A restful holiday in Meningie

We are currently staying in our caravan at Lake Albert Caravan Park, which is on Lake Albert, the smaller lake in the Coorong area.    We are currently about 173 km drive from home, or less if you take a shorter route through the hills.    However, as the crow flies we are probably less than 100 km away from home, but there is an enormous lake, Lake Alexandrina, with the extension of Lake Albert, plus a few hills, between us and home.

The Coorong is a 140 km long coastal lagoon and estuarine wetland system located where the River Murray meets the Southern Ocean.    But more about that in a later blog.     This is an extremely significant area, and one which is often under threat.    It is worthwhile finding the area on Google Earth, to give some idea of the location.     That is if you live elsewhere in Australia or in another country.  

A late afternoon view of Lake Albert.  

We arrived here to find ourselves in the middle of a vintage caravan rally, some with old cars painted to match the caravans.

The rally included dressing up in period costume, competitions, live music, food and plenty of fun.   

The caravan in the photo below was a beautifully restored wooden caravan with a tent attachment.    The modern ones are still popular in Australia.

                                         

The tiny one next to us (no photo) was built in 1947.    Certainly Walter and I would not fit into it, height or length wise.

The blue caravan below was also tiny, with a car to match.   Most of the caravans were similar to the white caravan with the yellow stripe.

Another caravan and car duo, yellow this time.

The blue caravan, folded down, and ready to be towed away.   A slow trip home, I think.

And today, Monday, most of the caravans have left, with only a few dotted around the park.

I love the pathway running beside the caravan park, with its avenue of stubby gum trees.

The caravan park has lots of interesting pieces of sculpture, but I thought the pelican carved into a tree stump was the best.   Someone has left a bone on top.

Piper and I posing in front of a statue of an ostrich.   Now I know we have emus but obviously the original bird was an ostrich that was imported into the country.   Apparently a very small man (about the height of a seven year old) used to ride the ostrich, and spent his time robbing people, with rumours of a few murders too.    

Piper is relaxing beside me as I write this blog, no doubt dreaming of all the birds at the waters edge.   The ones she would love to chase, if only they would step ashore.    As she is on a lead, there would be no chance of doing any damage, but the thought is there.

Tomorrow we are going for a drive along the edge of the Coorong National Park.

Murrayville, Victoria

 We are in Murrayville, Victoria, in mallee country.   Mallee country refers to the semi-arid region of southern Australia.    It is named after the small multi-stemmed eucalyptus trees that grow in this region.   Much of it has been cleared to make way for growing crops.    The down side to this has been the rise in salt, which the mallee trees kept below the surface.    In the 1980s we had open fires in our house and burned the mallee roots as they threw out tremendous heat and also burned for hours.   This cannot happen anymore, thank goodness.

I was not going to write another blog, as we were on our way home.   However, Murrayville is such a fascinating little town I cannot resist just one more blog.

The name Murrayville reminds me of books written by Dr Seuss (the village of Whoville).    No connection!   This town was named after the Premier of Victoria (1909-1912), and the ville (French for town) was added to give the settlement a legal name of town.    A bit pretentious, I know.   

Murrayville has not got much going for it these days, as most shops are closed, even the police station is boarded up.    However, there are many lovely homes here and a prosperous looking school.

An added extra.   We stopped because cattle were crossing the road..    There was no one with them, but they followed each other, very dutifully, except for a few that realised it was easier to stay on the left hand side and head off to their destination in the distance.   But most of them crossed from the left side to the right side, then walked along the edge, then crossed over to the left side again.   And then walked to their destination in the distance.  Some of the cattle stopped in the middle of the road and stared at the cars that had stopped.   It was fascinating. 

Back to Murrayville.  There is a beautiful caravan site here, council owned, with an honesty box for the fee, which is $25 a night, and that includes power, water and a waste water drain, plus a dump point, a camp kitchen, and a luxurious ablution block, with large showers, shower curtains and toilets. plus washing machines.   Everything is spotless.   

The sites have green lawns, and no burr weeds.    Next door is a well kept playing field, with open access to it.    And no rules on the walls!    I guess the council hopes that visitors will spend some money in the town, but as mostly everything is shut that is a difficult task.

I forgot to add the swimming pool next to the caravan park, not open at this time of the year.

The camp kitchen, ablution block and laundry.

Our caravan and car sitting in the sunshine.   And Piper posing in front.   I think she is waiting to go on a walk, or waiting to catch the ball.

There is a sign warning people not to drink the water.   I did not look into this, as it could have meant in the ablution block only.   We carry our own drinking water, so not a problem.

The main street, which was a busy hub once, a very long time ago, when local shops were important.   But all the shops were closed, even the pharmacy.

The old newsagents.

The milk bar.   We all loved a milk bar, with its delicious milk shakes.

The pub was still open and seemed to be thriving, but then maybe not.   It offered meals at the weekends.

The Post Office with a grocery store beside it, recently opened after being closed for the past two years.   The lovely woman whose family have just bought the shop is determined to make a success of it.   The community members are appreciative of being able to pop  in to buy forgotten grocery items, instead of travelling 28 km to the next town.   I bought two packets of biscuits to help out, which cost me $9.   Very expensive biscuits, but hey ho, all to a good cause.

The service station, with fuel pumps at the front.   Long closed.   Fuel prices were cheap as well.

The old Post Office, not occupied.

The old railway station, which according to the sign is now used as a coffee hub.   When we visited a year ago, there was no sign of coffee then either.

The railway line is still used, probably to cart grain.   A silo stands to attention in the background.

An old church, now a renovated house with a lovely garden surrounding it.

Another beautifully renovated church, now a house.

And now I must walk to the ablution block and try the showers.   I hope there is hot water.   Just a thought.

And before I go, I must write about the redback spider I found dangling from the front A frame, between the hitch and jockey wheel.   I was about to hitch the caravan onto the tow ball.   Sadly for the spider, who was obviously enjoying the early misty weather, and minding its own business, I could not leave it there.   As well as being poisonous it has a very painful bite so I knocked it off with the broom, and stood on it.  Boots on of course.   Poor redback spider.  

How many more redback spiders are there under our caravan! 

Balranald- - Another River Town

Yes I know!   Another river town.    This time on the Murrumbidgee River, which flows through the Hay Plain.   According to my map the Lachlan River (our last stop) does flow into this river, but there are marshes involved as well.

Lots of water around here, with the Yanga National Park close by (wetlands), the Murray River not far away, and three rivers that flow into the Murray River, namely the Murrumbidgee, Edward and Wakool Rivers.

Water abounds, unless of course there is a drought and then everything dries up.    In December, 1982 we drove across the Hay Plains, on a very hot day, during a drought, and there was nothing but dust billowing around.   It was not a hospitable area.

It is difficult to reconcile that memory with the lush green countryside that we drove through from Hay to Balranald.    Flat ground.    But green and prosperous.    Plus plenty of cotton farms, and I suspect rice farms as well.    All feeding off the Murrumbidgee.   

There has been plenty of money spent in both Hay and Balranald, with both places trying to attract holiday makers.    And it is lovely to see run down outback towns being made into successful tourist spots.    We are definitely coming back this way again.    

Lovely reflections on the Murrumbidgee River, early this morning.    

This afternoon I took Piper across the river on the swing bridge, which neither of us enjoyed, but once there we had a lovely walk along the banks of the river.   

There must have been a fire here at some point as there were many old blackened trees.   The hollow tree in the photograph below was definitely dead.

A copse of lovely young trees.

The circular walk meant coming back along the main road, on a separate section of the bridge.    Every time one of those huge road trains went by, the bridge shuddered.    Not only Piper was scared!   I also

trembled somewhat.

                                                         

The entrance to the caravan park.    The framework for the old drawbridge, that once spanned the river.

The town is frog country, with frog sculptures everywhere.    The Growling Grass Frog lives in the wetlands but sadly they are rapidly being depleted in numbers.     Hopefully all the sculptures and frog ornaments in shops help raise awareness of their plight.

In the caravan park there are frog pictures on the ablution blocks.    I mixed the frogs up and used the men's toilet block (no urinals to warn me), luckily I did not encounter any men!     The lady frog had bright red lips, so not sure how I got that one wrong!

There is a new Visitor Centre, with historical display buildings, plus a cafe.    Very smart, and popular.

Apparently the local indigenous group donates money towards tourism in the town, as it used to rely on the pastoral income.    Much of the land around is now used for national parks or for indigenous use.   

Sheep sculptures!    On their way into the shearing shed.

The museum focuses on pastoral offices.

So many records!

The old school room, which used to be on a local property.    Very basic.

We have kept the maps and brochures as the whole area, ie Hillston, Hay, Balranald, Griffith, and towns further south, are part of the Riverina.   It must be the western Riverina  as we visited the eastern Riverina last year.   Hopefully they do not get a drought before we return, and the people here hope so too.

A few years ago we visited the edge of Mungo National Park, which is where Mungo Man and Woman were found.    The remains were more than 40,000 years old and gave much information about life in the area.   Thankfully they have been reburied in the park, which is where they belong.

Dogs are not allowed in National Parks in Australia, which means we miss out on quite a bit of countryside.    However, we enjoy having Piper with us, so there are benefits in other ways.

We will cross the Murray River on Saturday, not far from home.    It has been interesting and informative to learn about the rivers that flow into the Murray and the Great Arterial Basin which also contributes water to the rivers.   Plus the importance of managing those rivers, and allocating water for the various farming projects.   Quite a balancing act, and I am certain there are many people who do not care about what happens further along from their part of a river.

And the cotton and rice growers!   Mostly huge organisations.   I am not saying anymore!

Hillston, New South Wales

We are currently in Hillston, on the Lachlan River.    A small town, nothing of note about the place except that the land surrounding the town grows crops: oranges, almonds and of course, cotton.   All due to the Lachlan River and local groundwater sources.

The Lachlan River is the fourth longest river in Australia, and does not flow into the Murray.   It spans 1,448 kn through New South Wales and ends in a swamp, although when it floods the water finds its way into the Murrumbidgee River.   So I guess, indirectly, the water ends up in the Murray River.

Altogether we have travelled 868 km from Charleville to Hillston, almost in a straight line down.   Often we felt that the road had no bends in it.   We stopped in three towns, Cunnamulla, Bourke and Cobah, with nothing much in between, except for bush, and wild goats.

In Cobah we were on the same site as previously, some weeks back, a definite 'de ja vu' feeling , however we hoped Walter did not need to visit the Cobar hospital again.  

Before we left Bourke I took a photograph of two of the bottle trees there.   Magnificent specimens.

This one was hollow inside, but still very much alive.

I really liked the markings on this bottle tree.

Now back to Hillston, a great place for taking Piper for walks but not much of interest for Walter.

They had an Art Trail in town which we did not follow.    However I did manage to get some photos of the 'Emu Antics' created to welcome visitors.

                                                   

Two  more emus.   It is too late now to get the map and follow the art trail.   Such a pity.

The Hillston Ex-Servicemen & Citizens Club.   We had dinner there tonight, a very popular and noisy place, but the food was good.   Standard of dress for men appeared to be shorts and thongs (flip flops).

The swing bridge over the river, and onto the circular walk on the other side.

Lots of gum trees with this one in danger of falling into the river.

The council owns and runs the caravan park.   At the moment it is being renovated, with funds from both the Federal Government and the New South Wales Government.   Fantastic facilities, all freshly tiled and painted, a new shower block, great laundry with cheap washing machines and dryers, and no rules written everywhere.    Some caravan parks go overboard on them.  Plus at $37 a night it was cheap.   We paid $64 for the site at Cobar. 

It has been busy every night, mostly with people returning from the Mundi Mundi Bash in Broken Hill.    

As with all Council Caravan Parks there are sporting grounds or show grounds or a park next door.   At Hillston there is a sports field on one side and a park with a swimming pool, playground and plenty of grass and an empty lake on the other side.   The lake fills each September, with water from the Lachlan River, and then empties the following March.   The lake is used for canoeing and paddle boarding.     It must take some filling though!    A lot of river water.

This shop is now a thrift shop, run by one of the charities here.   Unfortunately it was not open, probably due to there being no volunteers.

Last night it rained heavily, and I slept with a sheet of plastic on the side of my bed.   Luckily it was a large bed so I still had plenty of room.    I am mostly on top of the leaks around the edge of the roof, but I did not cover a tiny section, and the water found its way in there.   I went to sleep with the sound of drips on the plastic.    Luckily it did not keep me awake.    Quite a tortuous sound, drip, drip, drip!

 

Back o' Bourke

Today it rained all day, mostly a heavy drizzle, but with showers as well.    I can see why the countryside is so green.   A busy afternoon, keeping on top of the two potential leaks on the front pop top ledge.  There was much changing of hand towels and rearranging the pieces of plastic.   The system works but it is a pain.     Every time I took Piper out for a walk I had to dry the mud and water off her legs and tummy afterwards.   She needed rubber boots.    A busy day.   Tomorrow will be sunny again.  

'Back o' Bourke' actually means an extremely remote, isolated or far-distance place similar to saying 'the 'middle of nowhere' or 'the back of beyond'.   It came from the colonial times when Bourke was seen as on the edge of civilisation.    And anything 'back of Bourke' meant going even further into the harsh, empty outback beyond an already remote outpost.

The Darling River looking extra lovely with its reflections on the water.

 Bourke is no longer an outpost, and even the land beyond it, is easily accessible.   However, Bourke is still a distance away from Sydney, and in the summer time it is a very hot and dry place. It is not a wealthy town, and there is a high level of socio economic disadvantage here.  Apparently youth crime has dropped considerably, due to programs and support.    There is also a rich indigenous history and a tight knit community and a definite feel of pride.

Sadly though, there is evidence of a high crime area, as shops are mostly behind metal shutters, and the drive through bottle shop had a metal frame in front of the doors.    Your order was taken through a space in the grate.   

These shops were closed up.

The main street with not many people around.       It is also not possible to go window shopping on this street.    We were impressed with the paving, and garden boxes filled with shrubs and flowers.   Plus lots of trees.

Piper having a great time catching the tennis ball.    Today she found a dead fish on the top of the hill, and could not resist rolling in it.   Luckily the fish was a recent death, otherwise she would have smelt dreadful, to us anyway.   

This is a town filled with dogs, mostly in front gardens, but a number of them roam the streets, so it is not possible to take Piper for a walk around the caravan park area. 

There are some grand old buildings here.    St Ignatius Parish Church and School.

                                         

A beautiful old building, but not sure what it is used for now.

The cotton balls, on their way to a 'gin' where seeds and debris are removed before the cotton is exported overseas.    Interestingly we passed a large cotton farm on the way to Louth.   It had a huge dam plus long canals.    I thought the government was clamping down on canals due to evaporation problems.    Also the wealth from that cotton farm does not end up in Bourke.    Just me on my 'soap box' again.

The Percy Hobson mural on the water tower.   Percy Hobson was the first Aboriginal person to win a Commonwealth Games medal.   He won the medal in the high jump in 1962.   It was also the record for high jump at the time.    Bourke is very proud of him.

We visited the 'Back o' Burke' exhibition at the Visitor Centre this morning.    Although we had been there four years ago it was great to see it again.

The first area showed a film about the people who lived here, for thousands of years, and who looked after the river and the surrounding area.     The film also told the story of how the river was made.    It was a beautifully made film.

We then went through the section which gave information about the first European explorers and property development in the area.   Plus a bit of history about the early days of Bourke.

Another section told stories and poems from various poets and writers who visited Bourke, including Henry Lawson who worked in Bourke for six months in 1892.

Information about the Darling River.

There were many stories from settlers, and people who made an impact on Bourke and the surrounding areas.  The renowned eye doctor, Fred Hollows, often worked in Bourke in his mobile eye clinic, treating indigenous people who had tracoma..   He is buried in the Bourke Historic Cemetery.

Tomorrow we leave Bourke, and travel on the Kidman Highway to Cobar for one night.    We will have completed a circle, Cobar, Dubbo, Lightening Ridge, St George, Roma, Charleville, Cunnemulla, Bourke, Cobar. 

We have also booked into the next two caravan parks as it will be very busy with people returning from the Mundi Mundi Bash, 35 km north west of Broken Hill.   15,000 tickets were sold, with most people in caravans or motor homes although some were in tents.    Unfortunately there was a massive storm this week and the site became so waterlogged and muddy that only 10,000 ticket holders made it onto the camping grounds.   The other 5000 remained in Broken Hill or at a nearby town of Silverton,   It was a shambles.   The festival finishes tomorrow night but already people are driving back home.   The caravan park here is full tonight, mainly with people driving home early.