Bourke to Pooncarrie

Thursday 13th October:
We left Bourke at 10:00 on our way to Louth with the intention of staying beside the Darling that night. We stopped at "Shindy's Inn" and each bought a very cold Tooheys Old and asked about camping along the river.

The publician gave us directions but neither north or south of the bridge on the western side were to our liking so we moved onto Tilpa on the western side passing Trilby and Kallara stations who both have camping along the Darling. We arrived and had lunch at the pub along with another cold "old" to quench the thirst before moving about 6 kilometres north on the eastern bank to camp at the Tilpa Weir. Camp #1066

Friday 14th October:

Weather forecasts were predicting rain for the next several days so we left the weir heading for Wilcannia on the eastern side. We found this section of the trip to be the most scenic. We stopped for coffee and a refuel at Wilcannia before taking the western route towards Menindee and our planned camp for the next three days at Lake Pamamaroo which lies sixteen kilometres NE of Menindee. We set up camp and erected our awning having to quickly pack it away because of severe winds racing accross the lake towards us. That night the heavy rain that was predicted arrived and we heard the next day that the road to Wilcannia was now closed. Camp #1138

Saturday 15th October:
Next morning the wind was still strong so we packed up and retreated to Pooncarrie and camped there next to the Darling where we were proctected by some river red gums about fourty metres away. Camp #1151

And showing the water mark on the gum from the latest floods:

After reading so much about the "Darling River Run" we were suprised that the only times you really get to see the river is when you cross from west to east or vice versa or if you camp beside it.