Menindee Lakes and Kinchega NP

Yes, its further but its also of the balck stuff.Worth every km.

Thanks for the info Paul I will call in for a cuppa and a chat at the wharf. I am looking forward to having a leisurely look around so maybe the extra 80ks wont be so much of a concern.

Happy Travels Dave

Is it OK to piggy-back on this thread?
If so, we are also planning to go that way in a couple of weeks and were hoping to then head further upstream to Wilcannia and on to Tilpa, Louth and finally Bourke. But it would seem that, at this stage at least, road closures along each bank of the river are likely to put the kybosh on this plan - latest is Menindee to Wilcannia (both roads), and Wilcannia to Tilpa (both roads) are closed.
There is a general warning on the (road condition) website that driving on closed roads is verboten (I agree), as well as on "wet" roads. The latter I have a bit of a problem with as the site gives no definition of what constitutes "wet". If it is so wet that damage will result, why not close it? What happens if the beginning is dry but it becomes "wet" part way along, or rains while travelling along it? They state that they are encouraging the police to prosecute drivers, as well as threatening to recover damages.
I note that the area has had more rain this week (~15mm). Does anyone have any idea of when these sections of road might become passable again? Emails to the relevant people requesting info seem to fall on deaf ears.
Thanks
Andrew

Menindee to Wilcannia is open on both sides of the river, we took the west side on local advice from my best mate at Menindee who said the west side had not long been graded. Fiona is now looking for him as there were several sections of bad corrugations and a lengthy section where the entire road was basically loose rocks, otherwise the trip was fine.

The road was pretty rough in places but OK for me but not SWMBO thought otherwise but she was on the last leg of a 1,000km dirt road trip (her first long dirt trip). It was 150km shorter than going through Broken Hill and that won it for me.

We were contemplating the Darling River Run for several weeks and made two false starts, so we were very watchful but when we were there on 15th May the roads from Wilcannia to Tilpa were closed, as were two or three other roads leading to Wilga Stn and Tilpa between Wilcannia and just past Emmdale Roadhouse were either closed or available for light local traffic only. Bearing mind Bourke Council's $5,000 fines for getting stuck we gave all that a miss.

The Darling peaked at Wilcannia on May 9th and the river has been dropping steadilly since, but the roads were still closed - then again 10 days has passed so they could be OK by now - 28/5.

If it rains while you are there you are stuck.

Regards
Paul H

Thanks Paul (and Fiona)
Very useful.
We may end up (this time) only going as far as Menindee and spend our additional time visiting the north side of the Murray between Wentworth and Renmark instead of heading for Wilcannia.
As you say, it only needs a bit of rain on already sodden ground (clay) to bring everything to a halt.
Regards
Andrew