Road Trip 2017 – Day 3 – Cobar to Broken Hill

Early to rise, packed the lunches, got organised, and then I was off on our Cobar cycling adventure. Kevin, Marion & I set off – Gaz declined on this occasion…clearly not a morning person – to follow the famous Cobar walking trail, but of course, on two wheels. Kevin kept the commentary going (courtesy of the guidebook), as we pedalled our way around town. We saw buildings, an old railway station, parks, memorials, churches, and pretty much every point of interest you could imagine. It took a little under an hour and was a great way to start the day – not too many hills which pleased me no end!

After packing the car and departing the caravan park, Gaz and I called into a cute coffee shop/homewares shop and I spent some time browsing while Gaz had a coffee. It was an awesome shop – who knew Cobar could deliver this stuff? 

It was then time to hit the road. After researching the rest stop options, we agreed to meet Kevin and Marion at a particular rest stop about halfway to Broken Hill…and that’s what we did about 2 and a half hours later. It was very hot, and there were lots of flies, but we still managed to keep the feral goats at bay and enjoy our picnic before heading off again. (Did I mention the book is getting pretty interesting? How great to look forward to long road trips just so you can see what happens next!)

The drive was fascinating – so vast, red dirt, and scrub. Crossing the Darling Flood Plain it was hard to imagine the land covered in water. We crossed over one dry creek bed after another. As we passed through Wilcannia I had to stop and take a photo of the Darling River – long ago memories of primary school, drawing little wiggly blue lines on maps – and here I was, seeing the mighty Darling (though not so mighty at the moment), in the flesh.

Having gained half an hour as we crossed into Central Australian Time, we arrived mid afternoon, unpacked, and went off exploring the town. Unfortunately the tourist centre was closed by the time we got there, so we hoofed around for a while, booked a table for dinner, and then came back to get ready – we had a bit of dust to wash off! It was still 36 degrees – thank goodness our ‘deluxe suite’ has an air conditioner. Kevin is still in stitches every time he sees the lettering ‘deluxe suite’ on our door.

Dinner was very pleasant (though we all agreed not as good as our own endeavours) and we tried to decide on a plan of action for tomorrow so we could really discover all Broken Hill has to offer. In the end we decided we need advice, so it’s off to the tourist centre first thing in the morning. Hopefully we get a good night’s sleep – unfortunately that is not looking promising as the little air conditioner does not blow air around corners and so it doesn't make it to the bedroom from the kitchen/living area. Could be sleeping on the kitchen table…