In late September 2022, John and Hazel were finishing up a few months at Bourke, where she’d been supervising OT students.
We went out for a few days and came back through Gil for their “Back to Gilgandra” weekend. As you can see, I’m experimenting with trip logging—after bit of fiddling to get it set up it seems to work pretty OK.
(EDIT 2024: changed mapping plugins, the new one is a little easier to use…)
One of the highlights was sunrise over the Darling River from the verandah of our cabin at Kidman’s Camp.
We did a day trip to Toorale National Park (or perhaps Toorale State Conservation Area, they’re adjacent and I’m not totally sure of where we ended up 🙂 ) and ran across a flock of emus…
When we slowed down a bit one of them became flamin’ curious…
A bit further along we met some National Parks blokes who were putting a camera up to record activity on a brolga’s nest. It was only about 10m or so off the walking track.
The brolgas themselves were over the creek (river? billabong?) a good 100 or 200 metres away foraging.
On our last evening there, John and Hazel took us up to Mt Oxley for the spectacular sunset and a nice quiet barbeque.
Sadly, we’re obviously rotten at this whole photo thing, as neither of us have any photos from the Back to Gil weekend events 🙁
Sunday 25 September-Wednesday 5 October 2022
We left Claremont Meadows at 0930hrs in our Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid and we were heading to to Dubbo. Mudgee seemed like a good place to stop for lunch where we sat at an outside table at the Square Cafe. Arrived in Dubbo at 1530 hrs for the night where we would staying at the Countryman’s Motor Inn in Room 7. The Garden Hotel in Talbragar St seemed like a good place to have dinner.
On Monday we left Dubbo at 0930 hrs and headed to Bourke. After a good trip we arrived around 1300 hrs and met John, Dean’s brother at the Bakery and had lunch and then some grocery shopping. We finally arrived at Kidmans Camp Caravan Park at 1510 hrs and headed to our cabin, a Log Cabin #12 where we could sit on the verandah watching the pelicans and ducks on the flooding Darling river and parrots in trees. After a busy day we had dinner with John & Hazel in their caravan annex.
On Tuesday John took us driving to Brewarrina (1 hour) where we visited the Information Centre, where we went on a Cultural Heritage tour with Bradley, the curator talking about the Fish Traps being 40— 150 thousand years old, this is not written on paper it is only shared verbally among the people, it was quite interesting to hear. Lunch was at Trish’s Thulii Ngemba Cafe. Before we headed back to the cabin we visited local artist Jenny Greentree’s Gallery (Gil girl). The Bourke bowling club had a chinese banquet which is where we went with J & H for dinner.
It’s Wednesday and woke early and sat and watched sunrise over the river, 0600 hrs with coffee on the verandah and watched a small wallaby hop across the front of us. It was time to visit the Back of Bourke Exhibition Centre for a tour, fantastic set up and very informative. The Cressey Motor session at the Wharf was interesting to watch and hear the story.
On Thursday we drove to Torale and saw the original homestead (being renovated), shearing sheds and the National Park. At 1650 hrs we left for Mt Oxley (about 1 hour) to watch the sunset and have a BBQ for dinner and stars were everywhere. We headed home about 2030 hrs.
It’s Friday and our time in Bourke is almost over but we watched another sunrise at 0615 hrs with coffee from the verandah; absolutely beautiful. Well the time came for us to pack-up and leave at 0900 hrs heading to Dubbo. We stopped at the Major Mitchell Cafe, Coolah for morning tea and stopped again at Nyngan Shell for fuel and had lunch at Lavish Coffee at Riverdale Shopping Centre Dubbo at 1332 hrs. At 1410 hrs we booked into the Countryman’s Motor Inn, same room as before and had dinner at Lions Pride Restaurant at 1930 hrs.
We have a busy day ahead, it’s Saturday and we are heading to Gilgandra for the town’s celebrations. It was great to see Hunter Park full of stalls, entertainment and people everywhere. While there we met up with Wes & Sim (Reen’s brother), Doug &Terri (Reen’s brother), Lois & Roseanne and Karen Marchant (Reen’s cousins). We enjoyed lunch at Cafe 41 owned by Linda Burgers (Reen’s cousin). We walked along Miller St, the main street and looked at lots of photos and displays. It was great to catch up with family while in town. In the afternoon we toured the High School where we met Glenda & Warren Ferguson (friends). At dinner time we enjoyed a BBQ with Wes & Sim and other family and then headed back to Dubbo at 2030 hrs.
It’s Sunday and we are headed back to Gil where we visited the newly opened Gilgandra Information Centre and Gilgandra Museum, both were really great. The Cornerstone Cafe was a great place for lunch. In the afternoon we headed back to Dubbo, both of us feeling quite tired.
We were hoping for a quiet day today, Monday, to slow down a little with lunch at Doug & Terri’s. We managed to find a laundromat to do a little washing to keep us going till we get home.
It’s Tuesday, it’s time to pack up and leave for Warner’s Bay where we will spend the night at Pippi’s at the Point Hotel, Speers Point and after a full day of travelling, we were tired so we had dinner at the hotel.
Our holiday is almost over, it’s Wednesday and we are heading to Cardiff, to Travelhome to check out how the 5th Wheeler is progressing before we return home to Claremont Meadows. Finally back home, it’s mid afternoon and we are ready to stop. It’s been an eventful 11 days away but very enjoyable.