Rivers, roads: Narrabri to Mungindi: total distance to date 1987 kms

Left Narrabri early and drove north across the vast plains with the backdrop of the Nandewars on our right (east) for quite some time.  At a little one horse, big silo village named Gurley, where there were tarred shoulders to the road, Chris pulled over to let a road train pass.  (Good advice: always let the road trains pass.  They're too big to fight with and often side-swipe vehicles, especially caravans, which are a bit wider than the average vehicle.) As he started off again, I noticed something like a long ribbon in front of us.  At the last moment it wriggled and I realised it was a big snake.  I think the car and caravan passed over it, but I'm not sure.  Chris didn't even see it. You don't expect to see a snake crossing the road in town, even in such a small town.

The road to Mungindi almost bypasses the town of Moree, so we didn't see the shopping centre this time, but found a lovely riverside park next to the road.  The Mehi river was flowing well, looking pretty rather than formidable, but you could see from the flood debris in the trees how high it had been not so long ago.

                                          Enjoying a cuppa at Moree

                           Look at the trees across the river, note the debris caught on branches.

                                           Mehi river, Moree

                                         was this the driveway in the old days?  Moree Park

A bit further down the road we crossed the Gwydir river, which probably caused most of the problems.  The road to Boomi is open only during daylight hours, and they advise caution on the road to Mungindi, which we were taking.  There were a few rough spots along the way, nothing too bad, until we were nearer our destination, then there were some startling washaways where the shoulder was as much as a metre below the road, and in one spot the road itself had collapsed.  Unmanned roadwork traffic lights were managing the traffic.

Not that there was a lot of traffic, except for road trains.  We passed a cotton mill at Ashley, just out of Moree, and then a constant stream of road trains bearing cotton bales as oncoming traffic.  Cotton used to be freighted in cages, with a lot of waste blowing about the roads, but it's now baled in round yellow plastic bales similar to hay bales.  A road train carries two trailers each with 6 bales.  They must weigh a lot as they're tightly packed and quite large.

Mungindi is not exactly a one-horse town, but there's not a lot happening here.  A little supermarket, a newsagent, couple of cafes, a gift shop, police (2 of- more later) ambulance, a servo, and a few agricultural suppliers.  A central school (pre-school to high), a Catholic primary school, couple of churches, nice memorial hall, and a really good swimming complex, which has both hot and cold pools.

It's been very hot again today- over 35 we think, so we tried out the pools.   It's a very nice complex, with lawns, some shade over the children's pools, but not over the olympic pool or the hot artesian one, which was 39 degrees, like a nice hot bath, so you don't stay in too long.  And who should we bump into in the pool but the very same father and young adult son who we'd met in Pilliga pool several days ago!  What a small world.  We each travelled in different directions for several hundred kilometres but ended up in the same place again.

It was very refreshing to go first into the hot pool then into the cooler (25 degree) olympic pool, and back into the hot one again. I was befriended by 7 yr old Emily, who told me she's going to visit Grandma in Newcastle in 3 days. She was very surprised when I said I lived in Newcastle.

The caravan park is really just a block of land with a few trees, a few concrete slabs and a very basic (though clean) amenities block.  A sign tells you to pick a spot and settle in, and the manager will catch up with you later.  He's here now chatting to Chris and has just said we are the only holiday makers here, everyone else in the park is working in the area, some of them from overseas on working visas.  They can easily find work on the farms, apparently.  Lots of cotton farms in the area.

As for the two police stations, this is the Queensland border, and across the bridge is a Qld police station- but unmanned.

Insects have been plaguing me all the way.  In Toorawheena it was March flies, which caused a severe reaction so I had to buy anti-histamine.  Ever since then it's been tiny little flying things, almost invisible, which just love me, especially my feet, which itch badly afterwards.  While Chris relaxes outside the van in the evening (he's impervious) I retreat inside with the air conditioning.

Easter Sunday:  Happy Easter, everyone.



1987 kms