White Cliffs

Wanaaring

Hungerford

Eulo

Yowah

Port Macquarie

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Cooper's Store campsites/showers 02 68747720

Outback Inn Hotel/Motel 68747758

Paroo River Trading Post General Store 02 68747722

The Royal Mail Hotel and Restaurant Achernar St Hungerford NSW 4493 (07) 4655 4093

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White Cliffs to Yowah
This trip goes through properties with no fences so be aware of wild life and live stock. From White Cliffs you can go South East to Wilcannia (97 Km), South West to Mutawintji (Mootwingee) NP (119 Km), North West to the Silver City Highway to Milparinka (207 Km) or North East to Wanaaring (205 Km) and onto Yowah in Queensland. This is the path we chose. It is reasonable lonely country and a second vehicle would give you (or me anyway) more confidence. It’s all dirt but in dry conditions can be tackled with a 2 wheel drive.

White Cliffs
The roads to White Cliffs are suitable for a conventional 2wd vehicle but the roads can be impassable in the wet. Roads can be closed to both 2 & 4wd vehicles in wet weather to save damage to the roads. Phone (08) 8091 5155 for an up-to-date report on their condition.
White Cliffs is located 122 metres above sea level and has a very low average annual rainfall of 234 mm. Arriving in White Cliffs the town is spread out in all directions. Many of the buildings are underground because of the heat. (fortunately it�s dry heat No humidity) The outskirts of town is littered with mine holes, many of them now abandoned. You are able to scratch around the surface of the disused mining area. Who knows you may find some colour(opal). Be careful of the mines there is nothing to stop you falling in. It�s entertaining to watch the roos at full pace dodging the mine holes. The average population of White Cliffs is now around 200 & increases to about 400 in winter. With the cooler months people come to White Cliffs to look for opals. There is a General Store, Pub, Garage, Post Ofice, School and accommodation at White Cliffs. When we stayed there, we stayed in the camping ground it's a comfortable area with tables and shelters and hot showers (money in the slot). The council ranger came around daily to collect your camping fees.
Some things to do other than get opals are-

Some other places you may be interested in are -

Wanaaring is on the banks on the Paroo River, 240 Km to the east of Tibooburra, and 195 km north-west of Bourke. Established in the 1880's, the town provided services to the large sheep properties of the time. Once, wool washing was carried out on the banks of the river. There is still memorabilia of those times on the river bank. Today, the town provides services to the outlying properties, and to travellers passing through. There is fuel, food and accommodation available in town. We stopped for lunch at Coopers store they also have a campground and showers, although you can just camp along the Paroo River. If you’re spending some time in Wanaaring you have the chance to catch some Yellow Belly or Yabbies in the river, take a tour of the local Bee Farm, visit the Historic Cemetery or go and visit the Royal Flying Doctors Clinic

From Wanaaring we headed North East to Hungerford (93 Km) on the NSW, QLD border. If you decide to travel to Bourke or Tibooburra be careful it has been known to destroy the fronts of caravans from the rocks that you are constantly driving over. The road to Hungerford, probably more classed as a track is not too bad but you need good ground clearance. The road in parts is sandy with a build-up in the centre. We towed our camper vans through there with 4WD’s (we only needed the clearance not the 4WD). Be careful as you get to Hungerford, it sneaks up on you and the gate will probably be shut on the rabbit proof fence.

Hungerford

Was named after pioneer pastoralist Thomas Hungerford and is located on both sides of the boarder. There are a few houses and a Pub. The Pub sells fuel but when we went through they seemed to be selling out of a 44 gal drum so we didn’t bother getting any. If we had filled up at Wanaaring we wouldn’t have needed any but as we didn’t, we needed to put fuel in from the jerry cans in between Hungerford and Eulo. The Royal Mail Hotel was built in 1873 and is still in use today. The Royal Mail was originally a staging post for Cobb & Co. Henry Lawson wrote the poem ‘While the Billy Boils’ after visiting Hungerford in the summer of 1892 – 93. Hungerford has a couple of events the Bi-annual Field Day, with the next one being in June 2007 and The Horse and Motorbike Gymkhana held in October 2006. This event is a fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctors Service. The weekend starts off with a camp-oven dinner and a live band at the Royal Mail Hotel on Friday night. On Saturday there is a program of horse and motorbike events for both children and adults. There is also a poddy-ride for kids and a bullock ride for the over 15 years and adults. Just out of Hungerford on the QLD side is the Currawinya NP. The National Park has over 200 species of bird life. We were going to stay there but decided to continue further north.

From Hungerford we continued to travel North East. When you get to Currawinya there is a fork in the road. Take the left fork to Thargominda (145 Km from Hungerford) or take the right fork and head toward Eulo (122 Km from Hungerford). We took the right fork and headed toward Eulo. The road is wide dirt but the corrugations would loosen your false teeth, don’t go to slow or you will feel everyone. This road meets the Bulloo Development Rd just a couple of Km’s west of Eulo.

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Eulo
Is a small town located 64 km west of Cunnamulla and 887 km west of Brisbane with basically not much more than a pub and a general store. It is also the place of the World Lizard Racing Championships. The population of Eulo increases in winter as bee keepers bring their hives to the area. If you travel west from Eulo or turn left when the Hungerford Rd meets the Development Rd you will be heading toward Thargominda. This road is a single lane bitumen road and cars are required to move over to let oncoming trucks past. If a truck drops its wheels off the bitumen and into mud the weight of the load can easily tip the truck over. It is an unwritten law among truckies who drive these roads that if you pull over for them and get stuck they will stop and pull you out. I have travelled these roads many times though and have never got stuck. If it’s soggy when you pull over don’t slow down to much or you could get muddy boots. This road does flood on occasions and it doesn’t need a lot of rain. If it’s been raining up at Alice Springs it takes about a month for the water to travel down and flood the Paroo River. I have travelled through flood waters there half way up my door finding the road by the markers sticking up at the side of the road but I would recommend if you had the time just wait for it to go down. Not far down the road you will see a sign for the ‘Mud Springs’. The mud built up over many years these springs were the original release valves for the Great Artesian Basin. We turned right at Carpet Springs and headed toward Yowah (there is a sign) The road is now single lane bitumen (be careful of the wild life) Eulo to Yowah is about 100 Km. This is ‘boulder opal’ country.

Yowah
Yowah is a place that people seem to love or hate. I have been there many times and really enjoy it. I havent been there over the past few years though because the water (which has sulphur in it) built up in my wifes body and she had an allergic reaction (taking bottled water if you suffer from this problem would help). Thankfully one of the locals is the contact person for the Royal Flying Doctors, she contacted them and medication was given. There is also an air strip on the outskirts of town for the RFDS plane to land. The town now has electricity and water. An Artesian bore flows through the centre of town some of this is now capped for town water. There is a free camping ground in town which is basic but comfortable or there is the caravan park which also has basic cabins. The town is a seasonal town and grows during the winter to maybe a couple of hundred people. There is no Pub in Yowah so if you need alcohol for medicinal purposes you will need to bring it with you. There is a general store with bowser & LPG, (he also owns the caravan park) a public school (around 6 to 12 kids), a museum, second hand shop, coffee shop and mechanical repairs (dont rely on these always being open). If you need something just ask someone around, they are friendly and willing to help. In July there is the - Yowah Opal Festival a time to be enjoyed and see fine examples of various stones. The main attractions of the area are the valuable opal deposits. To the uninitiated they look like ironstone rocks (called nuts) but when split open they sometimes contain a centre of pure opal. There are opal mines throughout the west of the town. There is a section of the fossicking area set aside for Public Fossicking. You may find some opal by just scratching around the surface or you may need to dig a little. If you find opal there are a number of people who will cut and polish the stone for you (for a moderate fee). If you dont feel like digging there are also a number of people selling finished stone. Yowah opal is found in ironstone and is a different type of opal that you find in the clay of Lightning Ridge. A game of golf is also a unique experience the course is made up of gibble stones with sand greens. You use a tee for every shot so you dont hit rocks. The other excitement is when you think you have a good shot (or a bad one) the ball lands, hits a stone and changes the shot completely. The high point of the town known as the bluff has a view over the whole town and beyond. It gives you an idea of the landscape. The landscape is flat desert like with mulga growing and the branches chewed up as far as the cattle can reach. We were at Yowah one Easter and the town had an Easter Service at dawn on the bluff. It was beautiful to see the sun rise over the desert.