Two Sheilas in a Ute – we’re off again!

Planning is underway for the next great Two Sheilas in a Ute outback adventure.
Helen has another couple of months off work, so we’re heading out. This time most likely to Uluru.
I say most likely, because one of the objectives of the trip is to get out of the cold, and believe me, it gets cold at Uluru in June!

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Characters of outback Australia

The inimitable Jock, at Jock’s Place in White Cliffs, outback NSW. White Cliffs is in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing at all there until a couple of roo shooters found opal in 1889 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jock is one of the many characters you find in the outback. For $5 he’ll show you around his “dug out”, as they call the old – and new – honeycomb tunnels of the underground opal mines where they all  live. Being underground provides relief from the outside temperatures which are often over 40 degrees celsius.

 

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Don’t set up your tent on an ants’ nest

The trip is over and we’re back home. Aawwww! (pouting)

While I’m eager to start planning the next trip (and have already been looking at the map – corner country looks good, then down the Strzelecki track) it’s important to look back and see what I’ve learned from doing this without Doc.

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Looking for a tree change? Don’t forget about the birds

If you’re thinking of moving to the country for the peace and quiet – don’t. You have no idea how noisy it is out here.

Out here in the middle of nowhere I wake up around 2-3am. And then it starts. I hear noises.

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Hay and Hell and Booligal

“And people have an awful down
Upon the district and the town-
Which worse than hell itself they call:
In fact, the saying far and wide
Along the Riverina side
Is ‘Hay and Hell and Booligal’.

So goes Banjo Patterson’s poem, so of course we had to go and check it out for ourselves.

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Oh my Darling, oh my Darling, …

Finally, we’ve set up camp on the Darling River in Kinchega National Park. There’s not another soul around and I can hear the river calling me for a swim. Menindee Lake is behind us, and in an hour or so the sun will go down and it will be time to photograph one of those famous sunsets over the Lake.

That was my impression yesterday – and it hasn’t changed. We’re still here. After a week of camp, pack up and move, camp, sightsee, move, etc we decided to have a lazy day by the Darling.

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Two sheilas in a ute

Listen to my interview with Cherie McDonald on ABC local radio – Broken Hill.

Two Sheilas in a Ute – our trip to outback NSW.

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Broken Hill – we made it!

As Broken Hill was the major destination of our trip, I’d better put down some thoughts and impressions.

Driving into the city there’s the animals – emus, kangaroos, wild brumbies and even camels. Not to mention the sheep and cattle that seem to find food from nothing.

The first thing I noticed about Broken Hill itself is the mine. It is, literally, right in the middle of town, with the main street only a few metres away. The huge pile of slag and diggings towers high above the town and can be seen from everywhere. It’s a stark reminder that this is a mining town first and foremost.

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Things are a little warm out here

It’s hot. No – it’s bloody hot.

I’ve got halfway through blogging this trip without mentioning the weather, so allow me a little leeway.

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On the dirt … and the gravel, and the bulldust

Driving from White Cliffs to Broken Hill we have two choices. Go back towards Wilcannia and out the Barrier Highway and stay on the tar, or go via Mutawintji National Park on 200k of dirt.

Naturally, we picked the second route. After all, we’re in the outback we have to drive on the dirt.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have, given that even though it’s a high clearance, big arsed black ute, it’s not 4WD. But the locals all seemed sure when they looked at the car “Nah, you should be ok in that”. They weren’t considering our lack of experience!

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