Bound for South Australia

Just 20 km after leaving Warren, we joined the Mitchell Highway at Nevertire, where they are constructing the most extensive solar array alongside the Mitchell Highway. There must be over a hundred people working on this project, judging by the number of cars parked there.
 
We refuelled in Nyngan at $1.49.7 after covering 976 km, with still another 60 litres remaining in the tank. We also purchased some technical screws to replace the rivets that had come loose on the strap securing the grey water tank tap to the van's chassis.
 
From here, we joined the Barrier Highway as we continued further west. We stopped briefly near the Florida Rest Area to gather some disused wooden railway sleepers lying beside the track. They make the most incredible coals, so we carved some up with the chainsaw.
 
Our plan before leaving home was to ensure we were parked for the evening by about lunchtime or soon afterwards each day. Today was no different, with a total of just 273 km.
 
Our drive took us further west towards Cobar, where we stopped briefly to stretch our legs before continuing for another 63 km to spend the evening at the Meadow Glen Rest Area. It's a large area, and being the first to arrive, we managed to get the best spot away from the highway and behind some trees.

By 5:30, another seven vans had arrived to spend the evening, and the road noise from passing trucks also diminished just after dusk.
 
Another relatively short day's drive today for our fifth day on the road, covering just 196 km to spend the night at the Victory Caravan Park in Wilcannia, where powered sites cost only $25 or $15 for unpowered. It's a very popular park, with over fifteen vans staying the night here.

So sad to see the level of water currently in the Darling River just behind the caravan park.

We have previously stayed at Warrawong on the Darling, but I find their fee of $28 for an unpowered site quite excessive, especially since we use all our own onboard facilities. We could have stayed at the rest area 15 km west of here, but it's relatively small and very close to the highway, and I imagine it would be pretty noisy with trucks passing throughout the night.
 
There has been considerable negative publicity circulating about spending time in Wilcannia, but based on our experience last night and on recent occasions, this criticism is unjustified.
 
Two of the lovely stone buildings in town.

Before leaving, we refuelled at the BP service station located in one of the back streets of town. It's usually fifteen cents a litre cheaper than the Liberty station on the highway in the centre of town.
 
We were now on our way towards Broken Hill. From here, the only thrill was where the road climbs over the Thackaringa Hills. Of course, there are no passing lanes here, but then again, there isn’t much traffic to contend with.
 
It wasn't long before we crossed into South Australia. Cockburn is situated almost directly on the border and is just inside South Australia. In its heyday, in the late 1890s, the population grew to over 2000, but today only 25 people live here. This once bustling railway town was where locomotives and crews would change.
 
The rest of our drive today was quite dull and featureless apart from the lovely railway station at Manahill. 

The countryside mainly consists of saltbush, with occasional trees lining some of the dry creeks.
 
Throughout our entire journey today, we have fought against severe north-westerly winds since leaving Wilcannia. The weather bureau predicted winds of 37 kph with gusts reaching 51 kph, and we can confirm that.
 
As we neared Peterborough, the heavens opened, and the temperature dropped to just 6 degrees by 3 pm.