Day 29 Cobar to Menindee

We slept in this morning, I think the travelling that we have done over the last two days had caught up with us. Last night we caught up with Phil from Sydney, during our chat Phil let slip that it was his birthday! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL!.... thought you would get away with it didn’t you? Everyone feel free to send Phil a birthday wish via this blog. That is Phil Cahill if anyone is wondering...and no I won’t tell you how hold he is!!  Great to see you Drill Sergeant.

 Hey I have to share something with you all, not sure if many of you read the readers comments...... Last night my sister told us that her husband was in the spa at their new house & it was not working properly, now most of us would go & get the instruction manual and run through it, but my brother in law (Whom I won’t identify) said “Ill get Ness to have a look at it, she worked in the Spa industry for years!” Ness wet herself when she read this. Be there with my Spa toolbelt as soon as I can Brad...and yes I do take it as a compliment.

Today we travelled from Cobar to Menindee, again our travels were altered due to rain, normally you can cut across from Wilcannia to Menindee & it is about 120km of dirt road, but as this road was closed we had to travel to Broken Hill & then on to Menindee, an extra 150km & tomorrow we have to get back to Broken Hill..... See how much you mean to us Georgy & Russell. It was good to catch up with Brendan & Josh too, Brendan is happy because his mum is not his teacher this year & Josh I still want to buy your Holden!

 Man there is some water on the ground up here. There are mini lakes between Wilcannia & Broken Hill & on the road out to Menindee you can see where the creeks have been flowing & everything is green. The travelling that we have done the last month or so certainly adds perspective to the dialogue we hear on the radio when people talk about the drought & the possibility that it has finally broken in Qld & NSW.

We travelled through Wilcannia today, this town is very much like Walgett, most buildings have shutters over all windows & a lot of the houses are derelict & vandalised. Really quite disturbing to see.

 Hot chocolate report, had one at Cobar. I parked around the corner & Ness walked up the street to get our HC’s. After 15 minutes I was starting to wonder where she was, and another 10 minutes later she had still not returned! I was almost ready to go looking for her when she came around the corner. Apparently the girl in the coffee shop was extremely methodical in her coffee & HC making, she had a number of orders and would only do them one at a time, Ness said she felt like jumping the counter and doing them for her! Don’t go to Gecko Expresso if you are in a hurry..... Thanks for the recommendation Phil!

 Ness is doing a tapestry(crossstitch) while we drive, I personally question the logic of using a sharp needle whilst driving over crappy bumpy roads.... but I secretly smile every time we hit a bump and she accidentally pricks her finger, oh the things that amuse me! Next stop I am buying a thimble. 

 The road between Cobar and Broken hill is Soooooooo Booooooring. It is just the same thing over and over and over again, there is very little to see except puddles of water and the occasional bunch of feral goats or emu’s. Not a scenic drive at all.

 Had dinner with Georgia & Russell, Josh & Brendan. They are in their new house right on the river at Menindee. Water views & only 3km to town. Nice to see them, Ness showed Georgy all the wedding stuff & we had a good catch up.

 We spoke to Pete & Mary tonight, we compared travelling mishaps’ but I reckon we got off easy..... Pete & Mary went away for the weekend but had major vehicle problems. Wanna buy a cheap Land Rover Mary? Comfy, air con, going cheap???  Mary I am looking forward to catching up and hearing your side of the weekend adventures. P.S. The Land Rover really is for sale  ;)

 Tomorrow we will probably head into SA, I’ll have to get Vanessa to offload her fruit & vegetables....... Maybe they will take canned goods too & we can lighten the van by a couple of hundred kilos?

 Wildlife report today, 3 squashed lizards, 2 snakes & a squillion goats. Are these things a major problem in Australia? There are heaps out here. Also lots of emu’s.... but funnily enough we have not seen one roo since we came into NSW!

 Adeus – don’t drive with dodgy shock absorbers!

 James