I departed my favourite Shell servo, Aspley at 22:10 EST, ODO: 30096
The annual Christian Motorcyclists' Assn National Run was in Victor Harbour this year, so I decided to do an Ironbutt sector enroute. Being a frugal chappie, my habitual stop for fuel on the Newell is the Coles Shell at Boggabilla which recognises my discount dockets. I was there at 03:15 DST.
Nearly forgot- first surprise of the night was the stationary unlighted semi parked in the only uphill lane on the Cunninghams Gap! The second one was a solo skippy standing in the middle of the highway west of Warwick, and the only one seen on that notorious sector.
My next LR tradition is a Bacon and Egg McMuffin and Cappa for breakfast. In the absence of a decent sunrise shot, I hereby tender "Sunrise a la Narrabri Maccas".
I knew before I left that there had been serious flooding in Forbes, and the lake had obviously retreated back into its banks.
The NSW Roads website had also warned me of the diversion from Forbes to the outskirts of Grenfell via the Henry Lawson Way, thence back to the Newell, due to major flood damage to the highway. That added 50 km to the trip, but on good roads. However, at Mirool Creek (which is effectively a chain of lagoons) the water was over the road for about 50 metres running quite swiftly around 20 cm deep.
Safely through that, it wasn't far to capture the obligatory Gate shot and answer my quest- no, it was only flooded on the outskirts. The road to Hell itself was firm and dry.
Arrival Ouyen VIC at 18:40 EDST, ODO: 31832, total 1736 km
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=128f257fc219520259
