Another easy day, leaving West Wyalong at 10:00Am.

The roads again were not fairing well with all the water recently with more pot holes and road surface breaking up. There were a lot of lakes on the sides of the roads where paddocks once stood and the creeks were full. You did not dare pull off the black top for the fear of sinking in the mud.

A lot of roads were closed due to flooding but not the track we were taking to Bathurst.

We stopped for lunch in Blayney at Goose Park which apparently was under water a week ago.

The clouds were building as we got closer to Bathurst but there was no rain to fall today. Jenny was a little excited as we drove up Panorama Avenue to the Mount Panorama Race Track. It was a seamless pickup of credentials, shirts, passes, caps and other bits and pieces from the Officials Credential Office.

Off to the Officials Campground. There is 2 ways to access this campground. The first is to wait for the racing to finish for today then take the circuit to the infield.

The second is to use the tunnel under the circuit. There is a height limit of 3.1m for the tunnel and I was pretty sure that we could fit through.

The guard at the tunnel had a pipe jig to check heights and it looked like I had a few cms to spare. Down and into the tunnel and we didn’t hear any scraping so foot down, close eyes and we were through and into the campground.

Managed OK to get the Taj onto our site (228), with room for the caravan with awning out and car across the front.

The Fire Chief stopped by and took me on a tour of the Pits, Support Paddock before picking up a fire truck for a couple of laps of the track to get my bearings and where all the fire trucks will be located. Jenny even tagged along for the ride.

My role for this weekend is in Race Control looking after the Fire and Supply crew.

280 kms today with fuel at an all time low for the moment at West Wyalong of $1.459 a litre

No rush today to get away, leaving the Yanga Creek Rest Area around 10:30Am. Our travels took us across the Hay Plain which is normally dry, and dusty except for the rice and cotton fields. Not this time.

With all the recent rain, the place is very green with standing water on the side of the road and all the creeks full. We even didn’t see any kangaroos along the road, dead or alive, which is unusual for this run.

The roads have not weathered the rain well with a lot of damage and pot holes.

We did see some animals today. A farmer was moving his sheep along the highway north-east of Hay to take advantage of the abundant grass available on the roadside.

Our digs for the night was the Ace Caravan Park in West Wyalong. We had a great grassed site but unfortunately the mozzies came out enforce at dusk so couldn’t take advantage of the site.

Only 380 kms of travel today with fuel of $1.629 at Hay.

Even though I was involved in the Adelaide Rally for the last 4 days, I have a capable Deputy so left the Event around 2:00Pm only leaving 3 stages left for Kieran to look after.

After dropping the gear at the Rally Office, picking up the caravan from the Showgrounds then home to get Jenny, we were on the road around 4:00Pm for the run to NSW.

My plan was to get to around Balranald tonight.

An hour into the drive, I contacted the Rally Office to see how the last 3 stages went. It appeared that they didn’t.

On one of the stages, SAPOL and SES needed access to find a missing child possibly in a dam. This stage was cancelled.

Another stage had a car flip over and block the road. By the time this was cleaned up, this stage was also cancelled.

That left only one of the three going through to completion.

We arrived to the Victorian Border before sunset. There were a couple of SAPOL members checking arrivals from Victoria but no Victoria Police to check travel passes into Victoria.

We only had a couple of hours as we traversed Victoria to the NSW Border and the road was very quiet with a couple of trucks and cars over the whole journey in both directions.

We arrived at the NSW Border at Tooleybuc around 10:00Pm and there was no-one to be found and no traffic either.

It was onto Balranald for fuel then just down the road to Yanga Creek Rest Area for a sleep.

We travelled 524 kms today and fuel at Pinnaroo was $1.649 a litre and Balranald $1.619 a litre.