On the Carinda Trail

Great morning in Bourke with a river side breakfast feast at the Historic Wharf before heading onto the Bourke Primary School for a puppet show and general mayhem. The cars were blaring noise and attracting attention as the procession moved to the school yard.

Once again the people of Bourke turned it on for the esCarpadians before our departure with more donations and general good will coming our way.

Time for the road with more of the straight, dusty stuff flying around. I caught myself yesterday opening my mouth imagining I was swallowing the thick dust that was flying towards our windshield as we tailed some of the leading cars and was able to realise this dream by taking photographs road side again.

Lots to look at with a huge terrain change as we skirted the Macquarie Marshlands. More trees now skirt the roadway.We had an action packed 'fun stop' along the way - a nice broad patch of dirt to show off some of our cars' abilities...

We arrived at the village of Carinda, population just enough to fit the town hall. The whole town greeted us and the school of one class of 24 kids was joined by neighbouring (40 minutes away) Marra Creek school which totals 4 kids only! Carinda is a charming town with a real country friendliness, one wide dusty main street with the obligatory post office and pub.

The P&C, assisted by many locals, put together a great buffet lunch and importantly a range of 'sweets' baked and cooked and created by locals. The heartfelt generousity of Carinda went a long way and our last puppet show was a blast.

This was a most enjoyable stop and a worthy town to visit in the area.

Goin berko in Bourke

It was a great run through some seriously rough terrain that brought the convoy to Bourke this afternoon. After the hot, red, dusty roads we had experienced from Glengarry, we turned off the rough roadway onto an even rougher dirt track.
The drive had cars dipping into river beds and bouncing from pothole to ditch so the esCarpade crew was ready for some well earned relaxation.
The afternoon's heat had a lot of people eager to get to our Mad Hatter's themed dinner. The Back O Bourke Exhibition Centre were hosts this evening, and the new facility has some seriously eye catching design going on, plus a great indoor/outdoor function space that easily accomodated the esCarpadian hordes.