Saturday 30th May.
Back into the good weather, slowly warming up we drove on to Yowah for quick visit with an old mate we met there last year, he's still in Opal buying selling business.

Old mate Bill Hall's camp at Yowah.

Moving on we arrived at Toompine, the pub without a town.

  Toompine Pub

 Locals gathering at the pub.

 View from the pub.

  View from the pub.

 After lunch at Toopine, we made our way to Quilpie, where we moved into a very crowded caravan park. Necessary to catch up with laundry reorganising etc.
They do have free hot spas here, as all the ground water is almost boiling point.

Friday 29th May.

Packing up again, this time in the rain with a lot wet gear we fueld up and headed off towards Bourke. Where we fueled up again and took off to Cunnamulla, refueling once again on our way to Eulo for an overnight stay. A big days driving about 500 ks.

 The obligatory pics with the Cunnamulla Fella.

 Sunset at Eulo, where camped beside the Eulo pub for $10 a night, the hot showers making it good value.

Thursday 28th May.
Breakfast and packing up did not take long and we were soon on the road again. Travelling up through Hillston, a very nice town where Myra and I stayed last year. Onward up to Cobar, a large mining town, famous for mining copper and gold.
We again found a free campsite for the night right in the centre of town beside a small reservoir.
It soon started to rain and rain it did all night.

 We had a brief visit from Tommy the Turtle who wandered past on his way back into the reservoir.

The big day has arrived Wednesday 27th May, time to head off north. Leaving Koondrook behind we drove across to Deniliquin then on to Hay. Stopping here briefly for a rest, both cars performing well, and both caravans towing towing well.
After Hay we drove on further northward arriving at a little town called Goolgowie where we set up camp for the first night. We found a free camping site just outside town, about 200 meters off the road.

25th of May we arrived at Koondrook, to load up our caravan and get ready to start our trip. Rossco and Robin towed their new caravan and joined us at the Koondrook Caravan Park, Tomorrow we head off to Hay to camp beside the Murrumbidgee River.

Planning for this year's trip started 12 months ago, following a trip to Alaric Station in South West Queensland, 100 kms north of Quilpie.
That trip we towed our home built camper van with a pretty ancient Ford courier ute.
We decided to upgrade the car to a new Triton twin cab turbo diesel ute, with a rebuild to our 1984 Jayco poptop caravan. First modifications were an increase in wheel diameter 13" to 14" and an axle lift, giving it an extra 3" ground clearance. From there we got a bit carried away and repainted inside and out with the addition of protective aluminium checkerplate panels. Wasted space inside made more accessible with the addition of extra drawers.

Here are some before and after photos.

 Before

 Before

 After

 After

 Before

 After

After