It’s a cool 3° at Wilcannia. A quick breakfast and pack up and we are off heading south down the Cobb Highway. With the exception of a couple of vehicles we have the road to ourselves. The countryside is pleasing to the eye, it changes from Casuarina woodland to Mallee to Mulga and then a mixture of all with bluebush. Birdlife is abundant, our best finds were several pairs of Pink Cockatoos and Little Eagles.

We stop at Ivanhoe for a cuppa, it’s a nice clean and tidy town, here we are greeted by a young couple with vehicle and navigation troubles. They are not accustomed to country driving (yet) but then everyone is in that position at some stage. After an hour and a half we have them back on the road, heading on the right road and in the right direction. They text us on their safe arrival at Broken Hill.

As we travel southwest from Ivanhoe to Balranald we are phoned up by another friend who we first met after rescuing from a very remote location in Western Australia.

We see a few interesting sights along this road, an old timber bridge over the Willandra Creek and the abandoned Hatfield Hotel.

The landscape again is very wet with plenty of water in the creeks, gullies and any flat low lying land. Stock animals have moved up to the road because it’s dryer and probably warmer. When we cross the Murray River at Tooleybuc we notice the river is flowing quite fast, great to see.

Camp for tonight is Walpeup. A small community campground costing only $10, we have a chance to meet the caretaker, a nice lady and like all small towns they all seem to have many different jobs to keep their town alive. We wander the streets, the Silo Art and The Dryland Memorial Gardens are really worth a look. Most towns have little gems like these.