Melbourne is in the grip of winter
Therefore Kay and Darryl are again caravaning through parts of NSW & QLD enjoying the Grey Nomad lifestyle. This years trip is planned as a relaxing get away from it all journey. The most strenuous part will be Mungo National Park, White Cliffs and Lightning Ridge. After these destinations we intend to head toward the QLD coast and enjoy the warm sunny weather in such locations as Bundaberg and Yeppoon.
Cobram
The first part of the journey as always is a couple of nights at RACV Resort Cobram to collect the van. We departed Melbourne on Saturday 17th May and after 2 nights packing the van at Cobram we left the park headed to Strathmerton to have the van serviced. While the van was being serviced we made a side trip to Shepparton to have morning tea with Ron & Lorraine.
Echuca
The days in Echuca were spent catching up with other friends Ray & Helen in Echuca and John, Margaret and Leteshia in Bendigo. Echuca is a great holiday destination to just stroll along the Murray River Bank into the Port Area and along High St for a coffee and a Beesting. A great amount of work has been carried out in Echuca at the old wharf area with the construction of a completely new discovery and interpretive area.
Robinvale
Robinvale was our next stop of 3 nights right on the bank of the Murray River so peace full.
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Robinvale camp site
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A regular visitor with an appetite for Carp
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The largest windmill in the Southern hemisphere
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Old bridge across the Murray River at Robinvale
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The man on the site next to us did a bit of fishing and caught a few carp and a Golden Perch. The Carp were killed and fed to a cruising Pelican who decided this was a great restaurant and made numerous visits cruising past our site daily. The Perch which was just undersized was returned to the river to grow a bit bigger.
The next part of the trip was to wait in Mildura for good friends and travelling companions Chris & Shirley to join us, but as Robinvale to Mildura was travelled in just over one hour we decided to keep going and spent 4 nights in Renmark before returning to Mildura and meeting up with Chris & Shirley.This meant stocking up on jam & cream to go with Chris's scones. This year we have extended the menu as well as scones from Chris and pancakes from Darryl we now have vanilla slices from Kay. Chris and Darryl also have big plans for their new camp ovens.
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Dawn on the River
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Renmark
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Paddle Steamer 'INDUSTRY" at Renmark
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In Renmark we stayed at the Big 4 caravan park on the river bank and paid the exhorbitant fee of $43 per night, compared with Robinvale at $27 per night we have to question the value of Big 4 membership.
Mungo
Visiting Mungo National Park is always hit and miss affair with the weather playing deciding role in road access. A consultation with the smart phone weather indicated that Friday was the day to go and have a rest day on the Saturday.
aboriginal
We were very fortunate with this as the road was only just opened after a period of rain and we made it through easily although Chris’s car needed a good tub afterwards. We arrived at Mungo just in time to join a tour of the Walls of China escorted by a local aborigine ranger named 'Ernest'. The tour consisted of a walk over the area with an explanation by Ernest of the indigenous significance. The area in geological terms is a Lunette consisting mainly of sand dunes, all eroded by wind and rain to form interesting and unusual shapes. Some of the dunes are of moving variety.
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Mungo Views
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Eroded formations
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Mungo Station Shearing Shed
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The next day saw more rain and the closure of the road as a result. We enjoyed our tour of Lake Mungo especially the odd ecological formations, the sand dunes and the old shearing shed.
The remainder of our time in Mildura we spent on a few chores and running repairs to the caravans. We had developed a water leak under our van and I had a blow out in my sneakers which meant shopping for new shoes. Tomorrow (Sunday it is off to Broken Hill.
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