13 April 2011 Kerang - Mildura, - Murray River Region, Victoria

After leaving Kerang we headed to Mildura about 350kms further along the Murray River Highway, & then the Sturt Highway which is very flat. The  first part of the journey was a bit uninteresting, but we passed  through the townships of Swan Hill & Robinvale (Stu's version is Swan Lake & Robin Hood as he can never remember names). All these little townships have so much character, charm & take a real pride in their old buildings & history.  Unfortunately they are often struggling communities, striving to survive, so quite a few of the old buildings are empty.    Of course many of them are stone or brick so do last a lot better than our timber ones.  The second half of the day we entered the amazing horticultural area with thousands & thousands of hectares of  grapes, (for both table & wines) stone fruits, citrus, nuts, olives & vegetables.  The grapes in particular looks so beautiful with their leaves just turning their autumn shades of gold & such long, long rows with red soil in between - would have loved a photo, but my chauffeur wouldn't stop.  This region grows a huge percentage of Australia's supply of these products, & has a population of around 60,000.  A slogan here tells us that   'In Mildura the sky is brighter, the earth richer, the river breathtaking (the mighty Murray) & the people generous'.  I would agree with them all from what we have witnessed.   Interestingly we met an older couple in the supermarket in Mildura who saw us buying a butternut pumpkin, & heard me exclaim how large they were.  As it happened they were local growers & informed us that they couldn/t market the smaller ones anymore, so had to sell them by the very large bag full at the gate or dump them.  All to do with too many seeds in the smaller ones & therefore viewed as not good value.  They also told us how badly the region had been affected by the recent floods - there is still a lot of water on the ground in places, as it is so flat & doesn't drain away easily on this type of soil.  Many of the grape growers couldn't even harvest their crops as the mildew etc set in & that was that.  Many of the stone fruits were affected als.  No wonder their fruit & vegies are so expensive at present.  How about bananas from Queensland @ $12.99 kilo!!!  Australia doesn't export any either, so the poor old aussies have to pay or go without.  We have had cloudless blue skies, nice sunny days, & apparently the climate is really good here - not too cold in winter, & not quite so hot in summer. Sounds a good place to be.  Have partaken of some of their delicious produce purchased at their Saturday Farmer's market.  I could have spent a fortune as everything was so yummy & fresh.  However we were strong & only bought wonderful locally grown & dried fruit for our muesli & snacks while walking, & homemade marmalade & lemon honey for Stu -  sorry, I forgot, a couple of gorgeous homemade vanilla slices for me (Stu hates custard so I didn't have to share).  Of course we had to experience the Murray River on a paddle-boat steamer, which was a lovely relaxing morning in lovely sunshine.  I took photos of the scenery while Stu took photos of the engine! There are also the super yachts of the Murray, namely their houseboats, some enormous & very luxurious.  Some people have even bought up some of the old paddleboats to use.  Our caravan park is on one side of the river (NSW) & Mildura city on the other, so each time we go out we cross from one state to the other.  We have become accustomed to that happening now, though occasionally it becomes confusing.  Thank goodness they both change from daylight saving at the same time.
 

Next day we drove 110km over a pretty rough red sandy road to the Mungo National Park.  We left the caravan at the park, which incidentally was once again on the river & very nice.  Anyway, it was quite an exciting drive just made for the Landcruiser.  We only met one vehicle the whole way, & only stopped to take a photo of a couple of emus by the side of the road.  Mungo National Park is jointly owned & managed by 3 different aboriginal tribes & the National Parks Board, together with a group of local farmers.  It is now quite famous as not long ago they discovered the remains of a man, woman & child which have been dated to over 50,000 years ago.  The man & woman have been lifted & preserved at present in a secret location till they decide where they will be housed, & the child is yet to be lifted (site also secret).  At the same time they also discovered about 400 footprints around the same area,  which have been covered by sand & only recently surfaced.  It's amazing to think that the aboriginals went back so far, & has been a very exciting find for them.  For $10 each we were taken on a walking tour for a couple of hours round the 'foreshore' of what once was Lake Mungo,  now completely dried out after years & years of drought.  The recent rains were not enough to put water in it again, but it has made it quite lush in native flora like cotton bush, ruby bush & pearl bush.  We learnt quite a lot about the culture of these people from our two aboriginal guides who are 'discovery rangers', including a little bit of 'tracking' which was fun.   It was really interesting talking to them, & one of them carried a beautifully decorated guitar with him & sang us several songs over the course of the walk.  It was also lovely to walk with a metre or two of Western grey kangaroos, who didn't seem perturbed at all.  In the afternoon we took a 'tag along' tour, where you follow the guides in their vehicle to these great sand dunes with amazing rock formations on them called 'the walls of china'.  The only way you are allowed to go on them is with the guides & it was well worth it.  There were about 30 people in the group, so about 15 or more vehicles driving in convoy down this dusty road.   Again a really interesting experience & learning curve.  It was a long day especially for Stu who had to drive the 110km back again, this time with a bit of traffic, though we left the tour early so that we wouldn't have to follow someone else's dust trail.
We did manage to have a little cycling next day, & also went out to Wentworth, where the Darling River meets the Murray.  They are the two longest rivers in Australia, in fact the Murray is the third longest river in the world.  Naturally they had both overflowed in the recent floods, so it was still pretty muddy on the river banks.  Wentworth is quite historical & has the first Australian designed gaol, a very nice brick built right next to the old Courthouse which is beautiful.  Unfortunately the town has seen better days, but it has a huge RSA club right on the river bank which is modern & flash.  We were tempted to have lunch there but resisted & saved our pennies.  Another interesting attraction was some other sand dunes called the Perry Sandhills not far from the town.  In a totally flat landscape there is suddenly these marvellous golden sandhills, & you are sure when you climb them that there will be the sea on the other side.  Just another strange Australian phenomena.