MUNGO, TURLEE & POONCARIE

Thur 5 Apr -2:32 pm        OK, what has happened so far today?

We left Paddy & Marie’s place at Lake Boga about 8 am. Paddy headed off to help transport an engine (a plane engine of course) in a trailer. We’d had 2 sleeps at Dillons’ by the lake in our trusty avan, Matilda.  Lake Boga’s about 20 km out of Swan Hill.

In Swan Hill Fay wandered round to buy bread, hot cross buns and a pair of sandals to replace ones that had just died. Of course parking in big towns is not an easy trick, but even that was managed fairly well and in the shade too!

Sonsies live here, so it was good to catch them. (Graeme and Betty). 

Off north to Balranald via Murray Downs and Kyalite. 115 km. On a beautiful bitumen road – I think Paddy worked on this road. Balranald; bread rolls, milk and top up with diesel. [Damn! Just had a go at a March fly and didn’t kill him!]

Wasn’t too long before we ran out of bitumen road as we headed north to Turlee Stn, enroute to Mungo National Park. We needed Paddy desperately to fix the road!! It was a shocker in places. I drove at 30-60 kph for quite a ways. Very, very rocky. Stopped to photograph Wakool River and the Kyalite Bridge as well as a sign that said ROUGH ROAD.

About 110 km after leaving Balranald, we made it to Turlee Stn. With some guidance from workers, we found our way to the “campground”. You can park anywhere, but the shower/toilet block is over there. Shade of course was the biggest factor in deciding where exactly to position the avan so the annexe (or awning) was going to be in the best spot. (Pic of GK and Nathen Wakefield from Turlee.)

It is lovely and quiet here.

We’ve set up camp, had a shandy and now a salad bun. Beautiful. We have beautiful shade on the awning side of the avan.

There are another 6 families camped here. All spaced out under trees.

dddd

All I can hear are birds.

Temp about 30⁰. It’s warm. Tomorrow is said to be hotter.

Still 2 hrs 17 mins of battery left… and I have a spare battery! And I have a spare laptop!

No phone coverage. None! Gonna be a quiet few days. No phone calls and no emails. Guess I can jump into the car and listen to the news if I get desperate.

There is a gentle breeze from behind me – quite pleasant, Flies are a bit plentiful. Did I mention the grasshoppers? Yeah… plentiful also. Quite plentiful. And that damn March fly.

There are some activities based at Turlee – a tag-a-long tomorrow finishing with a 2 course BBQ by the campfire and then an all you can eat brekky the following morning. Sounds pretty good.

That’s enough for now. Off for  a 2^nd bun. Perhaps a banana one this time. Think the March fly has gone off for a siesta. I know I haven’t killed him…. Yet.

Friday 6 April 2012 – 2:07 pm

Hey, the bar was opened at 5 pm yesterday, in the shearing shed here at Turlee. It sure was 5 o’clock somewhere – in fact right here! Thanks Nathan (Wakefield).

Today we headed for Mungo National Park getting there around 8 am. It was predicted that Friday is gonna be warm to hot, so we reckoned we needed to be there early. [Temps reached a warm 33⁰.]

After getting the information sheets we decided on a 70+ km self-drive around the park. Took us 3 hours or more to do the circuit allowing for a number of stops here and there. Mungo National Park is part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. It is traditional home to the Paakantyi, Ngyiampaa and Mutthi Mutthi People. In fact they have the ownership and running of the park now. We walked on the Walls of China and read about lunette, examined Vigars Well, old shearing sheds, and even walked to the top of some sand dunes for a look all over the place. What a day! We drove 125 km all up and saw 6 roos (nearly got a couple) and 28 emus (nearly got a couple of them too.)

We looked through Mungo Woolshed which was constructed of locally hand cut Cypress Pine back in 1869. We also checked out Zanci’s Woolshed. Both huge, impressive buildings. Unreal to think how plentiful the lakes were round here back thousands and tens of thousands of years.

Friday arvo…. Time to relax after lunch and maybe have a read. At 4 pm we’re scheduled to join a tag-a-long tour which finishes with a BBQ (Murray Cod and yabbies!) Might need a kip later this arvo. Hope the cool change comes as some have predicted. 

Saturday 7 April 2012

Hhhmmm.  The tag-along was good and the Murray Cod barbie was just excellent! I had 2 helpings of Murray Cod - cooked in foil (just like Jimmy Smart used to do) with lemon and button tomatoes. Delicious! 

Sat saw us get across to Pooncarie. Hey... the school currently has 3 kids! Yep, 3 kids! There are 10 buildings plus the new tennis court. They say there are more staff than kids! Bro Bill taught there in 1962-64. I even did a prac there!!! I know a lot of things happen when a bloke comes back outa the pub, but when we came back outa the Pooncarie pub we were greeted with a flat tyre on the avan! Bugger!

Tuesday 10 April 2012 update

Since Pooncarie we've been to Wentworth, Mildura, Mannum (SA), Strathalbyn, Goolwa and now Adelaide. Great to catch up with Des/Deanne Wakefield (Mildura) and Scott/Jacqui at Goolwa.

Mungo National Park - well worth a visit. Looked a bit like a mini Grand Canyon.