Bonjour from Broken Hill, still,

I left the motel at 7:20 and made a bee line for Baker’s Delight, to stock up on a selection of their Danishes. I then topped up on fuel, and headed east, back along the way I had come yesterday, before turning north to White Cliffs, at Wilcannia. I had morning tea ’round 10, along the Wilcannia to White Cliffs Road.

The plan was to refuel in White Cliffs, then loop west and south, back to Broken Hill, visiting the Mutawintji National Park along the way. I had to reconsider my plan on learning that the only servo in town was out of diesel! I concluded that I should be able to make it to Broken Hill via my planned route, provided that my fuel consumption wasn’t overly increased by any rough going that I might encounter (most of the route was on dirt roads, and I had no idea of their condition). With a slight trepidation, I continued with my original plan.

The roads, some single lane, were generally quite smooth, but were frequently crossed by dips and floodways, which were usually quite rough, having been scoured by recent rains. Consequently, my speed cycled continuously between 80-100km/h, and a crawl, but it was nevertheless quite an enjoyable drive.

Lunch was taken close to 12, by Tekum Creek. When I reached the Mutawintji NP turnoff, I elected not to make the 50km return trip, in order to conserve fuel. I was back in my motel room at 2:15, after covering 550km. In hindsight, I could have done the Mutawintji NP side trip OK, but at the time I didn’t think it was worth the risk of being stranded.

Cheers,
Julian