May 2020

Invite a friend, Packsaddle Roadhouse and more

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 25/May/2020 - 6:11am

Good morning to you all,

Things are looking better aren’t they?? One more week, and we people out here in the far west will be ready to welcome anyone who is looking to see something different.

Our caravan parks, motels and farm stays will make your stay memorable.

Was listening to our local ABC the other morning, Andrew doesn’t do a bad job on air. But he actually came up with a brilliant idea, on air too! If all of us ‘bushies’ out here in the west were to invite a relative or a friend out to see us, we would end up with 20,000 visitors to boost our outback trade! Don’t know how we’d handle them Andrew but up top for thinking!

I think there will be a lot of Clubs, Pubs and restaurants that may refrain from opening till there is no restrictions on numbers. Imagine if there were 30 in a club and you were next?  You wouldn’t be happy.

However all towns out here, you can get take a way, so for instance, grab a bottle of wine or 6 pack from the Club, sit round the camp fire at Warrawong and enjoy happy hour, or wherever you bed down.

I haven’t checked yet, but as I said, after next Monday, I’m sure there will be Rob’s river cruises starting to happen in Menindee, Rob Dyson will be getting ready to show you round White Cliffs. Things will be ramping up in Bourke I’m sure.

Those girls at the Wentworth VIC will be in full flight! So, we are all waiting to welcome you.

Interesting to hear from Michael in Broken Hill, he’s starting to get inquiries already, as is Warrawong.

Have you flipped through the latest “Outback Magazine”? Well done Mia and Arn at the “Packsaddle Roadhouse”, a really good article Mia, you deserve credit.

Benefits of staying home

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 18/May/2020 - 5:42am

Good morning all,

Was watching the news tonight and it occurred to me how easy it is to get carried away in our own little circle.

Sure we can’t go off and visit our friends and relatives, we aren’t able to go down to our club and have a draught. But we tend to not realise there are hundreds of people just in our own state who have been completely burnt out. They have been living in a borrowed caravan for months, using not only household items but also clothes that have been donated to them.

They are not worried about when the restaurants and cafes are opening, they can’t afford to go to anyway, or haven’t one within cooee of them.

Social distancing and exercising in the park means nothing to the hundreds of cattle producers who had all their cattle herd washed away in floods in central Queensland last year and left with absolutely no income.

We still have our homes, we have our families, we have tried new ways of living through necessity, that may even become part of our future life and probably for the better.

Kids are being schooled at home and probably learning life skills in a home environment that they would never been exposed to at school.

Parents, and in particular mothers out here in our outback, have been juggling housekeeping, cooking, teaching a couple of kids, mustering, and “have you got a minute love?” for years.

We haven’t lost a single friend, relative of family member out here in our great region with this pandemic. Is it such an inconvenience that we sit down together as a family at night instead of going out for tea.

I don’t know, maybe I’m being simplistic. I’ve certainly raved on long enough!!

Good water in our river now

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 11/May/2020 - 8:29am

Good morning everyone,

I hope all the mothers had a wonderful day yesterday. A belated wish from myself.

Well, is there some light on the horizon? Have heard a few in our network predicting that once things are relaxed, there are many couples with the caravan hooked up, fuel in the tank, and finger on the key! (well almost!).

If this is the case, we certainly can’t turn on events for them immediately, but just think. If they turn up we can certainly welcome them and make them feel comfortable. Make them feel they are Important to us.

Rest assured, when the traffic starts, it will be the ordinary every day Aussie that’s travelling out here, as has always been the case. Going from north to south, going from east to west, and all places in between.

We won’t see Chinese or Asian visitors standing in our streets with their “App” working out what to see.

We will see curious couples in most cases longing for a local to come up and greet them. Give them some local knowledge, and point them to some place they may not have thought of.

They will be looking at being treated in a friendly manner in our shops. In a manner that makes them think, “ hey, we’ll come back here again”. And guess what? Their impression will spread.

If the optimistic members of our outback are correct, and we soon see the “grey nomads” on our roads again, then let’s hope the DON’T STOP signs on our towns very smartly disappear. Some decisions are ill founded.

It seems work is progressing really well on our Cobb Highway now and completion date is looking to be on the horizon. There’s a big thanks to go to a very small group for enormous persistence on this project.

Really good water in our river now, so don’t forget all those Farmstays along the mighty Darling river. They will be looking out for you, might even be able to supply some bait!.

Back O’ Bourke Gallery

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 04/May/2020 - 6:19am

Good morning all,

After highlighting a couple of Wilcannia’s young fellows who did well, I thought I’d give you a spell from Wilcannia. I’m going to stick to our Tourism theme and give accolades to one of our businesses who are striving to showcase their products to everyone.

Since the dreaded virus struck, a couple in Bourke decided to step outside the square and give it “a crack”.

Jenny and Steve up at the “Back O Bourke Gallery,” have thought outside the square and gone on line with an excellent video and presentation of their Art Gallery and have received an outstanding response from hell west and crooked!

I spoke to Jenny who explained how they got the idea going and connected with heaps of people from all over.

Back O’ Bourke Gallery has been presenting their new exhibition “Seasons Come and Seasons Go”, ON LINE! They had a very successful launch on Easter Saturday and promoted it as an event that people could still attend.

Folks joined in with wine and cheese, beer and nibbles in hand and enjoyed the 40 minute presentation from the comfort of their own home.

Jenny received an overwhelming response from people.

“My Back O’ Bourke Gallery facebook page was bombarded with photos of people watching it”, she said. “It was fun”.