Byrock to Wyandra

On Monday we continued to head north.

It wasn't long until we started to notice a little bit of a green tinge to the side of the road.

Then it became a bit more than just a tinge.  What a wonderful thing to see.

As we approached Bourke there was the ruins of the old meat works in the distance.

"Bourke, Gateway to the Real Outback" the sign says.  I think that is how many see the town.

There are some lovely old buildings in the town.

The council is in the middle of doing a street beautification, making it one way, paving and adding seating areas.  It should look great when it is finished.

The Commonwealth Bank has a great mosaic mural on the front.

Bourke is on the Darling River.  The historic wharf has been restored. It is from the days when paddle steamers came this far up the river, being the main way to transport goods.

The river is looking good here, but don't be fooled, as there is a weir just downstream.  The water levels are so low that a couple of weeks ago the town water supply was switched over to bore water.  Despite flooding rains to the north of the country there has been next to no flow down this far in the river system.

The wharf has various levels to accommodate the changing river levels.

The old engine is run each afternoon, which would be good to see.

At North Bourke we saw our first road train, although it was only two trailers.

I did like the name of the prime mover.  These really are our freight trains in the outback.

The old disused bridge over the Darling River is relic from the past, having an opening section for boats.

Bookending the town is the brand new meat works that has been built to process goats.

We stopped for lunch at the tiny settlement of Barrigun, right on the Queensland border.

On our previous visit to the area we called in at the historic old weatherboard pub, as it was owned by a fellow Mick knew from school.  Sadly, that bit of history was lost a few years ago when the pub burnt down.  These outbuildings are all that remain.

While we were having lunch some very friendly noisy miners came to visit.  Mick tried to get them to eat from his hand, but this is as close as he got.

Mick also noticed, way over in a paddock behind the rest area, what appeared to be old playground equipment, so of course we had to go and have a look.  You certainly don't see carousels or monkey bars like these in playgrounds any more.  It was rather a surprising thing to see.

Finally, we reached Queensland.

We have commenced travelling on The Matilda Way.

As we continued north there started to be quite a bit of water sitting beside the road.

This was the only water we drove through.

There are still a few roads that are closed due to the flooding.

The first town we came to in Queensland was Cunnamulla.

Our first Queenslander house and a nice one at that. We also saw our first bottle tree, but couldn't get a good photo.  That was certainly on the "Spotto" list.

We noticed that the town seemed unusually quiet.  Our vehicle was the only one in the whole street!  On a Monday!?  Yes, Mr Google advised that it was a public holiday.

We noticed the water tower has been painted, so of course we had to go and have a look.

Nice, subtle artwork of kids playing footy.

Once we were back on the road we continued to see so much water lying in the paddocks.

There was also a lot of feed, with some grasses even getting to the seed head stage.

What we didn't see was much traffic.  The roads were extremely quiet.

Our destination for the day was Wyandra, half way between Cunnanulla and Charleville.

We opted to stay at the free camp behind the school, which was a good spot.

After setting up we went for a wander around the town.  Please tag along.

The old powerhouse.

The church.

No trains around here any more.

Surprisingly, there is a fitness park.

There were new Anzac memorials in the park.

And the original one in the middle of an intersection up a side street.

The pub is the hub of the tiny village and we called in to have a couple of drinks, chatting to other travellers.  There had been about 200 solo motorhome travellers there the night before, line dancing in the street and nearly drinking the pub dry.  They are on their way to a solos rally.  Fortunately, we will be a day or so ahead of them.

A road train was parked for the night.

There was a lovely sunset as we walked back to our camp.  The days are about half an hour longer here than home, being that much further north.

We woke to a lovely morning as well.

A final explore of the village as we left town.

You must think there is nothing but wrecks of buildings in these towns, but there are a few that are better, just not as photogenic.