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| campsite at Yelarbon, Qld |
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| Yelarbon railway station 100 yrs old |
After having 4 great weeks on the Gold Coast we knew it was time to head off on the next part of our journey.
Just as well we did leave on Saturday 21st as heavy rain and flooding occurred a few days later and we might not have been able to get through.
While travelling we found that quite a few of the roads had been flood damaged from a few weeks before so had to be extra careful. However, it doesn't seem to slow the trucks down. The weather has been a lot cooler up here in Queensland/NSW than we expected, unlike the southern regions which have been sweltering in high temperatures.
We are only travelling short distances every day, no more than 200 kms so taking it nice and easy. One of our stops was at a place called Yelarbon, very quiet with a quaint little camping ground. A 100 yr old railway station had been shifted there (see above photos).
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| Gwydir camp ground 25m pool |
Moree is a favourite spot of ours as we stay at the Gwydir Caravan Park where there are some lovely thermal hot pools. First day it was nice to get into the hot water as the air temp as cool, which is amazing here in northern NSW this time of year. Highest pool temp is 29deg and there is also a 25m cool swimming pool, so we loved it here. A comment from a fellow nomad "don't you ever stop moving" referring to us, walking, jogging, cycling, swimming.
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| Original DC3 mounted outside restaurant near campground |
On Australia Day 26th January, we took off west towards Lightning Ridge and stopped overnight at a basic camp site outside of Collarenebri and went for a bike ride around the small township. No one was around except for a few people celebrating at the local pub. Interesting to see all shop windows with shutters down.
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| Collarenebri campsite |
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| Friendly NSW police |
We went looking for the Weir along the river and in our naivity we rode into an Aboriginal community and noticed two policemen visiting 'clients' at a house. Nigel was happily waving at the locals while Carol, very uneasy, was peddling out of there fast. Police caught up with us as we were riding back and stopped us to have a chat. We thought they were stopping us for not wearing helmets but they informed us we hadn't done anything wrong but wanted to wise us up on the hazards of entering Aboriginal communities. They were quite astonished to see white cyclists riding past and couldn't believe our luck at being there at the same time as them. 'Divine protection'?
We were grateful for their advice and will be more cautious and aware in the future.
The next morning we noticed large dog or dingo footprints all around our campsite. Just as well we didn't hear anything.
Lightning Ridge was our next destination. This is a very interesting opal mining area. It is the only area where the black opal is found. It rained most of the two days we were there, with temps quite low barely making it to 21 deg. Hardly anyone in the caravan park again, as this is their low season. We did put the heater on in the car on our way to the artesian thermal pool. We were expecting hot sunny weather with temps in the 30s/40s so it was good to soak in the hot thermal pool 41.5 deg, in the rain. The water which flows into this pool is pumped up from about 1,200 m from the underground artesian water table. The pool is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is "free". Worth a trip here.
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| Lightning Ridge Artesian pool |
The next day it started off a bit brighter so we did a tour called 'Chambers of the Black Hand. We were taken down into a mine and viewed 500+ carvings in the sandstone.They are done by one of the miners for a hobby and he is still doing it today. He is 71 yrs old. The sculptures were fantastic. Then we went further down in the mine where mining is still being carried out today for opals. We learnt how opals are formed and then mined which was very interesting. When we emerged up from the mine it was pouring with rain again so we decided to leave Lightning Ridge and head towards Bourke (back o' Bourke) in the NSW outback.
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| deep down the mine |
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| Buddha under construction |
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| some of the sculptures |
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| hard hats compulsory |
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| just like an Egyptian |
To be continued
Moree is a favourite spot of ours as we stay at the Gwydir Caravan Park where there are some lovely thermal hot pools. First day it was nice to get into the hot water as the air temp as cool, which is amazing here in northern NSW this time of year. Highest pool temp is 29deg and there is also a 25m cool swimming pool, so we loved it here. A comment from a fellow nomad "don't you ever stop moving" referring to us, walking, jogging, cycling, swimming. 
Lightning Ridge was our next destination. This is a very interesting opal mining area. It is the only area where the black opal is found. It rained most of the two days we were there, with temps quite low barely making it to 21 deg. Hardly anyone in the caravan park again, as this is their low season. We did put the heater on in the car on our way to the artesian thermal pool. We were expecting hot sunny weather with temps in the 30s/40s so it was good to soak in the hot thermal pool 41.5 deg, in the rain. The water which flows into this pool is pumped up from about 1,200 m from the underground artesian water table. The pool is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is "free". Worth a trip here.
