Tag: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.
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 🙂
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
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.
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.
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.
next week – our second day at mungo – We get a fabulous sunrise and visit the old homestead
Day two of our road trip saw us head off early from St Arnaud. We were travelling the Silo Art Trail on our way to Sea Lake.
Rupanyup
The first stop of the day was Rupanyup, 63kms to the east of St Arnaud. Twin steel silos painted by Russian artist Julia Volchkova in 2017 depict two young people, Ebony, who plays in the local netball team and Jordan, a footballer.
Sheep hills
Starting our run North, the second stop was 36kms up the road at Sheep Hills. Painted by Matt Adnate in 2016, it depicts Wergaia elder Uncle Ron Marks and Wotjobaluk Elder Aunty Regina Hood. Between them are two children, Savannah Marks and Curtly McDonald. Adnate’s artwork celebrates the area’s indigenous culture, and his depiction of the night sky represents the ‘dreaming’ element and highlights the strong ancestral connection indigenous children share with their elders.
brim
Heading off again, our third stop was Brim, another 42 kms up the road. The Brim silo, completed in 2016, was the first one to be painted in Victoria and the second in Australia after Northham, WA. Following the completion of the Brim silo, the town enjoyed newfound energy and optimism through the widespread attention towards Brim and the Wimmera, from both local and international media. It was from the success of the Brim silo that the Silo Art Trail was born. Guido’s work depicts four anonymous farmers, three men and one woman.
Rosebery
Just a short 24kms up the road, we came to Rosebery. Completed in 2017 by Kaff-eine, her artwork on the left depicts a female sheep farmer in a workshirt and cowboy boots. On the right is a horseman and his mount. The horseman wears an Akubra hat, bogs boots and oilskin vest – common attire for mallee farmers.
Patchewollock
Our next stop was Patchewollock. At 63 kms further north, it’s the longest distance between silos. As you drive down the road with endless flat fields and huge open skies on either side of you, you can’t help but reflect on the isolation of the land, the lack of ‘city’ conveniences and the continual hardships the farmers endure against droughts and fires. Patchewollock silo depicts local farmer Nick “noodle” Hulland. Completed in 2016, it shows the archetypal Aussie farmer in a faded blue flannelette shirt and worn jeans.
Fintan painted him with a solemn expression and squinting gaze to embody the harshness of the environment and the challenges a mallee farmer faces.
lascelles
From Patchellwock, it’s 50 kms south to Lascelles. With no breakfast, and 3 hours on the road, our tummies were rumbling, and we were looking forward to getting to our lunch stop. But, while close, Lascelles wasn’t it. Painted by Rone in 2017, its subjects are a local couple Geoff and Merrilyn Horman, part of a family who has lived and farmed the area for four generations.
Woomelang
A short 15kms further south from Lascelles is Woomelang (pop 150!). Our lunch stop. Being so far away from a major town, we weren’t expecting a sumptuous lunch. Still, given they promote the Woomelang “cafe” and its python mural, its closeness to the silo trail, and the fact that they have a ‘field bin’ trail within the town, we did expect a reasonably passable cafe. No. It’s a general store, combined with a post office and an opp shop that also sells fried food and pizzas. We settled for a potato cake and a couple of dimmies and sat outside as there was no tables or chairs inside.
Field Bins
The young Vice President of the Woomelang and District Development Association, Joe Collins (19 yrs old), had originally wanted their silo included in the trail. But, being privately owned, it couldn’t be included. He then came up with the idea for street art on the general store wall to boost the economy. Locals thought he had been in the sun a bit too long. Determined to forge ahead, he contacted Juddy Roller, who had started the silo art trail and was put in touch with Sirum. Sirum came back with a draft idea of the endangered carpet python.
A town meeting was called, and while many locals were against the idea of a snake on the wall, Joe prevailed. Once the python was painted and tourists started calling into town, the opposition vanished, and the townsfolk started looking at more ways to bring visitors to the town. They liaised with the Wimmera Catchment Authority, and eight new endangered animals were chosen to grace eight mobile field bins. Call into the general store to pick up a map. I would, however, suggest taking a cut lunch with you, rather than buying from the “cafe”.
Before leaving Woomelang, we also stopped by the Shearing shed in Cronomby Tanks Rd. Built of compressed kerosine tins, it stands as a monument to bush ingenuity during the wartime shortage of building materials.
Nullawil
We had one more stop before reaching Sea Lake. Nullawil, 65kms south from Woomelang, is probably my favourite silo. Painted by Smug it features a farmer in an obligatory checked flannel shirt and his mate a black and tan Kelpie.
Sea Lake
Turning north again, we covered the last 50 km to arrive at Sea Lake and the end of our days driving. The Sea Lake silo features a young girl on a swing looking over Lake Tyrell. Painted over three weeks in 2019, the silo embodies the wide-open sky of Lake Tyrell, the indigenous name of which is ‘Tyrille’ meaning ‘space opening to the sky’. After viewing the silo, we drove around town, capturing the murals on walls of stores. We didn’t go to Lake Tyrell before dinner, as our group were booked to do that on the sunset tour. Both decisions turned out to be huge mistakes—more on that in the next post.
Days End
After leaving St Arnaud around 8 am, we had made it to Sea Lake by 3.30 pm and covered the entire silo trail plus Woomelang and its field bins in 407 kms. We booked into Sea Lake Motel and dinner at the Royal Hotel. The old pub, built in 1910, burnt down in 2017. The only other pub in town had closed, and drastic action was called for. You can’t have a pub with no beer or a town with no pub. Locals started the Royal Hotel Co-op at $5000 per share and raised enough money to purchase the old pub. Seven months and 28 loads of rubbish to the tip later, the pub reopened in June 2019, providing 16 local jobs staffing the hotel.
Coming up next Sunday: Day Three is off to Mungo NP
The Victorian Silo Art Trail originally started with the silo’s in Brim in the heart of the Victorian Wheat belt. Painted by Guido Van Helton, work began in late 2015 and were completed in 2016. The trail is a partnership between Yarriambiack Shire Council, street art agency Juddy Roller, the Victorian and Australian Governments and GrainCorp. GrainCorp owns all the silos, and they donated the silos as canvases for the artist works. Featured along the trail is the work of Julia Volchkova, Guido Van Helten, Fintan Magee, Matt Adnate. In addition to David Pereira, Kaff-eine, Geoffrey Carran, Smug, Drapl, The Zookeeper, Tim Bowtell, Kyle Torney and Jimmy D’vate.
Originally it was planned as a one-off project just for Brim. However, the popularity of the silo’s saw many more added across Victoria, with more designed or being added all the time, making maps of the trail obsolete very quickly. As a result, there are now two silo trails in Victoria. The North East Silo Art Trail and the ‘original Silo Art Trail in the Wimmera.
To the tiny towns, while some are thriving, many are little more than ghost towns. The silo art trail brings the much-needed tourist dollars into town. Be it meals, fuel or accommodation and souvenirs. But, like in Field of Dreams, “build it, and they will come”, and come they do. At each silo, there is a constant stream of cars pulling off the road to marvel or photograph the works.
Doing the Trail
The entire Victorian Silo Art Trail can be easily done in a day. The most time required to view or photograph each silo is under 30 minutes. You will need accommodation at the end, though, as the trail will take around 5 hours – and leave you about 4 hours from Melbourne. So that’s an excellent opportunity to stay in Sea Lake and include Lake Tyrell at sunset before heading off in the morning again.
Our Plan
Some time ago, a group of friends and I planned a trip. We would visit the Silo Art Trail, Lake Tyrell and Mungo National Park. Departure day is tomorrow, and we are all meeting up in St Arnaud tomorrow afternoon. Along the way, we will photograph silo’s, water towers, street art and ancient landscapes. At Mungo, we go ‘dark’ for two days as it is so remote there is no cell reception there.
Follow along with us as the next few posts will cover our travels.