The Big Loop: The Run Home

Our last blog post took us to Port Lincoln, on the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The plan was to rest here for 4 clear days in readiness for the run home by the most direct route via Port Augusta, Peterborough, across the SA/NSW border and via the Barrier Highway through Broken Hill to Dubbo and down the Golden Highway to home, in one week, about 1800 kms.

The rest-break at Port Lincoln was good, we had a site in the van park that looked down over Boston Bay and with the annex up but opened down the entire side facing the water, we had a sunny aspect sheltered from the prevailing winds, very enjoyable. But time was up and with everything packed and stowed, we left Port Lincoln at 7.20am Sunday 11.11.12.

With a few stops for a brief look at some of the places up the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula, including by chance right near the War Memorial at Cowell where we paused for the 11am Rememberance Service, we pressed on to the first camp at the junction of the Lincoln and Eyre Highways, not far short of Port Augusta. It was blowing hard and hot in the late afternoon, but there were other ‘van travellers also stopped for the night so we shared some company and turned in. With all of the windows and curtains wide open, I think the very cold change in the middle of the night gave us the colds that we are still fighting!

Monday it was on to a camp at Olary Creek, still in SA but not far from the NSW border at Cockburn. It wasn’t much of a camp, “rubbish” country, remote and no one else there but we were well back and okay for the night. Tuesday, we crossed the border back into NSW, the first time for 5 months, through Broken Hill with a short shopping stop (mainly a chemist for anti-cold supplies), and then on through Wilcannia to the third camp, a rest area 173kms before Cobar. It’s a lot of straight roads and open country along this way, plenty of emus and wild goats!

We were getting ahead of our estimated daily runs and were at the rest area east of Cobar mid-morning on Wednesday where we had thought we would camp that night. A rethink over a cuppa resulted in a change to go on through Nyngan to Nevertire and swing left into a loop that would take us through Warren (near Haddon Rig sheep station that my mum had grown up on), Gilgandra (where I competed in the Gilgandra Gift professional running meetings a few times, many years ago) and via Mendooran back to Dunedoo and the Golden Highway from Dubbo.

This deviation was only about 50kms extra and cut out Dubbo and the busy roads around there. It was a beautiful drive, good roads and quiet, well worth it. We finished up camping Wednesday night at a good spot between Nevertire and Warren. What an impressive little town, Warren is, with special facilities for ‘vans and campers, lovely fresh water on tap, well signposted in a park, and a dump point for portable toilets nearby.

Thursday’s run got us as far as Battery Rocks rest area, near Merriwa. That was as much as we could do, both battling these infernal colds still. On Friday morning we battled through all the heavy vehicle coalmining traffic through Denman, Muswellbrook and down to Singleton. What was a very pretty drive one time is just devastated landscape now. We were pleased to get away from it all and turn left at Singleton and go on further that way to the farm where our caravan now lives.

We got to the farm about 11.30am Friday and have laid low here for a couple of days to get over these colds. It will be home to Warners Bay tomorrow, Sunday 18 November 2012, a bit over 5 months and almost 20,000 kms since we left in June.

The final round of photographs appears below. Don’t forget you can enlarge any of these images with one click of the mouse on them, all the way through the blog postings.

For those of you who have watched regularly, or maybe just occasionally, and for the interested comments, thank you from us.

‘Bye for now,

R and M