Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast...

[slug_dub]

Looks good... Too much highway for me but hey, lots of 'straya is flat! :-D
I really do not recommend the Lindsay Road from Killarney to Woodenbong unless it's had some work done since I was there!
Perhaps Running Creek Road from Killarney to Mt Alford and double back to Woodenbong from the other side?

[JBT]

Woodenbong - Legume is rough in a few places but OK if you take it easy. We had a club run or two along there in August this year.
While you're in the area, it's really well worth the diversion 7km to Queen Mary Falls (turn right between Legume and Killarney) and on another 8km to Carrs Lookout to see the start of the mighty Condamine river. http://goo.gl/maps/5bDQ2.
The whole diversion will add just 30km (15km each way on a good MX-5 road) to your trip.
The Killarney pub does great lunches.

[stilletto_rebel]

Looks good... Too much highway for me but hey, lots of 'straya is flat! :-D
I really do not recommend the Lindsay Road from Killarney to Woodenbong unless it's had some work done since I was there!
Perhaps Running Creek Road from Killarney to Mt Alford and double back to Woodenbong from the other side?

I was really confused, as I was thing to myself I'm not passing through Killarney! But then I realised that I'd had to miss a few waypoints out due to the ten waypoint maximum allowed on Google Maps. This is the actual route I plan to take on Day Six: https://goo.gl/maps/gCTr0

[stilletto_rebel]

Today's the day. It's finally time for me to go on my drive. Today's drive is from home to Mildura:

[ManiacLachy]

Have a great trip!

[taminga16]

Be safe Miles, and keep a couple of bottles of drinking water aside. I came upon a woman on the Calder Hwy today (26 deg) suffering de-hydration, and wandering while waiting for the RACV to come and change a wheel.
Greg.

[stilletto_rebel]

Don't worry Greg; three 250ml bottles behind the driver's seat and 10 litres in the boot!

Loaded and ready:



That's my self-inflating mattress behind the windblocker. Tent and sleeping bag in the duffel on the passenger seat.

Rebecca wanted a picture of me and the car "in case I need to get the police to look for you..."



Mildura campsite and my neighbours:





I run on LPG and no problems with supply - but it was close at one stage! I filled up at Ararat and didn't see another open autogas station until Ouyen at 312km. My tank is supposed to have an operational range of 280 to 290km - so the mix in Ararat must have had more propane than normal!

[stilletto_rebel]

Day two is from Mildura to Broken Hill, with a side-trip to Silverton. Not a lot of driving - only 330ish km. Will be interesting, though, as I can't find any fuel stops along the route. This is actually the only part of the trip where I'm concerned about running out of LPG.

[slug_dub]

Hey I like your cars paintjob!

[stilletto_rebel]

I forgot to mention my new mate the Minor bird! This little guy was my camp guide and first indroduced himself by landing on the boot of M1L3S whilst I was setting up the tent. He watched me potter about getting everything ready and almost followed me into the tent at one point!

[stilletto_rebel]

The drive to Broken Hill was fairly uneventful. I made it all the way on LPG; 295km between fills.

I saw an eagle of some description perched on the branch of a tree. He was HUGE!! I turned around to get a picture but must have spooked him. This is all I got as he flew off.



Google maps' Earth images give the impression that the area is just desolate red soil, but I was quite suprised at just how much foliage there was and how green everything looked. Didn't encounter any Kangaroos, but there are a number of goats wandering around. I also saw some Brumby's on my way to Silverton. The landscape is absolutely flat.





After some lunch I drove 24km out of town to Silverton. Mad Max 2 was filmed in the area and Silverton has a Mad Max Museum (run by a British guy from Bradford!). Photography isn't allowed inside, but one is permitted to take photos of the vehicles.









Some 5kms further out from Silverton is the Mundi Mundi Lookout:





The campsite I'm at tonight has a pool, so I'm off to laze in that for an hour or so before sorting myself out some dinner.

Tomorrow's drive will be from Broken Hill to Nyngan; roughly 590km. There's a place called Wilcannia after about 170Km where I plan to top up the LPG tank.

[manga_blue]

That's a wedge tailed eagle, they get up to a 9ft wingspan out there.

Tomorrow's drive will be from Broken Hill to Nyngan; roughly 590km. There's a place called Wilcannia after about 170Km where I plan to top up the LPG tank.

You're starting to run around the southern fringe of my old home country. Sigh ... making me feel homesick.

Good luck. Very, very big red and western grey roos out there. When they travel in a mob they'll often have 2 scouts running a couple of hundred meters in front of the main bunch. So if one or two cross your path ahead watch out for the 40 or 50 following.

[stilletto_rebel]

Good luck. Very, very big red and western grey roos out there. When they travel in a mob they'll often have 2 scouts running a couple of hundred meters in front of the main bunch. So if one or two cross your path ahead watch out for the 40 or 50 following.

Yes! I almost came a cropper 20km out of Broken Hill as I had one cross in front of me. I was travelling at 100kph at the time and I must have missed him by less than five metres. Thing is, I was looking out for Kangaroos and was actually looking right at the place he came from. He just appeared out of thin air! I was straight on the brakes but of course he's on the other side of the road and into the bush before I can react.

The drive from Broken Hill was quite eventful; at one rest stop I was reapplying sun block when I noticed movement to my right. There's an olive brown snake with a black (or dark brown) head, thin body and maybe a metre long. Obviously, I didn't hang around to takes pictures!

I also saw a number of lizards basking in the sun on the tarmac. I was able to drive around them without killing them. Not far from Nyngan I saw two crows feeding off roadkill, except as I get closer (I'm travelling in excess of 100kph) these 'crows' keep getting bigger and bigger until they fly off due to my approach and I'm able to see their feathers are brown and not black, and they don't have pointy beaks; they're only a pair of massive Wedge Tails.

I see a bird bothering a lizard in the shade of a tree as I'm driving by, except this lizard has a tail that's the length and thickness of my arm! Google tells me it was most likely a Goanna.

Unfortunately, this is the day the SD card in my dashcam corrupts itself, so no footage of any of the above. Photos:

Sunrise at the campsite in Broken Hill:


Very long, very straight roads:


Campsite in Nyngan:

[stilletto_rebel]

Day Four is Nyngan to the campsite at Apsley Falls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.



I'm pleased to see some lovely fluffy white clouds in the sky; maybe they'll be able to offer a little respite from the unrelenting sun. Driving through the hills of the Warrumbungle National Park, the scenery reminds me a lot of the Swiss Alps.

Heading towards the Warrumbungle National Park; jagged peaks ahead:


I pass through Coonabaranbran and before long I am in Tamworth, where I stop for lunch. I notice the cloud clover is a lot denser now, but is still a fluffy white or light grey, so don't give it any more thought. I'm maybe 10km past Tamworth when the sky suddenly becomes black and massive raindrops are falling from the sky accompanied by lightning and a continuous roll of thunder. Within the space of a minute the rain becomes large hail and I dive left into a Caltex and straight under the cover of a carport. I am quickly joined by two other motorists who both have witty comments about driving top down in weather like this.

One asks me where I'm going and I tell him. He looks at my car and the self-inflating mattress on the parcel shelf and shouts over the rain "No you're not. Coffs Harbour received fourteen hundred millimetres of rain this morning and it's all coming this way. I can guarantee your campsite is going to be washed out." The other guy just nods and says "I'm a local all my life and there's no way I'd camp in this. Besides, it's supposed to be like this for the rest of the week." I tell them my plans to drive the mountains to Casino and then back west towards Miles. They're both shaking their heads and talking about treacherous roads, halved speeds due to conditions and rain over the entire table-lands(?). The rain eases off and they both wish me luck and go on their way. I phone Rebecca for a weather report and she essentially repeats what the two guys have just told me. I'm an experienced camper from a young age and camping in the rain is Not Fun. Once stuff is wet it stays wet until you spend a day drying it out, and the weather is not going to give me that opportunity.

I consider my plans and decide the best thing I can do is head back to Coonabarabran and head home from there the next day. I'm dissapointed but I know it's the right decision to make.

The rain chases me all the way back to Coonabarabran and instead of camping I decide to get a room at the pub. It's basic but clean and I get a good night's rest.


I made a few comments on Facebook about my experiences at the pub:

[ManiacLachy]

That's a bit disapointing, it started out quite well but I think you made the right decision. I guess you have a couple of days on the return, hope you get some adventure from that. Great photos as well