It’s almost time to head off again …

I’m off on my great adventure tomorrow, and I can’t wait.

Everything is prepared (almost), so it’s just a matter of packing the car. I’m very nervous – this is my first big trip away without Doc, so I hope I know what to do. It’s also my first time away with a girlfriend who isn’t a camper. The two of us trying to put up a tent each night should keep the countryside amused for days!

For me this is a working trip. I’m off to take photos of the outback, country spaces and country life. There’s a big photo competition coming up I want to enter, and I want some photos to sell (as well as selling some while I’m away).

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Off on another adventure

I’m going on a road trip!

Doc’s just started a new job (business), so he’s very busy this year. We’re already planning a trip away to the Cape in June, and he can’t take any more time off. So I’m going away with a girlfriend.

I’ve always wanted to go to Broken Hill, and somehow Doc and I never seem to get there.  And I want to find out more about my grandmother’s past, so I’m combining the two – well, if we get that far.

I want to stay “off the beaten track”, and stop along the way wherever takes our fancy. We only have just over 2 weeks, and given that I like to stop a lot to take photos and wander around, we’ll be pressed for time.

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Stuck in Cobar without parts

I’ve just discovered one of the drawbacks of living in a small country town.

While Doc was trying to fix a water leak in the car on Sunday morning, he broke something else. Of course, it’s a part that’s essential to the running of the car so we can’t go anywhere until we get a new one. Having broken it Easter Sunday morning (when we were leaving that afternoon), it was this morning (Tuesday) until we could check out the spare parts shop. Even though they don’t usually stock it, they did have some in – until about half an hour before we got there when somebody else got the last ones. So it needs to be ordered from Dubbo.  It’ll only take 1 day to get it here, but by the time it arrives, we pick it up and fix it in the car, it’ll be lunch time Wednesday until we leave. Three days later than planned.

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Life in a small country town

Like many rural towns across Australia Cobar has changed – and is continuing to change. Heavily reliant on mining (gold and copper) it’s subject to the ups and downs of the mining industry. If things are good the town booms, if commodity prices are down, so is the town.

Things are good right now.

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Swimming at the Newey – summertime in Cobar

We’ve been in Cobar for two days, and the weather is … SUMMER! And the summer you only get when you get away from the coast ­– hot, dry and still. I love it.

The first time I came to Cobar I was 8 years old. I flew out on Ansett airlines with my older brother (he was 10). We came out to visit my aunt and uncle (the same uncle who’s sick now) and my 5 cousins. It was a great adventure. They lived at the edge of town next to the dusty oval, which we snuck across into the bush to go swimming in the ‘tank’. And we got swooped by magpies on the oval when we ventured too near their nests.

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Back in the outback – via the express drive to Cobar

Finally, Doc and I are back out in the outback. The “Welcome to Cobar” sign at the edge of town even says “Outback NSW”, so it must be true.

Unfortunately, the reason we’re here is not the best. My uncle is very sick and has been given not long to live, though I don’t know how far I trust that diagnosis. At Christmas the doctors said less than two months, and he’s still here, fighting on. Anyway, we came up here to see them while he’s still alive, rather than wait for a funeral.

So driving up here Doc felt like he was on a mission, with no time to stop anywhere – just in case!

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