It was back on the dirt after leaving Wilcannia. We were heading for our next station visit – Nelia Gaari.

Nelia Gaari was a very peaceful camp beside the Darling and probably the best of the stations we have stayed on. Plenty of firewood provided and a fireplace. Nelia Gaari also has a 9 hole golf course so we had to have a game. Greens were a 1 sq metre piece of artificial grass. Getting the tee in the ground was a bit of a struggle as was avoiding the trees! Good fun though.

From Nelia Gaari we moved on to Menindee. Our camp was beside Copi Hollow and it was full.The main lake was empty and all the holiday homes at ‘Sunset Strip’ look over a dry lakebed.

It was very windy the following day so drove to Broken Hill to stock up.

There was a big dust storm on the way and Broken Hill itself was cloaked in dust. Will have to go back to Broken Hill and spend some more time there. Lots of interesting things to see.

Had a drive through Kinchega National Park and came upon the remains of the boiler from the paddle steamer Providence. The crew had been to the pub at Menindee and had then returned and stoked up the fire. There was insufficient water in the boiler and it blew up. The poor Chinese cook was thrown up into a tree and had to be rescued. Unfortunately he later died as well as three others.