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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dkirk on June 28, 2014, 08:26:22 PM
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Will be travelling between Dubbo and Broken Hill in a few days time probably get around Willcania it gets a bad wrap so where should we overnight how far out of town is Ok. Have camps 7 for reference
Cheers Derek
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Stay at cobar
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Pull up at Cobar. Willcania is good for nothing, don't overnight there, avoid it like the plague. It is the worst place I have stayed, visited, been to in my life. Unfortunately my parents in law had jobs there and spent an Xmas and Easter there. What a sh1thole, I will never ever be there for an overnighter again in this lifetime. Did you get the subliminal message?
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There is a very nice Park before you get into Wilcannia, look it up on the web.
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http://www.warrawongonthedarling.com.au/ (http://www.warrawongonthedarling.com.au/)
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Yeah heard good things about that park. Bit like kidmans camp out of Bourke. Far enough out of town to avoid trouble
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The only good thing about willcania is the road out of there,too......much trouble
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Google "Coach and Horses Wilcania" nice spot, even has mobile reception.
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Or you could stop at the weir at Tilpa on the south side of the river. Free bush camp if you have all your gear. Even a visit to the Tilpa pub is worth your while.
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We've stayed at Warrawong on the Darling and it was fantastic.
Brand new amenities near grassy sites, or you can get down near the river, away from it all.
Would not hesitate to go back.
Check out the reviews on WikiCamps.
Cheers
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About 5 years ago, I sold a load of hay and had to deliver it up to a station about 300 k north of Wilcania.
Not a problem I thought ???
I didn't know the area at all, and decided to pull up in the truck just out of town at about 1am for a sleep.
About an hour passed and I heard a couple of cars pull up, full of pi$$ed locals.
I was starting to get pretty worried, so I got dressed and started the truck, waiting for the air to build up.
I swear one of them was about to try and light my load of oaten hay up.
Truck in gear, I was out of there, not stopping for no one.
They tailgated me for about 20 k, sitting up behind that close that I couldn't see the vehicle in my mirrors.
Bloody scary stuff..... I can tell ya.
What worried me the most is if they got past me and tried to block the road, I was going to drive straight over the top of them.... No questions asked.
:cheers:
Glenn
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sad that things have gone this way at willcania, as a kid we used to stop there doin the regular run from adelaide to bris and back school holiday time, never had issues, then in 2004 as a adult i went back to adelaide (born there moved to qld) for the first time since moving, wow what a change, bars on the all windows, was like a ghost town not many ppl around, some said stuff gets stolen out of the back of utes if not locked, was planning on stopping but kept on goin!
luckily we did a long days travelling from qld and made it as far as cobar....was trying to get as many k's as possible could of ended up that 300k extra at the cania!
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We got to wilcania just before dark one time planning to stay overnight. Pulled in fuelled up and got outa there as fast as we could, drove another 3 hours through the night to get to the next stop.
One look at the place and no way were we risking it.
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Pull up at Cobar. Willcania is good for nothing, don't overnight there, avoid it like the plague. It is the worst place I have stayed, visited, been to in my life. Unfortunately my parents in law had jobs there and spent an Xmas and Easter there. What a sh1thole, I will never ever be there for an overnighter again in this lifetime. Did you get the subliminal message?
So I take it you're not keen to go back? ;D
Foo
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Stopped for 10 mind to get fuel, was 10 mins too long. Now I have an FJ with long range tanks so wouldn't be doing it again, ever.
Cobar is nice
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On the caravaners forum recently there have been good reports about the caravan park in Wilcannia, no problems, nice place on the river. We are thinking of staying there overnight next month.
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Wilcannia........ Just like Elliot in the NT.
Regards
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Thanks for the advice pushed on to broken hill, ended up a late run have never seen so many goats
cheers Derek
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I had some mates come through there on bikes and they stayed at the caravan park on the eastern side of the river. They too had heard the stories, but said the park was clean and the bloke that ran it was nice.
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We have stopped at Willcania a number of times over the years to get fuel at the depot in the back streets. Made it a habit to have a yarn with any indigenous brethren we saw around the place. Yep, the town has a reputation but I think that continually bagging the place just ensures that it will be harder to get it back up on it's feet again. The town has a great history as a Darling River port from back in the day and some historic buildings. It doesn't do any good to be constantly showing bigotry against the town. Did you know that Warrawong on the Darling has the local elders come out to tell the travelers about the indigenous history ? A good way to break the mould I think.
:cheers:
James
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It all good and well jkwpajero and I am all for giving things a go and the benefit of the doubt that its all good.
When I went though, last time was in 2010 and coming into town all we could notice was all the empty stubbies littering the side of the road, then as we got closer the security bars on the shop front windows and smashed signage of local businesses that didn't have them was a bad sign. What put the nail in the coffin was a drunken brawl in the park.
Maybe I had bad timing, and bad stuff can happen anywhere but the vibe was not welcoming
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It all good and well jkwpajero and I am all for giving things a go and the benefit of the doubt that its all good.
When I went though, last time was in 2010 and coming into town all we could notice was all the empty stubbies littering the side of the road, then as we got closer the security bars on the shop front windows and smashed signage of local businesses that didn't have them was a bad sign. What put the nail in the coffin was a drunken brawl in the park.
Maybe I had bad timing, and bad stuff can happen anywhere but the vibe was not welcoming
There are suburbs in Sydney that are as bad as Willcania is made out to be. And white people live in them. Just saying that Willcania has a reputation that is repeated constantly, and there are other places in our own backyards that are just as bad.
James
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Don't know why people bag out Wilcannia I went there for work for five years the trouble makers kept to themselves and the elders where always helping/showing the kids the rights from the wrongs.
I was more concerned with the kids at Menindee as quite a number had a mean streak and wanted to make a name for themselves.
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It doesn't do any good to be constantly showing bigotry against the town.
:cheers:
James
I don't think anyone has even mentioned race? Regardless of the origins of the locals, any town where the pub has bars on the window and the servo has all the products ( and possibly a shotgun) behind a very high counter is not worth stopping at. The day we were there was very uncomfortable as we were looked at sideways by every single person mulling around on the main strip.
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My wife and I stayed in Willcania in late 2010 on our way back to Townsville from Adelaide.
We rolled in at about 6pm and booked into a little motel asked the lady where we could get a feed and she said the only thing open would be the bowls club, so at about 7pm we jumped into the car and headed to the bowls club and WOW what an eye opener, the wife and I call it the Vampire town as every house & business had steel shutters over the windows and doors.
We found the bowls club and it was dark and could not see any lights on and we had thought it was closed, so I went to the front door to check and it crept open and I heard some voices at the bar so I waved the wife in. We walked into the club and were met by the friendliest locals ever, they shook our hands and said welcome to our little town shouted us our first round of drinks and we had a great time talking to the locals and a great feed too. But yes it is a weird little town And I probably wouldn't stay again.
t wasn't till we got home when friends of ours told us we were crazy staying there as they stopped in once for fuel in the middle of the day and while they were paying for their fuel a heap of 'Non reflective" kids about 20 of them started trying to rip their kids push bikes of the back of the caravan,The pump attendant said to them you better hurry!! so they bolted back to the car and took off while the kids chased them down the road still trying to get the bikes off..