Wednesday 6 May 2015

Wordless Wednesday : The Mighty Darling


Old North Bourke Bridge - Friday !





Paddle boats were the major transportation means with wool and other produce, travelling all the way from the rail head at Bourke to the Murray junction at Wentworth. 
  PV Jandra is a faithful reproduction of the original 1894 steam paddle boat. We didn't get to cruise it.
It has been badly affected by drough, salinity and runs through very flat country and plains ...hence the murky , muddy look.



The Historic wharf is very impressive. The three-tiered wharf is a reproduction of the original wharf built in 1897.

The Darling River was busy with boats carrying wool bales and prodcue -

Port of Bourke was once Australia’s busiest inland ports.

Sunday - I ran across here - not to the end as it has been barricaded. The Bridge opened up here - from the look of it.

Last weekend we headed to Bourke to give the enthusiastic folk of far Western NSW a try of Dragon Boating, on the Darling River - the outback's most famous waterway.
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, 1,472 kilometres from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, NSW

Officially the Darling River begins between Brewarrina and Bourke at the confluence of the Culgoa and Barwon rivers. Wikipedia