16 May 2023 - Lightning Ridge to Bourke

Up betimes to visit the local Dump-Ezy to attend to business and the nearby car-wash to remove the accumulated detritus resulting from yesterday's drive to the Glengarry Hilton.

Yet another satisfied Dump-Ezy user

The Tadpole- washed and ready for almost anything

The plan was to check out of the Opal Caravan Park and take a light breakfast at the Opal Street Café in town. However, the best laid plans o' mice an' men gang aft agley!

 Mrs P, having only moments prior to visiting the Dump-Ezy,  checked the whereabouts of the key to the "en suite" facility, subsequently revealed that the very same key had disappeared without trace. 

There followed an intensive search of the Tadpole and the surrounding area - but to no avail. At length we decided to fess up to the proprietors that we had lost their key. They told us that if we didn't find it within the next 7 days, they would charge us an extra $50.

Dispirited, but not despairing, we made our way to the Opal Street Café. 

The Opal Street Café - where the lost may be found

During the course of breakfast Mrs P reached for a tissue (which she routinely secretes in the strap of her brassiere) only to find instead the missing key to the "en suite"!

Now un-dispirited we headed for the John Murray Art Gallery just down the road to pick up some very nice, arty, outback "merch"

Some very nice arty outback merch

Then, to Brewarrina! On the way we discover wild emus at home on the range and that the rule in Searle v Wallbank may still be the law in New South Wales where, it would seem, horses have right of way on bridges!

A local emu, unwilling to be photographed

The rule in Searle v Wallbank - alive and well (like the horses) in Brewarrina

Brewarrina is a smallish town in which nearly 70% of the population identify as "first nations" people. It has an historic courthouse in which it seems unlikely that the locals have found much in the way of justice.

Brewarrina Courthouse

The Prop, Mrs P and the Tadpole all arrived in Bourke about mid-afternoon, just in time to appreciate the townscape which, much to the Prop's surprise, has much less of an "outback vibe" than expected.

The now abandoned Cobb & Co Tavern - a final vestige of the outback?

Fitzgeralds Post Office Hotel

The Bourke Post Office

The London Chartered Bank of Australia building

The very unusual Bourke Courthouse

Tomorrow we plan to see if we can find our way to "the back of Bourke".

Perfick!