And they’re off!

Posted by efloow on June 24, 2015 in Clive | 2 Comments

June 22, 2015, the adventure begins. Our house has been emptied and handed over and exchanged for a 7m trailer.  All the planning seemed to have worked and despite a hectic last weekend at home we hit the road at 7am.   

First stop, Dubbo Zoo, and a night of glamping. Heated and plumbed canvas on the edge of the savanna. Giraffes, Adax, and Ostrich on our front door seemed like a bizarre way to start our Australian odyssey. It was a pretty amazing place, excellent guide tours behind the scenes, close up to animals at feeding times and pretty good food and dinning! Hopefully it is not all downhill from here!  

   
         The next leg took us from Dubbo to Broken Hill. It was amazing to watch the landscape change. Trees to rich agrarian land to low scrub to red barren earth after Cobar. Loads and loads of goats, massive road trains, and a sprinkle of kangaroos and emus and our first wedge tail eagle. It was on this leg, only day two, that we broke the first rule: all our pre trip “training” had said not to drive after 4pm. Apparently this is when you are most likely to be responsible for or be road kill!  

Arriving at Broken Hill at 6.30pm, one hour after sunset, in a deluge was not inspired planning! It is pretty freaky when you suddenly see a kangaroo at the side of the road just caught in the lights as you whizz by and you are willing it not to jump. But even more terrifying is a road train coming the other way at a relative velocity of 200kph with its light blazing through the rain. The wash as it passed made the car feel like somebody had just turned on a water canon and directed it at the windscreen. Glass of wine well deserved and another soft sleep, The Red Earth Motel… way to cold for camping!  

Facts

• June 22: Northbridge – Katoomba – Lithgow (Castlereagh highway) – Mudgee – Gulgong – Dubbo Western Plains Zoo, 425km / 0700 to 1330, Fuel Dubbo $127 / 90L 
• June 23: Dubbo (Mitchell highway) – Narromine – Nyngan (Barrier Highway) – Cobar – Wilcannia – Broken Hill / 744km, 1000 to 1830 / Fuel Wilcannia $142, 96L