Days 1- 4

 Hello!

Here is a quick update on what we have done since we set out on our adventure five days ago (please excuse typos. I'm on my phone and have a lot to type!)

Day 1:

After leaving Steve and Beck's, we drove via Plainland to get the car checked over by Brian, Chris' mate from work. We then drove to Stanthorpe and camped at a free camp-site nearby. It was quite near the main road so it was a bit noisy, but it did the trick. We cooked pasta, broccoli and sauce on our little gas stove and had a couple of beers. It was very cold overnight but our two blankets did the trick. Felt very sore and achey sleeping the swag 😔 

Our set up on the first night

Day 2:

It was a long day of driving, we didn't see much, really. Did another free camp in Walgett, where diesel was $3.00 when we went to sleep and $3.10 when we woke up! Thankfully the Jimny runs on ULP so it was only $2.50 😉 Walgett camp ground had showers, so that was very nice! I slept worse than the first night, but Chris did better!

Day 3:

We drive to opal mining town Lightning Ridge and had a lovely time driving around the town and visiting a few sites.

First stop was a cactus garden that was 80 years in the making. There were some very impressive specimens there. The owners were lovely and very chatty.

Massive!

Bit rude!

So many cacti!

We then had some lunch in town before making our way over the The Chambers Of The Black Hand, which sounds like a weird cult but is actually an old mine where the owner spent decades carving into the sandstone with mainly a butterknife. He carved famous faces, superheroes, ancient Egyptian things and buddas to name just a few. It was one of the most fascinating places I've been too. So much dedication, effort and talent!

This was carved by butterknife!

Nefertiti I think.

One of the massive buddhas (there were 4)

Lots of Aussie politicians. Carved by butterknife did I mention?!

We then drove to Bourke and made camp at a place called May's Bend, which was a gorgeous spot along the river. We ventured into cooking over wood. It was the first night we could see the Milky Way. It was gorgeous. The best thing about camping.

Our set up at May's Bend

Day 4:

Bourke is one of those places that is a bit legendary. There's a saying that when you go to the Outback you go to "the back o' Bourke" We were truly in outback NSW now and boy did we know it with the flies!

We looked at a few historic places around Bourke- the historic wharf, the historic cemetery, Betta Electrical (ha ha! That one's not historical but we needed a cigarette lighter charger thingy) We then grabbed some more beers and food for dinner and headed to Gundabooka National Park to camp for the night. I thought this would be great place to camp- great for stars, support the national parks, go on some walks. I did forget about the flies. Or at least I didn't expect quite as many as there were. As soon as we stepped out of the car at Dry Tank Camp, we were besieged by flies. And biting ones too. It was awful. We sprayed ourselves and then headed on a walk. We turned around halfway. The flies were so annoying and it was so hot, I just couldn't cope. We were wholly underprepared for this! We got back to the car, set up the swag and sought refuge in there until it went dark. Once it was dark and the flies went to bed, we cooked over the fire again and then the stars came out. It was a very peaceful night and the best I've slept so far.

Action shot of Chris swatting the flies away

This doesn't quite show how many flies there were on me, they went up my nose and under my glasses 😢I had to put on earphones to muffle the buzzing. It was a maddening noise!