Hello everyone,
We are on our final day in Bourke. Got told at the info centre yesterday that all the roads down the Darling River Run are open to all traffic – yee ha – we will be doing our Darling trip after all.
The past couple of days we have been busily sightseeing. Went to the Back o’ Bourke Exhibition centre and into town to the {only working} Crossley engine and the historic wharf. Then back to the Kidman’s Camp for the ride on the PV JANDRA – paddleboat up and down the Darling. A very nice way to pass an hour in the afternoon. Apparently the river holds the record for 3’s. It moves at 3km and hour (even during flood) and the river bed drops 3 inches every kilometre {there was another 3 but I can’t remember it}.
The yellow mark up on the pole {up near the top of the tree} is where the water got to in the Feb 11 floods. I have been getting Darryl out for many walks. The walk to here from our van was about a kilometre each way but he enjoyed watching the birds and the fish in the billabong as we walked along.
Today we did four drive-yourself mud map tours. We visited the May’s bend campground
the brown mark on the base of this river red gum tree shows where the water got too.
We then did the Maritime tour and saw what is left of a PS Wave from 1921 – only the metal parts of the paddles remain. Apparently the Wave was stranded during a flood and the waters dropped dramatically overnight leaving the paddleboat high and dry. The captain remained with the vessel until he died many years later. There wasn’t a flood high enough to float the vessel whilst he was alive.
From there we went to the lock and weir. Sorry you really can't see the lock on the far side of the photo.....
We then went out to the Fort Bourke Stockade
Darryl in the Stockade
We have had lovely days with nice clear skies and cold breeze – except today where we went about in our shirt sleeves without a cardigan or vest……… with a minimum temp of 2.1 three days ago. Last night was 3.1 J J Today we got to a max of 18 degrees.
Tomorrow we head for Louth so am not sure what the internet will be like. Will send more when we are able to.
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