Chapter 2 - New South Wales

Chapter 2 - New South Wales

Day 3 - Thursday 15 June 2017                 >> Home Page & Intro

As was the trend so far this trip the day started chilly and foggy. I had slept like a log and missed my pre-sunup stroll.

It was to be a day of history and culture.

The morning was dedicated to Yanga National Park. 


Shirley in the Yanga Shearing Shed

 

Our first stop was the woolshed that did its last “shear” in 2005.  In its heyday the shed could shear 3000 sheep in a day resulting in up to 100 bales of wool – each one weighing around 140 kg.  The shed could accommodate the entire flock for one day.  The place would have been buzzing back in the day.  The Murrumbidgee River is around 50 meters away, allowing paddle steamers to be the main source of wool transport, before more modern options became available.



Shearing Blade Embedded in a River Gum Tree

In its prime the farm was nearly 200,000 acres and had an annual wool clip of 2000 bales.  As many as 95,000 sheep stocked the land.  There were also 350 acres of grain crops.

For entertainment the shearers would throw their (retired) shearing blades into a river red gum tree and try to stick it in the bark - as high as possible.  We saw at least two examples still in a tree.  It sounds like an unsafe tree to walk under - although we did.



Yanga Shearing Shed

 

The farm house was a (former) majestic building that sits beside the Yanga lake with water on three sides.  One can imagine how good it was when it was a working homestead.

Yanga Homestead

There are some local noises to return the home and shearing shed to their former splendour, for educational and other purposes.  For example the shearing shed could be a reception centre, and the homestead could be an educational base. However it seems that the holders of the purse strings have other ideas in mind.

First Emu for the Trip

Our trip to the homestead produced our first sightings of emu for the trip – even before we have seen a (live) kangaroo.

Portable Baby's Cot

We returned to Balranald and visited the local museum/goal where Ronald Ryan (many years later convicted of murder in Melbourne) was held for some time as a teenager after some light fingered activity.

Another small museum gave us some amusement as we pondered the portable baby’s cot that packed into its own suitcase.

A guided tour of the men’s shed, by a very friendly local, illustrated what lonely & bored men can achieve when given some tools and a target in life. I also picked up a couple of project ideas for myself.

After lunch we visited the shed/garage where some locals are building a replica of the “Southern Cross”, the plane flown by the famous Sir Charles Kingford Smith. At some time in his history Sir Charles landed the plane in Balranald. 

Next we visited a local art gallery where some excellent works are displayed.  At the moment the feature paining is a portrait by Anh Do, which won a “People's Choice 2015 Outback Art Prize”.  It is an excellent painting, titled Stranger at the Bus Stop.




Part of the Birdless Bird Walk 

Our last physical activity for the day was a 2 km walk through a bird sanctuary. It must have been siesta time as the only bird we saw was another emu.

Balranald is also a place visited by a number of early explorers.  Oxley ran out of interest only 20 km before he would have found the rich Balranald region. Burke & Wills, Major Mitchell and Sturt fared better as they moved through the area.

Day three was only 56 km, and very enjoyable.  The weather did not reach the warmth of the last two days.

Day 4 - Friday 16 June 2017 - Balranald to Hay

It was not quite so cold as we left Balranald, but the sun was absent.

Soon we saw the long term effect of our forebears, somewhat like what the Kelly’s did to the Wimmera.  Early explorers reported that the Balranald area was no good for grain crops as it was too heavily treed.  Sometime later settlers used a bullock team and a large roller to clear the trees, often as much as ten acres in a day.  From then on Balranald enjoyed the justifiable claim to be a very rich area for sheep and grain crops.  The Murrumbidgee River was a handy transport mechanism for moving the wool and grain crops.

However we now know that salinity is the big issue as grain and wool crops are depleted.  In addition to that the clearing of snags from the river, to allow paddle steamers to operate safely, unwittingly upset the eco systems of the rivers, as the broad spectrum of river life needed those snags to survive.  The fish population has never fully recovered.




Countryside between Balranald and Hay

So we travelled ENE to Hay and observed that the former rich plains were virtually sheep and crop free.  The salt bush is doing well.  The photo above gives you an idea of what we saw.

As we moved closer to Hay we saw lots of white “puff balls” on the side of the road.  These were little balls of cotton that had come from large bales of cotton that had been harvested locally.  Hay is apparently doing well with crops of cotton and rice.



Left - Bales of Cotton Ready for Transport      Right - Road Side Cotton

We checked in to the caravan park and went into tourist mode.  Our first stop was the railway station which now serves as a museum that explains Hay’s WW2 role as a POW camp.  Apparently Britain sent some of their “enemy aliens” and real POWs to Australia.  Many of these people were housed in camps in Hay.  Many of them remained in Australia after the war.  Click here for more details.




Hay Railway Station, Now a Museum & Offices



Heat Driven Fan

We then visited the goal museum which houses many of the relics of days past.  Different categories were housed in different cells in the goal.  I was intrigued by the “Heat Driven Fan”.

We did some shopping and then relaxed for a while.
 
Dinner was at a local pub within walking distance of the caravan park.  The T bone steak was superb.




Day 5 - Saturday 17 June 2017 - Hay

It was another chilly morning as we drove to "Outback Shear"- effectively the Shearers Hall of Fame.  We read all about the process of shearing, the politics of the shearing industry and we learned about a day in the life of a shearer.

"Outback Shear" Shearing Shed

We watched a sheep being shorn and had the process explained to us. The shearing shed had been moved (in recent years) from its original Murray Downs location, near Swan Hill. The shearer wears special moccasins that are comfortable, non-slip and minimise plant thorn from getting inside.

Shearers Moccasins

It was interesting to compare the cotton we found yesterday, with the wool we had access to today. From a distance they look the same.  Once you touch them the dry cotton is vastly different to the lanolin enriched wool. 

In addition the quality of cotton is roughly similar from one plant to another, whereas the wool from one sheep can be vastly different to another.  Things like breed, age, gender, location, local plant life, quality of feed and water all have an impact on the wool.

After lunch we paid our $2 and entered the Hay Merino Sheep Show.  It is the premier sheep event in this part of the world.  We saw some magnificent animals and watched a shearing demonstration using old time shears.

The photo below shows the comparison of the two types of tools that we saw demonstrated today.



Left - Modern Handset                  Right: Shears

A Magnificent Merino Ram

We have been impressed with both Balranald and Hay.  There are both tidy towns with an apparent strong community spirit.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Day 6 - Sunday 18 June 2017 – Hay to Cobar

It was about 5 degrees as we left Hay around 8:30 and headed north east.  At soon as we left town I enabled cruise control and enjoyed the ride.  It was such a flat road that all I did was steer for about 100 km. No change of pace, no change of gears.


Goolgowi Hotel - The Black Stump

Our arrival at Goolgowi forced me to take over as we turned left and headed north.  About 20 minutes later we stopped for morning tea at a little place called Merriwagga.  Folklore has it that the Aussie term “black stump” came from Merriwagga. Apparently according to the macabre tale, a drover and his wife were setting up camp for the night and the wife was organising dinner on the campfire as the drover was rounding up stray stock.  Apparently the drover's wife came to grief in the fire and by the time the drover returned she was (in the drover’s words) “just a black stump”.


Golf Hole at Mount Hope

Anyway the local pub trades on that story.

As we moved back on to Kidman Way (the name of the highway) we were blessed with a slight tail wind and more easy driving ensued. 


We stopped for lunch at Mount Hope (of which it has little) and I chuckled to see the golf course, particularly the holes.  There was no putting green as such, just part of a metal drum with holes. That golf hole is complete when you get your ball inside the metal drum, either via flight or through any of the holes.

Our superb driving conditions continued, all the way to Cobar.  We arrived about 2:30, with the temperature about 18 degrees.  Around 420 km for the day – our longest day yet.


I had to take another photo of one of my favourite towns signs.  See below.

We set up camp and then went for a walk in to town.  I cooked some damper to go with our home made soup.

Damper

Day 7 - Monday 19 June 2017 – Cobar to Cunnamulla (QLD)

As John Fogerty would sing, “Déjà vu – All over again”. Again, 5 degrees, and sunny and ideal driving conditions as we left Cobar just after 8 am.  Again cruise control was enabled and I just sat back with the Sudoku.  Only joking but driving was that easy.  The road was so straight that I did not need to steer around corners. The main issue was boredom.  Boredom got so bad that Shirley starting knitting.



Road to Cunnamulla, heading north

The land north of Cobar seemed to be a rich cotton growing area.  There seemed to be plenty of irrigated land. However the quality of the landscape soon deteriorated.


We passed through Enngonia, mainly known because of a local identity “Captain Midnight” - bushranger.  Shirley was impressed that the only thing that seemed “alive” in town was the mobile coffee stand on the edge of town.  She was less impressed when she realised that I was not going to stop.

Not long after we crossed in to Queensland (QLD) and moved further north.  The land became even poorer as the most popular animals seemed to be emu, goat and kangaroo.  I was able to get a photo of a bird of prey who was waiting for us to leave the site of his/her lunch.

Land on the Queensland side of the border

Around 2:30 we arrived in Cunnamulla. After seeking road advice (into Birdsville) from the information centre we booked into the Warrega Riverside Caravan Park.

Our trip today was around 415 km.

Around 4:30 we accepted our hosts invitation and joined the party at the campfire beside the river Warrega.  Shirley is immediately left of the tree in the blue-backed chair in the photo below.



Campfire beside the Warrega river

It was a pretty spot and a pleasant three hours.  Shirley got talking to a lady from Tamworth and gleaned some information for our trip to that town next year.

By the time Shirley took me home and cooked dinner the fire looked like the photo below.

This posting is complete.  Please come back to read about Queensland in Chapter 3.

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