Collarenebri

April 17, 2024 to April 18, 2024

Wednesday the 17th of April 2024

Another good thunderstorm last night which meant the campground was rather muddy this morning. We were on the road at about eight but had to turn back to town after a kilometer or so when we discovered Leigh was missing a drinks bottle. It turns out that it had fallen off as she bounced off a pavement while wandering around taking photos in the town.

The road to Collarenebri was once again flat and largely featureless. I must admit that I have found the edge of the outback through which we have been cycling for the last week or so to be quite attractive. However today the sparse woodlands and scrubby grass was replaced at times by fallow cotton fields which have added a new dimension to my concept of mind numbing.

Fallow cotton fields. The advantage they gave was that there were lees flies to pester us.

We passed through the little town of Collarenebri at about one thirty. The local store, where we had hoped to buy a pie, was closed, hopefully just for lunch because we wanted to return to it later.

As we crossed the bridge to the free campground just over the river on the eastern side of town we stopped to look at some Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus). At this point my front tyre deflated quickly so I walked my bike for the last couple of hundred meters.

We setup camp off to the side of the graveled demarcated sites. This gave us a nice tree to allow us to erect the tarp to give us some shelter from the rain that was on its way. A big mistake, as it turns out.

While rain dripped down on the tarp, we enjoyed a lunch of tuna mayonnaise sandwiches and a cup of coffee. I started looking at the punctured tyre when, in what seemed like a few minutes, the light rain turned into a violent electrical storm with lightning flashing very close by. We rushed to take shelter in the ablution block, neglecting to fully secure our gear lying outside the tent.

The wind howled, lightning flashed, the thunder crashed and the heavens opened in a fashion we haven't witnessed for a long time.

To cut a long story short, our convenient tree for the tarp had lured us into pitching in an area that was within a few minutes, under a couple of inches water. We had no alternative but to rescue our gear and move to one of the graveled pitches meant for caravans and RVs.

We were soaked, our gear that had been outside the tent was soaked and I was cold enough to be shivering uncontrollably. Thankfully the inside of the tent and all our gear still in panniers was dry but the tent's footprint was covered in mud and muck brought in by the rising water. A hot shower was all that was needed to sort me out but we will need a rest day here tomorrow to get cleaned before we can carry on to Moree.

A rainbow at the end sweetened the experience somewhat.

Thursday the 18th of April 2024

After a few hours of respite, the thunderstorms and rain resumed last night. We lay in bed counting the seconds between lightning flashes and thunder crashes but none seemed that close that we felt in any danger. Nonetheless, the rain was heavy enough to drive a group of campers out of the campground at one o'clock in the morning after their site got completely flooded.

It took a few hours to get cleaned up this morning but we had it all done by eleven o'clock. The tent's footprint was the piece of gear that had collected the most mud and debris so that got our keenest attention.

After that it was a relaxing and enjoyable day. The campground some good birds and the weather was good enough to enjoy them along with a cup of coffee. About midday we cycled into town, had a big meal from tge bistro and a few beers at the hotel and did our laundry at the local laundromat. The hotel, bistro and laundromat are all owned by folk who had grown up in Colly, as Collarenebri is affectionately known, but had left the town only to return in later years to breath some life back into it. Good on them!

Laundry on the line (and a few other places too).

I cycled backwards and forwards to town a few tines today. First to check things out, then for lunch etc, once to retrieve a battery pack I had left charging at the laundromat and finally to buy groceries. Interestingly, while the groceries are more expensive than in larger towns, understandably so, the bistro and pub were significantly cheaper than what we have experienced previously.

Tomorrow we are heading for a wildcamp at a rest area about ninety kilometers from here on the road to Moree. From there it's another fifty kilometers to Moree where we have a booking at a motel for Saturday night.

Today's ride: 89 km (55 miles)
Total: 1,820 km (1,130 miles)

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