The NSW Western Plains

We drove South East again down to Menindee, where there are a number of created lakes, holding water flowing down The Darling river. Water is 100% Australia's most precious resource and they take great care over maximising it, sharing it and stewarding it. We chatted to the State Water guys who maintain the inlets, outlets and weirs there. Most of the largest lake is being released for Adelaide currently (in a different state). The water arrives from rainfall in Queensland (yet another state). There were pelicans and other birds making a living in this unique and extraordinary landscape.

Then we continued East to Ivanhoe, more than 200km on dirt road - we passed two cars. On the way we saw more 'roos and a lot of emus.

We went on to Booligal where we stopped at a pub straight out of a Western: two drunk blokes on the veranda, a barking dog, a guy on a stool at the bar, a woman in a stetson and a barwoman who looked like she could handle anything. We drank up quick and carried on....  via more dirt road to Gunbar. Here we met cattle that the drovers move from the drought areas North, down "the long paddock' (the gap down the road between the side fences) to better grazing where the rain falls. The final run in to Griffith (after another 8 hour drive) was different again: The Riverina (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area) brings paddocks of cotton, rice, walnuts, grapes, citrus, in stark contrast to the previous hundreds of kms of open plains.