The REAL beginning.

Waking to a hard frost & a frozen solid tent roof tested our fortitude in Mildura last Thursday morning, not helped by the fact that we had camped with the tent on the western side of the Tvan meaning that whilst the morning sun dismissed the white frost on the ground all around us, the tent, & the shadow it cast stayed frozen. Our fingers were numbed by the breaking camp process.

Having left Mildura, stopping only to purchase a couple of locally grown avocados from a roadside stall, we took the Silver City Highway toward Wentworth just over the border in NSW. However prior to reaching Wentworth our GPS suggested another shortcut which would initially take us north on the Arumpo Rd toward Lake Mungo NP, (which we have been to previously) but then westward across Wamberra Station to the Wentworth-Pooncarie Rd.

The weather was fine & unlike a couple of days earlier following the GPS on this occasion was a great decision. Just into New South Wales & we were getting our first taste of our long awaited return to Outback Australia. Red sandy roads, open expanses, big sky & with the exception of the road stretching ahead of us, no sign of man made structures in sight. As though telepathically we both commented virtually simultaneously that now it really did feel like our journey had begun. This was the REAL beginning.

The station road was only about 50kms, taking us to the Wentworth-Pooncarie Rd. Turning north the bitumen road continued though similar country all the way to Pooncarie, but it lacked the romance of the red dirt under our tyres. Plans to pull up for lunch by the river never transpired, we knew the road followed the Darling but we never once saw it until we reached Pooncarie.

Pooncarie, once a busy steam paddle port on the Darling taking wool bales south to the cities, is now just a small settlement with a population of just 30 according to ‘Old Trev, a local who came to visit upon evening in his beat up Subaru Brumby ute with his two beautiful dogs, Bob & Lady. Local stations (farms/ranches) add to the population, along with tourists to support the pub, general store, fuel servo & post office. The school no longer operates full time as the number of youngsters in town is too low. Instead all the station kids & those in town are schooled via the School of the Air, but come together in the still functional school building once every few weeks.

Our campsite on the river’s banks, 10 minutes walk out of town was initially going to be a single overnighter on our way north to warmer weather, but as I type this alongside the ancient River Redgums, we are in our 4th day at Pooncarie. I write that with quite a degree of satisfaction. The traveller is by nature driven by curiosity, & this can drive one to always want to move on, to find out what s around the next bend. Old hands advise ’slowing down’ but this can take a lot of practice, more so for those more used to busy lives. We did learn to slow down a bit during our previous travels – lessons learned through leaving places we later wished we’d spent more time in. This time around we hope to slow down much more, so recognising that our Pooncarie camp has a great deal going for it & staying for longer is where that sense of satisfaction comes from. Here is a bush camp with No mozzies, No flies, No ants, No wind, sunny blue skies, but plenty of shade, and a great riverside ambience. Catching fish would be good, but I’m not complaining. Actually I did catch one fish, but I guess someone else’s plastic lure doesn’t count, & it certainly doesn’t provide us with a feed – the only reason I like to fish.

We haven’t gone hungry though. In fact we have eaten very well. Our new spun steel camp oven has been pressed into service for the first time & has been a tremendous success! For the non Aussie readers unfamiliar with the humble camp oven, it is essentially a large saucepan with a lipped lid, enabling hot coals from the fire to be placed on top & either around the base or underneath . It’s used to bake, roast & stew.

Our (well … MrsTea’s) first effort was a lemon teacake birthday cake for my 60th birthday & we were both surprised at just how well it turned out (complete with a ‘bush candle’ for me to blow out!).

Since we have baked spuds, roasted pumpkin & carrots & also baked some savoury rice balls. There is no doubting that the camp oven will be getting very regular use. And whilst thinking of my birthday, thank you again to all the folk who, through the the internet, sent me birthday wishes. They were most appreciated. And there is another great thing about this camp spot – it has a great internet signal, with the phone tower in the middle of town!