To Gilgandra

To Gilgandra

Posted on 7 Nov, 2009 10 comments

10/10
8 AM and we’re off again after breakfast in the morning sun on the veranda, warming ourselves, as did the dogs. It was 19C now and we were heading SE, through the Jacaranda lined streets of St.George. It was sunny, blue skies, but very windy.
We were heading for Hebel on the border with NSW. Wheatcrops on either side of the road, as far as the eye could see. Some yellow and ready for harvesting, others still green. Thousands of acres of wheat, all for our daily bread. Huge harvesters, all John Deere, green and gold, we met on the way, some escorted as they were all overwidth and overlength. I think these are contractors, who will do the harvesting for the farmers. Once it’s got to come off they are busy. It can only be done during the day, as the wheat has to be dry; at night it becomes wet from the dew.
Undulating grazing land varied the wheat fields. We saw many huge silo’s. Approaching Dirribandi we saw 3 emu’s and a little bit further a mother emu with two chicks. Country very dry, but the lush green wheat fields looked refreshing in between. In Hebel we wanted to get some coffee, and to our surprise right there in the middle of nowhere was a restaurant with table and chairs outside, where you could also get ice coffee. So here we had parked the car and sat there with the dogs. I took some pictures again, as this was really something outof a film, especially the rusted hotel across the road. After our rest we drove off again and crossed the NSW border. We passed the sign too quickly, so turned around and then took the picture.
I was driving and the first bit of road in NSW was great, but soon it was the same old story: wavy surface which bounced us around. Heading now for Lightning Ridge, a place famous for its black opals. It was actually 5 kms off the route 55 highway, so we did an extra 10 kms to get petrol. You have to get petrol when it’s possible, because next so many kms there is just nothing, as you have to be on the safe side.
After Lighting Ridge comes Walgett, which is more like a gohst town. Everything was closed, except for the swimming pool and the bowling greens, where the local elderly played, and of course the IGA supermarket. This was a great disappointment, they were obviously waiting for the next truck to arrive, as many shelves were empty. I got batteries for our torch, water and a drink of orange juice. We ate our “home”made sandwiches in the park under a pergola, where some green grass grew around the concrete pad with wooden table and benches.
Another 219 kms to drive to Gilgandra, where we had booked into a motel. It was 25C, which was the top of the day. We certainly noticed we were not in the tropics anymore! Same story here: wheat farms and cattle country. Not long after the signs Beware of cattle, no fences, we came across a whole heard in the middle of the road. These were being rounded up by a Jackeroo on horseback and a Jillaroo on foot. We just had to wait till they’d passed, so I took the opportunity to take some pics. It was partly clouded and in the distance we saw the Great Dividing Ranges. Lovely scenery.
Birdlife on the way so far has been: rainbow lorrekeets, pink and grey galah’s. golden crested cockatoes, kite hawks, crows, pi-wi’s. We’d seen lots of Cape lilac trees, patterson curse, all in NSW, prickly pears in both States. At 3.30 pm we drove into the Motor Inn at Gilgandra, where we had a room which also accommodates our wooffies. We ordered a chicken mango and salad dinner, as the restaurant was closed, but we could still have room service. We had ordered our meal for 6-6.30 so were surprised it rocked up at 5.15 pm. Paul was just having a nap on the bed. We had forgotten NSW was one hour ahead of QLD, as they had now their summertime. Oh, well, we had our beer with the dinner and skipped the pre-dinner drinks. The rooms are cottages, all free standing. It is bordered by State forest, but the pines are on sandy soil, so it was a dusty walk. So in the morning I had a walk on the track, a bit messy, but at least it wasn’t a busy street. We had another cold night and are now gearing up with warmer clothes.

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