MERRIWA - POPULATION: 1,790

MERRIWA FREE CAMP

THURS 20.04.2017: We said our goodbyes and headed for what has now become a traditional part of any trip - the vet! This time it is Madison with bouts of vomiting and blood in the diarrhoea on and off since Monday. We have dosed her with the appropriate medicine, but still no success. Greencross Tamworth, yes we also have shares in this veterinary practice! Went in to see Dr Debra Braithwaite at 11.30am and exited at 1.30pm - yes she was thorough. Madison had stool and blood tests, physical examinations, the works. If we lived in the area we would definitely have Dr Debra as our vet. Determined it was a gastrointestinal problem, with the cause unknown. We were to ring the clinic tomorrow to find out the blood test results and if need be follow up with medication once we arrived in Dubbo. Topped up on supplies and hit the road by 2.30pm, headed for Cassilis. We thought we would again give "Dolly" the opportunity to redeem herself and so plotted our course. Off we drive into the "Never Never", then we hit a dirt road - okay we can do this, slowly! 20kms of slow, agonising driving and then we come across a sign "WATER ON THE ROAD"! We hesitantly approached and unfortunately assessed that we were not brave enough to tackle the cross over - we threw "Dolly" into the water before doing our U turn! We were only 3kms from our turn off to Cassilis! We drove A-L-L the way back and had to go via Scone to reach our destination. Night had fallen and by now the usually short distance travellers had more than enough! By 7.30pm we decided to call it quits at Merriwa and found a free camp behind the Information Centre - yep, just O-N-E of those days!