Just thought I’d post about the trip home from Adelaide back to Sydney… we took four days to do it and went the almost-as-long way home, via Broken Hill, Dubbo and Mudgee.
The first day (New Years day) we left from Murray Bridge around 11am (running late !), heading up to Palmer, then in to Mount Pleasant, up to Angaston (where we stopped to stock up on goodies from Angas Park – dried fruits, and lollies), then on to Nuriootpa, Kapunda, Burra, before continuing to Broken Hill.
It was a lovely sunny day, started off quite pleasant, but got steadily hotter the further north we went – and it was positively stinking hot at around 7pm when we arrived in Broken Hill.
The roads of Broken Hill were almost deserted, which was a little surprising given the size of the town. We went to a nice cafe for dinner, before wandering around the main street looking at the historical pictures and descriptions of the area on signs along the street. It was a little more pleasant after the sun went down, but still pretty warm. The locals all came out after dark, and the roads actually got quite busy.
The next morning, we headed off early since we had a long way to go to get to Dubbo. On the road just after 7:30am, it was reasonably nice out, although the sun already had a sting in it.
After stopping briefly at Wilcannia (the Darling River was almost dry !), we headed on to Cobar where stopped for lunch – I was surprised with the quality of the cafes there. Finally, we continued on to Dubbo and got there around 5pm, much earlier than I expected we would. It hit around 43 degrees that day, so no wonder it was a little warm in the sun ! Fortunately our car’s air conditioning was working pretty well.
The third day started early, packing up and then heading out to Western Plains Zoo just out of Dubbo to arrive there soon after 9am – when it was a little cooler. We spent most of the day wondering around the zoo – despite the searing heat (over 42 degrees !!) – the trick is copious amounts of cool water, and to make sure the car is parked in the shade. We did need to head back to the car at one point and sit inside it with the engine running and air conditioner running on full to cool down – but we coped.
At around 3pm we left the zoo and headed to Mudgee, where we stayed the night.
Finally, the fourth day saw us leave Mudgee at around 9:30am heading down to Lithgow, then up to Katoomba for lunch, before driving back home to Sydney.
Despite the heat, it was quite a pleasant trip home, interesting to see the countryside in that part of Australia.
I’ll post some statictics on the trip when I get a chance (you didn’t think I’d do a trip like this without keeping good records for statistical purposes would you ? :D )
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