On the road again

[Justinf]

Bit of a different trip report this time.
probably quite boring to be precise.
short story is my daughter and her fiancée weren’t getting anywhere financially so they decided to move to Weipa so that he could work in the mines.
daughter already had a job lined up at the local primary school teaching and he now has guaranteed work in the mines.
being a cool dad I decided to help drive her car to cairns where their friends, who already live and work up there, could help drive it from cairns to Weipa.
we left Barwon Heads today and the first night was to be Narrandera, about a six-hour drive.
Staying at the Gateway Motor Inn.
night 2 at Bourke. Night 3 at Charleville. Night 4 at Barcaldine. Night 5 at Charters Towers (which I absolutely love). Night 6 at Cairns.
flying back to MEL on the QF service that is an A300-200 and upgraded with points to J.
oh, we also have the adorable rag doll kitten Cotton with us.
this be pretty boring, but I felt like doing a trip report anyway.

 

[AIRwin]

The title of this thread is also a lyric in the Carpenters song "It's Going to Take Some Time" which I thought is quite apt for the topic

 

[Flyfrequently]

Bit of a different trip report this time.
probably quite boring to be precise.
short story is my daughter and her fiancée weren’t getting anywhere financially so they decided to move to Weipa so that he could work in the mines.
daughter already had a job lined up at the local primary school teaching and he now has guaranteed work in the mines.
being a cool dad I decided to help drive her car to cairns where their friends, who already live and work up there, could help drive it from cairns to Weipa.
we left Barwon Heads today and the first night was to be Narrandera, about a six-hour drive.
Staying at the Gateway Motor Inn.
night 2 at Bourke. Night 3 at Charleville. Night 4 at Barcaldine. Night 5 at Charters Towers (which I absolutely love). Night 6 at Cairns.
flying back to MEL on the QF service that is an A300-200 and upgraded with points to J.
oh, we also have the adorable rag doll kitten Cotton with us.
this be pretty boring, but I felt like doing a trip report anyway.

Good on you @Justinf
My 62 year old sister (known as Party Aunty) did a relocation trip for pilot nephew. He needed to get his 25 year old Volvo Betty from Sunshine Coast to Cairns.
She flew MEL- MCY picked up Betty and for the following 6 days, she posted a photo of Betty in weird and wonderful places along the way.
Hope you can post some snaps, I'm on board to enjoy your ride
Safe and happy travels.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Ok @Justinf , have set the challenge with a photo!

 

[Justinf]

Set off around 9.30am for the six-hour trip to the heart of the Riverina.
six hours is about my limit these days and Cotton wasn’t too keen on the trip at all. Spent the whole trip under the passenger side seat.
the best way took us on the Princes Freeway, onto the Western Ring Road, onto the Hume Freeway and then the Goulburn Valley Highway, around Shepparton and then up to the Murray via Strathmerton, Tocumwal, Finley, Jerilderie and then Narrandera.
i grew up on a farm outside Shepparton so I know that area well. But I only ever went as far as the Murray to Cobram, Tocumwal, Yarrawonga, Echuca etc.
I Was looking forward to seeing the Riverina albeit from the car.
just before Tocumwal we had to stop at the Big Strawberry.

 

[Justinf]

Good on you @Justinf
My 62 year old sister (known as Party Aunty) did a relocation trip for pilot nephew. He needed to get his 25 year old Volvo Betty from Sunshine Coast to Cairns.
She flew MEL- MCY picked up Betty and for the following 6 days, she posted a photo of Betty in weird and wonderful places along the way.
Hope you can post some snaps, I'm on board to enjoy your ride
Safe and happy travels.View attachment 386593

Love it.
Party Aunty is the absolute best.

 

[Justinf]

I was really surprised at how bushy the Riverina is.
lots of trees.
totally different to the Mallee where it’s flat and arid.
we made it to Narrandera with 20km of fuel left.
Staying at the Gateway Motor Inn.
It was a real challenge finding accommodation that would accommodate a pet, which was one of the reasons I chose this route.
Cost was $128 for a double and single bed.
it was perfectly fine.

 

[Justinf]

Unfortunately being a small town of around 3000 people and being a Sunday night, there weren’t many places available dinner.
the motel restaurant, which looked quite decent, was closed and the local Chinese was only accepting cash due to an EFTPOS malfunction.
we couldn’t leave the cat alone in the room so that ruled out a pub meal.
at first glance Narrandera looked like a really pleasant country town.

 

[Justinf]

We decided Subway was the solution, but first I had to research the Charles Sturt Hotel. A real local’s country pub. I liked it.

 

[Justinf]

Two beers and a chat with some of the locals who were fascinated about our trip and it was a quick walk to Subway.
down to 0 degrees tonight. Fortunately the cat had a nice winter coat.

 

[Justinf]

A six and a half hour drive today to Bourke.
The old saying Back of Bourke.
We left the Riverina behind and ventured around Griffith.
There were cotton farms and cotton growing on the side of the road.

 

[Justinf]

We stopped at Hillston which is just more than two hours from Narrandera for some food but there wasn’t a lot open.
The general store had some pies and sandwiches and that had to do.

 

[Justinf]

There was, however, a really cool piece of silo art.

 

[Justinf]

Back on the road and it was quite a hike to the next major town - Cobar.
Thankfully the speed limit was 110km/h and the road flat and straight.
I was surprised at how green everything was.
Major floods last year no doubt contributed to this.
The temperature crept up to 20 degrees.

 

[Justinf]

A quick fuel stop in Cobar which looked like a a nice enough place.

 

[Justinf]

The final 160km to Bourke was spent seeing Dustin Martins…I mean goats.
Heaps of goats feeding on the side of the road.
Some of them were quite impressive.

 

[Justinf]

Seriously there were heaps of them.
none of them roadkill though. I guess they are intelligent creatures and have learned when not to cross the road, unlike our marsupials.

 

[Justinf]

The landscape stayed pretty green. The earth was red but there was plenty of vegetation.

 

[Justinf]

Our digs for the night are at Major Mitchell Motel.
It’s seen better days, but it’s only for a night.
It was 23 degrees in Bourke today with an overnight low of 6 tonight.

 

[Justinf]

By now it was 5pm and we all know what time that is. Beer o’clock.
A short walk down the Main Street and there was some nice buildings.