Thread: All the way around Aus

Did the touristy things today, mainly museums/galleries etc with the "White's Mineral Art and Living Mining Museum" and the "Silver City Art Centre and Mint" being my picks.

I tried to go up to the Lode Miner's Memorial (up on top of the heap) but it was closed to public access, accept if you were on an official tour, apparently due to liability issues. Shame, I wanted to have lunch up there.

Then off to local scenic view lookouts. The first being a local lookout

broken hill.jpg

The other being at the "Living Desert and Sculpture Reserve" just out of town (rock sculptures on top of a hill). You can just see Broken Hill in the 2nd panoramic. Also some nice looking Mulga's around

living desert reserve.jpg broken hill from living desert reserve.jpg view from living desert reserve.jpg

Tomorrow I'm off again

Neil, while you're there make sure you take a trip out to Day Dream Mine. It's well worth it and it's the only mine tour still operating.

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

Neil, while you're there make sure you take a trip out to Day Dream Mine. It's well worth it and it's the only mine tour still operating.

No good for my knees John .

Headed off yesterday and stayed at a freecamp west of Cobar. Fantastic scenery of most of the desert hardwood
timbers I love . Unfortunately, I can't unload the chainsaw equipment due to the shoulders, nor would I be able to cut anything or put pieces in the trailer anyway . Not only the desert timbers, there were also heaps of burls/rootballs etc, many on the ground just waiting for the taking

Also heaps and heaps of goats everywhere, oh for a bow and arrow, but on the other hand I could use that either .

I then went on to Bourke but didn't take long to get bored so headed off again. Now stopped at Walgett at another freestay with a splitting headache.

Heading for Toowoomba on the way home.

Good to see you are still surviving though Neil!

They seem to have a bit of a security problem in Walgett, lots of barred premises there, still Bourke is not much better.

We were in Lightning Ridge and Walgett a few weeks ago, stopped at a free camp just out of Collarenebri after that. Great spot on the Barwon River and it had hot showers and a dump point.

We stayed on the river bank below the camp sites.

Have you got Wikicamps?

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Have you got Wikicamps?

Yes mate, got it after your recomendation, best ~$4 I ever spent

Originally Posted by Big Shed

...stopped at a free camp just out of Collarenebri after that. Great spot on the Barwon River and it had hot showers and a dump point.

We stayed on the river bank below the camp sites.

Sounds like an ideal spot for my next stop, not too far, plus I could throw a line in .

Here you go

IMG_0836.jpg

Originally Posted by dai sensei

................................................
Also heaps and heaps of goats everywhere, oh for a bow and arrow, but on the other hand I could use that either .
................................................

That's something my wife and I noticed also, lots and lots and lots of goats.

Well I called in at Collarenebri Fred and it was a perfect little spot, but after having some lunch I got talking to two old guys fishing (not caught anything for 2 days), and we got talking about all the hot springs in the area. They advised the best spot was Pilliga, a detour of ~120kms, but well worth the stop and it could be good for my shoulders etc. So off I went again, as it was only 1pm, and set up at the Pilliga Hot Springs.

Well what a brilliant spot, heaps of room with toilets/BBQ/large hot spring covered pool.

pilliga bore camp.jpg


I stayed there for 3 nights, plenty of sunshine so no problem with power, and I had plenty of water too although they say you can drink the water (smelt like too much sulphur for me ). Great spot with great company. Spent around 3x1.5hr sessions in the pool each day, cooked dinner on the free BBQs each night, then sat chatting around campfires at night. Numbers varied from 12 to 35 vans/campers each night.

There was a huge firewood pile, mainly ironbark and coolabah split and in log form (for $ donation), so couldn't help grabbing a few old dry logs of what looks like fiddleback coolabah (someone helped me put them on the trailer) for a bowl, a couple of pepper grinders and some pen blanks.

coolabah logs.jpg


Then today I headed off on my way to Toowoomba again and stopped overnight at a quiet roadside stop ~2hrs from Toowoomba. There were heaps of very old cactus around the place and when I went to explore my site found some old skeletons . To most woodworkers these would look like rubbish, but to pen turners these were a craze for casting in USA a while back, so I grabbed a few for future casting .

cactus.jpg cactus skeletons.jpg


Off to stay with our wonderful Wendy tomorrow and hopefully call in at the Toowoomba Turners during the week maybe.

You may not be still going around on the first bit of your trip – but these other excursions are very interesting. Thanks for keeping us up to date and posting the pictures. I'm learning about places I never heard of.

Did your shoulders feel any better after the days in the hot springs?

The lack of wood collecting is disappointing – but where would you put it????

Cheers
Vicki

Originally Posted by dai sensei

I stayed there for 3 nights, plenty of sunshine so no problem with power, and I had plenty of water too although they say you can drink the water (smelt like too much sulphur for me ). Great spot with great company. Spent around 3x1.5hr sessions in the pool each day, cooked dinner on the free BBQs each night, then sat chatting around campfires at night. Numbers varied from 12 to 35 vans/campers each night.

You didn't actually say about the springs; did they help after all??

Not sure if the springs helped or not to be honest. I felt good in the pool and so did a few exercises for the frozen shoulders, but my muscles now ache a bit, so perhaps over did it or just feeling it because they haven't been used for a while.

The timber racks under the trailer are empty and there are a few gaps still inside. Whether I have spare capacity in the 1.5t GVM trailer is another matter. I haven't weighed it but the 2t springs aren't bending that much so I am sure I have a bit left

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Well I called in at Collarenebri Fred and it was a perfect little spot, but after having some lunch I got talking to two old guys fishing (not caught anything for 2 days), and we got talking about all the hot springs in the area. They advised the best spot was Pilliga, a detour of ~120kms, but well worth the stop and it could be good for my shoulders etc. So off I went again, as it was only 1pm, and set up at the Pilliga Hot Springs.

Well what a brilliant spot, heaps of room with toilets/BBQ/large hot spring covered pool.

pilliga bore camp.jpg


I stayed there for 3 nights, plenty of sunshine so no problem with power, and I had plenty of water too although they say you can drink the water (smelt like too much sulphur for me ). Great spot with great company. Spent around 3x1.5hr sessions in the pool each day, cooked dinner on the free BBQs each night, then sat chatting around campfires at night. Numbers varied from 12 to 35 vans/campers each night.

There was a huge firewood pile, mainly ironbark and coolabah split and in log form (for $ donation), so couldn't help grabbing a few old dry logs of what looks like fiddleback coolabah (someone helped me put them on the trailer) for a bowl, a couple of pepper grinders and some pen blanks.

coolabah logs.jpg


Then today I headed off on my way to Toowoomba again and stopped overnight at a quiet roadside stop ~2hrs from Toowoomba. There were heaps of very old cactus around the place and when I went to explore my site found some old skeletons . To most woodworkers these would look like rubbish, but to pen turners these were a craze for casting in USA a while back, so I grabbed a few for future casting .

cactus.jpg cactus skeletons.jpg


Off to stay with our wonderful Wendy tomorrow and hopefully call in at the Toowoomba Turners during the week maybe.

We bypassed the Pilliga Hot Springs, having partaken at Moree and Lightning Ridge, but by the sound of it maybe we should call in when next we are in the area. That Pilliga State Forest goes for a long way along the Newell, doesn't it?

Look forward to seeing some of the results of your cactus casting. Some of these cacti are absolutely humongous, some councils seem to do a better job than others to try to eliminate these weeds from their area. I recall some really tall ones along the road between Goondiwindi and Millmerran!

As for the fishing at Collarenebri, the pelicans looked well fed so maybe they know something that the fishermen don't?

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Not sure if the springs helped or not to be honest. I felt good in the pool and so did a few exercises for the frozen shoulders, but my muscles now ache a bit, so perhaps over did it or just feeling it because they haven't been used for a while.

The timber racks under the trailer are empty and there are a few gaps still inside. Whether I have spare capacity in the 1.5t GVM trailer is another matter. I haven't weighed it but the 2t springs aren't bending that much so I am sure I have a bit left

Water aerobics is sposed to be good for that sort of stuff.
Now i been thinkin'. The engine bay; there's bound to be some room there and you're nealy home so you could get away with 1/2 the bed space and all you need is a track from the door to the coffee maker and bed so that's more room , empty the cupboards of all but essentials (coffee) and there's more space. There you go I reckon you could get about a tonne and a half in now.

Originally Posted by Tim Creeper

...There you go I reckon you could get about a tonne and a half in now.

Yep, anyone would think I am travelling with passengers, the front and rear passenger seats are already full