Day 65: Fri 11 Jul 25 - Inverell to Gunnedah

July 11, 2025

Fri 11 Jul 25 - Inverell to Gunnedah (Towed 255km via Delungra, Bingara, Barraba and Manilla)

Weather: It was unexpectedly cold last night - very cold - minus 1 with apparent temperature at minus 4 🥶🥶 was recorded on the BOM, but I’m certain it was colder where we were. The day only reached 16 Deg in the late afternoon, mostly clear all day but very chilly with a SW wind.

We woke this morning to no water as the taps and hoses were frozen solid. We had to use the tank water instead until after we left. We couldn’t use the diesel heater either as diesel turned to gel and the heater kept cutting out, thankfully we were able to use the air conditioner heater instead, but it wasn't very effective. It was still zero Deg at 08:00am as I started packing up, and rolling up a frozen power cable, water hose and grey water hose was no fun. Needless to say, no morning walk today. We eventually drove away from Inverell at 09:15am and it was a bit of a zig zaggy drive along minor roads, some of which were a bit rough in places. But, overall it was a very pleasant day driving a new route for us with new sights, and some of the best countryside we have seen since caravanning. The stretch between Barraba and Manilla then Manilla on to Gunnedah was particularly enjoyable with vast rolling hills, lush crops and lots of healthy looking cattle. AFter leaving Inverell, it was 35km drive NW to Delungra before we turned SW along the Delungra-Bingara road stopping 20km later at the Myall Creek Memorial Site. This is the site of the massacre of at least 28 unarmed Aboriginal women, children and elderly men by 12 stockmen in 1838. Seven stockmen were eventually convicted of murder and hanged. This was one of the few massacres of Aboriginals to have been proven in court and the only to result in the conviction and execution of the perpetrators. Read more: Myall-Creek-Massacre

From Myall Creek, we continued to the outskirts of Bingara where we stopped at a Coffee Van called Bavarian Mumma, owned and operated by a German Lady. The coffee was very nice and the fresh baked German cake and pastry was delicious. Not much to see on the way through Bingara, we continued to Barraba where we parked and had a bite to eat for lunch at a bakery, then had a wonder around town. There are couple of impressive murals and painted silos to see here, before we continued to Manilla. Here we stopped for another walk through town with more lovely old buildings to be seen before continuing to our final destination for the day, staying overnight at the Gunnedah showgrounds. After setting up, I went off for a walk around town past more painted silos, a painted water tower and more memorials. Back at the van, after a long day in the saddle, it was time for a beer and a feed, then rug up for another cold night.

Myall Creek Memorial Walk - The Myall Creek Massacre Memorial site honours the 28 Wirrayaraay women, children and elderly men murdered here on June 10th 1838. It stands alone as the only time in Australia's history where perpetrators of a massacre were arrested, tried and executed. Acquitted in the initial trial, a second trial found seven of the convicts and ex-convicts guilty and some justice prevailed.