Day One - Home to Hillston

On Tuesday 12 July, after a year of getting ready and planning, I set off to go from home to Cairns, across to Broome and then through Wolfe Creek and the Alice to home. I had ARTIE packed the day before, but had been out to a Lions' function that night, so when the radio woke me, I went back to sleep, finally arising about 6:30. Then I had to load up the water, freezer and clothing and pack my medication - this took far longer than I thought and I did it while having breakfast. After a shower and dressing, I completed packing but knew I would forget things and I'm sure some will pop up. I checked everything (yes, I forgot to lock the garage, so I remedied that) and got in the car to drive around to pick up Lynn, who would accompany me on this trip. I had said I'd be there by 8:30 and finally made it there by 9:20. Her gear had been packed in yesterday, so it was just into ARTIE and go - but not too far. Around the corner and I filled up with diesel, including a spare 20 L, got the puzzle magazines and set Spotty off. Now we were really off! Leaving later meant that the traffic was quite light and so it was at the speed limit that we went along the Princes Freeway, the Western Ring Road, the Craigieburn Bypass and into the Hume Freeway. The temperature was low (single figures), the sky was threatening and rain came down on and off, sometimes almost horizontal because of strong side winds. After Seymour it was a quick turn onto the Goulburn Valley Highway and a similar run up to Shepparton. Here we stopped for lunch at Hungry Jacks - they still had the Whopper Junior Stunner Meal on the menu - WINNER! The run up to the Murray was uneventful. The Big Strawberry was not as BIG as Lynn expected, but I had seen it many times before. I did hope the weather would clear, but no - it continued to be cold, windy with gusts of rain and some showers. By Jerilderie we were on the Kidman Way, which would take us to Bourke. Unfortunately the weather did not improve, but for a short time there were nice rainbows, so I stopped and photographed one. After, the side of the road appeared to be littered, and I knew this was cotton. At one point I stopped and picked up a piece, so Lynn now has a souvenir of this. Farms around here were either rice or cotton. We called in to look at Coleambally (like Rawson) and Darlington Point. We came into Griffith and Lynn was surprised at its size. I did the sceninc tour, down the "professional offices" street and then down the shopping street. It really is a great place. After this we continued along the Kidman Way. The weather was so bad we decided to go for accommodation rather than put the tent up - the ground looked too soft and water was everywhere. We called in to look at Goolgowi and Merrywagga and it was starting to get dark by the time we hit Hillston. In the search for accommodation, we found - no room at either pub, no room at the caravan park and no room at the first motel. The second had a room available and I found out from the motel owner that the place was full because of pickers - market gardens abound in the area, fed from artesian bores. We walked down the street, but it was after 5:30 and the town had gone to sleep. So it was back to the motel, a light tea from supplies and settling in to the "travel" mode. This was the first place I found what I had forgotten to bring - PacSafes and my reusable lancelet mount (though I may be able to get one from a pharmacy). I wonder what more will be found - or rather, not found, as we go along. After a relatively long day, it was an early night to be ready for a run through Mount Hope (stop to look at teh pub if it is open), Cobar (the lookout and look around the town) and Bourke (the Back of Bourke Centre, Fred Hollows grave and a look around the town.