Outback Trekkers return to Bourke

Part of the Outback Trek Committee at the Bourke Bowling Club on Saturday night — Neil Driscoll, Alan Smith, Penny Smith, Melanie Driscoll, Joy Martin and Greg Martin Photo: TWH

The Outback Trek roared back into Bourke on Saturday, bringing with it tall tales of adventure, camaraderie and community.

Bourke’s Neil Driscoll is Vice President of the Trek, which this year covered more than 4,000 kilometres, visiting legendary outback towns and sites like Wanaaring, Tibooburra, Cameron’s Corner, Innamincka, Birdsville, Mangarannie Roadhouse and Maree.

The trek included a tour down through Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley for 2 nights, then a loop back up through Menindee, Tilpa, Louth and home to Bourke.

More than 30 vehicles carrying families with kids, professionals escaping their workaday lives and seasoned bushies like Neil brought goodwill and much needed charity to communities struggling through some of the driest conditions ever seen on the Trek.

President of Outback Trek Committee Greg Martin said the dry conditions had turned much of the countryside into a ‘moonscape’.

“We left Bourke and went through Reola Station, west of Wanaaring, where we held a benefit for farmers,” he said.

Read more in the printed edition of the Western Herald.