Cobar and Warrawong on the Darling (near Wilcannia)

It was when we pulled out of Gulargambone that we really commenced our journey westward towards home back in Adelaide.  Almost all of the remaining 1,300 kilometres across NSW and SA would be on the Barrier Highway.

Rather than make a mad dash home we took a more leisurely approach and spread the journey over 6 days and 5 nights.  In this blog I will describe the first two days and nights.

First overnight stop was at a pleasant free camp site called Newey Reserve in the town of Cobar.  Cobar is home to about 5,000 people but as it was a Sunday when we rolled into town, it was very quiet and seemed much smaller.  The town was established to support mining and pastoral activities in the area.  That mining has been and still is a big part of the town’s economy is obvious as soon as you approach the town from the east.  A mining scene adorned with very large letters spelling out COBAR makes it clear that you have arrived in a mining town.

Just in case you don't know where you are - Welcome to COBAR!

After securing a position for the caravan on the shore of the Newey Reservoir we drove about town to what there was to see and stopped at the grocery store in town for some supplies (and to support the local economy in appreciation for the free camp sites provided), then it was back to camp for a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

The following morning we hit the road again and drove about 260 kilometres further west to a caravan park called ‘Warrawong on the Darling’, just a kilometre out of the town of Wilcannia.  The place has powered and unpowered sites as well as 'bush camping' sites further out on the property.  We chose a bush camping site on the bank of a nearby billabong as our patch of ground for the night.
 

Nothing like a seat beside the campfire as the sun goes down!

After setting up for the day and night, which comprised nothing more than parking on a level piece of ground, un-hitching the caravan from the ute and switching it to gas and solar power, we took a drive on some of the property roads to check out a very large and very old River Red Gum tree on the bank of the Darling River.

 

‘Big Red’ as it had been dubbed is over 11m in circumference and has been determined to be about 500 years old.  Heather, ever alert for a metal detecting opportunity with real potential, promptly got her metal detector out of the truck upon arrival and took a quick swing around the base of the giant. 

Heather was dwarfed by 'Big Red' as she searched for lost treasures!

At over 500 years old and 11m around the base Big Red is a mighty tree!

The 'opportunity with real potential', for those that don't know what I am talking about, arises from the fact that big old trees along the banks of rivers were often used as shady resting spots or campsites by passers-by.  Whenever they sat down and/or got up from a fallen branch or root beneath the tree, often was the case that a coin would fall out of their trouser pocket (same thing today when you sit down or get up off of the couch)!  An old silver sixpence or shilling or maybe even a gold sovereign is what Heather was hoping to find.  Unfortunately, Big Red was giving up nothing from her past that day and Heather returned to camp empty handed.

 

Although other campers and caravanners had made a similar choice to set themselves up on the edge of the billabong, it was a large waterhole so our nearest neighbour was at least 200m away.  With that sort of separation we were able to enjoy the serenity of the bush and enjoy a 'Sundowner' while watching the pelicans hunt for their evening meal.  As the sun dipped further below the western horizon the light from our campfire became ever brighter.  Not long after that the stars came out to play... in case you hadn't guessed by now, we really like camping out in the bush!

 

 

Watching the pelicans out fishing in the billabong at sunset

When I next put pen to paper (so to speak), we will likely be within a day’s drive of home.  Stand-by to read all about what we come across as our WTF? – Where are The Farrows? Darling River Run adventure draws closer to its conclusion.