Out and about in Wentworth

We had a full programme yesterday morning, taking in all the sights that we missed the past few days.

First stop, the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers.   The Murray/Darling River Confluence!   Now, I have extended my vocabulary range, in that I did not know that the meeting of two rivers was called a confluence.    Amazing that one never stops learning.

Anyway, it transpired that we could not walk to the point where the two rivers meet due to flood damage.   The path was closed.

But first I need to back track a little, in that we started walking in the opposite direction, but it was the wrong track.   We had left the map back in the caravan. 

Do I look a little worried in this photograph?

Six months ago this part of Wentworth was well and truly under water.   Now the mud has dried and cracked.

Lovely reflections on the River Murray.

When we returned to the car park we realised that the path was in the other direction.   However it was firmly closed, due to flood damage.

Under the foot bridge there was a canal and according to the sign, people were undecided about whether it was a man made canal or a natural channel.

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Charles Sturt named the two rivers, the Darling River and the Murray River.   The traditional owners called the Darling River, Baaka, and the Murray River, Millewah.

Up until this point the Murray River has travelled 1688 km from the Great Dividing Range and the Darling River has travelled 2740 km from Queensland and northern New South Wales.   Together they will travel together for another 832 river km until they reach the southern ocean.

The Darling River is a clay based river which gives it a milky appearance and the Murray River has a sand base which gives it a clear appearance.   But something must happen after the two rivers come together because the Murray further south always looks very muddy, as if it is flowing upside down.

I took a photograph of the aerial photo of the point of land between the two rivers.   The track that goes out to the point will be reinstated one day, hopefully.   Due to the canal at the beginning of the walk the area is home to many species of animals and plants.   Sadly washed away in the flood.

A diagram of the spit between the rivers.  We were able to get as far as the footsteps on the right.

This tree had been used by the first nations people to make a canoe out of the bark.  It is possible to see the gouge in the bark.

After all that effort, mainly due to reading a lot, and not walking, we needed coffee badly, so we headed back to town to the newsagent/cafe for a reviving cup of coffee and custard squares, from an award winning bakery, apparently.   They were delicious.

We then headed off to the Pioneer Museum, where Piper was allowed to come into the building with us.  We so appreciate dog loving places.

Once inside we immediately headed right to look at replicas of the animals that used to roam in the Perry Sandhills, not far away, some 40,000 years ago.   And a fearsome lot they were too.  Most were similar to animals that were here now, just giant sized.    The one at the front was a flat faced kangaroo, then behind it was a giant wombat, and right at the back was a giant goanna. I am not keen on real goannas but they are certainly minuscule compared to that giant.  

A normal dinosaur, with a gentle face.   Still very big.

The museum has over 3000 artefacts and relics covering the history of Wentworth.   I found that it was very well laid out and easy to walk around and view everything.   The film about the floods in 1956 was interesting, given the recent floods along the Murray River.  

The flood water flows down very slowly but people do not know how high it will be until it gets to their section of the river.   This happened in 1956 and the water was higher than expected and covered the town of Wentworth.   They have very high levies around the town now and this time it escaped being flooded.

This tree stump was an interesting specimen.   I will try and write a brief explanation, as it is quite complicated.

 A huge River Red Gum was cut down in 1971 and inside it was a cut off Black Box Tree.  The gum tree had enveloped the box tree.  

 

The interesting part is that the Black Box Tree had been cut off with a sharp metal axe, at a time when first nations people used stone axes and only cut off bark for canoes.   They  also did not cut trees down.

.   People have worked out that the River Red Gum was 200 years old, which put the cutting of the Black Box Tree at around 1770.   The first European person, Capt Charles Sturt, came through here in 1830, so who was the person that cut down the Black Box Tree?

The River Red Gum Tree with the Black Box Tree inside it.

The top part of the stump.   The indentation of the Black Box Tree is very visible.

Who remembers the old telephone exchange?   We are so used to our mobile phones these days, with instant access to most places in the world.   So we forget that once we had to dial the telephone exchange in order to get the operator to connect us with the person we wanted to ring.

 I remember when straight through dialing to another country came into existence sometime in the late 70s.   So modern!

Old Wentworth Gaol.   I did not like this place at all, even though we were allowed to bring Piper into the building.

The prison cells were in this building.   So scary.    They run ghost tours during the evening for people that are interested in such things.

A view towards the front door with the cells on either side.   This was not a nice prison.

The side buildings in the prison grounds were converted and used as the local school during the early 1960s.   I think they planted the pepper tree which was the only green thing in the prison grounds.

Our last visit was to the Perry Sandhills, just north of Wentworth.   According to geologists, the Perry Sandshills originated after an Ice Age, 40,000 years ago.   They were then formed by wind erosion over thousands of years, and changed colour to red.   Skeletal remains of giant mega fauna have been found in the sand dunes.

I think it was the tree in the photograph below, but there was another one that looked similar not far away.  It is known as the God Tree and is about 500 years old.   Most of the trunk is buried in the sand dune.

Walter looking lonely, and a little daunted, on top of one of the sand dunes.   Piper just wants me to hurry up and join them.

This morning we reluctantly left Wentworth, and joined the large number of trucks and caravans on the Sturt Highway.   After three weeks of quiet roads it was a bit of a shock.

We are now in a rustic camping ground, called River Palms Caravan Park, at Blanchetown.  Mind you I have not seen the palms yet, nor any trees in fact.   But the toilet block is new (on the right) and there are two cabins on wheels, one is behind the bonnet of the car.

Piper does not like the camping ground, not enough good grass, and a bit scary too.

Interestingly there are about sixty shacks between the camping ground and river, some of them quite flash.

I managed to take a photo of the Murray River at dusk.   There was still plenty of water around, luckily the shacks and camping ground were on the high banks of the river.   The Blanchetown Caravan Park was inundated with flood water.   It is still closed.

Tomorrow we join the trucks and caravans again and head home.   Not far to go now, so hopefully we will be there by lunchtime.

It has been a lovely trip in our new (to us) caravan and car.  We are very happy with both car and and caravan, and once we get a few little problems fixed with the caravan we will be looking forward to getting out again.

Anzac Day

Celebrating Anzac Day in a country town was an experience in itself.   A positive experience.   

First of all Walter joined the owner and a few other people, in the kitchen at the camping ground, where they watched the Dawn Service on the television.   It came from Canberra, and yes it was 6 a.m.   The owner then cooked for the people who attended, the traditional bacon, eggs and sausages.   A few other campers turned up for the food, the smell of which wafted across the camping ground.   I resisted and happily ate my cereal and toast in the caravan.

As we were up and awake so early we set off for coffee in Wentworth and found that people were starting to get ready for the parade and service at 11 a.m.

The cafe, which also doubled as the newsagent, made pretty good coffee, so we were very happy.   The staff members were also friendly, which helped of course.

   As well as returned soldiers, there were also different volunteer groups, plus lots of children, from youth groups, and the schools here, all taking part in the procession.

The service was simple but more meaningful than the large televised service. The number of wreaths laid at the memorial was equally significant. 

Afterwards Walter went to view the Wentworth Military Collection, which displayed relics, artefacts, and militaria from all over the world.   Walter found it quite fascinating.   I sat on the seat outside, with Piper.   The seat of course was designed to represent the military.

The Wentworth Military Collection museum.

We also went for a walk around the town, so many beautiful old buildings, too many to include in this blog.

The Wentworth Courthouse, opened in 1880.

A beautifully renovated street, with no one on it.   A typical country town.

A beautiful old house, build in the 1880s.   I noticed that roses were very popular here.

Another smaller old house, with walls of wood and a corrugated iron roof.

By 12 o'clock we were exhausted, a long and powerful morning.    

We spent the afternoon sitting in the shade and reading our books.   Very restful.

The edge of Mungo National Park

Today we completed a 254 km round trip to the edge of Mungo National Park, with about 100 km of it on unsealed roads.

I can imagine that people will say, why travel so far and still not be able to go into the park, but when you have a dog then you undertake the part that is possible. 

Information for people who do not live in Australia.   Dogs are not allowed in National Parks here, although some states will allow dogs into the car parking areas.   Not NSW.   When you see how many signs there are in NSW that states that 1080 poisons are used in them, then you would not want your pet to be there anyway.   1080 poison is a nasty poison that has no antidote.   It is used against foxes, rabbits and wild dogs (dingoes?).    Australia has some pretty awful practices.   But lets not delve into this one.   

All in all it was a scenic drive, and we did drive the few metres to the Visitor Centre in the park, and had turns sitting with Piper in the car while the other person looked around the exhibits.

Mungo National Park and the World Heritage site which surrounds it was recognised in 1981 because of its geological past and its record of indigenous settlement dating back 40,000 years.

Mungo occupies much of an ancient lake bed, Lake Mungo,   During the ice age there were a series of lakes which drained into the Darling River.   There is no lake here now.  To the east of the lake bed there are the remains of the sand dunes, called The Walls of China.   The sand dunes are over 40 m in height and stretch in an arc for approximately 40 km.    We could not visit them as they were too far into the park.

The remains of 'Mungo Woman' (26,000 years old) and 'Mungo Man' (28,000 - 30,000 years old) were found here.   Both remains have now been returned to the ground.

The NSW government are rapidly sealing the road from Mildura to Mungo National Park, and have nearly completed half of the distance.   

In the photograph below it is possible to see that they are nearly ready to seal the next section.

A few km from the park is Mungo Lodge, which is a private enterprise.   There are luxury units here, meals and a camping ground which allows dogs.   They also organise tours.

We were able to walk Piper around here, so she got a lovely break.    Piper has plenty of room in the back seat of the car, and a comfy bed to lie on.   She is also a very patient dog.

The Visitor Centre was excellent with plenty of information about the park with good visual geological and historical details.

At the back of the Visitor Centre there is an area called 'The Meeting Place' where Mungo's indigenous people gather as a community.   I forgot to take a photograph of it, but it was beautifully landscaped.

A model of one of the animals that roamed this area thousands of years ago.   It was a very large replica.

The old wool shed, built in 1869, and used when the area was agricultural land.

The inside of the shed still smelled of sheep, even after forty years or so.

The old stock yards.

The original water storage area, where the water ran from the roof of the shearing shed into the large hole in the ground.   The days before corrugated tanks.

A view over the old lake bed towards the sand dunes.

This part of the road was extremely corrugated!   But our new SsangYong Rexton handled the rough roads beautifully.   We were most impressed.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day out, and the clear skies and warm weather helped considerably.   I think we will all sleep well tonight.

A lunch trip to Pooncarie

Lunch in Pooncarie, 116 km north.   A long way for lunch, I know, but the cafe came with good recommendations.   We also wanted to have a look at Pooncarie as well.

Pooncarie is situated on the banks of the Darling River and during the 19th century was a major river port

on the Darling River.

The Old Wharf Cafe over looks the river and in itself is a very scenic spot.  Today the weather was perfect, warm and sunny.

The view of the tables in front of the cafe with the river behind them.

Walter told me to look sideways when he took the photograph, which made me look a little strange.  

It is an award winning cafe and the food is prepared and cooked by the owners, Barb and Bob.   As well as being delicious it is reasonably priced.   Both of our meals, barramundi for Walter, and chicken 

parmigiana for me, cost $18 each.   Our meals came with chips (of course) green salad and coleslaw plus a choice of three salad dressings.   We chose espresso coffee to finish the meal.   It was all so delicious.

There was never an actual wooden wharf here, but rather the banks of the river provided a natural area for loading and unloading boats.

The Darling is much lower now, but a few months ago the flood water spread out over the opposite side of the river.

We did not know this but the road only reopened  on the south side yesterday, after being closed for six months.   It had also been closed on the north side too (to Menindee Lakes) for a while.   So today was the first day that people could travel through the settlement.    Luckily we had decided to continue down the Silver City Highway last Thursday rather then coming through Menindee as planned.

The gardens and sports areas were beautifully green, and very well planned.   But of course they have plenty of water at the moment.

The mural on the side of the pavilion.

Port Pitstop, the One Stop Shop.   Fuel, fishing needs, groceries, sandwiches.   You name it, they sell it.

The old post office.   There is a new post office next door, which still appears to be an old building.

Some of the flood waters north of Wentworth.   Although the road has been repaired along this section it is still very rough.   We have started to recognise the areas that were flooded, as they are still very muddy and brown.

Our morning stop for coffee, which was another beautiful setting.   The owner of the cafe turned the open sign around so that it was visible in the photograph.

My banana bread, which was delicious.   It certainly started the day off well.   Walter, who is trying to lose a little weight, ate a small slice of it.   The coffee was also excellent.

By the time we arrived back at the campsite we were in need of a little snooze!   

There are only four caravans here and two tents so we have plenty of room.   I think the lack of people is due to recent flooding rather then people not liking the campsite.   The owners have found the last few years very difficult, first Covid and people not being able to move round NSW and Victoria, then the recent floods which basically closed down all areas along the lower Murray River and Darling River.

Difficult times.