Friday 11th May - Dubbo to Cobar

First experience of the outback

Left Dubbo after getting the Jayco dealer to top up the nitrogen in the tyres.
Almost immediately after leaving Dubbo the landscape changes with less trees and very flat.  The road from Dubbo to Cobar [297 kms] is almost completely straight with only tiny settlements along the way except for Nyngan. A lot of cotton is grown in the area immediately west of Dubbo and not all had been harvested; all the wheat had though. There are huge grain silos along the railway line which runs parallel to the road almost all the way.

Cobar Caravan Park

We saw our first emus today, fortunately not running across the road in front of the vehicle.  The road is well furnished with rest stops which usually contain a good size area to pull off the road, a toilet and a sheltered picnic table.  The better ones have a few trees too.  This is where you get to know fellow travellers as everyone stops for a yarn to compare stories and rigs.  We have met all sorts from newbies like us to experienced travellers who mostly 'free camp' ie don't use caravan sites but overnight at the rest stops or in other areas where this is permitted.

Cobar Miners Memorial

Arrived in Cobar mid afternoon and set off exploring around the town which has as it's proud welcoming display to visitors on the eastern approach a huge slag heap!  Copper was discovered here in the 1870's and since then the town has been through several boom and bust cycles.  Currently booming as a new copper seam has been discovered to the north of the town. 

Cobar Cheapside Butchers shop

Whilst wandering around the town we were accosted by an old timer who thought we were lost.  He could talk!  Delightful old fellow in his eighties, born and bred in the Wilcannia area and he really looked the part with the chequered shirt and akubra hat.  He had been a sheep shearer and general hand on several stations round about and had avoided national service in the 1940's because he had a reserved occupation - sheep crutching!  He told us how shocking it is that you now have to pay $30,000 for a block of land in Cobar!