Day 12 Wednesday 28th June

We have been quite fortunate with the weather so far. Although it has been a little on the cool side on some nights the days have been fine but today that changed. During the night we heard the rain and it continued in spurts during the day. It was never very heavy but enough to be annoying. We visited the Back O’Bourke exhibition centre in the morning and really enjoyed the very interactive experience. We both learnt a lot more Australian history of this region. We spent about 3 hours here and at midday headed for the centre of town to see a very old but beautifully restored Crossley engine start up. The engine was originally used in the Sydney powerhouse before being used in the Bourke area. We had a bit of a laugh as the two blokes running the engine for the 30 or so tourists were the same 2 fellows who worked on the paddle-boat that we’d been on the day before. The council owns the paddle-boat and these guys do two runs in the boat at 9 am and 3 pm and in between go back to town and run the engine display. We thought these initiatives and many more promoted and supported by the council were an excellent way of encouraging tourism. After lunch went for a drive out to the lock and weir. We wanted to visit the Fort Bourke stockade but were told that with the rain the road would not be any good. The fellow at the Tourist info centre said the lock drive would be fine. Well……famous last words. Our tyres became coated in thick clay/mud and we had to drive carefully and slowly as we were slipping and sliding all over the place. After this drive Rob dropped me off at the cemetery as once again the council had a self-guided walk you could do to look at interesting graves of people from the Bourke area, some were very old. Fred Hollows (the famous ophthalmologist) is buried in this cemetery and his grave is quite spectacular. From here we visited an old bridge built over the Darling in 1883 with a section that could be winched up by hand, so paddle-steamers and their barges could pass underneath. 
















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