Another day in Paradise

Another day in paradise, mainly the lovely caravan park, where the views over the lake are ever changing, where the grass is green, and there is plenty of space, plus a lovely field across the entrance way where I can throw the ball to Piper, on green grass.

After travelling in outback areas, where thick green grass is rarely available, and where there is mostly dust, and more dust, and in different colours, it is absolutely luxurious to step out of the caravan onto thick green grass.   I feel like I am back in England.    And surprisingly the caravan floor remains clean.

On the last trip to northern New South Wales and inland Queensland, we saw plenty of what looked like grass, but it was often prickly native grass or young burrs, with horrible old prickly burrs underneath.

So all this lovely green stuff here is positively luxurious.

But first a photo of the caravans/motor homes which were lined up beside the front gate.   Unfortunately we now have them lined up beside us too, although they appear to use this part as drive through sites (during quiet times), one caravan per two sites.     

The enormous recreation facilities.   They cater for large groups, except sporting clubs and 'schoolies' (the Australian end of school celebrations for 17/18 year old students).   Both groups are notorious for out of control partying.  

The old caravan in front appears to be a bar/cafe and opens onto the inside of the facilities..   

The very long kitchen.

                                                    

The games room.

The very long bar room with barbeques on the side.   There are also another two barbeques outside the room.

The main hall, with decorations and plastic tablecloths on the table.

We have done a little touring, although it is difficult to tear ourselves away from our luxurious caravan park.

Today we drove around the edge of the water behind the line of sand hills.    I stopped to take a photograph but first I had to climb a hill.

My view of the sand hills.

We have now visited the council office and picked up heaps of brochures and maps so tomorrow we are heading out to fully explore the Coorong area.   At the moment I am reading as much as I can so the next blog should contain more information about the Coorong, which is a very significant area, environmentally.

But in the meantime we are loving this caravan park, which is definitely one of the best we have stayed in, and reasonably priced too, about $42 per night.

Pleasant Days

Peace and quiet at Lake Albert Caravan Park.    To be honest, the people from the vintage caravan rally were not noisy, but we were surrounded by caravans.   Plus it was lovely to see the people dressed up, and hearing the music and laughter coming from the kitchen/lounge area.    

Now we are on our own!   And we are enjoying it.

 The view from the window by my bed.    Not a caravan in sight.    They are there, mostly lined up by the entrance, where there are large hard standing sites.  There are also large hard standing sites at the end of the caravan park.   We are on a grass site, reserved for the smaller vans.

One of the last vintage caravans to leave, towed by an old station wagon.   Station wagons were certainly very long and low to the ground.   

                                         

I took Piper for a walk along the path in front of the shops .    A lovely walk, in the sunshine.

                                         

The view from the jetty towards the shopping area.   The jetty was once the wharf which was part of the trading area for the lakes.   In the early days of settlement water was the only way goods could be shipped in and out of remote places.   

The shady park in front of the shops.

A very old building, which now holds bric-a-brac for sale.   Plus coffee!

A line up of pelicans, no doubt looking out for fish in the water.

Tomorrow another look at the Coorong, which we started to do today, but did not get very far.   Always another day.

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!