking for opals. There is a free pit to fossick in and one year a lady found a black opal worth 20 grand, so Daniel was super keen to find his fortune. He didn't, but he did find lots of small pieces of different colours. enough to put in a few jars for keepsakes.

Looking for the big one!

 We spent 3 days sight seeing around town checking out mines, weird but wonderful houses and looking for that elusive black opal. When we left, James and I had miners back!

A house, and the dog house made of glass bottles!

This is an on going man made castle since the early 80's.

Daniel working on his opals.

 We really enjoyed our visit to Lightning Ridge but we had one more spot to check out before we head home. I wanted to go Koala spotting in the Pilliga state forest, a place where they are in abundance. For years we have had a running bet on, anyone who can show me a Koala in its natural environment wins $20. So far no one has been able win it and I still have yet to see a Koala, the dead one on the road James found did not count! We said goodbye to the mad Ridge, and headed off.
 It took 2 days to get to the Pilliga, we had a stop over at some hot baths, not as nice as the ones at Dalhousie, but it did wonders for our miners back.

 We Spent the next morning driving around the State Forrest and it was beautiful. We bumped into a ranger who gave us some tips on where to find koalas, but he said that the drought and recent fires has wiped out many and he hadn't seen any. He also gave us directions of a new camp ground that had new facilities and along the gorge walk there were sculptures. It sounded great and certainly worth a look.
 We headed off to find koalas and unfortunately we had no luck. A farmer saw us and said that he hadn't seen or heard them in a while. I was disappointed but would keep trying tomorrow. We headed off to find the camp spot and we were very impressed when we found it. This must be the nicest  national park camp ground we have been to. The facilities were spotless and well designed. The camping areas large, private with great big fire pits with wood! We were going to stay for two days, our last two days camping before we headed to Walcha to see other family, Adam, Sarah and Bonnie.

 The weather was beautiful, but the nights very cold. We went on the bush walk along the gorge and the sculpture were beautiful, and set so well against the natural back drop. It was a combination of local indigenous and selected other artist to make something special and significant to the area. The result being several very different pieces of art which I hope will be admired and cherished by all those who go there. Very well worth a visit and a wonderful way to finish what has been a truly amazing family adventure.

Dream time spirits watching over the valley.

Tribute to the dreamtime story of creation. The stone has been polished so it catches the rain and flows over the Emus eggs, in dream time this was the beginning. Beautiful.

Looking up from the bottom gorge to a life size sculpture of a father teaching his son to hunt.

Axe heads, indigenous and European. A tribute to the traditional and historical lumber industry of the area.

Getting our last fire for the trip started. It's going to be huge!

Our last night in the bush.

 It was a strange feeling to pack up for the last time. We set about our tasks not sadden that our holiday was all but over, but filled with satisfaction. We have seen so much, met and succeeded in the challengers we faced and went off the beaten track to really explore and experience this ever changing country. We have had great times together as a family, something we will always cherish, and memories that will always stay with us. Don't wait too long to explore Australia, get out there, it is more than worth it.

Finding our peace of mind.

 The camping at Innamincka is very special. There are plenty of spots along Cooper creek which is home to so many different birds. even the corella's here are more relaxed. We spent a few days here to recover from Birdsville.

 We fished, read, bird watched and checked a few places. It was very peaceful and just what we needed.

We caught 8 fish with live bait that Daniel caught

Breakfast fit for kings.

Bourkes grave.

Peace of mind.

  As with everything, our time here came to an end and we headed out towards NSW via the Strzelecki Track. This was a great trip, not as ruggard as the Simpson but still beautiful. It was Daniels kind of place counting over 150 Bearded Dragons.

On the corner of QLD, SA & NSW.

That night back in NSW we camped in the Sturt NP for another peaceful night.

In 1974 a massive flood killed all theses trees, the are called ghost trees and what a sight.

Daniel spots another reptile, a Shingleback lizard. He also spotted a Malle Dragon.

The road to Broken Hill was long and Barren.

 We are on our way to the big smoke of Broken Hill, slowly making our way home. There is still time for some more adventures.

Busted,broke and bored at Birdsville. .

 After saying fare well to Dave, we decided to say on another day to regroup, clean and do any repairs, also, Daniel needed to catch up on some school work. The town was gearing up for the races and we wanted to be long gone before the mayhem started. The Birdsville races are the second biggest single race, other than the Melbourne cup, in Australia. In a space of days, Birdsville goes from a population of 70 to thousands.
 So once ready we packed up and headed out towards Innamincka, about 420 K's out from Birdsville. At about 120 K's out of town we heard a clunk clunk, smelt smoke and then the car lost all acceleration. We were in the Sturt Stony desert with car problems, not a good start to the day! After a few checks, James was able to put the car into 4 wheel drive, and with only the front drive working, we were able to limp back into Birdsville. Daniel got the most of the return trip, spotting over 25 of his beloved bearded dragons sunning themselves in the sun along the side of the road.

 Once back in town, we found out that the back bearing had gone, taking with it the axle. It needed to be re built, the mechanic said we were lucky to get back at this time as he was just placing his order. Any later we would have to wait for 2 weeks!!!! It was Thursday as it was we would have to wait until Monday for our part to arrive. Fortunately, our top spot was still there, hidden amongst trees for shade and privacy. We still had to find things to do in a one pub town, with a population of 70 for 3 days!

School's in.

 The next few days, Daniel did some more school work, I worked on my blog and James did some maintenance on the van. We went for a walk looking for more "bearded ones". We checked out the information centre and watched a 10 minute DVD on the area. We walked to the bakery, $6 for a loaf!! James took Daniel to the working museum, this is filled with old collectibles of rural life..very cool. The guy who owns this is a local legend but sadly wants to call it quits. he has a the biggest collection of old Australiana we have ever seen. We saw an old hospital with all the old medical equipment still there. Soon enough it was Sunday night and I became worried we might get trapped here and began to unravel. I didn't want to spend our last few weeks in Birdsville.

The working museum, a real treasure.

The old hospital.

 Monday morning James was up and at the mechanics first thing. I went for a shower, and on my return there's James AND the car! You won't believe it but the truck that had our part on it broke down and it will take another 3 days to get here! We were stuck here until then.
 A couple camping next to us heard of our plight and that night we woke up to someone in our camp. Getting up, it was our neighbours dropping off some wood they collected for us. We couldn't get some so they did. That was such a nice thing to have happened after such a shitty day!
 On the up side, Birdsville was getting busier and busier as the town began to prepare themselves for the races. The carnival  folk were setting up and there was some real characters amongst them. One we had met with Dave who was in town to organise the Fred Brophy's boxing tour. His name was Artie, known and loved as the Wizard. He came back to town a few days later and he was happy to see we were still here. Artie would pop in every morning with his dog, Krushti, and have a coffee. he would have us laughing at all his tales of show life and any thing else. A big bloke who has travelled the world and seen and done a lot. He told us he killed a brown snake and kept it to cook up, but before he did that he wanted to play a trick on some young blokes camping near by. He cut off its tail and put it in his mouth and pretended that he had swallowed one hole. However his trick back fired when he felt very unwell, the tail had a bit of venom on it and he poisoned himself! This was one of many wild and funny tales.

Artie in full story mode.

Krushti has hear it all before!

 As the days went by, Artie was trying to get us to stay for the boxing, James and Daniel were keen but it was all about the timing, we didn't want to stay in town any longer than we needed to. Not only were we wanting to get back on the road, but Birdsville was very expensive and because of the growing crowds, fresh food was very limited.

Outside the boxing tent.

 Finally, the car was ready. We were free to leave, Artie came by that night for a drink to send us off and then came back the next morning for a last coffee. This huge man in size and personality, had become a real gem to our stay in Birdsville
 When it was time to go, he read us his favourite poetry to send us off, well James had to read it, poor Artie was to moved to read.! We left Artie to deal with the madness of Birdsville but we will always remember him fondly. A crazy man with a huge heart and a taste of adventure.

Artie sending us off with some poetry. God bless him!

  Although, we missed the boxing we were glad to be on our way. Birdsville is a very noisy place with hundreds of highly strung Corella's nesting in the camp ground every night and the camp ground filling up for the races, we were looking forward to finding some peace and quiet at Innamincka.

The crazy Corella's coming in to nest.

   Once on the road we couldn't believe how much traffic was coming towards us. On the rocky, country roads it was very stressful as they drove fast and didn't keep to the side. We had a 120 K's to the turn off and when we got there we had a multiple cracked windscreen and front light. We weren't the only ones either. On the CB we could hear other drivers having the same problem and a lot was said to those reckless drivers.
 We left Birdsville, bruised, battered and financially lighter, but we did have a colourful 9 days. Now it was time to rest.