But again we took no time at all to have the warmth of a campfire whilst we had breakfast.
It was another leisurely breakfast at our campsite here by the Darling River
Its then off to the showers (and they are good and hot showers) ---- a bit of a hike up there from our secluded campsite.
Then we were up to the homestead to get a mud map pack with details of the drives you can do around their properties.
I met Liz (the property is owned and run by Liz and Gary Murray) - and one of her sons, AJ at the homestead. They are very very friendly and welcoming people - just like you have known them forever.
They are very organised with these drives - and have a few simple rules that makes sure that no one is lost out on the property. You have to out your name and campsite on a board at the homestead and remove it when you return from the drive. The mud map drive packs are only issued to you when you are intending to set out on one of them. With these simple rules they are aware of who is out there and can offer assistance if you do not return by a given time.
Just before we headed out on the drive - one of the other sons took off in his Cessna - one of the two planes seen here in the hanger yesterday on our walk.
AJ yelled out to us as the plane came back over the homestead -- "That's my brother - the lucky bastard is heading for Wagga Wagga for the weekend to go to a Black Tie Ball with his girlfriend"
The mud map drive we did took us onto a different section of the property owned by the Murrays.
It took us across the massive flood plain of the Darling River - here the trees are naturally cleared by floods - and onto the red sandy soils and ironstone ridges.
You head up to the higher sections of their land - where they move all the stock to when the floods are coming.
They are fortunate here on the Darling to have a very long time to prepare for flooding - as the Darling River floodwaters generally take 4 - 6 weeks to arrive from much further north- even as far as QLD.
The whole pack you are given is very detailed - with lots of information about the point of interest on the drive. The gates on the drive are numbered and cross referenced to the detailed trip notes.
It was pretty mucky and rough in sections - and we had been warned to stick to the detailed directions and stay on the designated tracks.
We came past some of the holding yards for the sheep - not sure why these lot were penned in this holding yard.
We checked out some of the Goat Holding Yards on this section of the property as well - fences are a bit higher as goats are good jumpers.
We are told that the feral goat population are an important source of income for many of the pastoralists out here. Their is a very good matter for goat meat these days - especially overseas markets.
The Murrays have made it easy to catch these feral goats by setting up special paddocks with good feed, electrified fencing and dams - and devised a special gate that allows the goats in but not out.
This way they herd themselves in to these paddocks and breed in them. It's quite often the money from selling feral goats that would pay for the children's boarding school fees.
We were amazed by the size of these huge chains laying out along the route from the goat paddocks!!
Coming back from the Goat Yards - we come accross a carcass of a wild dog that has been strung up on a tree. A gruesome sight - and not sure why they would string it up like this.
The old "New Chum Homestead" is an interesting step back in time - and is still set up as it was when Gary, his siblings and parents moved out in 1965.
There are books on the bookshelf, medicines and stores in the pantry, detergent and starch in the laundry etc. it was left like this as the family moved around somewhat and so left things for when someone else might be in residence.
No one ever did move back into New Chum homestead - so it stands today as a living museum - although a now very rundown one.
On the way out from the homestead we check out the aircraft hanger - the old double decker bus that used to be home for a couple of fencers that worked on this property back some years ago.
Apparently they used to sometimes actually drive it into Louth - and give kids rides up and down the road outside the pub. Then they would have a big night at the pub and sleep in the bus.
This old vehicle was also left behind by these pair of fencers - it didn't want to start for us!!
In the hanger was an old Toyota
--- on the back of it was this old sewing machine
---- and - this tool set
We enjoyed a simple picnic lunch out along this drive and on the return journey saw some emus and a couple of very large Roos.
We also came through the Rams paddock and got a bit "closeup" with some of the stock - as one decided to dart accross the road - and of course the whole pack immediately followed.
It was then another idyllic afternoon at the campsite - collecting some more smaller logs for the fire and relaxing with a book - and of course trying to get this blog upto date.
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