A crisp morning of 5 degrees greeted us on Day 3. After a quick trip for a loaf of bread at Cobar Hot Bake, we set out on the Barrier Highway through a changing landscape of cypress pine, mulga and saltbush. Typical of outback highway travel, the journey from Cobar to Broken Hill sees one small town and two quirky service stations in 456km.

The long unwinding road (with goats, lots and lots of goats).

Goats are in plague proportions, adept at safe use of highway verges. It is rare to see a dead goat struck by a vehicle. The same cannot be said for kangaroos – the highway was littered with last night’s roadkill.

This goat greeted us at a rest area – I tried to hold a conversation with it but it kept butting in.

Emu Count for today: 202. Large mobs (flocks?) of emus up to 15 were seen along fences of properties and free ranging over endless plains. The other wildlife highlight for the day was seeing a pair of Major Mitchell cockatoos west of Cobar close to the side of the road perched atop a small dead tree. Their colours even more striking in person than any image I have seen. Alas, after slowing from 110km/hr and trying to focus, the camera just recorded a blurred flask of white and briliant pink.

We stopped at the popular Emmdale Roadhouse for morning tea – just ahead of the crowd. The toilets are named “Rat” and “Mouse”. A man waiting looked quite surprised when a young lady emerged from “Rat” throwing doubt in his mind as to which side he should use.

Saltbush on the Darling River floodplain near Wilcannia. We had a good look around Wilcannia two years ago, the town has some fine sandstone buildings.

A fine day on the Barrier Highway.

Loo with a view – a Windyloo at Netallie Rest Area outside Wilcannia

The view across the mulga to the Darling River floodplain.

Dolo Rest Area on the Barrier Highway.

Mulga flowers adding splashes of the colour to the grey green textures.

Emerophila longifolia – long leaved emu bush at MacCullochs Range.

A mallee ringneck parrot feeding on roadside grasses.

Apostle birds are active, gregarious birds that seem unafriad of anything. They are opportunists at Rest Areas competing with the goats for the travellers attention.

The inspiration for “Angry Birds”.

It is very dry in this region. The emu activity may be movement to areas with more available food. The sheep appeared to be doing it tough on dusty treks.

Fellow travellers revelling in the freedom of the outback.

We arrived at Broken Hill in the late afternoon – a culture shock to be back in a large town after the quiet isolation of the day.

Overlooking the town is the Miner’s Memorial which is a solemn place dedicated to all the miners who lost their lives over the years searching for silver, lead and zinc.

The view over the main street from the memorial with heritage listed buildings prominent.

Another one of Australia’s Big Things  – the Big Chair on the Line of Lode at Broken Hill.

PS Photos on this blog have been taken by all three members of our journey. Special mention for this post: the first emu image and the single apostle bird image were taken by the youngest member of our party.