16th September – Wednesday
A cold night followed by a very hot and dry day, again around the 30 degree mark.
This morning we headed into the town of Bourke to check out the Information Centre. Bourke reminds us of Moree, in that most of the businesses have steel shutters or security grills over any windows and large security fences around car parks. There would appear to be a huge social problem in the town.
After checking the local attractions with the nice lady at the information centre, we headed out to the Darling River and the weir, together with the only lock on the Darling River. This lock is no longer in use, but has been left as a reminder of the paddle steamer traffic which plied the waterway. The water, of course, was the brown colour typical of the inland rivers we have seen in the last week.
We then set out to find a stockade built by Major Mitchell – the only fort ever built in Australia, supposedly. On the way we passed a HUGE irrigation dam to supply water to the cotton fields – this was only one of many in this large cotton-growing district. No wonder there isn’t much water left in the Murray/Darling system! We turned off the main road, drove through a gate and along a farm track for a few kilometres, along the top of a levee bank, through some scrub, past a billabong and eventually arrived at the site of the (replica) stockade. Such a small structure to be a fort! On the return, we headed down an even smaller track to get to the edge of a billabong – this also gave someone a chance to undertake some 4 wheel driving, albeit of a gentle nature. Lots of bird life on and around the billabong, which very quickly brought out the binoculars and bird book.
When we returned to Bourke, we stopped at the old wharf for a bit of a wander, also to look at the Crossler Engine which is started up each day for an hour. This engine was originally used to generate electricity in Sydney and after a varied career, has ended up in Bourke.
Too hot this afternoon to do anything!
A cold night followed by a very hot and dry day, again around the 30 degree mark.
This morning we headed into the town of Bourke to check out the Information Centre. Bourke reminds us of Moree, in that most of the businesses have steel shutters or security grills over any windows and large security fences around car parks. There would appear to be a huge social problem in the town.
After checking the local attractions with the nice lady at the information centre, we headed out to the Darling River and the weir, together with the only lock on the Darling River. This lock is no longer in use, but has been left as a reminder of the paddle steamer traffic which plied the waterway. The water, of course, was the brown colour typical of the inland rivers we have seen in the last week.
We then set out to find a stockade built by Major Mitchell – the only fort ever built in Australia, supposedly. On the way we passed a HUGE irrigation dam to supply water to the cotton fields – this was only one of many in this large cotton-growing district. No wonder there isn’t much water left in the Murray/Darling system! We turned off the main road, drove through a gate and along a farm track for a few kilometres, along the top of a levee bank, through some scrub, past a billabong and eventually arrived at the site of the (replica) stockade. Such a small structure to be a fort! On the return, we headed down an even smaller track to get to the edge of a billabong – this also gave someone a chance to undertake some 4 wheel driving, albeit of a gentle nature. Lots of bird life on and around the billabong, which very quickly brought out the binoculars and bird book.
When we returned to Bourke, we stopped at the old wharf for a bit of a wander, also to look at the Crossler Engine which is started up each day for an hour. This engine was originally used to generate electricity in Sydney and after a varied career, has ended up in Bourke.
Too hot this afternoon to do anything!
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