The good weather continued for our drive from St George to Mitchell. We refuelled in St George then followed google map directions crossing the Balonne River via the Andrew Nixon Bridge. We didn’t realise this bridge is also part of the infrastructure for Jack Taylor Weir, built in 1953 to support irrigation for various crops. Anita captured a quick photo as we drove over this unusual bridge.
It was just over a 200 kms drive to Mitchell, but on a mostly narrow though sealed road. We got stuck following a caravan travelling at 90 kph, so it was a slow trip as we could not overtake. There is only one truck parking area on this road. The southern section of road had soft verges so it would have been risky to leave the bitumen.
There are no settlements, shops or service stations along the Mitchell St George Rd, but there is a school in the locality named Dunkell. According to wiki there was one teacher and 9 students in 2017. There is still a website for the school so it appears to be still operating.
There were no buildings near the road, only occasional signs to indicate the location of outback station properties. There was also no mobile phone coverage for most of the trip so it would be a bad road to experience a breakdown or have an accident. It could be a long wait for another vehicle to drive by, except of course when dozens of Roadies were heading north.
We have stayed in Mitchell before on different trips and like the small town. The artesian pool is an easy walk from the caravan park. There is a bakery and Foodworks supermarket serving locals and travellers. It appears only one pub still operates, with three others closed.
As we are likely to see rain I set up the awning with the waterproof privacy screen. This keeps the playpen dry and provides a place to hang out washing if it does rain.
We had a photo session with those of us who have a “Wilder Tart” T-shirt. Twenty years ago Beccy released her “Wild At Heart” album, so her recent concerts have had the theme “Wilder Tart”.
We had pasta for dinner in our van before the evening concert. Amber Joy Poulton has been unwell and we suspect she has Covid although she has tested negative on RATs. The rest of our musicians performed a variety of songs for Mothers’ Day. Beccy had her mum Carol on the phone for a chat and to sing “Mother Knows Best” with her.
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