Pat and Junko's Travels in 2003

In September 2003, Junko and I take a week off and spend it driving across the width of New South Wales to the mining town of Broken Hill.

Sat 20 Sep 2003 : Sydney to Bathurst and Dubbo

Depart Sydney early and head over Bells line of road across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst. Here we take "TAZ", the Toyota Corolla on an obligatory lap of the Mount Panorama racing track which will be thronged with Ford and Holden fans for the Bathurst 1000 two weeks later. After lunching under cherry blossoms we press on through golden and pungent fields of canola toward the city of Dubbo where we camp beside the river.

Sun 21 Sep 2003 : Dubbo river cruise, Dundullimal Homestead and Mars Observatory

Mon 22 Sep 2003 : Western Plains Zoo. Drive Dubbo to Cobar

We go visit the "Western Plains Zoo" where wild animals from around the world relax in wide open spaces. It is thrilling to see these animals up close and personal including the giraffes who eat carrots from Junko's excited hands. However, it is the tiny Meerkats standing on their hind legs to view the world which captivate us most.

Departing Dubbo, we drive through the nothingness to Cobar, along roads of unvarying straightness. We camp for the night in Cobar where the winds are even wilder and hotter that those of Dubbo and which require us to tie the tent to the car to prevent it being flattened.

Tue 23 Sep 2003 : Cobar to White Cliffs

We awake to a calm morning with the tent happily intact. We have another long drive ahead of us to the remote opal mining settlement of White Cliffs. On the way be pass the town of Wilcannia; this could probably be re-named "Don't stop in Wilcannia" as this is the advice given by every traveller we meet on the road. It seems like harsh advice given what a pretty town it appears to be, but the crowd of people standing around the petrol station made us err on the side of caution.

In White Cliffs we stay in an underground motel which is deliciously cool and gives us respite from the 42 degree which had afflicted the town the day before. We take a drive around the opal fields, which are much like those I had seen years earlier in Coober Pedy, South Australia, with the landscape littered with heaps of spoil and abandoned holes waiting to trap the careless walker. On our way home from dinner at the General Store we stop to admire the utter darkness in this remote corner of the world.

Wed 24 Sep 2003 : White Cliffs to Broken Hill

On the road we see what I think is called a "Shingleback" lizard, but which we refer to playfully as a "two-headed" lizard, since both ends look similar. We also encounter a feisty snake on the road which does not tempt me to leave the car. We drive to the city of Broken Hill which was made wealthy by the minerals pulled from the ground beneath it over the past 140 years. The mine now employs only a fraction of the people that it did in its heyday, but is being reborn as a home for artists of all types; we get the chance to admire some of their work in a desert sculpture park as the sun sets.

Thu 25 Sep 2003 : Broken Hill, Silverton, Mungo National Park

25 miles north west of Broken Hill is the ghost town of Silverton which is regarded by many as the last outpost of humanity before the wide inhospitable spaces of the true outback. It has also become a home to artists who apparently "love the light" out here. We stop for a drink at the tourist trap "Silverton Hotel" which once catered for the needs of thirst hordes of miners but now serves as a favoured location for movies such as "Mad Max".

From Silverton we have a very long and tough drive back to Broken Hill and on through hundreds of kilometres of dirt roads to Mungo National Park where we arrive late and have to set up camp in the darkness.

Fri 26 Sep 2003 : "Walls of China" at Mungo N.P. and on to Hay

From Mungo N.P. we surf along another few hundred kilometres of rutted dirt road which definitely push the Toyota Corolla to its limits before we finally rejoin civilisation and sealed roads at Balranald and onwards to the town of Hay where we camp on a very cold night.

Sat 27 Sep 2003 : Hay to Cowra

Our destination today is Cowra, which is famous at the location of a Japanese POW camp during WWII, where many lives were lost during a failed breakout; it has since become a focus of Japanese-Australian ties and is the home of a beautiful Japanese Garden and a solemn war cemetery. It is a lovely little town and a great place to spend our last night away from the big Smoke of Sydney.

Sun 28 Sep 2003 : Cowra to Sydney

Junko at Mount Panorama motor racing track in Bathurst	Spring cherry blossoms in Bathurst	Thistle amidst the golden Canola fields near Orange	Cows at Macquarie river near Dubbo	Sheep near water pump at Dundullimal homestead, Dubbo	Young giraffe stretches to eat off the ground at Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo
Up close and personal with mother giraffe during feeding at Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo	"Let's go roll in the mud again?"; African elephants	African deer have a minor disagreement	Gibbons swing for their lunch, accompanied by deafening but hilarious whooping noises	Experimental solar power station at the remote mining community of White Cliffs	Shingleback lizard near White Cliffs
Snake on the road near White Cliffs; picture taken from INSIDE the car.	Sculpture near Broken Hill; this remote mining city has now become a Mecca for artists	Pub in ghost town near Broken Hill, used in the making of many Australian movies	"mini-Junko" on giant seat at Broken Hill mining centre	Bizarre alien creature stalks the moon-like sands of Mungo National Park	Junko wearing essential accessory in fly-haven Mungo N.P.
0.01% of the flies milling around us at Mungo N.P.	Wild flower paradise at Mungo N.P.	Canned Irish Stew provides food AND light at camp site in town of Hay	Inquisitive possums and Pocahontas; Hay, NSW	Australian road hazard; the Junkoroo	"Well it seemed like a good idea at the time"; Japanese POW memorial bell at Cowra
Japanese Garden at Cowra	Wind turbines and water dam near Cowra	Roadside sandwich painting near Cowra; and it tasted good too!	Lichen on tree near Cowra	A well-earned rest near Cowra after 3000km of outback driving