Send an e-mail to Ron.
Back to Rons home page.
I note our last part of our travels as relayed to the group ended at Hay in southern NSW. From there we travelled
east, then north to the surprisingly large city of Griffith. The Info Centre there are happy to direct travellers to either
of the 2 free overnight spots in town .. from memory, the stay is meant to be one night only!
We are now travelling the Kidman Way north .. had a nice Chinese meal (lunch) at the Hillston RSL Club then on to
Gilgunnia (via Mount Hope which consists essentially of a pub) to overnight in the rest area there. Once upon a time, there
was a settlement at Gilgunnia, but nothing left now.
Next day north to Cobar where after some shopping etc stayed overnight in a rest are on the edge of town. This spot
is frequented by heavy trucks. One guy was having hassles with some computerised management system. He spent some time on
the phone talking to HQ at Townsville .. they we talking him through sorting it out. His wife came over to us and asked if
we would microwave their evening meal .. they also had a hassle with their inverter. It turned out that she was owner of the
pub (mentioned above) at Mount Hope. So we are organised for a free beer next time we pass through as payment for cooking
their meal!
Further north, next day, to Bourke. The town looks quite run down and has a high aboriginal population .. so we
sussed out a nice camp spot on the Darling River somewhat north of the town where we stayed a couple of nights. A popular
spot with local speed boats/water skiing etc with the water banked up by the weir at Bourke. At the time, the normal river
was just a series of water holes unless there is a weir.
From Bourke we start east .. via Brewarrina (quite a high aboriginal population here also) and again sussed out a
camp spot on the river .. similar situation .. if it wasn't for the local weir, there would be next to no water in the river.
Next day on to Walgett where, after some shopping, headed to a camp spot we had used before .. greeted with a new
sign saying overnight camping prohibited! .. by order of the council. After some enquires, and finally to the Info Centre,
where they informed us the local caravan park was currently closed and it is really, after all, OK to camp at that spot!!!!
One wonders??
Further east to the popular free hot springs camping spot at Barrun Junction where we stayed 3 nights .. its a large
area and apparently fills up with people camping in the busy season .. whenever that is? Rather barren spot with a number of
trees around the waterhole .. though the town of Barren Junction, with a pub and shop, is just a short distance to the west.
Then on to Narrabri .. enquired at Info Centre re motorhome parking. Was told the large park at the rear of the
Info Centre was not available. We where we directed to a spot on a river .. rather nice and indicated on the Info Centres map
of local fishing spots .. a number of kms south east of town, where we stayed one night.
Then to the Australia Telescope installation west of Narrabri where we had instructions from friend George, VK2AHJ,
to check out the "stellar interferometer" that his son Michael had worked on.
Met up with Prof. John Davis who said he actually employed Michael and they (plus others) had worked on the (now
massive) project, I gather, full time for the last 20 to 25 years .. so imagine what it all cost? Really remarkable .. John
explained he was the optics expert and he and another retired (but still working) electronics guy seem to run the
installation. Michael (and one other person) did all the fitting/machine etc. work at the Physics Dept. at Sydney Uni. ..
actually just over the road from the place where I had worked for 3 years at the same Uni. way back in the early 60's. I
think I was fortunate to be shown over, and have explained, the whole mind blowing installation .. not that it is possible
absorb it all! Its purpose is to measure extremely small angles of astronomical objects and as an example they use is the
equipment has sufficient resolution to measure the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 10km .. some small angle eh?
From Narrabri we went north to Moree, along the busy (with heavy vehicles) Newell Highway. Then east towards Glen
Innes. Camped at a nice spot on the Gwydir River a number of km's from Moree, thence through Warialda to just west of
Inverell where we parked overnight at a lookout overlooking the town. Interesting thing, although it didn't concern us,
was the public toilets were kept locked from late afternoon till early morning.
I'll stop there as the story is getting too long .. will try and get it updated before long. We are currently at
Clairview, about 200 kms north of Rockhampton.
Send an e-mail to Ron.
Back to Rons home page.