Uluru Vacation: Holiday Road. Day 3. Cobar to Broken Hill

After a night of ridiculous wind, which we had hoped we had left back in Albion Park, the van held together and the wind had gone by 6.00am, which was when I was woken up. The morning was glorious, and having gotten through a couple of key incidents in packing up the van we got out of town just after 8.00am.

 
The landscape changed immediately and the road was straight and long. We finally saw live kangas, along with a plethora of wild goats and even a couple of emus, though Helen amused us all by constantly missing them. I also perfected my “caravanning salute”, which is basically to wave at every car that passes us on outback roads. Many seem to use just the raised one or two fingers, but I have gone for the all-four finger salute leaving the thumb of the steering wheel.

We pulled into Wilcannia at 10.30am, and checked out the mighty Darling River, which currently isn’t so mighty. It’s a real concern when you see how low it is compared to the height of the bridge that crosses it. It was also amazing going over so many creeks that were bone dry, marked only by the gums that lined the sides waiting for the next rain to come. We filled up at Little Toper, and old fashioned outback outpost with the neighbours sheep out the front. The neighbour is ten kilometres away, but every time they take it home, it turns up again a few days later. It loved being petted.

We arrived in Broken Hill just after 1.00pm, 468km in under five hours. After putting up the van and lunch, we headed for Living Desert State Park, where we took the twenty minute walk up to the Living Sculptures exhibit at the top of the hill, and marvelled at the view all around. Magnificent.

 
Back to our van park where I conjured up butter chicken, and now to enjoy the evening with a few beers before getting ready for a full day around the town tomorrow.