At Gunnedah!

On the way from Menindee to Ivanhoe, we stopped to look at some old plant in the paddocks just near the railway line.  We presume it was used for processing gypsum.  Play 'where's wally' and find Bun in the photo below :)  

I loved the brilliant blue of the sky in these.

The road from Menindee to Ivanhoe was about 170kms of dirt and pretty rough.  We stayed at an empty truck rest area about 5kms out of Ivanhoe as the caravan park (such as it was) was across the road from the pub and we thought it might be a bit noisy on a Saturday night.  The woman in the bar had said that 'you can ring the phone no on the sign but she might not answer and anyway she's probably drunk by now'!!!  Anyway the truck stop seemed like a good idea hahaha.

These are the photos from that night.  

The road from Ivanhoe to Cobar was about 230kms of dirt and if we'd had any idea of exactly how rough it was, we would not have gone that way!  We crept along, going down to 15kph at some points.  The corrugations were really bad and along the way, we saw the remains of a caravan strewn beside the road!!

The photos below were taken in Cobar, just because you never know what will be on the road.

After leaving Cobar, we went through Bourke and onto Brewarrina and camped beside the river for the night.  The next day we went to Walgett and then on to Burren Junction and stayed at the Bore Baths there.  The baths are supposedly good for you but when we had a look, they seemed green and slimy-looking so we decided not to try them :)

There are plenty of people who apparently stay there for a week or two but to be honest we stayed there because it was a free camp and we didn't feel like going any further that day.  Also when staying somewhere like that, we feel very young and fit in comparison to the general population :)

Then it was time to head to Wee Waa to meet up with Robbie and Mick.  It was good to meet them and get a feel for what they require.  We parked the van at their place that night and got to know them a bit more over a couple of drinks.  Then on Thursday morning, Bun went for a bit of a look around with Mick and I went in to the shop with Robbie for the morning.  I made a sale!!

Things seem pretty straightforward and we are all happy with the arrangements we've made.

We will be back in Wee Waa by 2nd June and will be there until 5th July.

We left Wee Waa after lunch and headed through Narrabri and Boggabri before staying the night at a rest area just outside Gunnedah.  We had talked to Timmy and organised to catch up in Gunnedah on Friday so we decided that a full day and night at a caravan park was a good idea to catch up on washing and cleaning :(

Still it was all done before Timmy arrived and we spent the afternoon with him shooting around town while he picked up some things.  We got to meet one of his friends too, the local show was on this weekend and Kim was entered in the Showgirl competition.  Tea was at the pub, the guys were underwhelmed with their meals however my seafood was great.

Timmy stayed in his swag under the caravan awning and after an early breakfast this morning, he took us off for a look around the area.  First up, we went to Timmy's place so that Bun could have a look at his truck.  Then we went through a State Forest on the way to Nundle.  I wanted to visit the Woolen Mill there and there's a quilt shop too.  I bought some wool for a scarf from the Mill but was a bit disappointed with the quilt shop.  I think I was too spoilt by Almond Grove!!  Nothing really seems good enough hahaha

I know that I wouldn't have been able to visit Nundle with Timmy driving as Bun wouldn't have wanted to tow the van up and down the mountains.

Don't you love the way guys have to check out trucks??

 Hey Josh if you're reading this, we would love you to make us a cooker like this one! :)

After a long day in the ute, we had pizza delivered to the caravan park for tea....Winner!

We plan to head to the Warrumbungles National Park tomorrow.  It has only re-opened a couple of weeks ago, after the bushfires.  We hope to stay for a couple of nights and do some walks but will have to see which areas are open.

That's it for now
Cheers