Thursday 15 August to Tuesday 10 September
We were at Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park awaiting the arrival of our friends, Richard & Heather Wilkins on Thursday 15 August in their Motorhome (hired) and we are here for five nights/four days.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Jerilderie, NSW—
- Jerilderie Sports Club—Chinese Birthday Dinner for Dean & Reen from Richard & Heather, delicious
- Ned Kelly Touring Route—followed the info boards and visited a museum around the streets which gave the local history of Ned Kelly
- Luke Park/Steel Wings/ Lake—explored the beautiful park, viewed the working irrigation wings and walked around the lake
- Horgan Walk—the info boards took us around the historical buildings and gave the story for the town
- Billabong Creek—we were camped on the edge of the creek and there was a floating pontoon for sitting and fishing just around the bend from us
- Mini Rail—Dean, Richard & Heather found the rail place but it was closed
- Murals—enjoyed the mural on the Swimming Centre wall and the old Mechanics Institute/Free Library building
- The Kidman Way—officially the The Kidman Way starts about 17 kms north of Jerilderie
Sir Sidney Kidman (1857 – 1935) went on to become the largest land owner in the world. The Kidman Way road is not named for him, he was an Australian pastoralist and philanthropist but for his inspiring vision to open inland Australia and draws its history from the stock routes that linked cattle stations in the region.
We left Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park 0935 hrs on Monday 19 August and were heading to Griffith with a stopover at Colleambally, NSW.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Colleambally, NSW—
- Colleambally—is the youngest town in NSW, 1968
- Wine glass mosaic water tower
- Colleambally Irrigation Co-operative—history outlined on info boards with old equipment on display
- Painted birds on the street sign posts
- Metal sculptured Australian animals—along the streets were emus, brolgas, lizards, goannas, magpies and more
- Murals—Australian animals and aboriginal art
- Park—with info boards explaining how the town started
We left Colleambally at 1145 hrs and arrived at Griffith Showground Caravan Park at 1245 hrs and are here for seven nights/six days.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Griffith, NSW—
- Griffith Tourism Hub—well set up with a history of the town surveying and planning (Sir Walter Burley Griffin) and a WW2 Bomber Aircraft on display outside on a pole
- Hanwood, NSW—Catania Fruit Salad Farm—met Joe, the owner who led us on a tour of the farm; walking, bus, movie, home history, home grown food to taste (mandarin, kumquat, blood orange, dried prunes, Cara Cara navel orange, pecans, honey, mustards, jams, balsamic vinegar), delicious and it was a great afternoon
- Darlington Point, NSW—Altina Wildlife Park—we toured the 500 acre breeding zoo on a Clydesdale pulled cart, it was an amazing morning with lots of information and some interesting animals
- Darlington Point, NSW—explored the town and found a park with aboriginal art and info boards, a digital clock sculpture, old bridge and historic buildings. Had lunch at the Gumview cafe corner store
- Whitton, NSW—Southern Cotton gin—toured the gin to observe the processing of cotton from farm module (bale) to clean bale for manufacturing distribution. All materials in the module including seeds and plant rubbish are used or sold on
- Whitton, NSW—is the oldest town in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, 1850. In the park was a mural of a silhouetted soldier on the water tower and a metal silhouette story sculpture
- Murals—a town of murals, at least 30 around town on walls, electrical boxes and pillars
- A Taste of Italy Festival—from 19−25 August 2024 the town has many Italian restaurants and cafes to try. We enjoyed lunch at Giuseppe’s Restaurant and gelato from Station 4 cafe
- Scenic Drive Lookout—great view of the expanse of Griffith, 27C, beautiful day
- Griffith Baptist Church—friendly people, good service
We left Griffith at 0950 hrs on Monday 26th August and headed to Hillston with a stopover in Goolgowi at 1030 hrs.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Goolgowi, NSW—
- Info Boards—around the street and park telling the towns history
- General Store/Donna’s Diner—coffee, Coke and chai latte with Scotch Finger biscuits for morning tea
We left Goolgowi at 1130 hr and continued heading to Hillston with another stopover in Merriwagga at 1200 hrs.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Merriwagga, NSW—
- Black Stump info area—the info Boards around the park tell the story of the Black Stump and the town’s history
We left Merriwagga at 1215 hrs on continued on our way and arrived at Hillston Caravan Park at 1300 hrs and are here for four nights/three days in site #13.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Hillston, NSW—
- Bakery—coffees and chai latte for morning tea
- Murals—the water tower was brilliant, there were many other walls painted throughout the town
- Information Centre/Red Dust & Paddy Melons Community Gallery—lots of info and local crafts on display
- Swing Bridge across Lachlan River—walked across while Dean bounced on the other end making it more wobbly
- Lachlan River—lovely river, flowing strong and surrounded by the Lachlan Red River Gums which were full of corellas (cockatoos)
- Information Boards—lots of history of the town
- Redbank Cafe—had dinner here, very yummy
- Sunset on Lachlan River—sunset with reflections in the river
- Lake Woorabinda—green (grassed) in winter, filled for summer for water sports
We left Hillston at 0950 hrs on Friday 30 August and headed towards Cobar, we stopped at Mount Hope at 1050 hrs.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Mount Hope, NSW—
- Sign—metal worked sign
- Info Boards—history of the area
- Royal Hotel—Dean got coffee
On the way again, we left Mount Hope at 1020 hrs and headed to Cobar Caravan Park and arrived at 1340 hrs and are here for five nights/four days in site #59.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Cobar, NSW—
- Information Centre/The Great Cobar Museum—lots of town info and a very informative museum with many items to see and read
- Fort Bourke Hill Lookout & Open Cut Mine—views overlook the town, the mine which is still working is enormous, amazing and there is lots of information
- Cobar Mining Heritage Park—lots of historical artefacts and info boards about the history
- Cobar Miners Memorial—lots of info and photos
- Cobar town signs—day & night photos, the metal work done by local High School students
- Murals—wall, bins & boxes around town, painted and etched on steel, High School walls
- Cobar Baptist Church—good service, friendly, lots of kids and youth
- The Great Cobar Mine and Open Cut—this is the original copper mine in town which ran from 1871–1919
- Cobar Sound Chapel—off the beaten track to sit in an old silo refitted as an acoustic experience. It was interesting and calming
- The Old Reservoir—we visited the popular free camping area just to see it, quite nice
- The Newey Reservoir—we enjoyed a picnic lunch after walking around reading through info boards. There was lots of bird life on the water and it was all quite pretty
On the road again, we left Cobar at 0930 hrs on 4 September and headed to Kidmans Camp at North Bourke and arrived at 1130 hrs and are here for six nights/five days in site #52.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Bourke, NSW—
- Traffic Light—who would have thought there would be a traffic light on the road between Cobar & Bourke? Roadworkers had set it up
- Exhibition Centre—we had lunch at the centre before we started our tour of 1.5 hours. It’s an amazing set up with town and local history and also some amazing sculptures
- The Old Wharf/River Walk—we meandered around the wharf and also down the 47 steps to the 4 levels underneath to the water. There were also lots of sign boards with historical info. We had coffee, etc at The Old Darling Store
- Crossley Engine/Wal Mitchell Precinct—we attended the daily display of the engine and heard of its interesting history and saw it in action
- Historical Lock And Weir—we travelled out to the weir to see the set up of the Lock and read the info board on its historical use
- Mt Oxley—sunset, BBQ and stars. An interesting drive out of town, then through a private property to the mountain and then up we went, to the top.
- Murals—there were a few different Murals around town
- Silo Art—the art was great, it displays Percy Hobson, the first aboriginal athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, in 1962
- Historic North Bourke Bridge—we visited the bridge and walked to the barriers to get photos. This is Australia’s oldest moveable span bridge which operated from 1883 to 1997 for paddle steamers loaded with cargo
- Port of Bourke Maritime Heritage Trail—we drove along the west side of the Darling River and along the way we saw the relic of PS Wave which was stranded on a bank when the river went down overnight, so the info board said. There were lots of info boards with historical info about the river. We also got to see the Old Wharf from across the river
- Church—we attended the small service at Bourke Christian Church, very welcoming
- John & Hazel Bassett—we caught up with the other Bassett’s (Dean’s brother & his wife) as they were at Kidmans Camp. We spent lots of time chatting together
- May’s Bend—it was time to pack our lunch at head to a new spot for lunch. We sat by the Darling River enjoying the view, birds and the quietness
- Morrall’s Bakery Cafe—coffee is important and the Bakery seemed a good place to try, it was very good
- Bourke Bowling Club Chinese Restaurant—it was good to share dinner together at the club, yummy meal
We are off again, its Friday 6 September and this outing is to get to the Queensland border and back again. On the way we stopped off in Enngonia, NSW for coffee, but sadly no coffee in town. We travelled on to Barringun.
Places we visited & things we did or saw at Barringun, NSW—
- Coffee Truck—we were told at Enngonia that it was set up along the road but they couldn’t say for sure if it was open, we drove on until we came to the van but it was closed with no opening hours on display
- Bush Tucker Inn/Barringun Roadhouse—we stopped for coffee, tea and Coke and the girl there also told us about the coffee van but she didn’t know when it opened either
- Queensland—a little way down the road, about one kilometre, we drove into QLD
- New South Wales—after photos it was time to head back to NSW
- Lunch—after all the excitement of travelling to QLD and back we stopped again at the same roadhouse for a delicious lunch
We got back to Kidmans Camp at 1500 hrs and rested for the afternoon.
We made it to the end of The Kidman Way. It has taken us 26 days from Thursday 15 August to Tuesday 10 September. We had a great time travelling together and seeing and doing lots of interesting things along the way.