Committed Travellers

After breakfast I found the St George dump site, then realised it was Saturday and most shops close at noon. I made it to the newsagency with 5 minutes to spare, but it had already closed. I then had to go to both supermarkets to buy the newspapers we wanted. The bakery had sold out of most items, but I bought the last custard tart and apple turnover.

St George is built on one side of the Balonne River. There is parkland along the riverbank and many buildings face the river, such as the Australian Hotel which opened in 1864 on this site under the name the St George Hotel. In 1881 it was renamed the Australian Hotel, and the current building was built in 1939.

Back at the caravan park preparations were underway for Rosemary’s Champagne Day. I avoid these events and stayed in our van doing a sewing job for Beccy, hiding her ex’s name printed on ARC aprons. Other merchandise has been over-printed before being sold, and Roadies have blacked out that name on products they already own.

Beccy performed a terrific show for us and is getting back to her old self. This is another of Kelly’s photos.

The sky has been interesting in the lead up to the forecast heavy rain. This photo was posted by another of our Roadies and I thought it captured the atmosphere.

We drove to St George following the Castlereagh Hwy and crossing into Queensland. The road passes through the small villages of Hebel and Dirranbandi. In places there was water on the road from recent rains. The road surface was so rough at times that Beccy wished she had worn a sports bra!

We had a brief stop in Hebel which has a post office and hotel-cum-general store. We didn’t eat there but the pub food is well rated, and the quirky old building with its sloping floor gets mentioned in reviews.

St George is a reasonably large town with a high school, hospital and two supermarkets. It services quite a large area with the nearest regional town being Roma. We stopped at the bakery but most of the lunch options were sold out. Anita enjoyed the last of the pasties.

The St George Riverfront Tourist Park is about 7kms out of town. The name of the park overrates the facilities. It is located beside the Balonne River but hardly meets the criteria normally applied to a tourist park. The river had recently been so high it washed away facilities leaving only two toilets on the high ground. With such a large group booked in for two nights a couple of portaloos would have come in handy. Our vehicles were parked tightly at the riverbank and spread out up the hill. The river in flood was well above the height of our tallest motorhome.

Our entertainment hub was based at the riverfront so we only had a short walk – a privilege bestowed on Gold Roadies. Our concert involved all of our musicians singing songs they wished they had written.

We stayed two nights at the Lorne Station. Beccy put on breakfast with three different cooked options, and I helped with washing up the cutting boards, cooking utensils, and bain-maries.

I took a couple of photos of our caravan park. The dilapidated cabin is an example of the type of accommodation available for those not travelling with their own bed. One of our Roadie caravans was parked directly opposite the accumulated junk outside the caretaker’s cottage. I was glad our allocated site did not have this view as it would have got Anita down.

While we were stopped in Brewarrina on our way to Lightning Ridge, Beccy drove past in her bus which has been converted to be like a motorhome. What the photo doesn’t show is Beccy waving like a footy fan whose team just won the grand final!

I drove into Lightning Ridge to visit the Council’s RV dump site, that is a large septic tank! The lack of a dump site at a caravan park is worse than not having access to the internet.

My shopping list required a stop at the newsagent for papers, a cafe for take away coffee, the IGA for groceries, and a grotty service station for fuel. I am avoiding truck refuelling depots as the diesel bowsers are even more dusty than those at service stations. High flow pumps tend to have more diesel on the ground, and more dust on the nozzles.

Bluey’s fur has grown so I had to trim his paws so reduce the number of burrs and grass seeds he might pick up. He seemed pretty relaxed about this process. I edited me out of the photo as I was sitting next to our number plate.

I haven’t taken any decent photos of our travelling musicians, but downloaded this photo taken by Kelly showing Pete Wilson (Papa Pete), Bec Hance (Fancy Pants), and their daughter Calliope (Little Fancy) who turned three in April. Little Fancy has taken a liking to being on stage and having a microphone.

The lighting at the Bowlo the previous night was not very good, but this photo shows all of our musicians except Anthony Taylor who has a lovely resonating voice and great guitar skills.

We packed up in Bourke and drove to Lightning Ridge, following the Kamilaroi Hwy in an easterly direction to Brewarrina, then to Walgett. During our first stop at Brewarrina we had planned to go to the Muddy Waters Cafe, but as so many Roadies were already there we pushed on. I at least took a photo of the artwork outside the cafe.

We crossed the Barwon and Namoi Rivers, which like all watercourses out here are full and flowing. There is high green growth on the ground and the leaves on trees are lush and healthy. At Walgett we turned north onto the Castlereagh Hwy. Our destination was the Lorne Station Caravan Park. Google maps took us in via the unsealed “dry weather only” road, but we later discovered a newish sealed road that runs to the township of Lightning Ridge.

Neither of us recalls ever staying here before, but our friends tell us we have. It is not much of a caravan park – the female amenities block has only two toilets and two showers. We connected to power and bore water on rough ground and kept recalling the lovely Opal Caravan Park near the hot baths. At least there was plenty of room for all of our Roadie caravans, campervans and large motorhomes.

The risk of wet weather continued so I put up the awning with the waterproof privacy screen so the critters’ playpen would stay dry. Beccy tried to get a private room at the Bowling Club for our Roadies’ concert, but we ended up giving some locals a great free show. At least the club provided bus transport to bring Roadies into town, and most of us bought dinner at the Bowlo.

Beccy had to pick up some milk from the IGA before going to the Bowlo. She was standing next to a woman who was loudly telling everyone that Beccy Cole was in town and there would be a free concert! She did not recognise the unmistakable Beccy Cole!! Both the owner of the caravan park and the manager of the Bowlo failed to keep quiet about her presence in town and that is a no-no.

Beccy and her team cooked and served breakfast this morning. Fortunately is was sunny but the cloud cover came over for much of the day. I helped do the dishes but the team could not find tea towels. They had half a dozen new ARC tea towels, but they didn’t dry the dishes very well as they have never been washed. The ARC tea towels are normally sold to Roadies as momentoes of their trip.

I walked Blue two laps of the caravan park so he could greet the dogs he has met before, and meet the newbies. There are lots of dogs on this tour, and three cats. Blue and Tilly received gifts from their Aunty Ann-Marie. They each have a new coat and a toy. Tilly had two outings on her long lead, all in the interests of we humans getting plenty of sleep. The more exercise she gets, and the colder it is the more likely it is she will not wake us up.

A notice at our caravan park advises the PV Jandra is not currently operating, presumably because the river is too high and running too fast. I wanted to see the old Bourke Bridge crossing the Darling River 5kms north of Bourke, but it is blocked off as it is too dangerous to walk on. I found this photo online showing both the Bourke Bridge and PV Jandra.

We bought desserts from the bakery and refuelled ready for tomorrow’s drive to our next location when we came across this artwork on the water tower.

It is based on a photograph of the late Percy Hobson, who in 1962 was the first indigenous Australian to win a gold medal at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Perth. Hobson was born in Bourke in 1942. He jumped 6’11” and set a new Commonwealth record.

The rain started just before our concert with Bec Hance and Pete Wilson. When they started singing the rain started again. We sat under our awning and listened sitting in dry comfortable chairs, while some Roadies braved the rain.

The rest of the Roadies arrived today and were squeezed onto sites in this small park. The owners are very helpful and produced our first group dinner – lasagne with vegetables.

This morning we drove into town for coffees. I was busy admiring the plentiful flow of water in the Darling River, thinking Anita would be a while getting the coffees, but she was waiting for me in the car. We went to Cooee on Coffee which is a training enterprise run by the Catholic Church. Locals are taught how to make coffee, serve food and drinks etc to give them employment skills and knowledge.

It was a lovely sunny day so Anita did multiple loads of washing. Tilly decided the clean towels made a comfy bed.

Beccy put this newspaper article on her Facebook page. We still are shocked Libby left their relationship with no warning there was any problem, and made no attempt to deal with issues, or explain why she was leaving. We should have been suspicious as Libby is not keen on cats or dogs!! Beccy has brought her very old dog on tour with her, fully expecting Stevie will not be making the return trip home with her.

Blue needed to have his annual vaccinations so we took him to the local vet. I liked the vet’s friendly and professional manner. She gave him two injections, vaccine up his nose for immediate protection from kennel cough, checked his heart and ears, did a quick clean of a couple of his back teeth, trimmed his claws, and finally expressed his anal glands. Blue trembled through his entire 15 minute visit to the vet, even though I held him the whole time.

This evening while the sunset lingered in the sky, Beccy and her team welcomed all of the Roadies, and jokingly warned of the consequences of bad behaviour – a fine which will be contributed to the fund-raising effort for this tour. The money raised will go towards helping the Hussy Hicks replace some of their musical equipment lost in the floods.

Each of our artists performed two songs this evening. New Roadies may not have seen or heard of some these other talented musicians, but they will get to know them over the next two weeks.

It was a pleasant sunny Sunday for our drive to Bourke. As we had not unhooked the Bushtracker, packing up was simple. Importantly I had identified a coffee shop on the way out of town that opens on Sunday mornings.

The two lane Mitchell Hwy has a speed limit of 110kph, but it is not in a condition to justify that speed. We travelled at about 95 to 100kph. Three times vehicles overtook us so quickly they must have been doing 130 to 150kph.

There is water beside the road in several areas, topped by yesterday’s morning rain. We had a brief stop at Nevertire near the grain handling depot.

Our lunch stop was at Nyngan but we didn’t drive down the main street. Anita made fruit salad with yoghurt which was a much nicer and healthier lunch than any takeaway option that might have been available.

There was very little traffic on the 200km stretch of road from Nyngan to Bourke. We spotted a large dead pig, and two live emus taking their chances close to the road. Very few businesses operate along this remote highway, and those that do exist are basic such as the Mulga Creek Hotel.

In Bourke we went directly to our caravan park and set up. As we have been here a few times we saved exploring the town for tomorrow. Several of our Roadie friends had already settled in and more arrived later in the afternoon. By tomorrow we will have taken over the park.

We were awake at 5am and heard the beginning of more rain. Rather than risk the ground around us becoming boggy, we drove back to Dubbo. Water was already pooling on the side of the road along the Golden Hwy.

As we were so early it was easy to park with the Bushtracker right behind Woolworths. Anita did her shopping then returned for coffees and take away breakfasts. The bacon in her egg and bacon roll was barely cooked and certainly not crispy as requested. My raisin toast was predictably from a supermarket packet, but edible.

Rather than continue to take up parking spaces in town, we drove to the Showground to wait until we can check back in to our caravan park for one night. We have a drive-through site so had minimal setup. Our friends are in the next site.

I spent a quiet day knitting and sewing. One of Bluey’s coats didn’t fit properly so I adjusted the Velcro straps. It is obvious how much he likes this one!

When we were at Beccy’s concert last Saturday night in Tamworth, some Roadies present gathered for a photo. Note the only two wearing masks!

We are driving north tomorrow so hope the rain stays away as forecast. We had enough this morning.

Our pack up this morning was slow as I dried some of the awning panels in the sun – yes sun after more overnight rain. It took a while for us to work out why no water would flow through the taps when using tank water. You guessed it, one tank was dry. We were both sure our two non potable water tanks had been topped up at the Gold Coast. Problem easily solved.

Our final problem was the dump site was blocked. Of course I only discovered this after carting the cassette 100m up the road. Fortunately the showground has a dump site we could use.

We breakfasted at Press again. Blue was laying on my Beccy jacket because I forgot his mat. He was at eye level with another table occupied by two women, seated on the lower level. He remained polite and resisted eyeing off their meals or going through his tongue flicking routine at the smell of coffee.

We had to park down near the historic railway bridge, because most streets in the Dubbo CBD are angle parking, not an option with a caravan attached. I didn’t realise the rusty bridge is still used to carry trains. The Sydney Harbour Bridge has a team of painters working on it full time. The railway bridges in rural Australia need a little of that attention.

We only had a short drive to the small village of Ballimore for an evening concert at the Hair of the Dog Inn. There is a welding business next door and a silo opposite, but no other retail outlets.

We parked on open ground opposite the pub and enjoyed the Amber Lawrence concert from the comfort of our caravan – we had bought tickets so we’re not free loading. Tilly could not keep her eyes open!

This morning we found a nicer wet weather dog friendly cafe for breakfast – Press has a large covered area out the back where dogs are welcome. The food and coffee were good, but the serving of Vegemite was huge – more Vegemite than butter!

Back at the van I finally repaired a leaking pipe, flushed out the drainage hose, and topped up our potable water tank. While I was doing this Blue was laying on my clothes. This is not a good photo but he is a Beccy Cole Groupie!

We walked across to the Thai restaurant for dinner at sunset. This suggests better weather tomorrow, but BOM is forecasting more rain.

While we were at dinner we were able to keep an eye on the critters. They are very good, staying in or on their crate all the time we were gone. Two dogs left alone in a nearby caravan barked and whined most of the afternoon.

People we spent time with at Tamworth have tested positive for Covid. It was not surprising there has been a spike in cases from the Byron Bay Blues Festival, and the Tamworth Country Music Festival. We wore our masks, and where possible selected seat at concerts away from the crowds. We both tested negative today. My 91 year old father had Covid with barely any symptoms thanks to vaccinations and anti viral medications.