Before leaving Wilcannia, we stopped at Miss Barretts Café (which is also where you obtain Tourist Information) and asked a young indigenous woman did she know what the condition and if the road to Ivanhoe was sealed. She stated yes all good just turn to the right. We left both thinking she didn't quite understand what we were inquiring about. But on following directions and turning right we were pleased to see it was a new bitumen road, so maybe she did understand. After about 40kms we see a gravel road sign, mmmm….what are we going to be in for. Well this gravel road was the worsest gravel road we had driven over this entire trip. Oh well, we thought, we just had to put up with the next 150km of this shocking road. We were teased every now and then with a sign 'Sealed Road 5km ahead.' It was pure heaven when DABUS wheels hit the sealed road. Not a sound was heard from DABUS, we must have gotten rid of any rattles, it was heaven to our ears. But teased we were, as these spontaneous bits of sealed roads would only last for less than 5km.

Anyhow, The Long Paddock (Cobb Highway) is 610km long from Echuca through to Wilcannia. It is a stock route with open stretches of unfenced land that anyone can use to move stock or feed in times of drought. Interpretation panels, sculptures etc are on display throughout the drive, telling story's of its drovers, its history and its people. One of our stops was at The Black Swamp - home of the Headless Horseman.

During our drive there was heaps of kangaroos, goats and emus and we even went through a herd of cattle grazing the long paddock. Since we have left Broken Hill and all down the Long Paddock we have seen a continuous stream of trucks carting hay for the drought-affected farmers.

We stopped a night at Hay and free camped beside the Hay Service Club and went in for their specialty, Chinese meals, as comments on Wikicamps stated it was the best Chinese ever. It was okay, we wouldn't rave about it, but still nice.

Arriving at Moama, we crossed the Murray River into Echuca, yes finally back into Victoria and went and set up camp beside the Murray out at Wills Bend, with great views overlooking the river.

Facebook is a great thing, as we noticed Julie and Mark Milligan were travelling and doing the Silo Trail, so we contacted Mark to find out where they were heading. They were in Swan Hill and heading to Echuca the following day, so after setting up camp, we sent through our camp details. Today, we enjoyed catching up with them both (and Jett) for a couple of hours, before they moved on. Thanks guys, it was great catching up after such a long time and we look forward to catching up again once we get back home.