The Darling River Run

The Darling River Run is a road trip along the Darling River. which has many historical towns, Aboriginal cultural heritage sites, natural scenery and plenty of wildlife, although some not native, e.g. the goats.

Most of the roads are unsealed, which means they require 4 wheeled drive vehicles to navigate them.   However, there is still plenty to see for people like us who need to stay on sealed roads (our caravan, not the car).

The Darling River can be started at either end, and for us it began at Wentworth where the Darling River meets the Murray River.    The order of the towns and settlements after Wentworth are Pooncarrie, Menindee, Wilcannia, Tilpa, Louth, Bourke and Brewarrina, where the Barwon and Darling Rivers meet.

There is plenty of controversy about the use of the Darling River, as with the Murray River, and all the other rivers that join the Murray on its way from the mountains in New South Wales to the sea in South Australia.    Overusing the water in the rivers, greed, poor decisions, too many authorities, droughts and many other practices have all played their part in potentially destroying our river system.   Of course, those of us that live in South Australia see the end result as the Murray River meets the sea not far from where we live.

We are currently in Menindee, on the edge of one of their lakes.    The place of magnificent sunsets.

But more about Menindee later.   After leaving Wentworth, where we spent a week way back in April 2023, we drove to Pooncarie, where we stopped for lunch.   A small settlement now, but once a thriving river Port.    Last time we ate a most delicious lunch at a cafe by the Darling River.    Yesterday we did not even catch a glimpse of the river from the main road.

I notice that many towns around here have showers in their public toilets blocks for the people who are free camping.    No staying here overnight though.   However, a very good service.

The Pooncarie Hotel.

The road between Pooncarie is now fully sealed (2023) for the entire 123 km.   A beautiful road, and hardly any traffic.   The mist also lifted and we drove in brilliant sunshine.  The countryside was very green after the recent rain.

We arrived in Menindee at 3 p.m. and booked into the closest camping ground to the town.   There are plenty of free campsites here but only two camping grounds, and both of them in need of much love and attention.   We have stayed in worse places though.

Not much green grass here, although we have found a couple of patches for Piper's toilet spots.   She is not an outback dog.

The soil here is a brown colour, but outback soil can come in various shades, white, red, black and variations in between.   The main similarity is that the dust manages to get into the tiniest of holes in the car and caravan, and that the dust turns to glue when wet.   

We were very happy with our site here, as it overlooks Menindee Lake.    The current owners are making good progress with renovations, including new power points, a huge camp kitchen, new water tanks, new washing machines, and a new security gate.    There is no drinking water here though, but we have our boxes of spring water so not a problem.   We have learnt over the years that it is best to carry bought drinking water, as bore water is pretty awful even with a filter on the tap, and the constant changing of water systems does not do the stomach any good.    

They have had some heavy rain here by the look of the huge ruts in the road at the front entrance.   I am not looking forward to driving the caravan over them on the way out tomorrow.

I thought I saw mice skins by our caravan this morning.   There must have been a mice plague and the mice have been poisoned.   

But no, the '/skins' were the husks from the seeds on the tree below.  I pointed them out to Walter, but he could not see the similarity.   No imagination!

The population of Menindee is currently about 530 people.   A town struggling to survive, although people from Broken Hill come here to use the lakes for boating and fishing.    That is when there is no blue-green algae.    However before 2002 there were 3000 people living here, and it was a thriving centre for a fruit growing industry.    Due to the hot dry climate and a good water supply they grew citrus fruits and table grapes, all of which ripened months before any other area.   

Then the Millennium drought (2002+) hit the area.    This drought went on the years, as it did in South Australia, and destroyed the fruit growing industry.     The lakes and rivers dried up so irrigating orchards and vineyards was no longer viable.    A typical story of trying to tame the outback terrain. 

The Post Office was one of the few magnificent buildings in the town.

                                             

Originally there were many natural shallow lakes here, which were fed by the Darling River when it flooded, and then dried out when there was little water in the river.    When Broken Hill was first settled the water for the mines came from the Menindee Lakes, with the help of trains on the new Sydney to Broken Hill railway line.   That is, the water was loaded onto wagons behind the train.

There is now a huge water pipe connecting the lakes to Broken Hill (100 km away) so the lakes are the main water source for the city.

But of course it did not end there, the Federal (or State Government) decided to put a large weir (plus smaller weirs) on the river to divert the water into more little lakes.   This of course messed up the whole natural watercourse and caused no end of problems, including rapid evaporation of water from the new lakes as they were too shallow.  Plus the interference did nothing for this part of the Darling River.  Also the water in the new lakes spread across sacred Aboriginal sites.  

One of the smaller weirs on the river, which has a road running over it.    This weir is in the Kinchega National Park.    We were only able to drive a short distance into the park as dogs are not allowed in National Parks in Australia.    This national park  was once a sheet station and is seen as a very positive asset to the area.    The small part that we saw was very impressive.

We then drove around the edge of Pamamaroo Lake which had some free camping areas, all very picturesque.    The main weir on the Darling River is on the edge of this lake.   We were travelling in the opposite direction so did not visit the weir.    The dirt road was covered in corrugations.   A bit of a bumpy ride although our car managed it very well.

Six emus ran across the road in front of us.   By the time I stopped the car, got my camera out, I could only see one on the hill side.   

The old railway station, which is still used  to connect to other towns, although I am not sure if a bus company stops here, rather than a train.   The Indian Pacific (Perth to Sydney) travels on this line, plus goods trains.

And tonight another red sunset.

Tomorrow we will drive to the edge of Broken Hill, destination Wilcania.