DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 231

It was a stinker of a night last night, temperature wise, and it had barely improved by the time we started off on our 462km drive to Cobar via Wilcannia.

Wilcannia was half way to Cobar. To get there we travelled through desolate, arid countryside, with salt bush dominating. There were subtle changes with some taller trees along the creek sides. In places there were low growing trees with absolutely nothing growing beneath them - except pebbles.

231114 Typical of our 460km drive today

Now this is terrible country except for sheep and goats. We did see one large flock of sheep and, as for the goats, we had quite an experience with seven of them that were occupying the parking area at which we stopped for morning tea. To our surprise they did not run away when we stopped. In fact one kid came over to inspect the van. We did make the mistake of opening the water tap on the side of the van and that's when the fun started. Mum, Dad and all the other kids came a rushing and there was a bit of buffeting as they all sought to get their fill. Another two cars arrived and their occupants added to the excitement by offering the billy goat a full bottle of water. He nearly lost his bottle as the goat sucked it dry. We left them to it but had to clear three of the kids out from under the van before we could leave.

231114 You have to be "kidding" - no fear

231114 Family fight over the water - Mum at the front, Dad
in the rear and the kids under the van

We reached Wilcannia just after lunch time. It is an old town too and several of its older buildings have been restored. It is on the Darling River. A large proportion of its population is aboriginal.

231114 The Wilcannia Court House 1880

231114 The Wilcannia Post Office 1880

231114 The Darling River at Wilcannia

As we drove, we watched the car's thermometer hit 44 degrees. With that, spots of rain appeared on the windscreen and for about 1.5km we drove through a shower of rain. The temperature plummeted to 33 degrees but within a few kilometers after we passed through the shower, it rose again to 44 degrees.

231114 A rare event -rain on the windscreen

As we sit in the van in Cobar waiting for the air conditioner to do its job, there is thunder outside and we wait to see what might eventuate.

We have included below some of the photographs we took at the Broken Hills Mining and Minerals Museum yesterday. The minerals on show were mostly from the top of the original ore body but even now, there are more examples being discovered within the ore body. The minerals are beautiful in their own right. It is a shame our photographs don't demonstrate the beauty as well as they might. The star showing was a silver espergne, simply called "The Silver Tree" and simply stunning.