Along the Kidman Way, NSW

Speaking as a Melburnian, in May the splendour of autumn is wondrous, Melbourne does autumn well. And when June rolls around we find ourselves snuggling into jumpers and muttering that winter isn’t all that bad. By the second week of June, we’ve had enough and can’t get to the much warmer north quick enough and when you need to get to Queensland as quick as possible there’s only one way and that’s straight up the Kidman.

Chuck everything in the van, wave goodbye to the neighbours and by afternoon you’re in Tocumwal. You’re over the border! You’re done with Victoria and its bloody cold winter. You can relax. Hey, it’s even a little bit warmer here at Toc and the sight of the mighty Murray is balm for the most hardened soul.

From Toc it’s up the Newell Highway through Finley, don’t miss the award-winning bakery. Great pasties and sausage rolls. After that there’s Jerilderie where bushranger Ned Kelly once held the whole town hostage (not a bad effort). Nice public toilets too. After Jerilderie you’ll pick up the Kidman Way and head north through Coleambally and cross the Murrumbidgee River at Darlington Point. Paddocks turn to crops as you enter the MIA (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area). It’s citrus and vines and well-known vineyards.

The town of Griffith has everything you’ll need for a month of Sundays. It’s a large prosperous town built by irrigation and designed by Canberra’s architect Walter Burley Griffin. There is a strong Italian influence, and many vineyards are still family owned. Banna Avenue is well worth a long stroll and about halfway along is the 4^th generation Bertoldo’s Pasticceria for crunchy sweet Cannoli and divine lunches. If you’re staying over an Italian meal at La Scala is perfection. But don’t forget to drop into De Bortoli Wines for a few of their backroom specials to keep you lubricated over the long winter months up north. To my mind the best camping option is out of town at Lake Wyangan. We stayed at the Griffith Boat Club on power as the nights are very cold here in winter. The bird life on the lake is plentiful.

Leaving Griffith look out for the orange stalls, with their bargain priced fruit.

Just north of Hillston you’ll cross the Lachlan River, the Mount Grace Rd on your right will take you to a working farm stay at Billabourie Riverside Tourist Park. Billabourie is a hidden gem. Far enough off the highway to provide a peaceful night on freedom sized camp sites. There’s a choice of power or unpowered sites in grassy bushland overlooking the river. There are toilets and showers, and you can have fires when permitted. Watch the sun go down as the wildlife comes to the river to drink. This is a special place. Though I must mention that when we introduced The Prado’s to this place a guy rocked up who thought he was Elvis reincarnated. He plugged in an amplifier and sang for hours while we hid in our van and moaned.

Mt Hope. There’s a dog leg bend on the top of a hill and that, folks…is Mt Hope. A blink and you’ll miss it kind of place with an interesting pub, a mine and camping on the reserve and around the hall. It’s a good overnighter and there are flushing toilets behind the hall.

Cobar, is another good overnighter on this route. It is a pleasant town with a large shopping strip. The main economy of the town is mining and it’s worth driving to the top of Fort Bourke Hill to peek into the Peak Gold Mine. Around about now you’ll find yourself stripping down to a T shirt because you’ve crossed the ‘Coffs Line’. We always start flinging clothes off when we’re parallel with Coffs Harbour.

Bourke is one of those must visit places. There’s a cotton gin, that we’ve never had the chance to tour. Some places are worth driving across the country to see and the Bourke cemetery is one of those places. Not only is there the grave of legendary opthalmologist Fred Hollows, but a corrugated iron shed that is in fact a mosque (the Afghan cameleers were pioneers in this area). There are the graves of the nuns who died in a heat wave (114F / 45C) because of their heavy clothing, and it is a chance to see Aboriginal graves. The tradition is to cover the graves in bright artificial flowers and to have a chair handy for anyone who needs to sit and have a chat. I reckon that’s a bloody good idea, because sometimes you do feel the need to have a yarn with loved ones who’ve gone too soon. The best tourist attraction in Bourke (for caravanners) is the truck wash! With its big ladders you can get the red dirt off the rig at least for a day anyway, and you can clean your roof.

Don’t forget the Back O’Bourke Exhibition centre and the many interesting buildings around town. Our favourite park is the family run Mitchell Caravan Park, a centrally located oasis.

This is a bit of a diversion but, south of Bourke on the Mitchell Highway (the road to Nyngan) there is a small town called Byrock. Funny name eh? For a start there are some intriguing rock holes here, hence ‘by rock’. And there’s the Mulga Creek Hotel, which is quite a gem with camping out the back in the red dirt and mulga. For us the walk to the rock holes was interesting especially when a flock of dorper sheep flew past us like mad things. The owner of the pub at the time was a Mrs Kelly and apparently the sheep came with the pub. She called them the Kelly Gang. We won’t forget our night with Mrs Kelly and the Kelly Gang in that homely pub with good pub tucker.

From Bourke it’s only a short drive to Barringun and the Qld border. Of course, the Kidman Way continues up through Qld as the Landsborough Highway / Matilda Way but we’ll talk about that later.