Thursday, July 22nd 1999

Up soon after 7.00 am and off on a fairly boring, on the lead, walk. I had hoped we might be able to walk on the golf course, but there were sheep, so of course that was out of the question. We went past the high school, which is quite large and looked well cared for.

We left Cobar around 9.00 am and set off for Wilcannia. I decided to go via Mount Grenfell, despite the fact that Tara would have to stay in the car, as this would be the closest I had come to seeing aboriginal rock art.

The site was 32 kms off the Barrier Highway along a gravel road, rather corrugated in parts, so it was not a quick trip, but it did feel like a bit of an adventure. There were two houses, spaced at roughly 10 km intervals along the route and I saw one other car, which came up behind me and passed.

The site itself was most interesting - a rocky landscape and fairly green - it would have been good to explore if Tara had not been imprisoned in the van. There were three different sites, quite close together, where there were examples of painting. They were all fenced off for protection, so were not very easy to see or to understand, but I did get a feel for the colours and some idea of the hand shapes and the stick figures.

As soon as we were back on the highway I promised Tara we would stop at the first rest area we came to - only 20 km on. It was pleasant enough, but not very good for exercising Tara as the ground was either hard red dirt or prickly short scrubby stuff. She, being a city dog, was not impressed.

A couple in a camper were there when we arrived, so we had a bit of a chat. Tara was not too keen about continuing and sat with her back to me for half of the next stage. The road was pretty flat and straight, and the countryside was mainly reddish dirt, short, tufty grey grass and low scrubby trees. In some places the trees were quite thick. Apparently some of these plants are actually weeds, and the landscape used to be far more open.

I stopped again about 90 km from Wilcannia and took Tara for another short, rather uncomfortable walk, after which I settled her on her mat in the back of the van while I had a drink and wrote a letter.

We reached Wilcannia just before 4.00 pm and got petrol before going to the caravan park. It was really empty, but quite attractive, beside the Darling River. Once the van was set up I walked with Tara back into Wilcannia, not far, just across the river, to post my letter. It gave me a good excuse, because I felt a little bit intimidated by the street life, big groups of aboriginal kids and teenagers on every corner. One young girl kindly put my letter in the box and asked about Tara.

I think it is very sad that these kids seem to be at a loose end, although white kids in the city are at a loose end sometimes too and can be much more destructive. I can hear a lot of distant yelling as I write, but I noticed that the tourist signs are not defaced as they have been in other larger places.

Back to the caravan park and Tara thought she was in heaven because there was some green grass and I could let her off the lead and throw her ball for her.

I was just giving Tara her dinner when the couple I met at the rest area arrived. They are very pleasant people and very experienced travellers. I guess they must be in their middle seventies and they travel for six months every year and have done for the last 19 years. They did their own van conversion and it reminded me of a canal boat - very homey.