Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Getting There

I’ve been rather tardy in posting about the rest of our trip after Nundle.  If I don’t do it now I’ll have forgotten most of it.

We got a relatively early start from Nundle on the Sunday morning.  It was rather fresh travelling along and we hadn’t brought much in the way of thermals, as it was only March.

As we travelled west we left the mountains behind us and entered the slopes and plains.  Even though it isn’t that far from home, we have never travelled the road from Dunedoo to Dubbo.  It just isn’t on our direct route from home to anywhere, so it was nice to see some new scenery.

Once we headed south from Dubbo and Forbes we started to see the wide expanse of flood waters from the recent rains.

We travelled as far as West Wyalong on Sunday, staying in a nice caravan park and having a lovely Chinese meal at the local club.  It was here that we started to meet other Ulyssians making the trek to Mildura.

On Monday morning we once again got an early start.  However, that was by the sun, not the clock.  It is amazing how much later the sun rises as we headed west.  Of course, being the last week of daylight saving accentuated it as well.  I love taking photos of our shadow in the early morning.

As you can see, it was just glorious weather for riding along.

The slopes and plains made way for just the plains.

There was still plenty of flood waters around.  There was quite a bit of water flowing down Mirrool Creek between West Wyalong and Hay.

Of course, the water birds are loving the conditions.

Fortunately, the worst of the floods had passed at Hay.  However, about 10kms west of the town we encountered this sign, so prepared to get a little damp.

We needn’t have worried.  This was the extent of the water over the road for the whole trip down, which was much better than we had expected.

So many people complain about the Hay Plains being the most boring road in Australia.  We have travelled it a few times now and just love it.  Admittedly, there isn’t a great deal to see.  We didn’t even see a great deal of wild life this time, just a few emus, which we were glad kept their distance.

It is nice, though, to get to Balranald at the other end.

We finally reached our destination at about 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon.

We registered for the rally, admitting up front that we had left all our paperwork at home.  Oops!  I remembered everything for Nundle, but didn’t give the Ulysses paperwork a thought.  Oh well, we certainly weren’t the only ones.

At the end of the day it was lovely to catch up with all our friends from the Rockhampton Branch of the Club.  This is now the fourth time we have camped with them and it is one of our favourite things about the rally.

Now that I look back at the photos I hope they aren’t too boring, just lots of photos taken from the side car.  However, as we had to travel about 1200kms in a day and a half, stops were few and far between and usually just for fuel and a quick bite to eat, no sight seeing along the way.  That is being saved up for our four days in Mildura.