Burke - Gateway to the Real Outback

We left the minus 2 degree morning behind at Orange. There was a thick frost over the car and thick ice on the windows. Thankfully the overnight cabin had a good heater in it. Nicholas needed a heart starter in the cold (the coffee machine works a treat thanks JL). 

Icy start to the day!

Dubbo was our fist stop for mocha for Angela and a play for the smaller girls. We found an awesome playground that has rated highest on the trip so far. 

Out of Dubbo we headed for Bourke. They call Bourke the 'gateway to the real outback' does it follow that there is a pretend outback in Australia somewhere? Dubbo to Bourke was filled with firsts for the trip. There was the first emus, feral goats, swagman (a real one not a statue) and first odd noise from the car.

Bourke was 'different' probably enhanced because we arrived late in the afternoon on a Sunday. The main street resembled something out of Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Every shop had steel shutters down and each of these were daubed in graffiti. We had planned to stay out of town on the banks of the Darling river but when Angela read that Bourke topped 6 out of the 8 major crime stats for NSW we stayed in town behind the electric fence of the caravan park. 

Weekdays Bourke is actually a very interesting historical town. Monday we visited the Bourke cemetery (another first for the trip), had a paddle ship ride, and walked the last virtical lift bridge in NSW. Thankfully we didn't add to the crime rate statistics. Evidence is that Bourke has always been a pretty wild old town. In the cemetery we located the graves of all three children killed at the Bourke children's picnic, two police killed by Captain Starlight and Prof Fred Hollows. 

The old Bourke bridge. 

An interesting observation of the 'Grey Nomads'. Each evening after the sun has gone down the Grey Nomads retreat to their Jayco cocoons not to be seen again until morning. Rarely one or two might escape the gravitational pull of the Jayco to make it as far as the ablutions block and straight back. This left the campfire to us hardier soles (Angela and I had it to ourselves). 

Tuesday was a run to Charleville via Cunnamulla and the first jump into QLD. Cunnamulla looked like a nice little town with lots of original Queenslander style houses. The bakery is for sale, let's see how things pan out; we might be back there yet! A highlight of our visit to Cunnamulla were the great coffees and milk shakes!

We are almost bush camping at Charleville, we have a nice site across a dry creek away from the Grey Nomads in the caravan park. 

More firsts on Tuesday. The first feral cat (feeding on some road kill), first mob of cattle being herded along the road (there must have been 4-500 PDF them) and better still the first day without a "I want to go home".   

Just some of the cows. All the girls were so excited.