The end point for today's trip was Wilcannia, a small town to the east of Broken Hill. But it was only going to take a couple of hours to get there ... directly.
I did want to visit a town to the south east - Menindee, home of the Menindee Lakes. From there I would work out how I would end up getting to Wilcannia.
When they are full, the Menindee Lakes hold 3 times as much water as Sydney Harbour. At the moment they are slightly less than half full. The water collected here is used in Broken Hill and surrounding districts.
Menindee is not on the way to anywhere - it is a destination. Not much of a destination as it turned out. The cafe was closed until Monday and there wasn't a lot of activity going on. Given that it was 35 degrees at 11 o'clock I shouldn't have been too surprised. I certainly didn't want to take long walks outside the air conditioned comfort of my Mazda.
After morning tea (pie review below) I decided to drive around some parts of the lakes.
The first hamlet/group of houses + pub that I visited was called Sunset Strip, which I am guessing is called that because of the view of the sunsets over the lakes.
Most of the houses were in need of repair. This piece of art stopped me:
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| "Dunny Tree" |
Nearby was a lookout that was near the train line that is used by the Indian Pacific on its way from Sydney to Perth (I actually saw this train in Broken Hill yesterday. 878 metres long)
I then drove to the main Weir, which seems to be a camping ground as well as the weir itself. It was interesting seeing all these large fish (maybe Murray Cod or carp according to online) at the top end of the weir, waiting to make their way to the lower reaches of the weir.
I then drove back in to Menindee to work out the travel for the rest of the day.
From Menindee there are three ways to get to Wilcannia. The first is to double back to Broken Hill and drive on bitumen to Wilcannia. Then there are two dirt roads, one south of the Darling River and one north of it. The road north had a Caution sign at the start. The road south didn't.
I took the south road.
What then followed was over two hours of driving on road conditions that changed from sand to dirt to clay, then back to sand. For 150km. Challenging? Yes. Was it doable in the Mazda? I can now say, yes, it was.
Here are some photos taken of the view along this road.
Things I was unable to take photos of because i was too slow, or through better of it.
- Scores of raptors (I think Whistling kites, according to online, but also possibly eagles) feasting on the plethora of dead kangaroos, most of which seemed to come off second best with cars.
- At least two wild boar carcasses, one of which was the size of a medium sized cow.
- Snakes. A fair bit of snake activity on the road, which surprised me.
Towards the end of this road I did take a picture of this:
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| Snowman in 40 degrees |
After leaving this road the rest of the trip was pretty short and uneventful.
The caravan park where I am staying had snack food laid out for all interested guests at 5 o'clock. I turned up, as did two retired couples. When one of the men starting praising senator Matt Canavan, I recognized this as my cue to leave.
Dinner was at the golf club because there were no other choices. I did enjoy my burger and I was politely requested to put a favourable review up on Facebook. I have never been asked to do this before and was happy to oblige. DJ's Home Cooking, if you're interested.
I'm only here one night and will start to head south tomorrow.
PIE REVIEW
So, I forgot to take a photo.
There are no bakeries in Menindee, however the general store sold a range of Villi's Pies. So I had a pepper steak pie. I think this was the second time with a pepper steak pie.
I probably shouldn't have bothered. This had been in the pie warmer for a very long time and was dry and unappetising. Bottom of the list.
Podcast of the day: Wilosophy - Wil Anderson with Matt Parkinson
- I was up for another 2 hour + interview by Wil Anderson and this one did not disappoint. You may know Matt from Big Gig days (part of Empty Pockets), as the comedian that won everything on Sale of the Century or on the current series of The Chase on Channel 7.
Total km travelled: 4,859
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