Day 116 / 2017 - Broken Hill to Cowra

Picking up the van from the service centre we headed out of Broken Hill. We followed the heavy vehicle route as we found this is the easiest (but not always the shortest) way out of town. Leaving at 2pm we decided to head for the next suitable free campspot and test run the fridge on gas.

Turning onto the Barrier Hwy we headed south. Not far out of Broken Hill we noticed a light plane following the road north, heading straight for us. For a while we wern't sure if they were making an emergency landing on the road and we would have to go bush, in the end it passed safely over the top of us. At about 124 Km we came across a suitable rest area where we could spend the night. Two other vans were already there, we parked a few metres behind a van on the south side, this gave us some distance away from the main road. We chatted to our neighbours over a few drinks before retiring to the van for dinner and bed. 

Next morning we checked our fridge, it was still running and hadn't burnt the caravan hopefully success. After breakfast we left the our camping spot and continued south towards Mildura. The road surface was of reasonable quality and we were blessed with a tail breaze, which help with our fuel economy. Our chosen caravan park was Buronga Riverside Caravan Park which is right on the Murray River on the New South Wales bank. We hadn't booked in but proberbly should have as it was busy even after school holidays, but managed to secure a site not far from the river. I think the secret is out, people are now starting to travel in the so called quite season. Normally after the school holidays it goes quiet in the sothern state's as all the nomad travellers are in the warmer north of the State's and Territories. Its going to be sad if we have to start booking ahead all year round, going to take some of the easy going-ness out of the nomadic life style. 

After parking and setting up, we took a drive into town, again looking for our brackets to secure the pole pipe to the back of the van. At last success, Reece Plumbing had them, and only $4.00 each. I should have bough another 2 but it should last another 4 years and by then I will engineer a different way of mounting it. From Reece we then went lookingt for a caravan shop. The lens on the outside light had perished from the years of exposure to the sun, so we bought a replacement. Next we found the Information centre. After looking through the local displays we booked a cruise for the next morning on the Paddle steamer, "Melbourne". Returning to the caravan park, we took our chairs down to the grass area next to the bank and sat with a glass of wine looking across the river at the town of Mildura. We could see where the paddle steamers berth and could watch them as they travelled up and down the river. You could also hear the steam whistles blow in the distance as they rounded the bends or head downstream through the lock. We just sat there, soaking up the atmosphere until sunset. 

Next morning we boarded the paddle steamer, "Melbourne" which is the only cruise that travel's downstream. The unique part of this trip is the the boat actually passes through a river lock (number 11), both on the outward journey downstream and the return journey upstream. While passing through the Lock the captain explained  how the lock functioned, the procedure for using it and its important role in maintaining the river levels deep enough for boats to navigate. The lock service is free and can be used by both private and commercial boat traffic. The weather had turned on us again and it started to rain on our second day there. The locals mentioned they don't get much rain in Mildura but it decided to do something unusual and rain for 24 hours over the time we were there, nothing unusual for us. We ended up spending the rest of the day in the caravan. 

Next day we took a drive out to Orange World. This is Mario the orange farmers family business which he is diversifying. He runs a tour through his orchard explaining the different types of Oranges and what they are used for. you travel through the orchard on a set of carriages pulled along by a tractor. He was very entertaining and love to tell a story or 2, then leave it up to you to work out whether it was true or not. 

After packing up once again, we left Mildura and headed for our next destination, Cowra. It is about 700 km from Mildura to cowra so we planned a halfway stop at Hay. The road was a bit rough in places but not unbearable. We stopped at Yanga Lake just east of Balranald for a morning cuppa. This spot is listed as a free overnight stop in the Wiki camps app. There was already one caravan taking advantage of this rather scenic spot. Moving on our next stop was a large bitumenised rest area where we paused to have lunch before continuing onto Hay. We had previously stopped in Hay back in 2014 so we only planned to stop for one night. Again we camped at Sandy Point Reserve, which is provided to the travelling public free of charge by the Hay Shire. There were quite a few caravans already there but it was a big area so plenty of room for everyone. 

The following morning we headed off taking the Mid West Hwy in a north easterly direction. We stopped in Goolgowi for morning tea then continued on to West Wyalong. The road had not been to bad to Goolgowi but it really deteriorated from that point all the way to West Wyalong. Along the way we had to share the road with some large machinery. These machines are moved between the farm paddocks and sometimes the main Hwy is the only way to do it. Towing a caravavan does add a little extra complexity to getting around them but not impossible, if the big trucks can get around them so should we. We could see the landscape of the flat outback giveway to the rolling hills as we got closer Wyalong and the western edge of the Great Dividing Range. 

We didn't expext to get all the way to Cowra from Hay but we did get further than planned, finally stopping at a small town called Grenfell about 70km West of Cowra. In Grenfell they had a beautiful free camp stop adjacent to the old railway station near the middle of town. In the search for level ground we picked a spot at a respectable distance behind another van. Ther were two other vans spread around the large area, plenty of room for everyone or so I thought. This year seems to be first for meeting, lets say different thinking people. After we had set up two more caravans pulled in and comenced complaining loudly how we had parked inconsiderately. The first time they had said it I let it slide but when he repeated it again, I though he was inviting a response and couldn't help myself asking what his problem was.  He said we should have been grouped together parked in rows expressing this was some rule he had read it in magazines. I think his problem was they couldn't park the way they wanted to and we were sure if they had got there first would have parked in a way that suited them. 

Next morning we packed up slowly, we only had 70 km's to travel so no point getting there too early. Heading off we traveled through rolling hills eventually arrived in Cowra, seting up in the showgrounds. This was a cheap alternative to the caravan park costing only $20.00 per night. There wasn't a lot of facilities but there was power, water and a toilet block which is more than enough for us. We weren't sure how long we wanted to stay so paid for 2 nights and would pay any addtional nights if we wanted to stay longer. Rain had been forecasted for the next day se we decided to get started on visiting the tourist sites straight away at least the outside ones. 

Our first stop was the Tourist Bureau in the main street. Here they showed a holographic short movie about the Cowra breakout, which occured during the 2nd World War. A POW camp was based at Cowra and held about 4,000 prisoners made up of Italians, Koreans, Indonesians and Japanese. While the Italians where mostly content with their living conditions the Japanese were increasingly restless, mostly driven by the fact that to be capture was a loss of face in their countries eyes and would bring condemation on them and their families. The catalyst was it was anounced the Officers and NCO japanese would be separated with the NCO's being sent off to the Hay POW camp. They staged the breakout not so much as to escape but hopefully be killed doing their duty, attacking the enemy thus restoring honour to there families. 

Next we headed to the Japanese gardens. The gardens was constructed to develop stronger relations between Australia and Cowra. It is spread over 5 Hectares of beautifully manicure landscape. There are streams with waterfalls and ponds containing large numbers of Koi fish. There a number of buildings which are a replica of village architecture in Japan. There is a gallery which displays many Japanese artifacts. The tranquil garden's are very popular for wedding cermonies as well as picnics or just some place to relect.    

Next we headed to the site of the POW camp. There is nothing left now except grass and a few concrete slabs where buildings had once stood. It is located above the town and has a beautiful view over the valley which masks a black day in Australias war history. You can walk around the grounds where there are a number of plaques describing life and what took place during the camps existance. 

Just behind the main street is one of the World Peace Bell's. The headquarters of the World Peace Organisation are in Japan and its goal is to place a peace bell in every country. Cowra is where Australia's bell is located and is the only peace bell outside of a capital city. Visitors are able to ring the bell at any time. 

Next day was ANZAC day, and as forecasted, wet... We went along to watch the march in the main street, there was suppose to be a sevice in the park but as it was raining they moved the service to the RSL Hall. We didn't think everyone would fit in so opted not to go, instead we made our way to McDonalds for a Coffee and toasted sandwich. They day was pretty wet so we spent most of it once again in the van only to come out to re-fuel the car and top up the pantry with a some supplies from Woolworths and get ready for our next stop.