One thing I did almost everyday was continue to make us green smoothies. It gave us something to sip on during those long travel days and kept us healthy!...
We did a quick bit of sightseeing in Goondiwindi. A nice walk along the MacIntyre River and a look at the bridge that separates QLD and NSW ...
Looking a the flood markers it is hard to believe that the water could rise this high but it did in 1956 and the information board next to the bridge has some great photos and stories about it...
I loved the look of the iconic Victoria Hotel in the main street...
And the sign post for all over Australia...
We drove over the bridge and over the border from QLD into NSW...
Our first stop was Moree and visited the info centre, found a nice bakery and looked at an old airforce plane on display...
Kept on driving for a few more hours. It was very interesting driving through the cotton farm areas and seeing all the harvested cotton bales in their bright yellow wrapping sitting in the paddocks...
We were traveling through an area where livestock is free range so we had to wait for the cattle to wander across the road a few times...
We stopped at a little town called Collarenebri ~ which is an indigenous word meaning "place of flowers". I am still not sure what this sign near the bridge meant!!...
After a long days travel through the outback areas of NSW we finally made it to Lightning Ridge...
We had no idea what to expect here. Apparently it was named back in the 1870's when the body of a farmer, his dog and 200 sheep were found after being struck by lightning. It is a very transient town with people coming and going hoping to strike it rich with an opal find. After we had checked into our caravan park and set up we went for a walk to town. It wasn't any where near as bad as I had feared and I loved the feel of being so old and an opal mining town...
We witnessed the most awesome sunset and I had to run through the bush with many kangaroos to capture this shot!...
We went for a visit to the info centre the next day and quickly learnt there was so much to see and do here!
First up was a trip back to the edge of town to see Stanley the emu. Stanley is a sculpture 18 metres tall and made from VW beetle car bonnets and doors and is perched on a giant steel girder...
Next we did the "green door" tour (interesting spots and points of interest marked with old car doors painted green)...
We went past some old and some operating opal mines...
We loved the quiet open country and views...
But had to always watch out for old mine shafts...
So much quirky things to see like this house made of beer cans...
We visited a rather eccentric man named Richards collection of unique artwork. Peter got stuck talking to him while he explained his thoughts behind his work...
Later in the day we visited the "bottle house" even had a dog kennel made of bottles...
Next was a visit to Hot Artesian Bore Baths. The water in the bore baths comes from the Great Artesian Basin and is approximately 2 million years old. Natural pressure sends the water to the surface through an artesian bore and it maintains a temperature between 40 and 50 degrees celsius.
It was lovely and warm when you first get in but after a while it just became too hot and we sat on the edge. There are many warnings about staying in for too long and overheating...
We decided to do another tour (they are self drive) this time we followed the red door track...
This is Amigo's Castle. The owner who is known locally as "Amigo" started building it in 1985 when he was getting tired of opal mining. It is still a work in progress...
We also saw the "Astronomer's Monument" which is a concrete construction built as a memorial to famous astronomers. We got chased away by a strange lady who wanted us to pay for looking when we drove past...
Back near the info centre we did some fossicking for opals. Obviously we weren't successful...
I couldn't resist taking a photo of the amenities at our caravan park. It was a tin shed and so "bush like"!...
Late afternoon we went back to the No 1 shaft lookout and set up to watch the sunset over the "ridge". Whilst it wasn't as spectacular as last nights it was still beautiful...
Later that evening we went back to the bore baths for another dip. Even thought the evening was quite cool I still couldn't stay in the water for long...
As much as we had enjoyed our time in Lightning Ridge it was time to move on. Our first stop was Walgett and while the info centre had fantastic artwork on the floor that's about all the good we can say of this town. We didn't feel particularly safe and moved on quickly...
We stopped at Brewarrina for lunch. We decided not to venture far due to the stray dogs and intoxicated people wandering the street and had lunch in the info centre car park...
On we went to Bourke. We checked into the caravan park in the centre of town. With the high electric fences and an ensuite site we felt quite safe! We took the dogs for a walk down to the river...
But also felt very uneasy walking up the streets with the stray dogs around and everything in lock down!!...
 |
| Shops closed up for the evening |
Next morning we went to the markets at the Port. It was nice to see many of the locals out and about...
We then went to renowned Australian eye surgeon Fred Hollows grave. He had wanted to be buried here in the outback where he had done so much eye surgery on the Aborigines of the outback. A lot of thought went into his grave site and it is a very interesting story...
Then we went for a drive to North Bourke and Kidmans Camp. The Jandra paddle boat takes tourists for rides up the Darling River...
Peter and the dogs got chased by a rogue goose which followed us back to the car but was happy when we gave it a piece of bread...
 |
| Old Bourke bridge |
In the garden area outside they had some cotton plants growing which was great to see how the cotton seed bursts open and being able to see and feel the cotton,,,
That evening we parked at the front of the police station and walked the dogs around the eerie deserted streets...
 |
| Shops all covered and locked up |
The caravan park we stayed in had a lovely central grassed area so it was nice to have a short wander with the dogs there as well...
We left Bourke and headed off further into the outback...
There were so many feral goats on the roadside...
Next stop was Cobar ~ after Bourke we were very nervous about what to expect! But we got a lovely surprise when we drove into Cobar. The streets were bustling with people and there were some beautiful heritage buildings like the info centre...
Cobar is historically a copper mining town but they also mine gold, silver, lead and zinc. We went and had a look at the open cut mine which is still operating...
The Grand Hotel in the main street is an Aussie icon with its big Beer Can on the roof...
And the Grand Western Hotel is one of the most famous heritage hotels in NSW with its 100 metre long iron-lace veranda...
There are so many quaint little churches in these smaller towns and the St Laurence O'Toole Catholic one in Cobar was beautiful...
It also happened to be Mother's Day while we were exploring Cobar and I got to spend another day with my fur babies (whilst thinking of my human babies!)...
It was time to move on and we had a long day of travel ahead to Broken Hill...
It was very desolate in these outback areas but we came across this unisex toilet in the middle of nowhere (and we used it!)...
We eventually made it to Broken Hill and checked into the same caravan park as last year. After a bit of a rest we went for a walk around town and one again enjoyed the beautiful heritage buildings...
Looked at giant ant statue by Pro Hart...
As there were a few sights we didn't see last time we were here we put the dogs in doggie day care and off we went exploring. We were able to drive up to the miner's lookout this time (last visit it was only accessible by tour and limited to where you could walk). This time we could have a sit on the "Big Chair"...
We also revisited the Miners memorial lookout...
Then we drove out to the Living Desert Sculptures...
These sculptures are on a hilltop with fantastic views over Broken Hill and the vast countryside. The sculptures are carved out of 53 tonnes of sandstone. There are 12 sculptures completed by artists from all around the world and each one has its own unique story to tell...
A sunset viewed through this hole is quite spectacular on the brochures but unfortunately we were not able to stay that late...
After lunch at a local café we visited Pro Harts's studio and got to meet his wife. We also went to Jack Absaloms studio but we weren't as keen on his painting style...
We went to another lookout which looks over Broken Hill from another angle and can look back at the miners lookout where we had been earlier...
And see the big chair we had sat on...
We picked up our excited doggies, took them for a walk then gave them a wash and got ready to hit the road again in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment