It was not the traffic on the roads that kept us awake at any part of the night but the temperature. We have been spoilt by the warmer northern temperatures over the past few weeks and the blankets had been packed away, however 4 degrees before day break was just too much to handle. When Chris got up at about 5 am, I mumbled instructions for him to retrieve one of them, and then snug under the weight we slept to a slothful 8.30 am. I do believe I heard the thump of a passing kangaroo at some stage and know that I heard the refrigeration unit on a truck parked up for a while. But for all that, we were pretty happy with our choice of camp.
As we drove due south on the Kidman Highway, we were pleased that the
strong southerly winds of yesterday afternoon had abated somewhat. Along much
of the 120 kilometres we travelled we encountered great herds of goats, in even
greater numbers than the sheep. It would appear they are actually bred and
farmed rather than just roaming free as they do in parts of New Zealand. The
landscape along the roadside was lovely; bright yellow flowering punty bushes
and a hundred other species of trees and shrubs shielding any barren plains.
We arrived at Cobar before lunch time, having climbed from Bourke’s 100
metres ASL to 250 metres ASL. The climb had been so gradual it was a surprise
to learn that we were that much higher than the morning’s location. The Darling
River flows south west of Bourke, so here at Cobar, we are far from any
significant river. The water supply for the town is piped in from Nyngan 135
kilometres to the east. We should treat every litre like gold!
It is gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc that gives the life to
this town of about 5,500 folk, apart from the surrounding pastoral industry.
Cobar today produces more minerals than Broken Hill although it was not so when
Broken Hill was at its peak. The town is so different to those travelled
through over the past week. Gone are the barricades over the shop frontages and
gone are the languid layabouts. It seems that everyone works here and everyone
is most welcoming.
We stopped initially at the Information Centre which doubles as Great
Cobar Heritage Centre on the site of the former Great Cobar Copper Mine in the
grand administration building. Cobar is an RV Friendly Town and we had expected
to stay overnight on one of the designated overnight parks, however armed with
even more documentation than normal, we realised that we would do well to stay
at least a couple of nights here to do the place justice. This decision was also
driven by the desire to watch another rugby test, this time between the
Wallabies and the Pumas. And so we checked in here to this absolutely lovely
caravan park, the only commercial one in town. There was a line of caravans in
front of us at the office, and another line followed us in. In fact there must
have been fifty who arrived over the course of the afternoon. The sites are
large and everything about the park is just fabulous including the apostle
birds, gulahs and honeyeaters who met us on site, but the tariffs are
disgusting. Here we are in the middle of the outback and they are charging $32
for the first night and discounting heavily to $29 for the second. They have a
captive market and are making the most of it. We were considering asking for a
senior or CMCA discount, however it would have made no difference whether we had
stayed or not. There are plenty of takers!
During the afternoon we wandered back into the town and on out past the
Information Centre from where we could see evidence of the town’s industry, and
then back up to camp. We found Melody and Doug from the Crossley engine site
already here; they had stayed in a more southerly rest area identical to our
own, and are here for a couple of days. Hopefully we will catch up with them
over coffee tomorrow and share more travel stories.
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