Melbourne - Cobar

Well, we finally made it out of Melbourne late Saturday morning, 12^th May and pointed the rig north.  After travelling for about three quarters of an hour, Eric needed a coffee, so we pulled over for his caffeine hit.  About an hour later we stopped for lunch at Nagambie – talk about leisurely travel.  At this rate it will take us about two years to complete the circuit.  Our first night was spent at Numurkah at a pretty spot next to the river much frequented by local birds, including a flock of rowdy galahs.

Next day we set off about 10:30 am – only half an hour late – and drove to Jerilderie where we spent a pleasant couple of hours re-tracing Ned Kelly’s haunts and exploits.  We didn’t realise his Jerilderie letter was 58 pages long, rambling and semi coherent was the description! 

After lunch by the picturesque lake

we left Jerilderie, then turned off the Newell on to the Kidman Way (named after the self made cattle baron Sir Sidney Kidman) towards Griffith.  (Remember Al Grassby, and Donald Mackay?)  Flat open plains extended to the horizon in every direction.  Darlington Point on the Murrumbidgee River was originally a large port, complete with lift up bridge, for paddle steamers transporting wool and local produce, but became a backwater when Griffith developed.  I had planned to stop and have a look here but  we were through the town and out the other side before I realised.

In red dirt country on the road to Griffith there is an amazing variety of crops – rice (which they’ve been growing since the 1920s), cotton, wheat, vines, vegetables, fruit to name some – all supported by irrigation which begins with the control and diversion of water by the Snowy Mountain scheme.  Griffith is miles from the Murrumbidgee in the middle of nowhere.  The ‘main canal’ carries water across long distances and the water is then channelled to the various farms.  Man controls nature!  A number of signs around Griffith are less than complimentary about the Murray Darling Basin Authority.

As it was Mothers’ Day on Sunday, Eric treated me to a slap up dinner at the local Leagues Club, where we joined at least half the population of the town.  Sarah thought there would be some good Italian restaurants in Griffith, but there was no shortage on Italians en famille in the Leagues Club  An icy wind swept through Griffith while we were there.  A local told us that when it snowed at Thredbo, as it had the night before, they felt it in Griffith.

A relatively early (for us) start allowed us to dawdle about the various towns en route from Griffith to Cobar.  Balls of cotton line each side of the road on the first half of the Kidman Way. 

Merriwagga is supposedly the site of the origin of the black stump legend.  The tale goes that a bullocky passing through in 1886 left his wife to make camp for the night while he tended the cattle.  The day was hot and windy and the camp fire raged out of control burning the wife to death.  When the bullocky returned he said that his wife was dead and she looked just like a black stump.  Anyway, the hamlet  has the Black Stump Hotel, though very little else.

The largest town in the area is Hillston, situated on the banks of the Lachlan River.  A woman at the local Information Centre remarked on how pretty the countryside looks after all the rain.  It’s hard to imagine how they coped out here with all those years of drought.

After an enjoyable morning mucking about, poor Eric had to spend the afternoon driving into the sun to make it to Cobar.  We’d underestimated the distance by 100 ks, so were later than planned.  The road is mostly a straight strip of bitumen pointing north.  Bends are few and far between.  With the sun streaming through the windscreen, I spent the afternoon battling to stay awake, so Eric did very well to maintain concentration under the circumstances.

Situated at the crossroads of the Barrier Highway from Broken Hill and the Kidman Way, Cobar is both larger than I expected, with a population of over 5,000, and relatively prosperous, due to the local copper mine.

We're staying an extra day in Cobar so that we can visit Mount Grenfell National Park where there are supposed to be fine examples of aboriginal rock art, then on to Bourke on Friday.