We did not get up until 7.00am and even had the gloves out this morning to keep our hands warm.
There was no dew this morning so at least everything was dry and much easier to pack up even though it was very cold.
After a leisurely pack up we headed out down the southern entrance to the park - with our destination this morning being the little village of Louth (on the Darling River). This would be the start of our run south along the Darling - hopeful that we will be able to travel the length of the route following the Darling from Louth to Wentworth - on the NSW/Vic border.
The travelling this morning was at an average of about 60 km per hour - the road travelled being a bit mucky and quite rough in places - "so it was steady as she goes"!!!
Arriving in Louth at about 10.30am we checked out the river ----
----- and stepped into the local pub - "Shindys Inn" to grab a coffee.
Louth is a small service town (Pub, fuel and general store) on the Darling River - about 100km downstream from Bourke.
This was once the Post Office and Telegraph Station in Louth - now a private residence. The gives some idea of the size and importance of Louth in times gone by.
The town of Louth was created when TA Mathews (who came to be known locally as the "King of Louth") established a hotel to service the river trade and the Cobb & Co coaches that used Louth as a stop over point. It is said he employed some 350 people at a point in his life here in the outback.
Thomas Mathews was a well educated tradesman, inventive, hard working and an astute businessman - who eventually made his fortune in outback Australia due to his pioneering spirit and iron will.
This information board gives some perspective on the importance and size of the Darling River System in Australia. It was a major trade route in our history - especially for the wool industry.
Armed with a bit of local knowledge from the publican we drove 1km out the Tilpa side of town to take a look at the Louth Turf Club.
Normally a quiet sleepy town, once a year in August (6th August 2016) the township of Louth swells in size with the influx of locals and tourists from far and wide for the 3 days of the renowned Louth Races.
I read somewhere that the town grows by 500% for this classic annual race meeting.
'a place that loved a drink, a party and a punt...'
So wrote Henry Lawson.
Another site of note on a visit to Louth - is the "Mary Mathews Monument" in the local tiny Louth Cemetry.
Mary died in 1869, aged 42 years, and sometime after her death her wealthy landholder husband (TA Mathews (already mentioned above) ordered a monument be constructed in her honour.
Built from unique grey granite with a golden fleck throughout, quarried from Phillip Island, Vic.
The monument cost him £660 - stands 7.6m tall with a 1.2m Celtic Cross at the top.
The monument was to be transported to Louth by steamer - but the river was drastically low and the steamer became totally grounded at Tilpa for 2 yrs. TA eventually resorted to bringing the tombstone by bullocks wagon from Tilpa to Louth.
At sunset each day the cross reflects an unusual halo-like image - and it is said the postioning is so accurate that in the anniversary of Mary's death the sun reflects to the or of the house where she and TA lived (the house is no longer standing).
The monument is known as the "Shining Headstone" and has been officially declared an Australian National Monument.
The decision was made to head on further down river to Trilby Station for tonight (after ringing to check the road was okay to get out there). We would unfortunately miss the sunset and the chance to witness the reflection of the cross atop the tombstone.
We could not, however, pass up a lunch at the Shindy Inn - and we enjoyed a feast of fantastic pub food sitting in the sun outside ----
- it was now a gorgeous 14C - a definite improvement from the 7C when we left Gundabooka this morning at 9.30am.
Like most outback pubs the Shindy Inn is decked out with some interesting pieces of "australiania" ----
The publicans, Kathy and Dave, as we also normally find - were very welcoming and friendly.
Whilst waiting for lunch (it was pretty slow to arrive - but well worth the wait) - we noticed 4 graders coming in to Louth for lunch - from the road on the eastern side of the river. They head out again ahead of us along the road running south along the western side of the Darling. This is a good sign for us as it hopefully means the road south from Louth to Tilpa will have been graded by the time we start heading further south in a few days.
It was a great hamburger and well enjoyed - I got halfway through and struggled to eat the rest - but eventually did. I was not leaving any!!!!
We keep running into people who are on their way home from the Big Red Bash in Birdsville - and here again at Shindys Inn we chatted with 2 young families from Shepparton, Victoria also on their way home from this event.
We had to check out the litter of puppies at the back of the hotel residence before heading off after lunch - 8 cute puppies along with chooks and the biggest turkey I have ever seen make up their backyard menagerie.
The country along our drive out here is amazingly green now.
The road was relatively good and we arrived at Trilby Station a short drive south from Louth.
We were made very welcome on arrival and headed down to the river camp sites, down past the "bone tree"- along the stretch of the Darling River that flows through this property.
We picked a site not too long a walk from the showers - about 10 minutes walk - yet still quite secluded and it had loads of great firewood that the previous campers had left behind.
Our site ("Yapunyah") has a lovely view up river, and is a large campsite, as are all the river campsites here at Trilby.
We immediately decided we will stay here for 3 nights - it is just sooo beautiful and relaxing and friendly. And we have heaps of free firewood.
We took a walk around the huge shearing shed - a very very new shearing shed.
The machinery shed is huge ---
We walked through and checked out the Shearers accomodation and also checked out the chook pen - but the chooks had been let out and we found them wandering around the road and grassed area near the homestead.
Some of the memorabilia in the Shearers quarters ---
In here is also the stuffed body of "Ernie the Dingo" - who they estimate killed 200 sheep on their property before they managed to shoot him.
Our first evening here at Trilby was taken up with getting and awesome fire underway, a walk to the showers and dinner.
I did read for about an hour, under the stars, by the fire (as it was sooo cosy and warming) before heading off to bed tonight.
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