Towards Home

Leaving Dubbo just after 8 am, we took the most direct route along the Newell Highway, passing through Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, and Narrabri before turning northeast towards Bingara.
 
The drive through Mount Kaputar National Park with its steep and winding roads really tested the torque converter. At times, we had to downshift into third gear, but the auto transmission temperature never rose above 80 degrees, so we are very happy with those figures.
 
Bingara is one of our favourite spots to camp, and we have been visiting here for the past ten years. Unfortunately, the rise of Wiki Camps and Camps Australia means that more people have discovered just how wonderful it is to camp along the banks of the Gwydir River. In the early days, we almost had the place to ourselves.
 
We have always camped east of the bridge, with campsites stretching for many kilometres, but this is the first time we have camped north of the bridge and within the town area.
 
Camping is now permitted in three locations, all of which border the river. We camped in the largest area, just across the river from the golf course. It was the biggest of the three, and we were fortunate to find a great spot surrounded by trees and shrubs that provided us with some privacy.

Most of the other sites along the river offered no relief from the heat and were described by one of the campers as very hot, similar to camping in a caravan park.
 
Bingara is well known for experiencing poor weather, particularly storms with hail. One only needs to look at the roofs of all the houses to realise they are all new, even in the oldest homes.
 
On our second night, we thought we might experience one of their storms, given the dark sky to the northeast, but then it seemed we had missed it. Early the following morning, we were awakened by the most incredible thunder and lightning show, followed by heavy rain. Our thoughts turned to several years ago when our van needed a complete reskin after a hailstorm. Fortunately, this time we escaped, although areas further north did experience hail.

We had planned to stay four days, but with the pleasant weather and our lovely campsite, we extended our stay to the permitted seven days. We spent around $400 in town on diesel, groceries, visiting the bakery most days, and dining at the pub one evening while friends Deb and Hank were passing through on their way home.
 
After heading northeast along the road to Delungra, we joined the Gwydir Highway as we made our way towards Inverell and then on to Glen Innes, before descending the range between Washpool and Gibraltar Range National Parks.

Our campsite tonight is located at the base of the mountain, near the Cangai Bridge. As you cross the grid, you'll see a sign warning that the road ahead is unsuitable for caravans, but this only applies to the section after crossing the two bridges and reaching the camping area.
 
The area is quite expansive, offering views up the valley and along the Mann River. Unfortunately, once again, there were already eleven vans here when we arrived. However, it didn't really matter as we were just stopping for the evening before heading home. There are no facilities here apart from clean river water that can be used to fill your non-potable tanks. The nearest dump point is located at the caravan park in Jackadgery, where a fee of $5 is charged to empty your cassette.

Heading to Dubbo

Before reaching Burra, we had arranged to have our V8 twin-turbo 200 Series Landcruiser booked in with Stephan Richards in Murray Bridge, South Australia, to have a torque lock-up kit fitted.
 
While I was dropping off the car, another Landcruiser owner was having the same work done, along with an ECU and transmission remap. Of course, I had heard about having this done, but wasn't entirely sure about the benefits.
 
Stephan explained in simple terms what these involved and said that if I was interested in having both done together, we would get a $400 discount on the transmission remap. This was only possible because we had already installed a larger aftermarket exhaust. The rest is history.....

After the installation, Stephan took us for a test run, during which he explained the use of the switches. 

The auto lockup master switch on the left remains on at all times, and the right switch locks the torque converter at around 75 km/h. The converter remains locked until the vehicle slows below the unlock speed of just under 75 km/h. Consequently, our new fourth gear is now fifth, which reduces RPM and results in a slight decrease in fuel consumption of around 3 L/100 km.
 
To activate the low-speed lockup, press the right button, which will illuminate to show that it is active. The torque converter will automatically lock at 35 km/h and unlock below 30 km/h. When the low-speed lockup is active, the gears are also reduced, as if you were driving a manual transmission. 
 
This will be very helpful when towing our van over dirt roads with corrugations, where we previously saw our auto transmission temperatures increase considerably, sometimes reaching as much as 120 degrees.
 
Since completing the work, our auto transmission temperatures have stayed around the 66-degree mark, and the 4WD is now a completely different vehicle to drive. 
 
We are currently camped at Frog's Hollow, Lake Cargelligo. It is a ten-minute walk from town, but space here is quite limited. There is an area for three vans where they could park right by the lake, but after recent rains, it has become very muddy. The rest of the foreshore has large gum trees lining the lake, and one would have to be either very brave or rather reckless to camp under these. We are camped against the fence, but still have a view of the lake.

After spending three days camping here and purchasing food and alcohol at the local IGA to support the town that provides this free camp, we headed north.

 

Today's 92 km drive will take us to Condobolin. We found the road to be quite rough, narrow, and with broken edges on the bitumen, making some parts even narrower. I pulled over multiple times to avoid being showered with stones as the B doubles approached.

 

We are just over 3 km west of town, camped at Gum Bend Lake. It's a man-made lake built to commemorate Australia's bicentenary, and when full, it has a depth of 1.75 metres. A gold coin donation is appreciated for camping here, and we were more than happy to make a donation as we filled our tanks with their water.

 

There are hot showers and flushing toilets, but we prefer using our own. Unlike Lake Cargelligo, there are no lake views from the camping area. We enjoyed a few beers and lunch at the local RSL yesterday after buying some groceries at the IGA. It's a relatively large town, with a population of approximately 3,800 people. We planned to stay for three days, but no matter what repellent we used, we couldn't keep the flies away. 

As we headed towards Dubbo, we thought we might break up the drive, so we checked Wiki Camps and found Bogan Weir, 6 km west of Peak Hill. When we arrived, there were five other vans already camped there, and another arrived after dark. It's a large area, probably the size of two football fields, with only rubbish bins and phone coverage.

Just a short 75 km drive today towards Dubbo. We are staying at the Red Earth Winery, just south of town and near the southern border of the Western Plains Zoo. 

Camping fees are $15 per night with power and water, or just $5 without power, although you can still fill your tanks.

On our second day, we visited the zoo and spent the day cycling around the various enclosures. No trip to any zoo would be complete without spending a good amount of time with the incredible meerkats.

Historic Burra - South Australia

We have passed through Burra many times on our way to somewhere else, but we have never taken the time to truly enjoy it. On our trip south from the Flinders Ranges, we decided to stop and spend three days here, exploring the town and its surrounding area.
 
We camped at the showground for $15 per night. This fee included power, water, and a dump point and was located just 2 km north of the town.

It was the first surveyed mining town in Australia, and by 1851, it became Australia's largest inland town due to the discovery of the world's largest copper deposit.
 
Many of its historic buildings remain intact, offering visitors a glimpse into the past.
 
The information centre has a heritage passport. It cost us $50 with our senior concessions, along with a refundable $50 bond for a key that grants access to eight locked sites. Included is a booklet listing another 38 sites around town. It took us two full days to visit all the sites listed.
 
The open-cut mine produced 50,000 tonnes of copper, which in the early years was transported to Port Adelaide before being shipped to Wales for smelting and refining. In 1894, smelters were built near Burra to reduce the huge transport costs.

Some of the sites that require a passport and key include:
 
With the influx of people and the shortage of accommodation, the Miners' Dugouts were carved into the banks of Burra Creek, with an estimated 600 dugouts. A flood devastated the area, and by 1860, they were virtually deserted.

The Police Lockup and Stables were built in 1847, with the cells in use until the Redruth Gaol was constructed in 1856.

Redruth Gaol was built in 1856 and housed 30 prisoners, both male and female. It was later renovated after the prisoners were moved to another gaol and reopened to house girls, before finally closing in 1922. The 1997 film, Breaker Morant, was filmed there.

Located in Paxton Square, the row of 33 cottages was built from 1849 onwards. Malowen Lowarth Cottage has been furnished in the period.

Unicorn Brewery Cellars were constructed in 1873 and remained in operation until 1902. 

Hampton Township, built from 1857, housed up to 30 miners' cottages. The township also contained quarries that supplied the stone for many of the buildings in Burra. It was finally abandoned in the 1960s.

The town caters to travellers with numerous cafes and restaurants. We enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch at La Pecora Nera (The Black Sheep) and can highly recommend their wood-fired pizzas.

On the outskirts of town, this old homestead served as the cover for the Midnight Oils 'Diesel and Dust' album.