Tilpa Hotel We Visit An Iconic Aussie Outback Pub

Established in 1894 the Tilpa Hotel is one of the last remaining true bush pubs in Australia. Grown from river boat trade along the Darling River in outback NSW Australia. The Hotel at Tilpa was built over 100 years ago. A timber and corrugated iron building. Inside the inside walls are covered in messages and autographs placed by visitors in return for a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

View From The Beer Garden Behind The Tilpa Hotel

We chucked some money in the donation jar and the barmaid lent us a texta so that Amanda could add her signature to one of the doorframes out the front. There are literally thousands of autographs and messages covering nearly every surface. It’s great to seen so many people have donated money to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Signing The Door Frame At The Tilpa Hotel

We visited the Tilpa Pub – Hotel on our way along the Darling River Run. It’s a great old pub and well worth a stop in and a beer. We had a couple of light beers out the back in the beer garden that overlooks the Darling River. When we ere there the river was very low, almost empty in fact. It must be a magnificent when it’s full and running. The views from the beer garden of the bridge across the Darling River at Tilpa are just magic.

Where is the Tilpa Hotel

You will find the Hotel at Tilpa on Darling street at Tilpa. It is off the Tilpa Road on the northern side of the Darling River. You can get to it via Bourke to the east of via Wilcannia to the west.

Address	Web Site	Phone
1 Darling St, Tilpa NSW 2840	https://www.tilpahotel.com/	(02) 6837 3928

Getting There

Travel From	Distance	Time
Bourke to Tilpa	191km	02:23
Wilcannia to Tilpa	273km	03:00
Broken Hill to Tilpa	468km	05:04
Sydney to Tilpa	906km	12:34

Wilcannia Menindee Road – Wilcannia To White Cliffs

We left Menindee this morning and drove to White Cliffs. The Wilcannia Menindee Road (east) was a better road than we had been led to believe but it was still pretty rough. The Wilcannia Menindee Road east road travels on the southern side of the darling river and leaves Menindee just out of town past where the Ivanhoe Menindee Road comes in to town. The west version is accessed out of Menindee to the north on the road that goes to Broken Hill. We were told that the east road was in much better condition so we took that one. The road looked like it hadn’t been graded for a while. It had corrugated sections and stretches of sandy red dirt. There were also quite a few bulldust holes, not many of them marked.

Coming In To White Cliffs NSW

White Cliffs is an interesting place, it’s an Opal Mining town and in some ways it’s like Lightning Ridge but on a much smaller scale. Like Lightning Ridge there is a real sense of humour in this town. There are funny signs all over the place. There’s a touring map you can follow around town and on the route you drive past somebody’s toilet, everybody’s toilet and nobody’s toilet. Also many signs on abandoned caravans advertising “room for rent – water views”.

Diggings At White Cliffs

What isn’t on a small scale are the meals in the pub! They were massive and tasted great. I went a beef schnitzel and the thing was humongous.

We camped the night at the White Cliffs Caravan Park. It’s the only one in town so it’s very easy to find. For $15 a night you have access to water, toilets and nice hot showers. You can’t ask for any more than that.

White Cliffs Caravan Park

In the morning we are off to Trilby Station, it’s a working sheep station near Louth for a few nights. We plan on stopping in at the Tilpa pub on the way there.

Copi Hollow – Menindee Lookout & Kinchega NP River Drive

Had a fun day today. Went for a drive to a place called Copi Hollow for a look around. It’s a water skiing park near Lake Pamamaroo. Not much water skiing going on the moment though due to a lack of water.

Driving Out To Copi Hollow

Next we went to Lake Menindee lookout. The lake is as dry as anything, more like a depression in the desert than a lake but it was still extremely interesting to see.

Menindee Lake From The Lookout

We had to cross the railway tracks and on the way back we had to wait for ages while a freight train took quite a few minutes to rumble by.

Freight Train At Menindeee Lookout

Then we went back in to Kinchega National Park and followed the River Drive from start to finish. It’s a great drive about 30ks in length that winds along the bank of the Darling River beneath overhanging red river gums. There are a lot of very good camp sites along the river.

Darling River Kinchega National Park

Between camp 32 and 33 you can see the remains of the boiler from a paddle steamer that exploded after running dry back in 1872. The chinese cook got thrown in to a tree by the explosion and wasn’t found for two days. They pulled him down and carted him off for medical assistance but the poor bugger died a bit later.

Remains Of Old Riverboat Boiler In Kinchega National Park

We also stopped at camp 34 which is meant to be another Burke & Wills camp site. It is certainly a magnificent spot. Back at camp we had a few beers with friends Suzi and Mark and then settled in to watch the NRL grand final on a massive projector screen. Was a great day.