Back o’ Bourke and Beyond

A travelling day today. The coldest morning so far. A clear night hidden early by the warmth of the campfire kept getting colder until –0.2 just before dawn. With sunrise at 7:25 it isn’t that hard to be up for dawn, temperature notwithstanding. Ninety minutes or so was plenty of time to make it to the south end of Ourimperee Waterhole and back.

There were plenty of birds making up the dawn chorus. The galahs and corellas congregate in flowering gums and proceed to defoliate them. That explains the carpet of fresh leaves and flowers underneath these trees. It doesn’t however explain just why the birds like to do this. They seem just as happy congregating in dead trees as well.

The morning squadron of pelicans went overhead again at 7:45 right on time. They also follow the same track and so I was rather south of them and can’t be sure of the numbers. Spoonbills and herons were active on the water and honeyeaters and others up in the trees.

After coming back for breakfast of toast from yesterday’s loaf of bread cremated in the camp oven, we said our goodbyes to our campfire mates a little before 11. Crossing the border at the Hungerford Gate, we were rather too late to make Bourke for lunch. We instead discovered the delights of Ford’s Bridge which seems to be a pub planning a State of Origin party for tonight, and an associated hall, Rural Fire Service shed and little else.

The road to Bourke is flat, gravel and largely good. There were few animals and the mulga broke occasionally to reveal grassy plains. Closer to Bourke came citrus orchards covered in fruit worth too little to be harvested and the start of the cotton.

We made a rather more successful visit to the Bourke wharf to discover that it is largely closed for maintenance, and is only a recreation of one of the originals. The view over the river was rather spectacular though, and gives some idea how impressive it must have been during flood times.

From Bourke it was only another hour into Gundabooka for our night. We’ll see what it has to offer tomorrow.