Chris & Shirley's Winter Trip 2014: May 2014

Prologue—Wednesday 28 May 2014

It was one of those lovely Melbourne days when the weather could not decide between sun and rain. We cruised out of Eltham at 1:45 pm on the scheduled day—but later than planned. Thankfully the weather decided on minimal sun, rain and wind—quite good for towing a caravan.

By 5pm we had found a quiet off-road place to camp for the night just short of Wedderburn, about 100 metres off the Calder Highway. By 7pm the trucks had returned and continued all night.

We were in bed by 8:30 .

Day 2 - Early to bed and early to rise. We were on the road at 6:55 am, with a not-very-happy passenger/navigator. Shirley did not say much until I bought her a cup off coffee about 2 hours later, in Sea Lake. Some of the early morning scenes were excellent.

We stopped for a break in Ouyen, admired the flowering gums, then completed the 350 km to Mildura and arrived about noon. We were soon greeted by great friends, Darryl & Kay.

I cooked a Thai pumpkin curry for dinner and we talked non-stop.

Day 3 was Friday 30 May and the four of us were in our car at 7:40 am for the drive to Mungo National Park. The drive was about 22 km of sealed road and 85 km of dirt road, mostly damp to very wet—and often corrugated.

We arrived just in time to join a tour of the “Walls of China”. The tour was run by a local indigenous guy named Ernest (yep, Ernest). He looked more like an Ernie. There are three local tribes in this area (Paakantji, Ngyiampaa and Mutthi Mutthi) and Ernest was from the Paakantji tribe.

The two hour tour lasted three hours as Ernest passed on heaps of information about the geological and indigenous history of Mungo – not to mention some of his own family background.

The Walls of China consist mainly of sand-dunes. After the tour, and a light lunch of sandwiches we set off on the 50 km self-drive circuit of Mungo lake, which involves three variations in landscape—Mallee scrub being the most interesting.

On the way back to Mildura we were amused to again see the “rest area” that consisted of a sign and four plastic chairs in poor condition. There was no place to park so we parked on the road.

We took the opportunity to take a photo.

Day 4 was a rest day. We fixed a leaking pipe under Darryl’s caravan, bought a new back pack (because one was left at home) and tried not to get wet as the rain got steadily worse. I also got to have my first decent early morning walk (6 km) as Shirley slept in until 9:15.

Day 5 was the start of winter, 1st June, and time to head off to Broken Hill. The first 200 km was an easy and interesting drive, with wild goats regularly populating the roadside. We were also impressed with a free overnight camping spot (at Bunnerungee). However it was too early to stop so we had a coffee and pressed on, but not before I took a photo of the nearly creek and bridge.

The remaining 100 km to Broken Hill was pretty boring. However we duly arrived and set up camp, about 45 minutes before the heaven opened. We were blessed with a lovely day to see Mungo, but have been punished ever since.

The highlight of the last two days has been the revelation that Kay makes wonderful vanilla slices. So yesterday we had afternoon tea of scones, cream and jam—today we have enjoyed two rounds of vanilla slices (morning tea and lunch). Tomorrow we buy new belts.

Shirley and I then did a scouting tour of Broken Hill, refreshing some memories from 23 years ago. Many of the streets were partially flooded, courtesy of the earlier rain. We visited the Big Picture—the world’s largest acrylic painting on canvas by a single artist. It is 100 metres long and 12 metres at its highest point. It took a million brush strokes and includes no less than 100,000 saltbush, 20,000 trees, 20,000 small stones, 1000 large stones, 3,000 clouds, 1,500 hills and 12 sculptures. It is amazing.

Monday 2 June was an overcast bitterly cold day. It was also Shirley’s birthday, so I treated her to bacon and eggs for breakfast. At morning tea time Kay produced more of her vanilla slices, one of them with a candle on top.

Later, Darryl drove us the 28 km to Silverton, famous for its heritage, its renowned artists, and for being the location of two of the Mad Max films. We strolled around the town, checking out the art galleries and taking heaps of photos. We enjoyed a lunch at a local café that sold local and appropriate tucker like vegetable soup with damper, sausages in damper, and sausages rolls.

The weather turned even worse, with a fine mist turning into constant drizzle. We returned to Broken Hill and did some research on a place for a birthday dinner. The Palace Hotel was the chosen venue, which started its life as a Coffee House. It was four year before alcohol was served. The Palace Hotel was also featured in the movie “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”. It is also the only venue in Australia where “two up” is played all year round.

The Palace proved to be a good selection.

On Tuesday 3rd the weather improved and allowed us to enjoy a trip to the Living Desert and its Sculptures. The sculptures are situated on the top of the highest hill within cooee and came from a 1993 sculpture symposium that involved artists from places like Syria, Damascus, UK, Georgia, Katoomba (NSW), Mexico, Sydney, Tiwi Islands and Broken Hill.

The sculptures were carved on site and took about 7 weeks to complete. Each sculpture was made from a block of sandstone many tonnes in weight, and brought in from outside the district. The following photos give you an idea of what we saw.