Thargomindah to Inverell

Now it's getting hot! This week saw temperatures in the 38C - 40C range, so I thought it was time to get out of the hot centre and head towards the east coast. Kevin wanted to head to the coast after he had to pay $65 for a case of beer,... and being in QLD the Pub only sold XXXX.

Thargomindah was the first town in Australia, and third in the world, to produce hydro-electric power, and even the water is hot out there, coming out of the bore at 84C. No need to heat the town's hot water, it's pumped to cooling ponds then straight to the house.

Hydro power plant

About 40km outside town is Lake Bindegolly, and we bush camped there a night so we could do a 9km bird watching walk around the lake. It was a 5.30am start to avoid the heat. A bit early for me normally but well worth the effort. The dry thunderstorms have started and we had a huge one come through about 1am, which saw sand and grit blown all through the camper before we could secure the canvas....

Flat Tyre

On the journey to Bollond we saw hundreds of feral goats by the side of the road. The locals were telling us they get $40 a goat if they can catch them.....

Just out of St George, a big cotton growing region, we had the first flat tyre of our 6 week trip. Kevin tells me it's pretty hot work changing a tyre on a bitumen road at 1pm on a 38C day.





Camping by the creek that night at Nindegully Pub was a welcome relief to the heat and the stress of tyre changing. Many of the remote area pubs offer free camping & showers, and its a great way to get travellers to stop in.

We've now landed at the family farm between Warialda and Inverell to de-dust, wash and play farmer for a few days.

happy reading, Jane & Kevin