Goodbye Charlottes Plains. We really enjoyed our stay. The bore baths looked quite spooky in the early morning with the mist coming off the hot water.

Ben and Maddie had to say one last goodbye to the farm animals.

We followed Katie’s van on the way back into Cunnamulla and again we saw lots of emus. Back in Cunnamulla we used their Dump point, filled up with lovely artesian water. The potable water was hot and we assumed it was coming straight from the town bore. Next stop was the servo to buy a couple of bags of wood for our campfires for the next couple of nights and we needed a gas bottle.

After leaving Cunnamulla we headed southwards. We had a quick stop at the NSW/Queensland border and we were very disappointed to find there was no rest area on the NSW side. There is one as you enter Queensland so people can hop out to take photos but there is none as you enter NSW. We just had to pull off the road. Poor form NSW.

Stopped in Engonnia for a toilet break. What a fabulous town sign they have. It’s made out of steel and I’m sure lots of people stop to take a photo with the sign.

We were back in red dirt country and between Ennognia and Bourke we saw lots of goats. We even saw a huge dead pig on the side of the road.

We arrived in the outback town of Bourke and, after crossing the Dalring River, called in to check out the Visitors Centre.

We drove into town and pulled up for a lunch break at the Historic Wharf area where there is parking for long vehicles. Again I made toasties for everyone.

Everyone was still keen to get some more K’s done so we traveled on towards Cobar. The biggest hazard was goats. Goats, goats and more goats. They were grazing on the green pick alongside the road and were very casual about traffic. They really didn’t take much notice of traffic at all.

Surprisingly we only saw two goats as roadkill. Obviously the goats go and sleep under the trees at night and it’s the nocturnal kangaroos that get hit by trucks. There were lots of those as roadkill. We even saw a feral tabby cat chewing on one.

Arriving at Cobar we stopped for a photo with the town sign. We hadn’t seen that one before as we’d always come into town from the southern entrance. Well done Cobar for your fabulous town signs.

We’ve camped at Cobar many times and we drove directly out to our favourite spot at the Old Resevoir. This is a fabulous free camp next to the old reservoir and the road to get there is all tar until you arrive at the res. Then it becomes a red dirt track. Evidence of the recent rains was in the huge potholes and gutters so it was slow going getting in. Council have still not put any gravel in the huge pothole near a big tree and it was full of water so we had to go around a tree as we’ve had to do before. It’s a well worn track around the tree now.

We found a great spot to set up camp next to the tree line where we were a little perfected from the biting cold wind. The boys set up their swags next to the van and close to the trees where they had no wind at all. Rich got a fire going.

I messaged an old school friend of our son, Michael, as Andrew lives in Cobar with his young family. I was pleased to get a response to say he was coming out to see us. Not long after he arrived dressed in footy gear and explained he coaches an Under 10’s Aussie Rules team. It was great to see him and catch up on his family news. He couldn’t stay long as he had to get to training, coach can’t be late!

It was Katie’s turn to cook and she cooked up a delicious chicken and mushroom casserole served with rice and we ate sitting around the little fire. We all talked about the last 6 weeks and what great adventures we’d had.