More Outback Adventures

Day 70  Broken Hill to Mutawintji National Park

Before leaving Broken Hill today we visited the Royal Flying Doctors Service.  It was fascinating to learn about the history of this service and the clever visionaries that developed it.  We never fully comprehended the special role it plays until today.

We got to hear a re-enactment of a call from 'Maggie' about her injured husband...

...read all about the service, including some funny things...

...and see the planes (worth $8 million each)...

Unfortunately the visit wasn't a highlight for Mitch.  For reasons we still don't know, while we were watching a film, he started to become delirious and looked like he was going to faint.  We quickly took him outside where he vomited and was looking very pale.  Ironically there were no doctors around to check him out, so he had a rest in the car while we all finished having a look around.

Following lunch, we headed on towards Mutawintji National Park.  The road was mainly red dirt, leaving a nice coating on both the car and van... 

For a dirt road it wasn't too bad but there were plenty of dips to keep an eye on.

We arrived at the national park quite late, but there was a terrific camp oven pit so we got the fire going to cook dinner.  There were also some other kids staying at the park, much to our little people's delight...

It's a nice spot, the worst part being the really huge rock prickles that are everywhere.  They are the size of a a 5 cent piece and don't tickle.

Day 71  Mutawintji National Park to White Cliffs

Today was Mother's Day so I woke up to some nice cuddles, kisses and a couple of lovely gifts (more cookbooks, chocolates and body cream).  Once the annual recognition of my consistent selfless devotion to my family was complete, we headed off to explore Mutawintji a little closer.

The first part of the walk could be ridden on bikes, much to the kids delight...

We parked the bikes underneath a rock hanging that had some aboriginal art.  There was the Clever Stick Man, a "Groonki Mark", and some hand stencils...

 

...tally marks...

...and  there was also a mark from William Wright...

From here we walked along a dry creek bed with our walking sticks...

There were towering rock walls on either side, lots of fabulous native plants and plenty of 'roo' poo (although we only saw one today).  The scenery was breathtaking...

There was a rock loop walk that we took...

...and we saw more aboriginal art.  This time it was the Crack Men...

We climbed up over the rocks to give us a view of some rockholes and when we reached the top we had a spectacular view of the area and rock gorge...

Then of course there was the walk down, but we're professionals at this now...

Once we finished the walk it was back to the van for a quick lunch and pack up before heading off to White Cliffs.  The road was all dirt this time and pretty hard going with the van.  Lots more dust to add another layer of colour...

The kids met up with their friends from Mutawintji again when we arrived (which was late again) so ran themselves ragged. 

Day 72

Off to explore White Cliffs this morning.  It is an opal mining town where people primarily live underground because of the heat which can be extreme during summer months.  It's a bizarre place as you could imagine and not terribly scenic.

First of all we checked out an underground house and mine called PJ's.  There was the house, all pretty normal except for the white concrete walls...

...and shafts to the top for light...

...then the mine which is still being worked by the owner 'to keep fit'...

Here we are on 'top' of the house...

We then went for a drive around the mines.  There are still plenty of them being worked either mechanically or by hand...

The miners leave mounds of white rocks and holes all over the place as they move from spot to spot on their lease.  Makes for a very unique landscape and you need to be careful where you walk...

To relax in White Cliffs, it is possible to have a game of golf, although it does put a whole new spin on the word 'green'...

But they do provide your own piece of turf to use if required...

After exploring for the day, it was time for a spot of outback baseball...

...and trains...

Day 73  White Cliffs to Nyngan

It was time to bid farewell to the outback today and start our trek back East.  We did get up in time to see a beautiful outback sunrise though...

By the time we were packed and ready to leave, the wind had really picked up in White Cliffs so we were glad to be on our way.

Once on the road we settled in for a day of driving hoping to get as close to Coonabarabran as possible.  However, fate had other ideas and we got our first (and hopefully only) flat tyre for the trip...

It took about an hour to change, no mean feat with a caravan attached to the car and not a lot of room on the side of the road.  This meant we had to stop in Wilcannia for not only fuel, but for a tyre repair too.  Unfortunately the tyre was not repairable and we had to buy a new one.  No doubt we paid above the regular price, but we were thankful the flat occurred where it did and not in some of the other places we had been in the last few days.  That could have meant travelling without a spare and would have caused a little angst.

To make up time, lunch was in the car prepared on my lap - gourmet sandwiches all round!  We made it to Nyngan right on dark and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the van park was.  An unexpected little gem with animals for the kids to feed, a playground and cubby houses.