Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

THE ROUND TRIP BY MOTOR CAR.
(By H." C.)
Sb those who wisha to see their own
oountry there is no more ideal way
of so doinlg than by motoring, provid
ed the weather is favourable. Having
tooued bota north' and soufh and-part
of the west under aefi conditions a par
ty of six deci'ded on attiempltdngj a round
trip right out back before summnner
weather 'would niake suan travelling
very dusty and uncomfortably warm.
Consequently a start was made, oi
the first of. Septmbher from Jalrrk
Nero.o over the lBlue Mountains,
'stopping. for lunch at host Craig's at
Springwood and on to .Lithgow for the
first night. ' -
The road over. the Mountain was not
,so bad as reports led us to expect, in
fact on the whole trip.wlwlkhr covered
at little Gt?der 2000 miles as bad a
stiretch of constructed" main encoun
tered was betAvween Macquarie Bridge
and foot of Buli Pass. ' At IAthgow we
were fortunate. in meetingl Mr. and
Mrs. Cooper, formealy. of Jamberoo,
who aecured us an inspecteion of Hos
kins Stnel 'Works after niht. A very
initeiesting and' instructive thiee hours
,was spent seeing thel huge rotorts of
o~ghty ton capacity beinge chArged and
stoked by mechaninm: worked lithl esec
tricity by a man in 'a cage, the hleat
being too futense to otherwise ap
'proach,' and to look into the furnace
we had to be provided with sanoked
glasses, next came the tasting of sam
ples drawn from the retorts, to ascer
tain the proper state of molton metal,
then the running fft off contents like
a river of sparkling spluttering water
into .moulds, then ,the rollinig mills
,whllr did =not hhlel.n to be working
at the tiunae, but we were, shown the
lhole prooess, the 'testin and' straig ht
'naing ofr rails, thlie ifting of rails' and
weights' up to' eight tons 'by means. of
:,? ;magnet and' placin;g the' lead where
'required,; the different maclhines used
in Zh:liworks, and ftlially the clock
c'heck systpm of stamnpipng the timO ol
each emiployee as ho comes on and goes'
off woark, the time being : madt up
from the oards.
Nexti :morning hlea.ving Lithgow .we
passed1 throug h Bathkiarst to Orange' for
lunch and on to Wellington and Dubboe
for. the night. Aolng tlh isn? ute'a. nice
greenness was notioeabllq; and 'the
wheat crepe two aind three inches above
gaourid, the whole. 6Bu~try 'changed for
the batter than, whlear ,east: seoeq about
16 month's ago. A" veirytlight'ihfhower
of rain fell..ik Dubbnj;at night.: The
morning dbeing fine we got going at
9.380 and having Idei motoring roads'o
passedd through Nerromin, :'Tri?anle,'
Novertire on to Nyngui for lunch. You
will have some idea' of this' road,. foe
motoring. when' te .cov'redid the dis-;
tance, of 103. millkesin two? ?lioui'is ahd;
fortylfive' inutes without "exceedinig
the speed neimlt. 'lie. country. passed
thirougle is noted foir its, wlmaat, sheep
u ne. cattle The wheat certainily looks
weld, buts w saw .little: evidence . of
catt?Hi. atn tlheriads held' god, 'iw?
could easily have reached iouitrlki'lo
nglilt, but raini hadrfallen ithie 'prpvous
weOek, and 'fr'o herd to rByroo?k :and,
right into . Bpurke, insteoad 'of open
pil?ins whic?i most of tlhe :party expct"
ed to asee, it was scrulby bushli groth
and light thimber,,and althlogh levoel'
'glng . flolowing tihe, lw?ihay;, 'It was
winding in and ,out, ,making .dotp a
to. avoid pot hoes., It is said thlQov,
eriinent is going ta diar, thetrltk a
clhain wide right, upt toc. Iocike, '"1Iaoo .
would malk l the ravelling as good as
any, as' manad oa eSji ds are nt rquil'r
aed in faet a staitie riigbee made, but,
seems abandoned after doing 'a' mle oir
two.i :think..te niitar monlth would
be ideal for ?iicihr work here. and very
suiltlble for nSydne usonemplyoed, were
t, 'not', that our paternal heads are too
prone' to' upply more convenient jobs
tosatisfy the 'most aglgi'rseivov.mernebrs
.of Parliame'nt. On arrival at Byerock
which consists of a pubili. bouse, 'post
'aid' telegraph and a few 'other build.
ings, we were Informed that the road
ip Bourke was, similar to what :we had
just come thioug?l, we decidod to stop
for the nigflht, especially wigon 'told
that two nigihtse preavious a travelaer
ihad staok witL his car on thl road we
had come over and had to stay out
aI night. We woro fortunate in secur-,
ing good and cdean accommodation,
wore well treated and to any traveller
going through we can recommond thbe?a
Mac's Hotel. ' In the mrorning ai flat
tylo was discovered, a tubel having
pinchid going over thil rough track, a
stick also had bounced up and pene.
tratod the mud guard near the foot.
board. Leavinig' at 10.30 the road did
not change much till nearingh lourko,
when to somn of theo party' vthls, most
interesting ,sghts were constant mrh'
nges,' lakes of water appearing ahead
and as apploached disappears, eourke
is approached thiolug(h biack soil plaune,
two solitary peaks Mt. Oxdoy appear.
ing 30 miles away like ia mirage. Ar
riving about mki-day we stayed the
night. Bourke as the h?ad or 'navligge
tion for river boats, thosiugh at present
oneo oan got past; Wileannia, was at
one time a very halportant and flour.
shing centreo with no lss tlan tahirty
threeo pulll houses. At, present the
po?ulMatlon Is very sparse, though it
is also the torminus or the raLl.from,
Sydney. As the wool season is now
on, some trtdo is doing Oamel teams
brining in the wool fIaom tho stations.
VWe saw one such or 21 camels yoked
in a team like horses with collar up
sido down and driven bly Afghans. It
ai said by the aelo of the oamel tont
you can esuimate the worlth of an Af.
,g?nn us eaol cnmsl is. worthsl £50 and
the wagon £200. Here also we were
rr.gateid with our first Murray cod Just
'oshI from lloh, riva and. altogatlhr,.
dilferont froin what is so. ppned as suo.
lxn Sydny,.
, ' ? , ': i.....:'?:;" ·,I/?.''?. ·' "./ i.
As the next stage was dow' ithe Dar.
Eing .*o Wilcannia, a distance of over
200 miles, with few stol?4ng places
unless at. station houses, a start was
made after breakfast and providing
for lunch on the way. It is a delight..
ful run down the left bank of the Dar-..
ling. sometimes on the river uank, but
more ofl'ten youa only know where 'the
river is by the. belt of trees .that grow
along the banks. The tracks iire used
chiefly as roads in and out of stations,
and, being, without finger posts the
ht road is easily misaed, ivhirsa wd
ti d on one occasion, going straight on
thinking to miss ait river hand we land-'
ed at a station eight inures: out nd
had to retrace. Sixty four miles' out
'from Bourk6e is Leuth on the river
bhank, couisisting' of 'hotel, and i.. few
houses.: very now and again coming
on the bank glimpses of"tlhe 'winding
waters were obtalied between banks
fully 30. feet high. On one' occasion
we camoi on a .tation 'holiso'wth beau-'
tiful' flower and vegota'ble gardens"'in'-"
striking contrast. to' the general ap-I
pearanoe .of. unpjsrdapd tiveness. After
a pleasant day's run and the longest,?f.
the trip we landed at Wilcannia just..
after dark, with 'petrol nearly exhaust-.
eo, the speedometer. registeriing 18
miles. :Bousrks seemed dry with' a
tinge of' green after: 50 'points of `rain
thatlbad fallen tWAe previous week, but
Wileannia was certainly the driest'
place encountered, it being stated their
i infall' for the pist two years ' had
bden. onee and a-halTf inhes; and their
prospects were not now bright 'as the
rain".had inissed them so far. I no~lded
tGte, week following our visit, Bounrke
had a fall of 150 points, and only' ihope
'tat +Wilannin lihad. tlhe same, tholiugl
I have seen no ircord, of 'it. It cer
tainly is a pretty place oe n the Dar
'ing, and seems :to do an amount of
business with- camel teams and mrntor..
'arrics. There is a briln across 'the.
Darling. here witlh a. lfting span to
-.low boats to pass througlih at all
heights of thihe river, ?aso wlarfs. for .
loading boats,' with loadhig and landing
stages 'at five, different heights. Goats
plapear to be 'the chief source of the
milk supply, whodq fhea'4s being .see,
In fact N?I along the riverl they vere
very noticeable, Sheep crtalinly do
well in this country, the iest cdndi.
tioned. seen wereo between' haresn and
Bourkee and;: Menindle, thei, chief feed
being salt bush, nwhic 'is very abun
daiit in parts, also' the W'lgci scrub,
a stunted tree that is loppe'd for cattle
and; thei stock in drtfoght time. Leavd
iag Wilcannia a., direct road of ':120
miles, through salt 'bus!:ha. plain witlh,';"
some light varying gdoing llindled isi
at Brokoet Hill on SatWirday evonling ?~.
'ihis' i.plac'? is 'o: suilioient' importanco
to leave for futu'e description.,
$