First break away since Covid19 with my previous trip overseas was a 30 day Trans Pacific cruise in December 2019.
CV19 has forced us to look at what is in our backyard. As most countries around the world, Australia does not allow us to leave our country. Not such a bad thing when you have this beauty nearby.
Avoca Beach
With our low rates of CV19 most of our country has opened up for Easter. Queensland has caused a bit of panic with 2 clusters shutting down the Greater Brisbane area and the Byron Bay area of NSW is under some restrictions but on the whole we finally have some freedoms.
Avoca Beach is 1.5 hours from Sydney in an area known as the Central Coast of NSW with 40 beaches.
Five minute drive down the road is Copacabana Beach. Not to be confused with the one in Rio de Janeiro, which I have been to several times. This Beach has no crime, no oil slicks, no crowds, no high rise. It does have clean sand and surf, surfing, fishing and a slow beach lifestyle.
Copacabana Beach
Spoon Bay
We stopped in a town called Kurri Kurri and discovered the Big Kookaburra
Big Kookaburra
Kurri Kurri was a mining town and the town depicts some of its history with murals throughout the town
I left Griffith at 9:00am and arrived home at 4:00pm. On Thursday 18 April 2019 I left work at Rozelle and started this road trip to the Outback. I have completed 2,800 kilometres (1,740 miles) in 9 days. I am very pleased with what I have seen on this trip. I was actually more frightened doing this trip than the USA road trip. Here in Australia we have very remote areas which I did not experience in the USA. There are not as many vehicles on the road and I was without GPS and phone reception for 2 days at one stage. Not even the hotel I stayed in at White Cliffs had any internet. Lots of rough roads, water over the roads in areas which had the first rain in 2 years, quirky characters in the remote roadhouses along the way, magnificent colours of landscapes which change from dry red earth of Broken Hill, pinks of the open mine in Cobar, to the lush green of Mildura, the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and the beautiful grazing land of the Riverina.
The last couple of stops were firstly Barellan, a small country town of 390, the home of Wimbledon Champion Evonne Goolagong, with a giant tennis racquet in her honour.
Of course it is defined by its pub, the Commercial Hotel.
Temora is known as the friendliest town in NSW and famous for their air shows. I didn’t see any air shows but here is one of their pubs and one of their churches.
People think I am crazy doing this on my own, but I am enjoying solo travel so much. It is exciting and addictive, as it gets the adrenaline and endorphins pumping. The more I travel the more I take in and want to explore the smaller towns. I would do so much more in each town if I planned differently, but I didn’t give myself much time to plan as I decided to do this trip a few days before I left.
I have audio books which keep me entertained and awake and thank my local library for providing this free service.
Home now and ready to go back to work until I go off on another odyssey.
As I approached to stop at Hay, I decided to go through to Griffith. Griffith has a colourful history with a large Italian population who influenced the area’s wine, fruit and vegetable industry. I had dinner at the Griffith Returned Services Leagues Club and had this pumpkin soup in a bowl as big as a basin.
This Fairey Firefly aircraft is a monument outside the Griffith Returned Services Leagues Club.
Next time I go to Griffith I will take a walk around the Hermit’s Cave area.
I arrived at the most western town in New South Wales, Broken Hill. The reason I decided on this road trip. From White Cliffs I had to go back to Wilcannia to take the road to Broken Hill. Only one place to stop between Wilcannia and Broken Hill is the Little Topar Hotel.
The hospitality was typical country although their “ring for service” bell might make you believe they do not offer friendly service. But the rabbit trap “ring for service” bell is typical Australian humour.
Broken Hill, known as the silver city, the Capital of the Outback, is the longest lived mining city in Australia. The break in the hills which gave the name to Broken Hill no longer exists due to being mined away. The city has beautiful heritage listed buildings.
The Palace Hotel is the Outback site for the movie, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The movie starts in my local area, the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville Sydney and ends in the Palace Hotel Broken Hill. Broken Hill now hosts the “Broken Heel” drag queen festival in September each year. I don’t like to be negative in my blogs but these 2 drag queens were not a good advertisement for the Broken Heel Festival or drag queens in general, on this night. They had just completed a show for the Indian Pacific guests and were in the foyer in full view of patrons hoping to get a photo opportunity. They eventually capitulated but they were the most uninviting Drag Queens I have encountered. Hopefully this was just a bad night because they gave drag queens a bad image. Give me good old Sydney drag queens any day, oh, and the Idaho Queen of drag, Minerva Jayne.
famous paintings seen in Priscilla Queen of the Desert
White Cliffs is an opal mining community with underground dugouts for accommodation because of the extreme temperatures in this region. Again, I encountered some floodwater and places of mud where the water receded. The colours out here are spectacular contrasts. Red earth and green trees.
White Cliffs people say “where blue sky meets red earth”. The storm rolling in added other dimensions of colours.
White Cliffs has a population of 150.
The golf course gives a very different meaning to “green”.
White Cliffs golf course Hole 1
While waiting for my hotel room, I went to the local pub with Olivia as the friendly local barmaid keeping everyone watered. Met the local school teacher with 11 students, 4 of which are her children. Met a local who came in to tell the mates he got off with a $1500 fine and didn’t lose his gun licence. It transpired he had gone shopping in town, took his gun out of the boot, placed it on the ground while he packed his groceries in the boot and forgot to put his rifle back in the boot. You try this in the city and you would probably get a $10,000 fine and a stint in jail. Being around city people I realise I only have their perspective on guns in Australia but have not experienced the rural perspective till this trip. In Cobar I noticed there are gun, hunting and “shooters” magazines.
After Port Arthur, I had forgotten we had a gun culture before but did not realise we still have one and it is not just the Americans who have guns. In the early 1980s I used to make my own ammunition for target shooting and my ex husband’s pig and kangaroo hunting (I only shot targets). When I lived in Brazil we had access to all types of guns. Guns are accepted in rural areas, just city people do not seem to have an understanding of the need for guns in rural areas.
Anyhow, I found the locals very interesting friendly people who have intriguing tales of how they come to be in this remote, small community.
The Underground Hotel was as interesting as I expected. What I did not expect was how sleeping in a “cave” is damp, musty and my allergies flared up. I was glad I was only there one night though, but also glad I had the experience.
staircase to the roof
roof of the underground hotel
At this hotel I met people whose children had my son as their teacher, people whom I met in Cobar, and 25 Jehovas Witnesses who were travelling around remote areas “spreading their teaching”.
One of the local artists uses rail spikes for his art.
Finally for White Cliffs, this sign in the local toilet.
Translation ” Warning. If you keep the toilet lid down there will be less chance of there being a snake in the toilet bowl. Thank you”
The day commenced with a visit to quirky Aladdin’s Cave Bottlehouse. What a magical fairyland Jan and Brian Gilmore have produced in a very dry part of Australia.
The bottles have fascinating messages and treasures as well as their children’s time capsules.
Aladdin’s Cave Bottlehouse Duneedoo Road Dubbo
Inside Aladdin’s Cave Bottlehouse
one of the treasures in Aladdin’s Cave Bottlehouse
Can you see the Emu?
The cost to enter this fairyland is $6 for adults $3 for children under 16. Put this on your list for Dubbo.
Taronga Western Plains Zoo (Dubbo Zoo) is a 5 hour drive from Sydney (during school holidays you can add 3 hours to that time). I have been to several zoos around the world including the famous San Diego Zoo, which is beautiful and my Taronga Zoo in Sydney, where the animals have the most expensive view in the world. Dubbo Zoo has 5km (3 miles) of tracks which you can drive through, ride your bicycle or you can hire a golf buggy or hire a bicycle.
I was last here 12 years ago when my boys were 13 and 18, we went to Dubbo by train and slept at the zoo in the “roar and snore” program. Now called the Billabong Camp experience. Waking up in the zoo and being a part of the morning feeding regime is a wonderful experience. The animals are so excited first thing in the morning, the noise feels like you are in the middle of the jungle.
This trip I drove my car in and left it at the first carpark inside the circuit and walked the zoo. It is beautiful to walk as there are lots of trees and shade, spots to have picnics to watch the animals at your leisure. There is a moat between us and them. Before you go, buy your ticket online so you can bypass some of the traffic entering the zoo. I found leaving my car at the start, then after walking the circuit, I got in my car at the end and stopped at the places I wanted another look on the way out. The ticket is valid for 2 days of multiple entries.
Tomorrow I leave Dubbo and enter a part of my state of New South Wales (NSW) I have never been to.
Today I drove 290km (180miles) from Leura to the mid western NSW city of Dubbo. I tried to stop off at a few places along the way to capture the changing landscape.
Hartley Historic Village NSW
Robertson Park Mudgee NSW
Galambine NSW
Arrived in Dubbo and I was fortunate to find accommodation as I do not book anything until I arrive at my destination or when I stop because I am too tired. Luckily the Tourist Information Office was open on Good Friday and as Dubbo is a country town, they are updated by local hotels when there are last minute cancellations which I was fortunate to snap up. I am staying at the Orana Motel which is very comfortable and close to everything.
From Leura and more especially going on from Dubbo, I need to be aware of more animals running onto the road. This road kill was not by me luckily.
Tonight I went to the Dubbo Observatory. I had a very close call when driving 100kph (65mph) when 3 kangaroos jumped out onto the road in front of my car. I am so aware of the danger of driving from dusk that I normally stay within the city limits at night to avoid the possibility of having an accident with animals. As the observatory is an evening event and in the middle of a remote area, I should have expected kangaroos. I can tell you I slowed down to under 60kph when going back to the hotel.
When on my USA road trip I had skunks, snapping turtles, elk, mustangs, turkey, beaver, chickens, deer, pig come onto the road by surprise and saw many of all these animals and many unidentifiable road kill. So far on this road trip I have seen many kangaroos, foxes, wombat and birds. I expect to come across many more as I move into more remote areas of my beautiful country on this trip.
My plans for this road trip came about when I was looking at flights to Bali, Thailand, Japan, Cook Island for 10 days, but because I left it so late and it is school and Easter holidays, the prices were so expensive I decided on this roadtrip to Broken Hill. Broken Hill is almost 13 hours from Sydney and close to the NSW and South Australian borders.
First stop, Leura, normally takes 1.5 hours from Sydney but with the holiday traffic it took 2.5 hours. Leura is in the Blue Mountains and I am fortunate I have a few friends in that area who share their beautiful paradise with me.
Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond 