22 April 2019
What a fabulous sound rain is on a tin roof!! Cobar had the first significant rain for 2 years. I got ready in the morning to drive to White Cliffs, 3.5 hours of driving. There was a lot of water on the road and I asked the driver of this road train what the condition of the road was to White Cliffs and he suggested I contact Wilcannia Police for an update on road flooding as there were some road closures.
The Wilcannia Police reassured me the roads were open. However, when I went through my fisrt lot of .2 metre floodwater across the Barrier Highway I was so scared that I turned around to go back to Cobar. Then I watched another car go through the water and decided I would follow him if I could see the water was not too deep. After the third lot of floodwater I encountered a police officer and asked him what level floodwater would be ok with my Corolla hatch. He said “just follow another car. If they get through so will you but perhaps .3 metres will be enough”. That was reassuring. The problem was the care in front of me took off and I didn’t see him go through the floodwater but I decided he did get through so I should be ok. I remember being told to drive through floodwater slowly, do not speed up and do not stop. It was nerve wrecking because I didn’t know how many spots were flooded. Thankfully the rain receded and all I had to worry about then was goats, kanagaroos and emus. There were lots on the side of the road today but none jumped out in front of me.
158km (98miles) later I stopped at a small roadhouse in Emmdale. What would you tink about stopping at a place with bullet holes peppering the sign?
I was told that the original owner of the roadhouse had a reputation for shooting and that the story goes he shot up the sign.
I am getting into more and more remote Australia. Next stop Wilcannia is a township which looks more abandoned than lived in.
The local police station and post office are a reminder of what the town was like.
The old bridge is what is left of a time when this town was prosperous with paddlesteamers on the river. But the river has long since dried up.
One more hour to go to my next stop, White Cliffs.
Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond 