We set off reasonably early, stopped in Inglewood for some shopping, and turned south towards Texas.
In Texas we stopped for phone call and for a cup of tea.
The route to Barraba took us west along the Bruxner Highway to Yetman. The road was pretty ordinary considering its high sounding name but we reached Yetman without incident.
Turning south to Warialda, we soon came upon the bad bitumen Vicki had warned us about. We only averaged about 50 kph (30 mph) and by the time we reached Coolatai, half way to Warialda, we had to stop for a rest.
The second half of the road to Warialda was something else. The road alternated between pretty good and really bad. A strong westerly had sprung up bringing a dust storm from Moree which reduced the visibility in places to less than a kilometre (1000 yds). This might not seem dramatic but when you cant see the top of the next hill it gets oppressive.
Despite the wind we made it to Warialda in reasonable time only to discover that we had lost an hour to daylight saving so it was already after four.
I needed to fill the genny fuel tank so we went looking for a servo. The first one we came across had an awning too low for us to negotiate so we went off looking for another. This one had a nice high awning and both diesel and ULP pumps where we could get at them. I filled up with diesel and asked the attendant if it was OK to fill the water tank. She offered me 10 litres but no amount of negotiation would alter her mind. Because she had been so mean, I chose not to fill the genny tank and went back to the other servo, approaching it from the other side to avoid the awning. The lady there was happy to let me fill up with water and was horrified at the other person's behaviour.
We found the town big rig rest area by the Saleyards and settled in for the night.
During the night the temperature plummeted to a chilly 6°C (43°F) and we both had to seek out some warm bed clothes. The Motley insulation worked its magic and we only had to put up with 15°C (59°F) but even so it was a sharp reminder that we were now up on the tableland. Happily the low overnight temperature enable the fridge to resume normal operation after many days of inadequate cooling due to high ambient overnight temperatures.