Julie and I plan to spend the summer in Australia but that doesn’t mean we plan to sit around and do nothing.  We’ve passed through South Australia a few times and been there with the kids years ago.  We also crossed the spectacular Simpson Desert in the northern parts of the state but every time we go there we feel the state has a lot to offer us if we just slow down and explore the place.  So we set aside almost six weeks and decided that’s exactly what we to do.

We packed up the third member of our team, the ever-reliable and comfortable Wanda, a 3.2 litre Ford Ranger ute with it’s Trayon pop-open camper bolted to the tray and headed westward.  But no self-respecting expedition to another state can start without a family wedding so after a great night with our friends Chook and Marg in Millthorpe we arrived at Julie’s sister Gabrielle and her partner Bruce’s house on the other side of the attractive regional city of Orange for their beautiful wedding. 

Yes, they’re past retirement age but they’ve made a perfect couple for almost two decades and this wonderful ceremony just validated their strong partnership.  On ya, Bruce and Gabrielle!

After a lazy morning basking in the warm sunshine and post wedding bliss we packed up Wanda and headed west, the plan being to cross the vast lands of New South Wales as reasonably quickly as possible, at least for us, so we can get to South Australia as soon as possible. 

But driving country roads in Australia is half the fun, usually crossing boundless open plains of grain crops, or cattle and sheep grazing on whatever they can find to eat.  We love slowing down and exploring the small regional towns, each with their own unique character, some prospering more than others.  Regional Australia is packed with good stuff.

We stopped in the handsome historic town of Canowindra (not pronounced as it’s spelled but whatever) for lunch in a cute little café and then pushed westward through Parkes (home to the annual Elvis festival!) and found a beaut spot to camp in a grove of gums in the Tullamore State Forest on the banks of Bullock Creek.  With a crackling fire and a star-spangled night sky this was exactly what Julie and I crave when we’re on the road.  Our South Australia journey had started with a bang.

But South Australia is a long way away, or to put it another way, Australia is a forever big place.  We followed our noses to the regional centre of Nyngan where we refuelled and checked out another beautifully painted water tower and a dusty shearing shed museum. 

We then turned due west along the Barrier Highway and crossed the flag scrubby land with thousands of feral goats on the side of the road and the occasional mob of emus to keep us company.  Gone are the rolling hills or undulating land, the rich farmland or cattle grazing on green grass.  Instead, the dirt turned red, the road seemed to lose all it’s bends and the flies were in attack mode. 

After passing through the major regional town of Cobar, rich with it’s gold and copper mining, we trucked on for a while before stopping at a roadside rest stop and tucking ourselves between the trees for another beaut night.  We could get used to this.

But our journey to South Australia would take one more day.  We pointed Wanda westward again across the flat open plains, ask her to dodge the ever-present goats feeding on the roadsides, until we reached the historic town of Wilcannia on the Darling River.

Wilcannia thrived as one of Australia’s largest inland ports back in the late 1800’s as paddle boats steamed up and down the muddy waters of the Darling River, taking thousands of huge bales of wool from the sheep stations on the river down to the port in South Australia where the sought-after wool would be sent by ship to England.  This busy trade brought prosperity to the sheep graziers and the communities on the river, none more so than Wilcannia.

Today Wilcannia is a shadow of it’s former self but it does retain a few historic buildings and numerous information boards along the banks of the river.  We’ve always loved travelling along the Darling River but this time were forced to just cross it as we moved closer to South Australia.

And so we did, across more flat open plains, the low salt bush scrub replacing any promise of trees, until eventually we made what has to be one of the most fascinating inland cities of Australia, Broken Hill.

Most communities that grew up on the mining boom in Australia have shrunk to irrelevant size or disappeared altogether but not Broken Hill which continues to mine in the area and continues to grow.  It is a thriving town of over 20,000 hearty souls, a staggering 1,200 kilometres from Sydney but only about 500 from Adelaide, South Australia.  That is why Broken Hill is on South Australia time and the city identifies more with SA than NSW.

We’ve been to Broken Hill a few times and it definitely deserved more time but we were on a mission so only stopped for a few hours to get a couple of vital chores done.  We needed fuel and a few items at the supermarket but also enjoyed a shower at the local tourist information centre. Most importantly, Wanda had her oil and filter changed, putting her in tip-top condition for our desert travel in South Australia.

In the late afternoon we drove the 35 kilometres out of Broken Hill, stopping within metres of the South Australia border and setting up for the night behind the Border Gate Diner in a windswept somewhat forlorn spot next to the train line.  It wasn’t pretty but it did the trick.

It took us five days to cover the distance across New South Wales but now we were perfectly poised to jump into South Australia and satisfy our curiosity of what this state might have to offer us.  Can’t wait.