12 - May 2018 - Tooraweenah - Cumborah - Grawin

I stayed two nights in Tooraweenah, justifying it on the basis that I had just driven four days - even though it was only a few hours each day. Prepared and published the previous post - each one takes about four hours to write, upload, check, and publish.

Then set off again on the Tuesday (8th?) heading north towards the Warrumbungles NP. 

Those bumps again

When I came to the inevitable fork in the road - choices! choices! - I decided to turn left instead of right which would have taken me to the NP. Turning left put me on a north-west route to Coonamble. Pretty soon the sealed road surface gave way to unsealed, and the landscape really started to show the effects of drought.

Dry as a dead dingo's pommy's bath towel

The dirt road was mostly smooth, with a few small stretches of fierce corrugations and some dips, bridges and stock grids that helped rearrange the contents of the caravan and prompted a shift of more stuff to the ute and resolution #9: get some storage boxes to go in van on the floor along the sides of the bed.

Fierce corrugations

After about 40km the bitumen started again, and I cam across a couple of kangaroos hopping along the fence line. They were travelling around 50kph. 

Spot the two kangaroos - answer at the end of this post

No sooner had I left them behind than I came upon some cattle grazing on the roadside.

Photos taken while stationary, of course!

Reached Coonamble, which seems a pretty little town, and filled up the fluids - diesel for the ute and coffee for me. I was able to tell the difference because the diesel went in the fuel tank. While I sat drinking the diesel coffee - stationary of course - I contemplated the water tank and its mystical place in the scheme of things. Was it dawn or sunset? Were those birds taking off or landing? Fundamental questions that will never be answered.

Some fundamentals

Pressed on towards Walgett and stopped at a rest area to scout for a possible camping site. Unfortunately a bit exposed and too close to the road (and potentially hoons) for comfort but probably ok if desperate and there were other campers there. There was a long drop dunny at the rest area, but no electricity - not even solar panels. So how do people see when they use the dunny at night? Answer at the end of this post.

Night time lighting for the long drop

Through Walgett, which looked a little bit run down in comparison with Coonamble. Perhaps not as big a farming centre. Nothing wrong, just not as large and prosperous-looking as Coonamble. Pressed on again. The sealed roads were very uneven, and along with the flood causeways, sudden dips, bridges and stock grids, exacerbated the entropy inside the caravan.

Sudden dips

Plenty of Prickly Pear cactus.

A prickly pair

And as I learned in Cumborah, an increasing problem with Hudson Pear cactus

Hudson nasties

That photo is from the NSW Dept Primary Industries website, with more info about the cactus, here http://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Details/213

I finally reached a very nice little free camp in a hamlet called Cumborah. Area population is 500-ish, and it is 500-ish feet above sea level. Rather peaceful. 

Rather peaceful

The sounds of the outback. Wild birds. An occasional car. Goats bleating. Roosters. Flies. Kids arriving home after school. Doof doof. Nutbush City Limits. Distant thunder. 

Can you hear that thunder?

It started getting quite dark at 5pm as the clouds got darker and lower. There was a light shower, then the wind picked up and it became gusty enough to make the awnings flap and snap, so I rolled those up and put away the table and chair. Some lightning and thunder for 15 minutes then steady rain for another 15, then it sputtered to a stop around seven. Total rainfall around 2mm, and some frantic web searches “Do caravans attract lightning?”. Answer: “Depends”.

So after that reassuring thought I had a rather good sleep and woke to a beautiful crisp clear morning.

Next to the Rest area / camp is a cricket oval

Complete with grandstand

The community facilities include a play area, hall, and tennis court (with flood lights)

... with flood lights

I wasn’t feeling that energetic so I unpacked the table and chair, and rolled out the awnings, made a cuppa, sat back, and read a book. 

Me, and my cup-pa

I read a whole three pages before the apathy won, and I sat contemplating. Stuff. Waiting for the sun to go down before I cooked up some food.

The sunset didn’t disappoint

The next morning I was awake at 4am listening to the local rooster competition. Not participating. Made a cuppa and sat outside in the 6º  freshness to watch the sunrise.

It was Thursday, so off I went to the local community’s 10am Thursday Coffee Club. $2 and spoiled by the locals with pizza, scones with jam and cream, slice, cake, biscuits, and a good chatter. They usually go for an hour or so, but had a lot of local things to talk through so didn’t wrap up until after midday. I borrowed a 150 page book of local history that had been compiled by a resident. Seriously fascinating.

So then it was off to the Grawin area opal fields. A very poor unsealed road to the fields. 

Worse than it looks

The whole area is a maze of unmarked tracks winding between iron shacks and discarded mining machinery, the whole place looking a bit post-apocalyptic. Like something out of Mad Max, but without the polish. Didn’t bother stopping at the three competing “bush pubs”, but did stop to have a look at the war memorial.

Front

Rear

Another one!

Lose something, John? Bob?

On the way out I noticed all the mining molehills.

And some areas reserved for future molehills

Stay out of my front yard!

The following day I went to Lightning Ridge. A town centre with Opal shops, Police station, Opal shops, Bank, four caravan parks, opal shops, coffee shops, and an IGA supermarket. So I had a restorative flat white, bought a couple of wildly overpriced opals, and restocked with four days’ supplies at the very good Khan’s Super IGA - in size, variety, and freshness at least as good as the Kilmore & Wallan supermarkets!

In Lightning Ridge I discovered the collective fates of all the little molehills.

I didn't mention "mountain"

On the way back to Cumborah I happened to see this on the side of the road.

At first I thought someone might have disgraced an old Ford Pilot or Mercury V8, but closer inspection shows that it is no more exciting than a pair of Beetles in inexplicable embrace, topped by a couple of sat dishes that are clearly not talking, at least to each other. Marvellous artwork, Derek.

Back in time for a small medicinal lunch fresh from the Lightning Ridge IGA.

Medicinal

Saturday was the Walgett Show, which I have put in a separate post. After the Walgett Show I returned to the Cumborah Rest Area to a very enthusiastic welcome. It would have been churlish for me to say this welcoming business was all getting a bit too much, but I did have to draw the line when one of the welcoming party sat on my glasses and another tried to crawl into my ear. Which wasn’t as bad as it sounds. A fortunate side effect of getting older, as a male, is the migration of hair. The head sucks the hair inwards through the domal regions of the scalp then thrusts it out of the conveniently located ear and nose orifices. So when members of insectival welcoming committees try to land in said orifices they trip over my freshly migrated hair.

Sunday was of course a day of rest.

Today (Monday) I returned the Cumborah book to Janet, had a coffee and chat with her and left a donation for the rest area upkeep, checked the tyre pressures in prep for departure tomorrow, and here I am updating the blog.

Tomorrow is the Coonamble Show.

Answers