The Darling River Run, New South Wales | Travel Journal Walgett to Wentworth, NSW
Welcome to our Go Further, Stay Longer! Series where we share some of the amazing places where we’ve been able to enjoy a longer off-grid caravan or camping stay thanks to our Adventure Pump.
In this blog, we share more about our journey along The Darling River Run, New South Wales, making our way from Walgett (NSW) to Wentworth (near the NSW/Victorian border).
This one is a great example of how your travels don’t always pan out how you envisage them!
What is the Darling River Run?
The Darling River run is one of Australia’s iconic outback journeys covering approximately 940kms through outback NSW for the full run.
Following Australia’s longest river (approx. 2,740kms from source to mouth) you travel through epic landscapes, farming communities and outback towns with plenty of wildlife and off-grid camping opportunities for those set up for serious off-road travel.
Travelling the Darling River Run in a Caravan – Our Proposed Itinerary
Our intended route was travelling south-west starting at Walgett travelling via Brewarrina, Bourke, Louth, Tilpa, Wilcannia, Menindee Lakes, Pooncarrie and ending at Wentworth.
We ended up cutting short our route, stopping at Menindee Lakes (approx. 700kms into the journey) as we’d had enough of the hard going. As you’ll see below, the river itself was historically dry so we ended our run there and travelled to Broken Hill.
When the experience doesn’t match the postcard
After experiencing the 40-degree heat of Lightning Ridge very early on in the trip (in late November/early December 2020) we thought it’d be nice to follow the Darling River down to Mildura.
We had envisaged cooking by the river, watching the birdlife come and go, and generally staying cool under leafy gum trees, watching the days go by in style.
Well, it turned out a bit different from that dream.
The road was muchharder to travel than anticipated.
The Darling River was virtually dry, and we experienced the most epic dust-storm at a place called Tilpa, that we’d ever seen.
We sought refuge on Kallara Station, a massive 1700-acre sheep station where wheelie bins were being thrown across paddocks by the wind.
But we would ultimately bail out 700 km into the 1,000 km trek. After a short break at Menindee Lakes, unable to take any more punishment of body and gear, we headed up to Broken Hill to take the far more civilised ‘Silver City Highway’ down to Wentworth and Mildura for our Christmas & New Year’s ‘Holiday’.
Putting our Adventure Pump to the test
In hindsight, our ‘river run’ was okay. Yes, a flowing river would’ve made all the difference!
But this trip offered a significant milestone in the history of Adventure Pumps because it was the first lengthy off-grid experience where the additional water and pump kit was used to sustain us.
Our Darling River Run journey totalled 10 nights.
Our caravan tanks provided 4 nights of water, plus we had 5 jerry cans extending our water supply by another 3 nights (7 nights total for a family of 4).
We filled up at Kallara Station (once the dust settled) with farm tank water then at the town of Menindee before travelling up to Broken Hill and back to main water and civilisation.
Our Adventure Pump did us proud and had now been tested in the field and worked flawlessly setting us up for the even greater challenges that were ahead of us.
Hi, I’m Alan. Founder of Adventure Pumps and creator of the original 12V water transfer and diesel transfer pump kit to help you Go Further, Stay Longer!TM
With a 20+ year career in the pump and irrigation industry, Adventure Pumps was created due to my family’s personal experiences and challenges living full-time on the road, travelling around Australia.
We knew that there was a better and faster way of managing our caravan water supply that required less effort and freed up more time to spend enjoying our trip.
The Adventure Pumps water transfer kits and accessories address the most important need on your trip – access to water and the ability to easily move it to where you need it.
So, whether you’re doing a full lap, or take regular shorter trips, you’ll be able to Go Further, Stay Longer!™ (and spend less) with Adventure Pumps.
Shop our products here, read up on our FAQs or be inspired on the Adventure Pumps travel journal.
