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Route map and Rivers

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 Here is a map of our route.  We travelled just under 3000kms all up on this trip. One of the features of the route was the number of rivers we crossed. Well known rivers, all part of the massive Murray-Murrumbidgee-Darling River system, one of the largest river systems in the world. The river basin covers 1,059,000 square kilometres, approximately 14% of Australia's land mass.  The Murray River forms the border between the States of Victoria and New South Wales and ultimately runs out into the Southern Ocean in South Australia. If you look at the above map, the Murray River is along the bottom, above that is the Murrumbidgee River, then the Lachlan River. We also cross the Belubula River, a tributary of the Lachlan. North of the Lachlan River are the Bogan and Macquarie Rivers, both of which we crossed on our travels. Bogan River near Nyngan View of Murrumbidgee River at Hay Lachlan River Murray River at Gul Gul Crossing the Lachlan River near Eugowra Belubula River at C...
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Home to Canowindra

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  SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER We left early for the almost two hour drive to Lithgow, on the other side of the Blue Mountains. Stopped here for coffee at The Tin Shed café. What a great little spot. Very popular, we were lucky to get a table. Good coffee and a great slice of in house baked pear and raspberry bread. Yum! Next stop Bathurst only a short drive away but a decent place for an early lunch. And what a lunch it was! The Hub was a great find! Lovely people, good food, lovely atmosphere. Unfortunately, we were unable to sit outside in the gorgeous pergola covered area. As I suspected, it was good to be early. I did not know what time we would get there so did not book. Many had. Lots were turned away after we arrived. Onwards through a region showing signs of recovery after three years of drought. Rolling green hills, dams looking reasonably healthy after solid winter rains signs of hope for the farmers. We stopped at Blayney Wind Farm, built in 2000. We need more investment i...
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Canowindra to Lake Cargelligo

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  Sunday 13 September Sadly, our balloon flight, booked for early this morning had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. We had not allowed an extra night for such an unexpected event, so we will have to come out this way again. We adjusted our day as we were not ballooning. Eugowra was only 25 minutes away so after checking out some of the murals there, we had time to visit the site of the largest gold heist in bushranger history. Escort Rock is the site where bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall and others helped themselves to a haul of gold being transported from the goldfields to Sydney. 14,000 pounds worth of gold and money was taken by the bushrangers in 1862. The whole gang was eventually caught. Near the site of the Escort Rock hold up A distant sign marks the route the old road took past Escort Rock Eugowra has some lovely murals around the town but there is little else to offer visitors to the town to encourage them to spend. So we drove on to Forbes. ...
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Lake Cargelligo to Wentworth

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  Monday 14 th September The drive from Lake Cargelligo to Rankins Springs was quite scenic. Lots of areas of bush which was great to see. The occasional field of wheat, some canola. As we got closer to Rankins Springs we had hills on either side. Lots of purple Patterson’s Curse, yellow gorse and daisies were interspersed with pale green tall grass heavy with seeds blowing in the breeze – very pretty. A short stop in Rankins Springs at The General Store, where we had coffee and as everywhere, a warm welcome. They received a delivery of ice cream – ½ dozen boxes. The truck left just ahead of us. As we caught him up, we pondered the very real challenges of running a business in a small community. The distances to be travelled for such a small delivery are vast. It’s as plain as the nose on your face State and Federal governments are failing in this regard. We are far too city-centric and big business focussed. We have arrived in Red Dirt Country! The Patterson’s Curse has all b...
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