After travelling for
over a month by ourselves it is time to catch up with John and Wil. John and
Wil had to get to Perth for a 60th in the first week of January so
the plan is that we will travel across the Nullabor and then separate in early
January.
As we drive from Nyah
we can’t help but notice and much the country changes once you get away from
the coast. It is an amazing place as it can be so arid and then you will have
acres and acres of Oranges, Mandarins and the occasional vine yard
We pulled into the Baronga
caravan park in Mildura, right on the river across from the main centre which
is in Victoria while we remained in NSW. The river is flanked by houseboats,
they are everywhere. The paddle steamer cruised up and down the river.
As you can imagine that night a
few drinks and stories were exchanged.
The next day I went to golf with
John as he is a golf nut and I hadn’t walked around a golf course in years, I
was just there for the walk, I wasn’t playing. One of the fellows we played
with was a local citrus grower named Bruce, lovely guy who was having a break
from work and staying in a house boat on the river. That night Bruce came
across to find us, have a beer and invite us to have a look at his citrus
property in the next day or so. Trice and Wil went for a cruise on the river in
the PS Melbourne. They got to steer have a look at engine and investigate 1 of
the number locks that control the flow and levels of water along the Murray.
Being on the river, this
was my first real chance to get the kayak in the water and go for a paddle, so
I spent most of the day chasing paddle steamers and anything else I could
find.
John, Wil, Trice and
me headed off the next day to find Bruce’s citrus property. Bruce and his wife
Wendy were great hosts and Bruce put us in his ute to drive us around Mildura
to show us the sites. The one thing that stood out the most was the salt. Salt
is everywhere, they farm it, they try and keep it out of the farming soil. The
amount of money that goes into
salt prevention is huge. The salt problem stems back to the massive clearing of
large trees throughout this area over the past 100 years or so.
Time to find an old goal,
Wentworth prison is not far from the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers.
The prison’s main female occupants were Salvation Army women as they were seen
as a nuisance for their preaching each day on street corners. Trice got to have
me put where she wanted me while we were there.
We found where the Darling and
Murray rivers join which required a walk through an island with long grass,
once in there Trice wouldn’t move and I didn’t think that it was a great idea
seeing I was in thongs, the ones on your feet. We had been told that this area
was renowned for Brown snakes so I raced in took a few photos and got out very
quickly.
Some of visitors were
very cute.
Off to Burra for a
Free Stay.
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