Thrills and spills in Broken Hills

The Moama markets were on the day we left Echuca, so we crossed over into NSW to have a browse. They were larger than expected and we picked up a few needed items before heading for Swan Hill, back in Victoria , 160 km away. We were thinking of stopping before Swan Hill, to free camp by lake Boga, a rather large lake which looked beautiful in the pictures . However, we arrived, to find it completely devoid of water. Only some brown crumbly soil remained on its bottom and we later heard that it was shallow, and without rain for some time, the water evaporated over the hot summer, cooking all the fish and leaving a stinking smell for the poor residents to live with . That was 3 years ago and they are still hoping for enough rain to fill it again one day soon. So, naturally, we drove on to Swan Hill.

The van park was well situated at a bend in the Murray and we set up in a beautiful spot overlooking it. We were just a short walk from the Pioneer Settlement which we planned to visit the next day. There was a cute baby magpie which came looking for a feed. It was really tame and flew up onto our laps, We gave it wet bread and it couldn’t get enough of it. Then it promptly fell asleep on one of our chairs.
The Pioneer settlement was very well set out. Genuine old buildings and equipment, all brought together and laid out like an old town. We had no trouble spending most of the day there. So much to see.
Mildura was our next stop and we had a beaut day cruising the Murray on a paddle steamer (diesel) which took us to the Trentham Estate winery, where we were given an informative tour of the estate and shown the process of wine making and then we got to taste the end product. A delicious BBQ followed. Not to mention the purchase of a few bottles.
While we were in Mildura CBD we had a look at some electric bikes and I even tried one out. It seemed a good idea for me to have a bike as Marnie often rode in to a town and I was left to walk, poor moi! After some deliberation, I decided to take the plunge and bought one, not at all confident I would be able to master it. Thankfully, our bike rack can hold 2 bikes, so after strapping it on, we took off for Broken Hill. It was about 300km away and it didn’t take long for the landscape to dramatically change from trees to desert. Mildura was surprisingly green and now everything was red dirt and low scrub with the odd wild goat the only sign of life. The road was good and 110 all the way . We stopped a few times at rest stops and as there was virtually no traffic, the silence was amazing. This really is the outback.
So, now we are in Broken Hill, 3 km out of the CBD. Today we took the RV in so we could get around more easily as there are many art galleries to visit. First was Pro Harts daughter Julie, then on to Pro’s gallery then the regional national gallery which, as luck would have it, was showing the Archibald prize paintings. One more and we were done with art for the day. Checked out the original 1950’s milk bar and Marios , the palace hotel, where parts of “Pricilla queen of the desert” was filmed, then drove up to the Miners memorial, high above the town, and offering a great panoramic vista of Broken Hill and surrounds.
Actually, I neglected to mention why we didn’t take our bikes into town…..I was practicing last night and skidded on some gravel and yes, I fell off! So now I am sporting a raw and swollen patch on my left arm and not really looking forward to my next attempt.
Later in the day we went back into town to watch the Christmas parade/ pageant with dozens of decorated floats to be followed by carols in the park. Most of Broken Hill’s residents turned out to see it with us.
Our decision to come to Broken Hill before it got too hot, was a good one, as it has been a pleasant 28C for the past 2 days and had we come in Feb as planned originally, it would have been considerably hotter.
Tomorrow we are going to Silverton for one night before heading towards the Flinders Ranges.

Vicki

Marnie, with the cute baby magpie in Swan Hill

The Pioneer settlement Swan Hill
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Apparently they did wear high heels in those days and platform shoes!

 
 
 
 
more of the Pioneer settlement
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is an early form of caravan, presumably horse drawn.

We got to ride in this old car at the Pioneer settlement

Trentham estate winery. This is where we had lunch.

Moo and an outback loo. On our way to Broken Hill.

Broken Hill CBD with the old BHP mine in the background

Marios Palace hotel as featured in "Pricilla queen of the desert"

Marnie sitting on "The big chair"Broken Hill lookout.

One of the Christmas pagent floats Broken Hill

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Another float at Broken Hill

The Frasers come to town

We are still in Echuca, having spent 6 days here with Shelly Lili and Jack. I cant believe how fast the time has gone. I think we have seen everything Echuca has to offer. The old port area is steeped in history. It was restored in the 70’s and in the early 1980’s the mini series “All the rivers run” was filmed here and that really put Echuca on the map. It has been a very popular tourist destination ever since. This port was once one of the busiest in Australia, but when the rail came through, the port area died. We took a paddle steamer boat down the river. The water levels are about 4 to 5 meters down on normal, that is, since the drought began 6 years ago. The roots of the river red gums along the banks, are completely exposed. Lili and Jack were allowed to steer the boat for a short distance, and got a certificate for their efforts.

The pool in the caravan park was a great hit for the kids, as we had a couple of really hot days.
The Holden museum was also a winner with over 40 restored Holdens, from the 1950s to the 1990s.
With the school holidays a few weeks away, we were the only visitors to The Billabong Range, where you can play Mini golf, ride a pony/horse, see the baby animals , climb a rock wall etc. The whole property is a little aging but the kids had a great time.
On Thursday evening we enjoyed an early Christmas dinner together, as we wont be home till March. Roast dins, plum pudding and pressie frenzy, was as close as we could get to the real thing. Of course one of the gifts just had to be “All the rivers run”. Every shop in Echuca sells it .
We will all have dinner together tonight then Shelly and the kids will head back to the Central Coast in the morning. It has been great having them here and I feel sad to see them go .
Suddenly, we will have to start thinking about Where to next.. We have an extra day here free, so will probably take advantage of that (pay for 6 get the 7th free) and wash The Manna House inside and out before heading off in the direction of Swan Hill.

Just when you thought I had forgotton, here's another verse of "My Country"

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze

Vicki

Marnie and Lili at the port of Echuca

Lili And Jack at the old port Echuca

Old paddle steamers.

More Lili and Jack

The Holden Museum

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pony ride for Jack at Billabong Grange

And Lili too

The Old Port of Echuca from the Murray river.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The mighty Murray river

Jack and Lili steering the steamer down the Murray

Family portrait of the Frasers

The Grampians to Echuca

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Another stanza from Dorothy Mackellar‘s Wide Brown Land….this poem is so appropriate to Victoria and what we are experiencing at present. Out of the last 30 days, most have been blue skies and over 34C and as high as 44C and not a drop of rain. But in the last 3 days the temp has dropped to 22C and it has bucketed down, and I am sure the Victorians are rejoicing at the sight of all this rain.
After a second night of kangaroos parading around the camping ground, we left Hall’s Gap in the morning and enjoyed a visit to several local art galleries including one of the resident artists studio’s near by. Hall’s Gap has an excellent wild life park and there, we were treated to an extraordinary display of male peacocks endeavouring to rouse their female counterparts. With amazing colourful feathers spread out fan like, one of them shook the lot, sounding rather like a rattle snake. We were very impressed but alas, his female friend would have none of it and strutted off into the distance. The males even chased the ladies up a tree, but they remained adamant and would have nought to do with them.
Stawell was our next stop, though not far from the Grampians, Marnie though it might provide a good back drop of the range from which to paint. The van park was by a lovely lake, but alas the Gramps were not visible from there. It was another stinker, so we parked side long to the lake , just a few meters from it and although there was a sign saying “no swimming” it felt cooler just looking at it. We stayed 2 nights and did some sight seeing to the local points of interest, namely the “Big Hill”, great panoramic vista and the gold mine which is still productive.
On our way to Wedderburn, the wind suddenly picked up and we could see dust lifting off the ground in the brown, dry fields either side of the road. In no time, we were in the midst of a dust storm, being buffeted around by the wind. Large chunks of tree branches littered the road, so that Marnie had to take care not to hit one and we prayed none would drop onto the van. By the time we arrived in St Arnaud for lunch, the storm was over and we had gritty, sandy dust over everything inside. Then it rained, just a few drops, but enough to make lovely mud pies. Ah, the joys of travel!
Our water filter had begun to deliver at a painfully slow trickle ,seemingly blocked a little, so we decided to take a look at it. A bit like a lady looking under the bonnet of a car, not sure what you expect to see. Only problem was, we neglected to turn off the water first. Oops, an awful lot of water can escape before one has time to hop outside and disconnect the hose. Water gushed out in copious amounts, need I say more.
My computer battery had suddenly died, so we went looking for a new one in Bendigo, but without success as there are apparently too many different ones, so they must be ordered in. When we got back to the van, there was a note on the windscreen from the New Zealand couple we had met in the Grampians, asking us to join them for a cuppa at their camp site at Bendigo showground. As we were ready for lunch, we drove up there and it was great to see them again.
After Bendigo, we found an excellent free camp just 18 ks from Echuca by the Campaspse river. No sooner had we settled in, than it began to rain and continued quite heavily, all night. I’m sure the farmers were rejoicing. Its pretty much the only real rain we have had in 5 weeks.
It was exciting to arrive in Echuca the next day, knowing Shelly and the grandkids would be there by the afternoon. Arrive, they did, around 2.30pm, having driven all the way, from the Central Coast, about 900ks in all. They have a cabin opposite our motor home site and will be here for 6 nights. I think we will be having a great time together.

Vicki

Marnie and a pair cute deers at the wildlife park Hall's Gap

Mr Peacock persuing his lady who is not remotely  into it.

Even the back view is impressive

Sleeping beauty at the Hall's Gap wildlife park

Stawell camping by the lake

The lake at Stawell by our camp spot

The Lonely grave, Wedderburn

Interesting sunset Echuca Van park

Ballarat to The Grampians

Marnie in a wonderful second hand bookshop

                  in Castlemaine.

Here's a little more Dorothy Mackellar for all you poetry lovers.

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil

We are in The Grampians now, and finally the temperature has dropped to a comfortable 26C. Very pleasant for bush walking and rock climing (for those inclined to such things)
Driving to Ballarat we went through Castlemaine (great art gallery) Daylsford and Hepburn Spa. We were of the mistaken impression that we could have a dip in the natural springs at Hepburn.(not true) However, there was plenty of mineral water free at the pumps scattered around , so we filled several bottles. It was disgusting stuff. Tasted (and looked ) like rusty water!
We were happy to arrive in Ballarat after a long hot day. In the morning we dropped TMH off at the Jayco place to have an extra vent put in above the existing one and hoped that would fix the fridge problem, ( it has)  and took ourselves into the city for a good look around. Great art gallery here too and beautiful old restored buildings. This is a huge city with sprawling suburbs.
We took off for Dunkeld in the morning. It's at the lower end of the Grampians and trust us to arrive on what turned out to be, "the biggest day of the year " there. It was Race day and the small population of a few thousand had swelled to 12,000. There were glammed up girls and guys everywhere, and the races were due to start in an hour. The caravan park looked very full, so we were happy  to find they just had a cancellation and we could have a spot. We went for an evening stroll to the nearby wetlands and watched the sunset over the  beautiful Grampians. There was much merriment in the van park after the races.
It just keeps getting hotter! A short drive into the Lower Grampians and we stopped at one of the National Park's well set out camping areas. Loos and water available and bays marked out to camp. There was another couple stopping for the night, so we plonked ourselves next to them and tried to get some shade. The temp was a scortching 44.5C Most of the trees around this section of the park, were burt out in a big bushfire 3 years ago. It raged through most of the Grampians. There is a reasonable amout of regrowth now. Thankfully, the nights are considerably cooler, so we sat outside and had a cuppa with our New Zealand neighbours and enjoyed waching the kangaroos come out to munch the grass.
There are so many beautiful places one could camp in the Grampians, but it is strictly in allotted places only. We went to Halls Gap the nex day and drove up to the Wonderland car park.As the temp was now a much milder 26C we decided to do the Grand Canyon walk, described as a moderate in difficulty and about 2.5K around. Moderate it was'nt, difficult it was! I felt like a mountain climber by the time we reached  top, but it was rewarding with great views. We would love to have gone on to reach the Pinnacles, another hour or so upwards, but my knees simply would 'nt have coped. We did another delightful bush walk the next morning to a place called the Venus Baths, lovely rock pools and running brooks. Last night at dusk, the van park filled with kangaroos, dozens of them. Lots of joeys in pouches.....so cute, their heads hanging out to nibble the grass.

Vicki

Ballarat

Strange thing under a tree near Dunkeld

Our first glimpse of the Grampians

Beautiful old tree in the Arboretum at Dunkeld

The Wetlands near Dunkeld van park

Near sunset Dunkeld

The Grampians

This bush shower was in the camping ground called Jimmy Creek. Marnie tried it out.

Cute pregnant Wallaby at Jimmy Creek.

We made it to the top of rgand Canyon.

Evening in the Halls gap van park.

Marnie at Venus baths, Halls Gap.

The heat wave

I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel- sea
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
Dorothy Mackellar.

Who remembers this from school? We had to learn it by rote and I still remember it. The countryside we drove through from Benalla to Yarrawonga ,reminded me of it. So wide and brown, not to mention flat as far as the eye can see.
We took a lovely lake cruise in Yarrawonga. Fascinating and eerie. There are dead red gums sticking up everywhere. (see pics)
We enjoyed 2 days in the local van park in a great spot over looking the Murray river and felt inspired to get into some free camping up towards Cobram. However, we don’t seem to have great success in that area, as the camps were badly sign posted and when we eventually found the one we were looking for, it was not really suited to a motor home , more like a 4 wheel track again. Feeling discouraged, we headed for Barooga and camped over night there. Happily they had a swimming pool, as the temp once more up to 36C.
My seat belt had a problem, failing to retract properly, so we took off for Shepparton, knowing there was a VW dealer there. And although it couldn’t be fixed on the spot, they were able to make a temporary adjustment so that it will work till it can be fixed. (a much bigger job than expected) Marnie also had a chance to see the chiropractor in Shepparton, and we had time to see the town (larger than expected)
The heat wave just keeps going and the fridge is once more a problem. We headed for Bendigo in 40C temps and by the time we arrived, most of the fridge contents had gone off. After a few hasty phone calls, we drove out to Kangaroo Flats and found a Jayco dealer who told us what the problem was (in his opinion) The fridge has been incorrectly installed with the vent about 8 inches too low, so that the hot air cant escape. That may well be the problem. However, he said he was booked out for months!! Thankfully, we were able to make an appointment with Jayco in Ballarat for 2 days hence then went out and filled the fridge with ice.
Bendigo is a beautiful city with an amazing art gallery, numerous attractive, historical buildings and a great way to see it all. They have a talking tram ride which takes you to the best attractions and you can get on and off at will and use the ticket for 2 days. Most enjoyable.
Vicki

Lake Malwala at Yarrawonga

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Marnie by the lake

Cockatoos enjoying a hole in the red gum tree.

The beautiful, mighty Murray river. to the left and Lake Mulwala below.

Check out the size of this one. You can pick your own strawberries at The Big Strawberry outside of Cobram.

Bendigo

One of the old trams used for the talking tram ride through Bendigo

Marnie trying out one of the trams in the tram museum, Bendigo.