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| The river in the morning |
2229.2 / 2869.7km
Some dark clouds came over last night and it rained for a bit, heard a bit of thunder but it didn't come near and all stopped by about midnight.
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| Paradise Dam |
The walk out of the river and further is of course not like the notes in the book as they have built
Paradise Dam since the nineties. They apparently buggered it up and have been rebuilding it ever since. So now there's a bitumen road to get to Paradise and instead of camping at the old township you get to pay Sunwater money, but since I stopped back at the river I was just passing through.
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| Trail from the dam |
I climb up an old track that then follows a ridge line parallel to the Burnett River, it was an old coach road. Further on up I had to climb a few gates as they have been chained and locked. But I saw no one until I hit the main road again. I enjoyed the walk very much with the old coach track climbing over a range and then down into a valley of grazing paddocks. I climb another small range then leave the paddocks for a gravel road that will then meet up with a bitumen road. If I had turned left coming out of the river in the morning instead of right I could have walked to the same road via a bitumen road. I think the trail was a lot better.
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| The river from the ridge |
It was then a long walk down this road into Biggenden. I passed an old homestead with a sign mentioning the ladies mile. Apparently this was a section of this road notorious for breaking wagons until it was rebuilt by the government. Then it was the best road in the area and the ladies used to do laps in their buggies.
I was about an hour and a half out of Biggenden when a car with two local gents pull up and say " Hey grandad you want a lift?" I thought, piss off you cheeky arseholes, but looked at the bitumen stretching out before me and said "OK".
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| Back into farmland |
I squeezed into the front seat while they cracked a few more beers. We took of as the driver drank and casually rolled a cigarette and kept us generally in the road confines and we talked about walking. The bloke in the back tried to convince me to get out to the main highway. Better chance of getting a lift if I wanted to go to Victoria. Myself and the driver couldn't convince him that just getting there wasn't the point so he sat back and drank a bit more.
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| then the bitumen |
When I was planning this section I went through the shop to see what I could buy but I didn't take notice of the closing times. The Foodland shut at 4pm every day. Most IGA's I've come across shut at 7. This meant I was now in a rush to shop for a 7 day resupply. The two pubs had no accomodation nor the motel and the caravan park was full but he would find a spot for the tent if need be. There are a lot of NSWelshmen and Victorians staying put and a big cattle sale on Monday with stock getting dropped all weekend.
In the end Belinda was talking to the motel just as they had a cancellation and I had a room. The BNT campsite is out by the golf course but about 1.5k. I decided I would have to stay two nights as I had 15 minutes before the shop shut so I did a quick shop for snacks and dinner tonight and picked up some booze from the bottle shop. It was a 1 man party night.
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| Degilbo Homestead |
The motel is about 800 metres from town but it was good. Mindless television, hot shower and the ability to sretch out on a bed, eat and drink in warmth and comfort.
Biggenden being busy doesn't mean there's a good food choice. No cafes were open only 1 pub serving meals but not on a Sunday night I was to find out. The motel runs a Cafe and opens at 6am and closed 2pm. They did it when the town Cafe closed when Covid came. So it wasn't far to go for breakfast at least.
Overall a good walk with a pleasant result. I made a shopping list drank my liquor and slept reasonably well.
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