We were up at 5.10am and on the road by 5.25am. It was rather chilly and dark. The road all the way to Hebel is very bumpy and flat. We had a Wedge tail eagle fly right in front of the widescreen and then circle next to us, really low, it was amazing site, of course no camera in hand. We also saw some dead dingos hanging from a sign; umm maybe it was a warning for the other dingoes???
From Hebel to Brewarrina has nearly 100kms of dirt road. We decided to go this way as it was the most direct and was 100km shorter than going via Lightening Ridge. Boy talk about dust, there was lots of bull dust on the road and in places over a foot deep. The van and car slipped and slid in it, Chris had to slow down and put the Jack into 4wd all the way. Would not recommend this route and certainly not in a standard car. We saw several lots of emus, and the terrain is very flat with very few trees.
The van was having a good old dust bath, so we decided to stop and check all was ok. For the first time on any dirt road we had a lot of dust in the van, all we could do was close the door and leave it until we stopped for the night. We went back to the car and saw 7 emus had come to check us out. They were very wary moving backwards and forwards. I grabbed the point and shoot camera which was nice and handy. They were moving away at this stage. Chris who was on the other side of the car told me to come around to him, as I rounded the corner of the car there is Chris with his hand in the air bobbing up and down, I couldn’t stop laughing, but you know what it worked. The emus came over to check it out, they got fairly close. What a crack up.
Why was Chris doing this weird behaviour. Well we had read on the internet a while ago how aborigines would hunt Emu. When they saw some they would hide behind rocks, bushes etc. and use their hand as a head and bob it up and down or wave something at them. The emus being a curious lot would come over to check it out.
We have stop at Brewarrina for the night some 700 odd kms from this morning, our biggest day of the trip. The rest stop is next to Barwon River with Egrets and Pale headed Lorikeets.
Talk about a mess, dust was everywhere; heaps came in the back window. Chris has been saying for a while vans shouldn’t have back windows as they always get the dirtiest on the back. We thought we had done it all and went to have showers. I open the cupboard where my underwear is and they were covered in dust. I managed to salvage one pair but everything else I had to get washed. It’s like a Chinese laundry in here with things hanging off cupboards doors etc.We have been on lots of dirt roads and got the van way more dusty and dirty than it is now and we have always been impressed with how little dust gets in the van. There are a couple of spots we know about but have never been a big issue. BUT we have never hit bull dust before; we have heard wild stories about the stuff and boy are they all true.
In my cupboard there are 4 holes about the size of 10 cents pieces where wires come through for most of the caravan fuses which are all open to the environment and dust. Luckily Chris bought a small tube of silicon so problem now fixed. We are considering sealing the whole back window and not opening it this trip and sort it out when we get home.