Tag:mildura

Lake Mungo Sunset

Outback Road Trip – Sea Lake

Day three of our trip was time for the big run from Sea Lake to Mungo. We started in foggy Sea Lake and ended our day with sunset in Mungo, NP.

The previous evening

Last night, most of our group met our guide, Julie Pringle, at the visitor centre. We sorted out the gumboots for hire (the lake was supposed to be muddy) and headed off convoy style to Lake Tyrell. The plan was to shoot the lake at sunset. Which meant the plan went to hell in a handbasket very quickly. There was almost total cloud cover, barely any water in the lake— and no colour in the sky. So I didn’t even get the camera out of the bag. Fortunately, a couple of our group members had more optimism than me and shared their images, as seen below. Thank you, Julie Powell and Pio Marceline. By now, grumpy and disappointed, the sister and I had given up and retreated to the bar of the Royal Hotel, followed by a delicious dinner and off to bed.

The next morning

Having had no luck with sunset last night, we thought we would try our hand for some early morning shots of the lake before breakfast. But, unfortunately, I opened the door to our motel room, and it was pea soup fog out. So we went back to bed.

Sea Lake - the sunrise was a bust too
Sea Lake – the sunrise was a bust too.

An hour later, we braved the fog, deciding to venture out to Lake Tyrell. Our thinking was a shot of the new Tyrell sign in fog would be nice. The closer we got to the lake, the thicker it got, and after a few U-turns, we gave up trying to find the road in. Hungry and defeated, we returned to Sea Lake for breakfast at the Bottom Cafe. We had to make do with sitting outside again, as the new dining room isn’t finished yet. However, the owners were lovely, brought out a patio heater, and set it up to warm us while eating. We both had the delicious brekky wraps, and the coffee was excellent and hot 🙂

Farewell Sea Lake
Farewell Sea Lake

With breakfast over and the fog starting to thin, we headed out of Sea Lake towards Mildura via Robinvale. At Robinvale, we called into an old homestead. Unfortunately, that was also a bust, nothing to see, but by now, we were 3 for 3 (sunset, sunrise, homestead), and hopefully, with our jinx behind us, we would have photographic luck hereon.

Mildura
Mildura - Blue skies and sunshine
Mildura – Blue skies and sunshine

As the morning wore on, and the further north we went, the fog cleared, and we had blue skies and sunshine as we drove to Mildura, arriving around lunchtime. We met up with our group at “Bobby and Me”, a cafe alongside the river, for lunch. It’s a ‘diner-type cafe in a shipping container, but they have tables and chairs on the lawn, and the service was good. We had the New York hot dogs and coffee. Delicious.

Bobby and Me, Mildura

After fueling up all cars, (there is no fuel at Mungo), we headed to Wentworth and called in at the visitor information centre for last-minute info on roads. Our planned route would take us up Wentworth Road for 88kms before turning off onto Top Hut Road for the last 55kms. Top Hut is a dry weather road only, and while it’s dirt, it’s certainly in much better condition than Arumpo Road. Although due to being told, there is a rollover weekly on Arumpo Road, we had no intention of going that way. Also to be considered is it’s around 80 kms of dirt road compared to 55 kms on Top Hut.

Driving to Mungo Lodge via Top Hut Road
Mildura to Wentworth

In convoy style, our group headed off from Wentworth. We made good time as we had sealed roads before turning onto Top Hut Road. From here, it was dirt all the way to Mungo Lodge. While the road was soft, sandy in parts and corrugated, it wasn’t too bad, and thankfully, we arrived in time for our sunset tour to the walls of china. The entire area is part of the Willandra Lakes, a UNESCO World Heritage region since 1981. However, there has been no water in the lake for around 15,000 years. What is left behind is a surreal landscape not unlike what you would imagine the surface of the moon to be.

The Willandra Lakes Region is an extensive area that contains a system of ancient lakes formed over the last two million years, most of which are fringed by a crescent shaped dune or lunette. Aborigines lived on the shores of the lakes for at least 50,000 years, and the remains of a 40,000 year old female found in the dunes of Lake Mungo are believed to be the oldest ritual cremation site in the world.

enviroment.gov.au
Walls of China

The Walls of China are open to public access. However, unless supervised, you must remain on the boardwalk. We opted for a guide as we wanted to get up on the lunette and shoot the sunset. The guide supervised us as our group of sixteen scattered across the dunes, looking for the perfect composition, setting up our tripods, and shooting the sunset. Not a great sunset, but still a lovely way to end the day before we all piled back in the bus and returned to the lodge for dinner.

The Mungo Lodge Tour Bus - better than driving those roads in the dark!
The Mungo Lodge Tour Bus – better than driving those roads in the dark!
sunset at mungo
Sunset over the lunette, Lake Mungo
a vast land
A wide brown land – watching the dust trails of cars was endless fun 🙂
A vast land
A vast land
Our route day three
next week – our second day at mungo – We get a fabulous sunrise and visit the old homestead

Menindee to Mildura

Today, we were heading home. This leg would take us from Menindee to Mildura.

After the wind and overcast day yesterday at the Menindee Lakes. We awoke to a gentle breeze and brilliant sunshine. As it was our second to last day, and the following day would be in the ‘civilisation’ of Mildura, we decided to cook up the last of our supplies for breakfast. Fried eggs, Tomatoes and toast. I cooked, and the short person was a ‘toast girl’. Sister had a rare lie-in. After we had eaten and cleaned up, we headed off around 8.30. into the ‘town’ of Menindee, turn right at the General store with no bread and past the supermarket with no meat. Turn right again and head towards Wentworth.

pooncarie road
old man emu
Dirt Roads

About 10 km out, we hit the dirt road, and except for the excellent bitumen cattle grids, it stayed like that until we were about 6 km out of Pooncarie – 106 km of dirt road!

We saw almost no roadkill for the first 50 km. The speed you needed to drive ensured you had time to avoid anything! Saw lots of emu’s in scrub beside the road – had to stop a couple of times from allowing them to pass. We sat in the car (in the middle of the road), snapping away for so long that they got curious and started walking toward us.

Middle of Nowhere
pooncarie road Menindee to Mildura

These were the only two live roos we saw on our entire trip. And that’s not a driveway—that’s the road we were travelling on! They were sitting in the middle of the road, and we stopped until they took off. We made it into Pooncarie and sealed roads at about 10:30—it took nearly two hours to do 120 km. After that, we headed off again to Mildura, this time on sealed roads all the way.

Perry Sandhills
perry sandhills
Perry Sandhills

We arrived in Wentworth around 1 p.m. and decided to detour to the Perry Sandhills for a picnic lunch. We sat under this large river of red gum in the canopy’s shade. Its trunk is buried in the dunes. It was just beautiful there. Silent, quite spiritual, with nature vibes, it was easy to visualise what it would have been like a couple hundred years ago as Burke and Wills came past.  

Menindee to Mildura perry sandhills

Geologists say the Perry Sandhills originated after an ice age (40,000 years ago) and are formed by wind erosion over thousands of years. The dunes are located six kilometres outside of Wentworth and are a unique land formation of 400 acres of continuously shifting dunes.

perry sandhills Menindee to Mildura
Perry Sandhills
Mildura

After lunch, we headed to Mildura. Booked back into the Mildura Motor Inn. The pool was clean and open, so the short person was straight off for a swim. We all showered a ton of the Perry Sandhills off us, put on our glad rags and headed into town for the last night’s dinner. We spotted a restaurant called Rendezvous earlier in the day and decided to go there. They had a lovely outdoor dining area, and the menu looked good. It was better than good; the food was exceptional.  

We started with Warm Turkish bread accompanied by house-made dukkah, Robinvale Estate olive oil & lemon (knocked Stefano’s bread and dipping sauce out of the park). Followed by Veal chops (the short person had the child’s eye fillet again but requested ‘medium rare’ when she ordered), our meals were to die for, and we would return to Mildura again to eat there. We then ordered two desserts and three spoons to finish the night off. First, warm Chocolate berry pudding served with raspberry ice cream & topped with a hot chocolate fudge sauce and Chocolate Indulgence. Chocolate cake, choc mousse, choc ice cream, chock fairy floss cream. Yummo!!   After that meal, we rolled back to our room: lights out and goodnight.

Menindee to Mildura
 Our last day was a straight run home.

With alarming regularity, we were awake early. Sister and I read in bed while the short person snored away till we woke her at 7.30 – packed the car and out the door by 8 am Breakfast at McDonald’s (hotcakes), then in the car and home. We stopped in Sea Lake for average coffee and cake. Then continued to Inglewood. We picked up excellent fish and chips, which we ate in the car while we drove, arriving home safe and sound at 3 pm. In total (city to city, not counting smaller trips to dinner and sightseeing), we did 1820 kms. Fabulous holiday. Great company. Already planning the next one 🙂

Mildura to Broken Hill

On Saturday and day two of our Broken Hill or Bust road trip. We were heading from Mildura to Broken Hill. We had a bright, beautiful, sunshiney, warm day ahead. Body clocks were off-kilter from the early start the day before. We were all up by 6 am again. We had a leisurely breakfast in our motel room and headed into town. I checked out a few shops, had morning tea at Gloria Jeans, and then went to the wharf for our paddle steamer cruise.

trees along the murray river
Paddle Steamer Cruise

We cruised on the Rothbury for two hours upriver, past loads of other paddle steamers moored along the banks. The river was well down, though. We travelled up to Lock 11 and back.  Refreshments on board (the short person was happy), souvenirs available (the short person was very happy). Going through the lock was enjoyable (but slow) had never seen one in operation before. Seeing the boat rise and fall with the lock workings was quite quirky.

locks on murray river at mildura
Mildura Lock 11

While we enjoyed our cruise, two hours on a slow-moving boat is as bad as six hours in a car. It would have been much more enjoyable on a one-hour cruise. But still fun. We were back in Mildura by 1 pm, in the car, on the road, and off to Broken Hill.

Getting There

Famous as the birthplace of BHP Billiton, Broken Hill is an isolated mining city in the far west of outback NSW. It holds the distinction of being Australia’s longest-lived mining city. Sitting almost on the border of South Australia, in the Barrier Ranges, Broken Hill is reached by the Barrier Highway to South Australia and Silver City Highway to Victoria. It is 844kms from Melbourne, 500kms from Adelaide and 1100 kms from Sydney.  We had chosen spring to visit as its average temperatures in summer are well over 40c (104F)

On The Road to Broken Hill
On The Road to Broken Hill

The road is good and had a surprising amount of traffic on it for something that appeared so isolated. We passed many cars travelling in both directions, not bumper to bumper.  We did stop about halfway for a quick cuppa and biscuit. As there was not ONE town or service centre between Mildura and Broken Hill, we had packed our own. However, the stop was brief as flies would pick you up and carry you away!

Isolation

Mobile reception is almost non-existent once you leave Mildura. And we didn’t get service back until we were about 6kms out of town, so the passing cars were very reassuring. However, it felt like Wolf Creek country, and we hoped if we broke down, we wouldn’t be helped by John Jarret.

We made good time and arrived in Broken Hill around 4 pm. #1 sister had started feeling ill on the drive, so after we met our lovely hostess from Jaden Cottages at our new home, the short person and I unloaded the car and settled in while she showered and rested on the couch.

Broken Hill
Broken Hill from the mine
Not in the plan

Our new accommodation was a three-bedroom house with a lovely little backyard. It had a well-set-out kitchen with supplies and very comfy beds. However, the couch resting wasn’t helping. And, as all doctors in Broken Hill seemed to close at midday, we added Broken Hill Hospital Emergency Dept to our must-see places.  We waited about an hour in the waiting room before they took her through to a hospital trolley for treatment. Not too bad, considering. But they only had one doctor on and were slammed with an emergency case. The poor patient was wired up to equipment looking like a supercomputer. The nursing staff and doctors were stabilising them while they waited for transfer via Royal Flying Doctor Service to a major city.

Short person and I left her there and returned home to wait it out.  She returned home around midnight via a cab. All patients discharged out of hours are sent home via a taxi paid through medicare. What a fab idea!  Loaded up with lots of pills, we tucked her into bed and settled down for the night. The next day, we were off to Silverton.

Broken Hill
looking over Broken Hill
Broken Hill
Broken Hill Mine
Mildura to Broken Hill
Mildura to Broken Hill

Melbourne to Mildura

I do love road trips. Add the fun of planning, packing, and looking at new things out of the window along the way—the different cuisines or lifestyles when you get there. And Melbourne to Mildura and Broken Hill was our most ambitious yet!

Travelling with kids

While this one, our fantastic ‘Broken Hill or Bust’ goal,  was still a great success. Travelling with a nine-year-old does limit your patience ‘chi’ a tad. They talk. Constantly, and while we didn’t hear one single “Are we there yet” or “How much further?” having been pre-warned under sentence of dumping by the roadside ahh no ice creams for a day. We still had constant fidgeting, the rustling of lolly bags (maybe it was the sugar high), and many “I’m thirsty, hungry” on the long legs. Next time, leave the short person at home or plan shorter hops. Six hours in a car is just too much for a kid to bear 🙂

Mildura
Melbourne to Mildura

We were all up by 6 am, on the road by 7 am Friday in horrible drizzling rain, and rugged up in warm clothes. Our first overnight stop was Mildura, which we hoped to make by 1.30 pm, giving us time to take a paddle steamer cruise. After stopping for coffee, photo, or loo breaks every few hours, we soon realised we had significantly estimated our travel times. We wouldn’t be there in time, and our paddle steamer cruise would have to be the next day. As we headed further north, the weather got better, but the wind was chilly, so the coats never came off until we were almost at Mildura. But from there on, we were basking in sunny skies and warm weather for the rest of the trip.

Accommodation Problems!

Once we arrived at our accommodation, we encountered the first significant hiccup. Our booking wasn’t on the books. I always travel with my accommodation confirmations printed. Upon checking my paperwork, we were definitely due. However, on theirs, no. Thankfully, the lovely proprietor had one room left, making us very comfortable and welcome. I then phoned ahead to Broken Hill, and we weren’t expected there either! To compound the issue, they were fully booked. However, they could accommodate us in another holiday rental owned by a relative. Thus, we didn’t drive all that way and slept rough.

Accommodation issues resolved. We were soon in sleeveless tops and sipping chilled wine. The short person headed for the pool and returned quickly, slightly disgruntled. She couldn’t swim in it as it needed cleaning after the previous night’s storm. We ran into town that night for dinner and dined at Stefano’s near the Mildura Wharf. The staff were lovely and accommodating (we found pleasant staff and service people throughout our travels).

Stefanos, Mildura

My travelling companion on this trip was my #1 sister. As she had been ill with the flu and tummy troubles leading up to the trip, we decided to play it ‘safe’ menu-wise. We had the dipping bread with oil and balsamic, calamari, garden salad, and the obligatory Sauvignon. The short person ordered the child’s eye fillet with salad. Our meal was lovely – but nothing to write home about (yet I write here, lol). The child’s steak was cooked well done, but we assumed that being a child, they figured they wouldn’t like it rarer, so we gave them a pass on that. Calamari was lovely and tender and service attentive. We were well and truly fed, watered and tired from the long day and were all in bed lights out by 9.30 pm.

© Bevlea Ross