Darling River Run 1-1-22

[Big Red]

I stopped at Wentworth for a look at the old Paddle Wheeler "Ruby"







I then had a look at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers ... I thought the Murray had been muddy but the Darling far surpassed it for the Mighty Muddy title!

[Big Red]

I was now on the Darling River Run and so far all roads are open.



This was very clever and well done!



Stopped at this along the way.

[Big Red]

Just before Pooncarrie i had a look at the Bridge and it showed the river well up.







The freecamp area in town was closed due to floodwaters.
I grabbed lunch in town and walked down to the old wharf ... 6.1 Metres

[Big Red]

The road soon turned to dirt then bitumen then dirt again before going back to Bitumen near Menindee ... i had let the tyres down at the first dirt to make it a little more comfortable on the corrugations and help with puncture resistance but the dirt sections were pretty good and i had to keep the speed down ... should have left them up for this section.

The engine cut out along one of the smoother dirt sections and it had blown the fuse again ... at least its not a water problem as the car was well and truly dry by this point.
It started fine as soon as i replaced the fuse.

I headed out to Lake Pamamaroo and set up on the lake bed at Stumpy's Camp.



I spent the afternoon swimming and canoeing then did a bit of photography at sunset.







I disconnected the 1st Auxillary battery, then after dark i ran the car for a bit to make sure the 2nd Auxillary battery was fully charged.
It was another hot night and the battery was flat in the morning.

[Big Red]

4-1-22
I had to run the Ute for a bit at first light as the sun was not on the panel and the battery was down to 10.4, had a bit of a look around the engine bay and disconnected the glow resister which has a bit of bare wire ... don't think its the problem but its all i could see.
Had the solar on the Second Auxillary all day to charge it back up ... seemed ok but will try running on only the first Auxillary tonight.
Didnt do much else, just relaxed, swam and canoed the day away.

[Big Red]

5-1-22
Battery was flat by midnight so ran the car for a while but was flat again this morning.
Finally packed up around midday ready to go.

[Big Red]

Hit the road after Lunch and stopped in on the other side of the main weir dam wall for a look as i figured the causeway would be under water ... damn right it was!









At least the East road up the Darling was open.

[Big Red]

When i got to Wilcannia the East road to Tilpa was shut but the West road was open.





Roads were good and smooth





It was that hot that the bitumen had melted and the roly grass had stuck to the road.


an interesting road marker



Although the weather report said 0% chance of rain those clouds looked a bit ominous.





River was up at Tilpa

[Big Red]

I Headed off quickly hoping to beat the storms to Louth but i had about 1/2 hour of patchy heavy rain ... not enough to sink in but made the dirt sticky and a couple of short sections were slippery ... lots of water laying around.



I made it to Louth no problems and could see the Darling was really up



[pic from April 2021]







[pic from April 2021]

[Big Red]

The Mossies were that bad in Louth that i was eaten alive before i had even gotten out of the Ute to take pics so I quickly headed across the bridge and drove north with the door open to try and suck the Mossies out of the Cab ...[ note, no closed signs on the Eastern road or the Western road]

an old truck along the way.



I made camp at the Sturt Marker, mossies were only half as bad here.