Along the River Darling, Australia
 

:thumb

Received a phone call ............................. "fancy a ride up the River, Darling" :huh

Actually it was from the Riverland Adventure Riders after our last enjoyable foray Ghost Town Rally, Copi Hollow, NSW. Sep 2011

Unfortunately the locals were dropping like flys at the last minute with only the usual 3 amigos + 1, still fit enough for the ride
............. errr! well? .............................. just anyway. :gerg

So us three city slickers headed east over the ranges in their most lush state

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Stopping off at the Mannum Waterfalls for morning tea

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and on through the fabulous tracks of Bakara Well

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A new tourist attraction ............. "The Riverland Pyramids" :rofl

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Starting our ramble from Renmark

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It wasn't long before the natives became restless

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So we called time-out inspecting the "Suicide Bridge" just off The Old Coach Road to Wentworth

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Our first encounter with a road train

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Luckily the wind was from the right direction

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We weren't too sure about Damien's experience though ............................... "Did you do that on the ground?" :poser

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It wasn't long before we reached the the outlet for Cawdilla Lake, just south of Menindee

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But we were obviously late arriving in Menindee ...................................... no one was home :huh

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to be continued ..................

:beer

Nice! Any more road train pics coming up?

Another good Ride Report MB..:clap

I would love to have a ride along those Adelaide Hills tracks shown above, they look great, would be good to use them & put togehter another one of the famous 'MB 1 Day Adv Rides' sometime, or maybe even an over nighter & then the riders can do a bit of this :beer:slurp:freaky ?

Cheers, Sol..:thumb

:thumb
Thanks Sol, appreciate your confidence, :thumb would love to take you on that track anytime. :webers

Lots more of this ride report to come. :lurk

Nothing like the good old days, those famous "MB1 Day Adv Rides" were something else, hey?

........................... simple innocent fun :p3rry ... :cry

Question is? ........will all future ride participants accept & agree to this assumption :deal

:dunno

Cheers
:beer

I'm keen as MB, the 690 has been gathering a bit of dust lately unfortunately through lack of use, most Sundays are good for me..:ricky

They were great rides indeed & I accept & agree with your disclaimer, I might have to use that for the rides that I 'arrange' in the future..:thumb

Damn, I need to get down in your part of the world. I think I'd like it there... :freaky

:thumb

With all my hours & hours of research, effort & legal opinions sort etc ......................... will cost ya :dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch :dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch:dutch :D

:beer

:thumb

Moving right along ............................. well no! not really, we stayed the night :rofl

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enjoying some camping luxuries for a change :wink:

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under the watchful eye of some locals

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We were entertained with essential emergency survival information for when you are down to your last sheet of toilet paper :jack

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and as dark fell, our resident "Master Chefs" set to work :dg

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But when you talk of cooking secrets :deal............................................. ............... if looks could kill :lol3

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............ and a good first night had by all :freaky

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Next day the Darling River ramble started in ernest

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Riding north along the river towards Wilcannia, only stopping out of the wind for morning smoko ................................... without the smoke that is :evil

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Yet again, we seemed to be too late :lol3

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Enticed by the media hype, both boys agreed it wasn't worth it :lol3

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A quick tour of Wilcannia ......................... a really, really quick actually :wink:

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Before we hit the road to Tilpa

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............... to be continued

:beer

:thumb

and yes .............................. there's more! :deal

It wasn't long before something caught my eye, every riders enemy :2guns

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The roads were enjoyable easy cruising :ricky

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Apart for a moment or two, after which we stopped to catch our breath & inspect for damage :evil

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Our thirst was growing as time ticked ever closer to "beer-o-clock" ..................... and so did the speed :evil

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Finally sated :freaky

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as we chatted to the lovely, quite innocent, charming young barmaid from Bristol, England :huh

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We tried to identify who it resembled

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GOC & YC had years before put there names to the wall, but alas could not remember where. The wise OC picked a large marker for future reference :evil

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A minute later the CB radio crackled and we could hear someone ordering "takeaways" :scratch.

Next a helicopter flew in, collected their "takeaways" & flew out :clap

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Collecting "supplies" :wink: we headed 5kms outa Tilpa to the weir to set up camp with the thousands of extremely large mozzies

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Bastards :nod

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To be continued

:beer

:thumb

We rose to a beautiful morning sunrise on the banks of the Darling River :raabia

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and headed on some very enjoyable tracks to Louth

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Arriving to a deserted little town on the Darling with a few locals just lazing about

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However we became a little suspicious when we went to get fuel though :eek1

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and then even more worried at the service we could expect :huh

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There was never any doubt, we would pay what ever the attendant asked for, lookin' at how thorough her assistants were :lol3

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with more security officers soon to fill the ranks

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Just in awe, at the original "Adventure Rider's" equipment

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But soon high-tailed NW it across the Darling & on towards Wanaaring

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Just in time for lunch & some locally made drinks

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There no missing where the pub is :lol3

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and off to White Cliffs

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Unfortunately some 50kms before White Cliffs, YC dismounted unexpectedly landing heavily, but luckily no injuries, bending only the handle bars & pannier.

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However with the delay, the long shadows were indicating we would have tough job riding into the setting sun on what turned out to be dusty, loose surfaced, rutted tracks .............................. another accident waiting to happen :eek1

With head lights next to useless with the dust, we survived with only a couple more of small offs, before reaching White Cliffs in the dark only to find all accommodation was full .................... The Pub, The Caravan Park ......... bloody gray nomads :splat

OK then, where can we eat? ................... Sorry mate, no meals left at the pub either, The cafe had 4 long tables all full but luckily we persuaded the cafe chef to stay on and his steak sandwiches were delicious. :dg

This town is in the middle of no where and it's full WTF :huh

Took us several laps of the caravan park to find a roadway to camp on too.:baldy

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inspecting the damage in the morning light

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to be continued
:beer

:thumb

After a quiet restful night, thank god there is a good thing that gray nomads do is go to bed early :lol3

we regrouped for a tour of the local attractions, White Cliffs being an old Opal mining town.

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We also found the "other" available accommodation :rofl

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The local lookout

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The mines in the area are numerous, but now mainly all deserted

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We were fortunate it was an open house day for some of the residents and visitors could see what a "DugOut" underground home looked like. We picked this one for no apparent reason and knew from the sign we were in for a treat :lol3

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Jock was definitely a true rogue in every sense of the word. The local tourist office told us, a gold coin was all that was needed.

Jock said his house was "special" ......................... he was in it :lol3 and $5 bucks was needed to benefit from his expertise.

Worth every penny if you ask me :poser

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He told us his good woman had left him many years before and we could see why :lol3

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Our only other escape if we so chose

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After spending a very enjoyable 30minutes listening to his many stories true or not :lol3 we hit the road west

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Regrouping occasionally to share experiences

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Eventually reaching the end of "the long dirt road" :D

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Before the boring ride into Broken Hill to some very comfortable lodgings for the night and parting ways the next morning and home.

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Me back across the river Murray to the big smoke . :cry

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A very enjoyable adventure with great mates & many laughs.

cya again soon I hope.

Cheers
:beer

Thanks for taking the time to put this up. Went to a few of those places on this years SAVariety bash and wish I had my DRZ to make the trip a bit more fun. That camp ground at White Cliffs is like rock wether you are on the road or the dirt!

A few more months MB and I'll do that trip with you ....anytime.:clap

Top report MB lovely pics. Looks like you all had a great time.
Cheers Tony