To go to Cunnamulla took us back through Eulo & then eastward to Cunnamulla on the dual lane road dubbed the ‘Adventure Way’. Tourism & Local Shire Authorities throughout Australia seem to delight in naming routes like this. It must help attract the grey nomads who struggle to remember the road numbers, & the names of towns they have been to or are going to. There are plenty of them out there believe me! Just yesterday we were in a tourist information centre & overheard an old fella asking staff about free camping in the area. The girl enquired where he had come from & which way they were headed. The old chap tried valiantly, but was unable to answer either. Scary – perhaps this is our destiny! I guess as long as we are not a risk to other road users & enjoy the moment it wont matter if we can’t remember it later! I’m being a little facetious here folks. Already we struggle to recall what day of the week it is & love it! Where were we the day before yesterday? Where will we be this time next week? If we were following the ‘Adventure Way’ (Brisbane to Adelaide) wouldn’t that make life simpler! 🙂
Passing back through Eulo we stopped to walk around the artesian mound springs (aka mud springs) a short distance outside of town. These springs, although only damp ground had evidence around them of having been far more active at different times. An information sign confirmed this. Would have been nice to see them bubbling away, but not ‘explosively’! Artesian springs of different types can be seen throughout the outback so finding active ones is not a lost cause – we’ll keep them on the bucket list for now.
A few hundred metres after leaving the springs we had our first close encounter on the road with wildlife. The full grown emu had started to cross the road, we slowed to around 40kph & he turned to walk back from where he had come. As the car drew level, he turned & tried to run in front of us, I braked & swerved & so did he (MrsTea said he almost went down on his knees) & between we each missed the other by an emu’s whisker. Phew!
Passing through town we experienced, for the first time since our previous bus travels, the pleasurable sense of familiarity (albeit briefly on this occasion) which ‘returning’ somewhere affords the traveller.
Another close (but not as close) call at the Moonjaree Crossing ( a dry creek crossing about 1 km wide) when 3 brumbies (wild horses) with two young foals galloped out of the bush & across the road a short distance ahead of us.
Cunnamulla, whilst a small town, (town centre is one small block) had evidence of being a place which had thrived in the not too distant past. Now there are far more shops closed & boarded up than open. The town remains, being situated as it is on the crossroads of a North/South and East/West sealed highway. By far the most modern & cared for building in town is the tourist information centre, where upon our arrival there were any number of cars & caravans lining the street outside.
One side of the town is bordered by the Warrego river, a largish river fed from a variety of different tributaries further north, & running southward to where it eventually joins the Darling, & in turn the ‘Mighty’ Murray river. A large levy bank now protects the town which in the past has been severely flooded.
We had heard that one of the town’s pub’s, the probably once grand, Hotel Cunnamulla, offered free camping out the back, & did very good evening meals and which, importantly for me, could accomodate my gluten free requirements. The squeezy nature of the parking space tested my ‘reversing the van’ ability, & the reversing communication between MrsTea & I. We managed a successful outcome after several attempts, thankfully without an audience, & were still friends afterward! 😀 The meals, at average pub prices, were nothing short of outstanding. Fiona, the landady, was well travelled & with an interest in French cooking. The succulent 14 hour roasted pork & the Lemon infused chicken was prepared & presented to perfection. A good feed & good company for the evening.
With the many shops closed it surprised us that the town had two hardware stores. We were searching for a metal container to use to boil river water on our camp fires & thought a 4 or 10 litre empty paint can might suffice. Neither had what we wanted, & sadly it transpired that one of the two shops was just two weeks off closing down. The owner however was most helpful, directing us to the home of a local ‘hoarder’ telling us that he would most likely have something to suit. The house, on a standard suburban block, was surrounded by all sorts of ‘junk’, shipping containers full, every inch of the garden covered in piles of ’stuff’. We were welcomed in, & toured the garden climbing & stepping over stuff as he led us on a search. Eventually he found an old rusty 4 litre billy full of nuts & bolts. Triumphantly he tipped the contents out & asked “Whaddayas reckon? Will this do”. We agreed that it would & were happy to pay him the five bucks he asked for.
Cunnamulla’s library was also a good find with it’s friendly librarians, for whom nothing seemed too much trouble. We utilised their free wifi to catch up on a few things in armchair comfort and used their mains power to recharge our laptop & iPad. MrsTea paid a small token fee to get some copies of a map of Australia made with the intent of including them occasionally in letters to her mother in the UK with our route marked on them. They will assist telephone conversations as her mother has never joined the computer age.
Here’s a tip for anyone passing through Cunnamulla & wanting to purchase fuel. Find the BP depot outlet (near the railway line in town). There are a couple of servos in town, one a Caltex, the other an ‘independant’. Prices listed in the ‘Fuel Map’ app we have on the phone showed Caltex & BP to be the same, & the ‘independant’ a couple of cents less. The Caltex was easy to find, but wanted 2 cents a litre extra for diesel from the ‘low flow’ bowser. The BP outlet only had a high flow bowser, but with forecourt service & an attendant experienced at filling finnicky fillers such as the Patrol has. Not only that, but once full a further discount was given – not sure why perhaps a quantity discount? We filled both tanks, putting in around 160 litres. Anyway it worked out to be the cheapest fuel we have bought since leaving home. $1.22 per litre – quite different to the $1.45 back in Eulo & the $1.33 at Caltex a short distance away.