Griffith - Lake Cargelligo (139km) - Euabalong (27km) - Cobar (253km)

 Yesterday, after leaving Griffith I headed for Lake Cargelligo intending to stop for the night, but the gale force winds made it very unpleasant so I headed further North and stopped at Euabalong for the night – a real outback town with a few houses and a pub but not much else.  I walked into the pub and a few of the locals were sitting at the bar watching the horse racing.  They told me to park at the ‘caravan park’ which consisted of a very old wooden building and public toilets on about an acre of land covered in weeds and old concrete a few doors down from the pub.  

The drive from Griffith to Lake Cargelligo was interesting with the landscape changing constantly.  I passed a few olive groves and several vineyards then several different unknown crops before the landscape changed to very dry grassland surrounded by densely treed hills.  Every so often the paddocks had been freshly tilled to reveal a rich dark orange/red soil.

There had obviously been decent rainfall recently with flooding either side of the highway and the surrounding gum trees and bush looked very green and healthy. 

I was glad to leave Euabalong this morning.  I have never come across a place with so many sharp prickles everywhere on the ground - much worse than the usual burrs.  They were so bad Oscar wouldn't get out of the van unless I carried him.  He spent most of the night chewing his feet, and before I could leave I had to pull dozens out of the soles of my shoes.

Driving along the Kidman Highway, North towards Cobar, it is obvious that this part of the country is a huge flood basin.  There are yellow flood warning signs and depth indicators along the highway for about 300km or more. 

About 50km before coming into Cobar I came across lots of wild goats and pigs along the sides of the highway.  I usually sit on about 85 - 90km per hour, but I had to slow right down in case they darted out in front of me.

On the outskirts of Cobar I visited the Cobar open cut gold mine.  It is huge!  The photo doesn't do it justice.  The mine goes down a further 2km from the entrance which is shown at the bottom of the photo. 

  

There aren't any places to stop for the night around Cobar, so I have booked into the Cobar Caravan Park for the next couple of nights.  I will have a look around as well as catch up on my washing before I set off again in a couple of days.

Chris, who is going to join up with me has been having a few problems with her van, but hopefully she will soon be able to catch up with me along the highway somewhere.