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.
It is ANZAC Day today, giving thanks to Australian and New Zealand men and women who fought to keep our country safe and free.
Today is also my late father’s birthday and he would have been 85 today. Happy birthday Dad.
Leaving Broken Hill, I heard about the Bra Tree and was not really sure what I would find. It is a colourful memorial in honour of Maree Kester, a teacher and motorcycle enthusiast from Broken Hill who died from breast cancer in 2010. It was her wish for people to leave colourful bras on the tree. Typical of an Aussie to use humour in memory of all women lost to cancer.
The 3 hour drive south east of Broken Hill, through the red earth, the landscape changed colour.
What a refreshing surprise when I arrived at Wentworth and the Murrumbidgee River.
And then I arrived at Mildura. I knew the name and that it was near the border of NSW and Victoria but had no idea of the beauty of this place.
I booked a room through Airbnb on the Coonawarra Paddleboat. The rooms are small but the location is breathtaking.
This place feels so good I am getting emotional. Watching pelicans take off and land on the water. Birds skimming the top of the water. I am trying to see fish jump out of the water but always looking in the wrong spot, and only see the ripple left behind, the ducks paddling and swans gliding up and down the river, listening to the kookaburras, waving to the people going by on their tinnie or houseboat. I’ve enjoyed many moments on my road trip but sitting on a paddleboat on the Murray River I feel I could stay here forever.
Why didn’t I know about Mildura!! I almost didn’t drive down this way! What a pretty oasis. It is known as the Mediterranean in the Outback. One minute I am in red earth remote, historical Broken Hill on the border of NSW and South Australia, then 3 hours down the road on the border of NSW and Victoria is this gem. This place is my Wow spot for this road trip. I had to drag myself away from the paddleboat on the Murray River to go and get some dinner. It is a short walk to the lively restaurants and bars but then the river is so peaceful you feel you cross into another world. It is a 10 hour drive to Sydney and I would stay here for a week but have a job commitment. I highly recommend this place. Put it on your must visit list.
Silverton, population 50, 1172km (728miles) west of Sydney, an old mining town but referred to as a ghost town.
The setting for the movie Mad Max II and the location of a museum of artefacts from that movie
A couple of quirky local artists.
Another scary part of my journey, was driving to the Daydream Mine. 20km of, what I felt was, rough off road track. My poor Corolla Hatch copped a pounding. But you cannot go to the Outback without getting red dirt all over your car. I was reassured by locals that my car will make the trek, and it did. I want only sealed roads for the rest of my trip.
The Daydream mine have a tour which takes you 30 metres (100 feet) down an old silver mine shaft. What a tough profession, mining was, still is, but in those days, doing everything by hand, in heat topping 51C (124F), only crazy Aussies. The guide, Jason, is a wonderful character providing information, of the hard work of a miner in the 1800s, like only an Aussie can entertain.
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 roofroof 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”
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.
Wilcannia Police Station
Wilcannia Post Office
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.
Today I have crossed into a part of Australia I have never been to, “The Australian Outback”.
For my friends around the world, I live in a state (NSW) 809,000sq km (312,000sq miles), it is larger than Texas 695,000sq km (268,000 sq miles). The population of Texas is 28 million and NSW is 7 million. Texas has 3 million more people than all of Australia, yet all of the USA continental states fit inside Australia. You can fit all of Europe in Australia. This gives you an idea of how large Australia is but our population is concentrated along the coast as the centre is mostly desert. The Outback is similar to New Mexico.
This part of the Outback is mining country and I love the pubs along the way.
Narromine Pub
Trangie Hotel
The Imperial Hotel Trangie
The smallest town so far is Nevertire. How cute is the name? Population 103. The road trains in the Outback are huge. They are bigger than anything I saw in the USA. Oh, other than RVs towing, a boat, towing, a car, towing a golf cart.
Road train in Nevertire
The trains are not as long as the USA but this is quite impressive.
Stopped off in Nyngan, in the Bogan Shire, on the Bogan River.
Bogan is also Australian slang to describe an unrefined, unsophisticated person. The “bogan” comes out in me when I go to watch my rugby league team play. Nyngan has a large statue “the Big Bogan” which has caused a bit of controversy, but this falls within the Australian humour and our larrikin (an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person) behaviour.
Cobar has a population 3,800 and is mainly a copper mining town, although there are also gold, silver, lead and zinc mines.
There is so much controversy about open cut mines and what they do to the landscape but this is awesome. It looks like a piece of art.
Fort Mount Bourke gold mine
It is so dry here that I taste dirt, my eyes and nasal passages are very dry. This is the local football field. No grass here. They breed them very tough in Cobar.
I wasn’t even in Cobar for 2 minutes before I had the red and blue lights flashing. I was so surprised as I have been careful the whole time driving as it is double demerits and I want to be careful not to hit any animals at all, but definitely not going over the speed limit. I realised that this is a small town and I was a new car in town and a new target. They were disappointed as I won’t even have one drink the night before I drive on a roadtrip. Cannot afford to not be 100% alert.
The Great Western Hotel has the longest balcony in the State. It was lovely having dinner on that balcony overlooking the main street of Cobar.
Cannot go through Cobar without getting a photo of the biggest beer can.
Leaving La Crosse, Wisconsin I crossed the bridge to Minnesota. Again, the changes of scenery astonish me. The speed limit on the road was 80kph (50mph) and I wanted to go slowly to take everything in. To my left there were stunning valleys that met the sky and to my right the majestic Mississippi River.
As this will be the last time on this trip that I will see the Mississippi, I decided to stop at as many towns as possible on the Great River Road.
Winona Minnesota
Wabasha Minnesota
Stockholm Wisconsin
On the road at Maiden Rock Wisconsin I stopped to help this turtle. The speed limit here was 80kph (50mph). I put on my hazard lights as I was on a no overtaking part of the road. I was so worried a vehicle would run it over. Did you think turtles were slow and docile. I got the shock of my life with this aggressive one. I had my jacket I was going to use to pick up the turtle from behind and take it to safety in the scrub. This thing started snapping at me, rearing up like a snake and coming at me, it followed my every move with quick sudden moves as I was trying to get behind it but I didn’t get closer than a metre (3′). It scared me more than the snake yesterday. I was avoiding getting hit by trucks and cars to save this damn animal but I got into my car and drove off feeling a failure and shaky. I found on Google that this species of turtle is appropriately known as a “snapping turtle” and their bite is very painful. I won’t be stopping for one of these again.
After that distressing event, I went on to my final Mississippi town, Red Wing Minnesota.
I went across to the marina (in the photo above) across the bridge back to Trenton, Wisconsin to find someone who might lend me a line so I could go fishing in my favourite river. How many of you can say you have fished in the Mississippi River.
Thank you to Brad from the Harbor Bar Restaurant Marinawho lent me his rod, although I think there was something wrong with it because I didn’t catch anything.
Quirky local man, Kevin, invited me onto the houseboat he has built. The boat has a dragon (because he couldnt find a gargoyle big enough) on his houseboat complete with glowing red eyes. (I did say quirky).
I was very impressed with the amount of travel Kevin has done and also the interesting decor of his floating home.
He has an incinerator toilet!! It burns the waste and once a month he removes the tray below the pan and empties the remains which are ashes.
Kevin doesn’t drink alcohol but he collects wine from every vineyard he has been to around the world.
The bathroom
Kitchen cupboards with collectables.
And collection of pubs.
This is the view from the houseboat on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River looking at Red Wing Minnesota and watching the Canadian Pacific go through to Canada. Click here for video
Kevin has party lights all over the boat, inside and out, with huge speakers facing Minnesota across the river on which he plays music including ACDC cranked up like it’s meant to be. I took this photo of his houseboat from across at Red Wing.
He apparently puts his music on at a set time every night and my visit distracted him and people were shouting across the river reminding him he was late with his music show for the locals. This is what it sounds like across the river.
What an enjoyable day on the Mississippi River. I will miss you Old Man River and hope we meet again soon.
This “village” outside Asheville warrants a separate posting for their culinary offers. All three (3) eateries I had the pleasure to eat at, had some of the best food I have eaten. Who would have thought walking into the Well Bred Bakery & Cafe to find delights reminiscent of what you would enjoy in a cafe in Leura or Surry Hills. It was mouth watering trying to choose between the cakes, breads and quiches.
The Glass Onion is an Italian restaurant and I had the Zuppa della Nonna. A minestrone type soup with italian meat balls and chicken. I loved it so much I bought an order to takeaway (to go) for dinner the next night. I also bought a side of mash with bacon and their home made garlic bread rolls drowned in olive oil and garlic. Delicious!!
Then the Creperie Cafe I had the Carolina crepe with cream cheese, strawberries and blueberries. Just the perfect balance of sweet.
It is so difficult to find decent food which isn’t fried and slathered with cheddar cheese, that these three (3) eateries in one village, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.
I understand that there are other great restaurants in Weaverville but I did not have the time to enjoy them.
Weaverville has given me hope that I will find more decent food during my travels. Perhaps the secret is going to the smaller towns as I have been doing this trip.
With sadness I left Santa Rosa Beach. I enjoyed my decadent week of relaxation in a very pretty upper middle class “predominantly white” holiday area similar (but not really) to the Australian Gold Coast. Here there are mile after mile of mansions mainly used as weekenders, and as I was here during Spring break it felt like all of America’s school age people were here spread across Panama City to Gulf Shores riding their bicycles or driving around in their golf buggies. Most of the people who come to this part of the world are from Tennessee and Georgia. Although the area I stayed in has a private beach so I did not venture outside the gated community often.
Orlando was meant to take me six (6) hours to drive but I allowed two (2) hours for stops to explore. It actually took me 12 hours because I was having so much fun exploring and then was stuck in traffic when a truck burst into flames in the forest on the roadside of the South 10. I was impressed with how quickly all the emergency services responded and put out the fire before all the forest caught alight. NSW could look into their methods particularly when there is an accident on the M1.
I have decided that when I move on to my next stop I have to remind myself to enjoy the journey, explore and not rush straight to the final destination.
Today I had a day of football, witches and fairies.
First stop was exploring Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. From what I saw it is predominantly a university town and has the beautiful and huge Florida State university(FSU).
I was curious to visit the Sod Cemetery at FSU. University football teams have a quirky tradition when they win a big match at the opposing team’s home ground. If the visitors win they take a piece of the playing field (sod) and bury it in their “Sod Cemetery” complete with headstones.
I also took a photo of their walk of fame and entrance of the university football exhibition
A magical stop was at Lichgate on High Road. The house was built by a FSU Professor Laura Jepson. The magical part of the property is the labyrinth she built near the majestic tree which reminded me of the tree in Avatar.
I met 3 beautiful women including identical twins Len and Leslie The twins were born with osteogenesis imperfecta and are 2 of the most inspiring and fun people I have met. I could have stayed in this magical fairyland with these women for hours but I needed to move on. Thank you ladies for reminding me there is no such thing as coincidence.
Having driven across seven (7) southern USA states and 6000 kms (3900 miles) with rain, wind, cold and snow I am rewarding myself with a few days rest in this affluent beach holiday area. Currently it is spring break so there are lots of young people and families. This is a popular holiday area for Tennessee people.
The landscape and culture has changed so much from California with a large Hispanic Mexican influence, Arizona and Texas with cowboys, Mississippi predominantly negro and across to this part of Florida which is beautiful but feels noticeably “white”.
Majestic beachside mansions and the beaches have the whitest sand, which I concede this Florida beach is comparable to ours in Australia.
I am staying in the house of my friend, Paul from Nashville. He is off working around the USA and I have the pleasure of the company of his friends Walt and Lisa together with their teenage daughters.
Anna Caroline showed me this quirky spot Big Jack’s Gator Park
The bridges in Florida are quite different. They have very low walls I expect so you can see the view. I get the feeling that if a wave comes up you will get washed over into the Gulf or marsh.
This area is one of the first where many people use bicycles instead off motor vehicles. There are bicycle lanes and the beach has a boardwalk to conveniently leave your pedal transportation.
The beaches and lagoons in this area are very beautiful with their white sand.
I visited Grayton Beach which has a turtle colony but I was not fortunate to witness any turtles.
Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond 