Coming back to
Adelaide from
Emerald last night I decided to check out the parks and scenery on the
Eulo-
Hungerford-Wanaring-
Wilcannia road.
I left Cunnumulla about 3PM and thought I'd be there - perhaps even
White Cliffs - for sunset ...
Stopped off in
Currawinya NP on the way - looks like some great and interesting
water bodies there - lots of pelicans, but totally lacking in any decent
visitor information except about their Bilby work - certainly worth a lot more investigation another time without the pressure of xmas ... one thing was notable - huge mobs of really
well-fed goats.
but as I travelled South I found myself facing an increasing bank of clouds and after a few stops on the way, got to
Hungerford about 4ish. Just as I was opening the dog-proof fence
gate, it started and it bucketed down.
The rain however slowed me down a lot.
The
Hungerford to Wanaring road was fine, but as I turned onto the
Wilcannia Road in the dark and the rain, and was reading the Road Conditions report ("OPEN" all around) and as I was changing up into 3rd I had a whoa! moment ... found myself skating on a mud bowl unexpectedly ... next time you are there you can see my wheel tracks about six inches deep in the mud, weaving their way in a snakey kind of manner around the T-
junction sign on the wrong side of the road (I sware I did not stop for a drink at the
Hungerford Pub).
Anyways, after about 60k's - most of it at about 40km/h and a lot of it with constant wheel and throttle management and lots of snaking the road condition improved, rain stopped and eventually about 110K's shy of Wilcania I found a spot under a tree for my swag.
Heard on the radio this morning that they had 50mm at Wanaring last night ...
Anyways, I guess by now they will have closed the road due to the sort of damage I was doing to it, but once you're there it's hard to travel any more lightly, and swag in mud is not an option ;-)
Anyway - that's my xmas ramble. Have a great Xmas and I'll post some pics sometime soon.
Cheers
Andrew.