Gismo Queen and her King

Day 56 - Ivanhoe to West Wyalong

A quiet, cool morning in Ivanhoe greeted us when we awoke. We took our time over showers and breakfast and were on the road by 10am. The 210km to Hay was flat, flat, flat. You'd think we'd be used to desert driving by now but I did comment to Greg at one point that it was unnerving driving into nothing - flat, endless plains either side of the road with the only vertical break being the many emus.
There was so little traffic on this section of the Cobb Highway so no wonder the emus, kangaroos and a herd of cattle took over the road as their own. The section of this highway between Deniliquin and Wilcannia is known as the Long Paddock (as the cattle we saw were in) and they have constructed information boards with interesting stories about drovers, farmers, drivers etc along the way. These were the most interesting breaks enroute.

We arrived in Hay at lunchtime and needed fuel for both the car and us. Hay is a busy farming town, and close to town, the scenery became a lot more civilised with trees and smaller farms. But, after lunch, on the Mid Western Highway heading east the flat, treeless plains were back. However, the road was better and the wind finally behind us so the driving was much easier. We passed through several smaller towns and eventually green rolling hills and trees became the normal scenery.

When the Mid Western Highway intersected the Kidman Way at the small town of Goolgowi, we realised we had completed a full circle. We were heading north up the Kidman Way 53 days ago and would have gone through this roundabout then.

Our destination of West Wyalong was reached before 5pm so we pulled into the caravan park and had the heater and coffee machine on faster than you could ask "are we there yet?" Dinner  and TV in the van after a big day of driving.

posted by Tracey @ 9:07 pm