Mildura On the Murray

We've ventured to the north western corner of Victoria - to Mildura.  We're staying in Gol Gol at the River Gardens Tourist Park on the NSW side of the mighty Murray River for 5 days exploring the area, and there's plenty to see.  Our main reason for visiting Mildura is to get another spare tyre for the car before we venture into the outback.  Once again we've had trouble getting a tyre (we've bought a second spare wheel in Canberra) and the Bridgestone dealer in Mildura was able to get one for us.  We did have some excitement just after we arrived as our battery charger died.  The excellent customer service from the Projecta agent in Melbourne meant we had a new charger in 24 hours, replaced under warranty.  Luckily we were hooked up to mains power.

We took a day trip to Wentworth, about 35km north in NSW, the oldest town in the area (50 years older than Mildura) and we found some real gems.  Wentworth is where the Darling and Murray Rivers meet.  

The levee banks have had "the treatment" from the gardener.  One side has had the artistic  treatment with coloured barks so that the house roofs on the opposite side of the road line up to reflect the houses - even the telegraph pole and trees line up.  We stood at the appointed place to take the obligatory photo.  Further along the bank, hedges are trimmed to read "Wentworth" and also to show a Ferguson tractor.

A few kms from town is the Perry Sandhills.  This expanse of red sand dunes covers about 400 acres and it has been used in many films.  Some people were "sand surfing" down the fine red sand dunes.  The "God Tree" has its trunk buried in the sand and you can walk in the crown of the tree.

The Inland Botanic Gardens are near Mildura.  The plants are grouped geographically with Australian, African, European, Asian and New Zealand areas.  Even though it's winter there are some flowers around.  The formal rose garden would be very pretty when the roses are in bloom.  

There's a rest area with the ceiling decorated in seed pods.  The Wow Tree is a mallee gum with the underground lignotuber estimated to be 2,500 years old.  The above ground parts of the tree are about 700 years old.

Near the cafe is a sculpture of an emu and chicks.  There is also a bush church complete with pews, pulpit, lectern and cross.

Orange World is one of the local attractions and we spent a pleasant hour being entertained by Mario as he drove us around his 50 acre, 2000 tree citrus orchard.  The mandarines are grafted onto orange tree rootstock.  We had fresh orange juice and freshly picked mandarines and oranges.  Only 4 pickers are used to pick all of the fruit on this farm - pretty hard work we reckon.

From Mildura we are heading off into the bush for a couple of weeks.  We'll spend a few days at Lake Mungo in the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, then travel north to the Menindee Lakes and Kinchega National Park before we arrive at Broken Hill.  We'll be relying on our satellite phone until we get to Broken Hill.

We're Travelling Again

We've had a fantastic few weeks relaxing in Canberra.  We've used our time there to catch up with family and friends - and reacquaint ourselves with the chilly winter weather.  We visited the Turner at the Tate exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and also spent a few hours at the National Portrait Gallery where we saw an exhibition of portraits of singer Paul Kelly and marvelled at the art of Hilda Rix Nicholas.  Both of these galleries were well worth the visits.  We were also able to spend some time in Sydney, visiting friends and family and sorting out our annual medical and business stuff.  After about 10 weeks of house-sitting, we were looking forward to living in our caravan and travelling around again.



We left Canberra on August 2 and travelled the short distance to Temora, about 200km away.  On the way we stopped off at "Flash" John Gilbert's grave.  He was a bushranger with the Ben Hall and Gardiner gangs.

Temora is well served with caravan parks and we booked in at the well appointed park in the town.  Temora is home to an excellent Aircraft Museum.  Every few weeks there is a "Showcase" where fully restored planes are put through their paces.  We were joined on the Saturday by our son and grandchildren who travelled from Canberra to watch the planes.  Every 2 years there is a "Warbirds" airshow - the next one is in November 2013 - where many planes are flown.  One of the features of the Air Museum is the group of aircraft enthusiasts who buy and restore vintage aircraft.  You can purchase a land and hangar package to build you house right next door to the airport.

The Rural Museum is definitely worth a visit.  It's a folk museum with many restored buildings.  Among the many and varied exhibits is Bradman's Cottage, the first home of cricketing great Donald Bradman.  There is also plenty of restored and operational machinery.  Buildings include a church, schoolhouse and ambulance station.




From Temora we did a couple of day trips.  One day we drove to Cootamundra (where Bradman was born).  The feathery leafed Cootamundra wattles were just starting to flower - in a couple of weeks the area will be a mass of golden flowering trees.  From there we went on to Junee to visit the Licorice and Chocolate Factory, located in an old flour mill, where we did a tour of the factory and bought some licorice  and chocolate.

The next day we drove to Young, the cherry capital of NSW.  No cherries at this time of year though - the cherry festival is around December.  The Information Centre is in the restored railway station buildings.  Our main reason for visiting Young was to see the Roll Up Banner at the Lambing Flat Folk Museum.  The Lambing Flat goldfield (now called Young), was the scene of anti-Chinese racial riots in 1861 and the Roll-Up Banner led the rioting miners' march.  The resulting government reaction resulted in the White Australia Policy, which was finally abolished in 1973.

After a few days in Temora we rejoined the Burley-Griffin Way to drive to Griffith in the Riverina.  Like Canberra, Griffith was designed by Walter Burley-Griffin and there are many similarities with circles and arterial roads common to both cities.  We camped at Lake Wyangan, about 8km northwest of Griffith where there's a 3 day free camping area.  The campground was great, but the weather wasn't.  It was overcast, cold and wet for most of the time we were there.  We did manage to get out to explore the area when the weather allowed.  Next to the campground was a large picnic area with animal enclosures housing goats and fallow deer.  Peacocks wandered around.  We laughed as one showed off his colourful tail to his own reflection in the glass doors of the amenities building.  The lake was home to many waterbirds - ducks, waterhens and pelicans, and finches and other birds chirped noisily in the many trees.

The Griffith area was largely populated by Italians, with some 60% of residents claiming Italian heritage.  There are many vineyards and wineries in the area as well as citrus orchards.  The orange and mandarine trees are loaded with fruit at this time of year and we bought delicious blood oranges and mandarines at a roadside stall.  The stone fruit and nut trees are coming into blossom and the apiarists have put their beehives amongst the blossom trees.  We dined at the La Scala Italian restaurant to celebrate Cherryl's birthday - the food was as good as any we had in Italy last year - the herbed lamb and vegetables we both ordered was delicious, as was the almond and praline cheesecake we shared.

In the gardens around the theatre are a number of "Lifestyle Sculptures".  These are colourful mosaics depicting the contributions of the Indigenous community and the many ethnic communities to Griffith's cultural life.

A drive to the lookouts on the Scenic Drive completed our tour of Griffith.  The views are panoramic and seem to go on forever because the landscape is so flat.  We stopped off at the Rotary Lookout and then drove on to Hermit's Cave and Lookout.  An Italian recluse lived in these caves for several years.  He certainly had good views of the area.




From Griffith we headed south through Darlington Point and then west through Hay to Balranald.  We have often driven along the Sturt Highway through the Hay Plains when travelling from Canberra and Sydney to Adelaide, always in the summer when everything was brown and dry, and we've never stopped for more than an overnight break.  This time we've decided to spend a few days in Balranald on the Murrumbidgee River.  Everything is so green and there's plenty of water around.  We've decided to stay in the caravan park because the weather is still overcast and wet and our batteries aren't getting much charge from the solar panels.

Balranald is a real surprise packet.  Unfortunately the town is not doing well and many of the few businesses are for sale.  The well appointed Balranald Caravan Park is on the riverbank and there are plenty of trees and grassy areas.  The endangered Southern Bell Frog has been adopted as the town mascot and there are many frog sculptures around the town.  There's a lovely riverside walk and a new footbridge which will provide access to the other riverbank when it is opened shortly.

The Yanga National Park is a new national park with several attractions.  The wetlands are home to many waterbirds and terrestrial birds abound in the vegetation.  The Yanga Homestead is an old restored homestead which was built in the 1870s.




Balranald is the start of the Mungo Loop drive to the Mungo National Park.  We are going there next week, but will be leaving from Mildura.  We decided to drive north on the loop to the Locality of Penarie, about 30km away.  We drove past the 500ha Balranald Vineyard and through the mixed mallee forest and saltbush vegetation, past the Gypsum Mine and Burke and Wills Road, named for the explorers who travelled through the area in 1860 until we arrived at the Homebush Hotel, established in 1878, at Penarie.  We stopped off for a drink and chat with the locals before heading back to Balranald along the road bordered by yellow, orange and red gazania flowers.