Day 44

Packed up and reluctantly drove out of Mt Gipps station and shut the gate behind us. We could easily have spent much longer here and almost regret not coming here at the start of our trip to Australia. Wonderful place and very down to earth owners, we hope the small amount of work we did there helps in some small way to boost their tourism trade. Although I have to admit that am glad didn't have to deal with stupid smelly sheep! Surprised that they only need to muster them twice a year compared to almost weekly at home. We will definitely return here some day.

Quite a lot of rain last night but 9km the road in is still in pretty good condition despite some of the creeks along the way carving huge banks of red earth into the landscape. A 4wd competition due to be held here in a few weeks will see competitors winch their vehicles up one of these 15ft banks as one of the challenges.

After coffee stop in McDonalds in Broken Hill we headed east through Wilcannia. We had hoped to travel NE from here along the unsealed Darling River run but as part of the road is still closed due to all the rain, we are forced to abandon this route and stick to the bitumen further East to Cobar when we then headed North to our overnight stop of Bourke.

As a town Bourke was less than appealing to say the least and we ended up staying 7km North of the town on the Darling river.

Overnight: Bridge Inn, Bourke

Distance: 616 kms