We are awake and having breakfast listening to the dawn chorus, its 14° but it doesn’t feel cold, we must be getting acclimatised.

The Barrier Highway to the west is a good road, but the feral goats are numerous and play chicken with on coming traffic, it slows us down a bit. They are not an obstacle for the triple road trains that travel this road and we chat to them on channel 40 we are only too happy to let them know its ok to overtake us. As we approach Wilcannia the overflow channels and flood plains are inundated, and the Darling River is at the highest we have ever seen it. While in town we stop for coffee and share snacks with the local town cat, which seems to have befriended us until its finished being fed then it ignores us – typical cat. At the riverside park we note the river red gums that only a few months ago we walked around are now surrounded by at least 1 – 2 metres of rising water.

We continue west to Broken Hill stopping for lunch, then southwest to Peterborough where we camp for the night. Dinner is at the Steamtown Dine Inn, its great food, we can highly recommend their Indian style meal. If the ground shakes while you are eating it’s the heavy diesel trains and their long procession of carriages which travel the railway line that parallels the main street in town and passes directly behind the diner.