The rain had passed so we left Nyngan about 8.30 this morning. The road condition of the A32 Mitchell Hwy is much better east of Nyngan than it was yesterday travelling from Cobar. At Nevertire we turned onto the Oxley Hwy towards the north west through Warren.
After Warren the Oxley Hwy turns in an easterly direction, so to continue north west, Google maps had us turn onto a C class road – Warren Rd. We were concerned this would be a long slow trip on a narrow road, but the road widened in parts and was in reasonable condition. It was easy driving as we only saw three other vehicles along this road. We had to slow for two large mobs of cattle that were being moved by drovers. On one section of road a lot of cracks had been filled, and these looked silvery, reflecting the sunlight that came through the clouds.
This painted water tower is opposite the Coonamble Information and Exhibition Centre. Lots of cars were parked nearby because of a local rugby game.
We had planned to stop overnight in Coonamble, but stayed in Nyngan because of the rain. I walked along the main street and noticed several Art Deco buildings. A man was opening the doors to the Monterey Cafe building and invited me in to see the magnificent interior. His grandparents built the cafe and he has done a lot of restoration work. The Art Deco timber and mirror ornamentation is wonderful. It was thanks to the rain that I saw this interior! I hope the owner finds someone prepared to open another cafe in the building.
In 1929 over 40 major businesses in Coonamble were destroyed by fire, including hotels, banks, jewellers and other shops. When rebuilding in the 1930s many of the shops and hotels were designed in the Art Deco style. The famous Art Deco town of Napier NZ was also rebuilt following a disastrous fire triggered by an earthquake. The 1930 Tattersalls Hotel no longer trades and has been acquired by the local council, which is considering its demolition to make way for a supermarket!
As we were leaving Coonamble, we passed this lovely timber church. The St Barnabas Anglican Church was built in 1874. It has many decorative features, particulary on the two matching porches. The bell tower was built in 1915. The dog followed me back to our car, presumably hoping for a feed.
We had a pit stop at Pilliga, and that is where we were impacted by past rain. Up to 9am this morning Pilliga had 34mm of rain, which doesn’t seem a lot, but the land is flat. About a dozen caravans and motorhomes were stopped at the Pilliga Artesian Bore Baths, but they were surrounded by water! It took us 54 minutes to drive 63kms from Pilliga to Wee Waa because about 25 floodways had water flowing across them. I hit this one too fast!
From Wee Waa we still had 196kms to drive to the Moree caravan park with thermal pools. At Narrabri we joined the A39 Newell Hwy and encountered several kilometres of roadworks, included sections that were flooded. Small cars may have got wet feet driving through some of this.
Anita had booked us into the caravan park for two nights on a drive-through site. There was a queue of caravans waiting to check-in, and Anita had to convince one employee that we did want a drive-through site, and we knew it would be too small to put out our awning! We drove to our allocated site and found a truck parked on two sites! Anita went back to the office, but they had no record of the truck entering the park, so could not contact the driver.
We were sent to another site next to a larger Bushtracker. There are no lines to mark the sites but we eventally convinced that camper that his car was parked on our site! He moved it and we backed onto the wet site, which became muddy with our tyre tracks.
Anita went to the hot pools while I connected the power and tried to connect the water. The taps were so corroded from the artesian water that I could not screw on a hose fitting! It was my turn to go to the office and arrange for us to move to a drive-through site in the morning!
We ordered takeaway meals from the kiosk and they were reasonable. The cook told me they provide meals for local prisoners, but they don’t get any choice. The police come and collect the meals.
Tilly and Bluey were so good sleeping most of the day in the car. When I tried to walk Bluey, he chose gravel to avoid the risk of prickles. Tilly had a quick run around our area and when a woman looked at her, Tilly was running over for pats!
Committed Travellers 