Week 2 was broken up into three different adventures. The first couple of days we camped on the banks of the Edward River in Deniliquin. Out came the fishing rods and Dave and the girls spent a few hours chillaxing by the river…or probably more like de-tangling fishing line and stopping Jas from falling in the drink! Deni is a big country town full of friendly locals and plenty to see and do. Big4 Deniliquin is in a fabulous location with great facilities and is perfect for families, with a price tag to match! At $55 site fee plus $15 per child per night, staying more than two nights was not an option for us.
Next stop Balranald, where we were meeting a large Geelong contingent on a friend’s property 18 kms out of town. This was to be our first ‘free camping’ stop so I was a little bit apprehensive to how our setup would go. As it turned out, our camp at Mainie was very well set up with a hut with a rustic shower set up, camp fireplace, tank water, and we even had our own Portaloo thanks to property owners Pete and Sue!
We had the Murrumbidgee River at our doorstep, and the kids spent all their time kayaking and playing on Mud Island, named for obvious reasons. There was no fighting (between adults OR kids!), and I didn’t see one iPod for the whole time we were there. The food and wine flowed, as each family demonstrated their Masterchef culinary skills. We certainly ate some great tucker; from chicken curry, homemade pizza, pork spit roast (thanks Nathan), spicy sausage pasta, and even smoked salmon and garlic fetta Cruskits for brunch! With 10 adults and 14 kids we created quite a stir when we rocked up at Homebush Hotel for dinner on Good Friday. The publican had a very big smile on his face and nothing was too much trouble. It is a great country pub and well worth a visit.
We had a great five days, but it was time to say goodbye to the Geetroit clan for a few months. Thanks for the laughs guys! See you in December!
The road ahead would prove to be rough and dusty, as it was 150 kms of dirt road from Balranald to Mungo. As it was a short drive to Mungo we stayed for just one night at Main Camp (2kms from the National Parks Office. Cost was $5 adult, $3 child and $7 per car). The camping ground is small, with just 33 designated campsites, so it is wise to get there early. Facilities include free gas BBQs, wood fireplaces and drop toilets, but no showers, so make sure you take drinking water and firewood with you, and watch out for the scorpions!! Although free showers are available at the National Park Offices, but you’ll have to beat off the smelly backpackers to have one! We managed to fit in a trip across Lake Mungo to see The Wall of China (this is a must see!) and watched a most spectacular sunset. The sky was also incredible!!
Day 21 and we head off to Menindee on more corrugated dirt roads. 240 kms of corrugation to be exact…….After 5 days without running water my first instinct was to head straight for a caravan park for some much needed washing and showers. Menindee Lakes caravan Park is right on the Menindee Lake. It is a very clean park with quite a few permanent vans to accommodate the mining families and fishermen that frequent the area. At $33 per night for a powered site we had the pick of the grassy sites throughout the park. Unfortunately Lake Menindee had very little water in it so we headed out to Pamamaroo Lake to have a paddle in the water, and stayed for sunset which was spectacular.
We headed off the next morning for Broken Hill, which is just a short 120 kms up the road. We stayed two nights at the Top Tourist park. It was nothing to write home about but it was fine enough. Broken Hill is a lovely big town with friendly locals and we enjoyed our short time here. We also took a quick trip to Silverton, where, if it wasn’t for the film crew who were there shooting scenes for Strangerland, (starring Hugo Weaving, Joseph Fiennes and Nicole Kidman) helping us out with some diesel, we may have been stranded there for the night!! Dave is now filling our 170 Lt fuel tank at every opportunity!!
So once again we watched the black stuff disappear and hit the dirt. It was half dirt half black all the way, but the drive to Packsaddle Roadhouse wasn’t too bad. With a quick lunch stop at a rest stop just past the roadhouse, we made our way to Tibooburra. After a quick look around town (two pubs and a police station), we drove out to the Sturt National Park just out of town. We chose a nice shady campsite and set up. Once again, the camp facilities were basic but clean, with drop toilets, free gas bbq’s, and a minimal fee for the night’s stay.
Day 25 and we head to Innamincka. At this stage of our trip we are still settling in to the travel lifestyle. It’s hard to make that shift from annual holidays to 8 months on the road. The drive to Innamincka was hard going on the roads, but was really beautiful. We crossed a large dry lake that was just cracked red earth for as far as the eye could see. Photos just didn’t do it justice. This drive took us across both the Strzelecki and Old Strzelecki Track. After a long drive we made it to Innamincka, where a couple of the oil field workers pointed us to a great camping spot in the Innamincka Regional Reserve, called Policeman’s Waterhole. We had the place to ourselves, apart from a couple of resident dingoes. The campsite has one drop toilet and nothing else but it was ideal. Cost per night was $18 (up to 8 people per vehicle). It is right on Coopers Creek, which is a big body of water suitable for fishing, kayaking and swimming. The pelicans are plentiful and so are the fish, however we had no such luck. Although the signs say no camp fires between November and April 30, we had some wood delivered to our camp by some lovely guys in what we think was a Parks 4WD who assured us it was OK to have a fire. We stayed here for two nights. It was so peaceful and the kids loved swimming in the creek. The town itself isn’t much more than the Regional Reserve Office, the Innamincka Hotel and the general store. I have to say that the town folk weren’t overly friendly, however the Oil field contractors were incredibly friendly. One guy even gave us his tub of insect repellent!
We all found it really interesting to visit Burke and Wills grave sites, as well as the Dig Tree (70 kms outside Innamincka). It’s not hard to see why they perished in the outback.
The trip from Innamincka to Quilpie might have only been 500kms but it was mostly dirt and took seven long hours. We were thinking of staying in Eromanga for the night which is 100 kms before Quilpie, however we wanted to get a bit closer so that our drive to Longreach wasn’t so long. That last hour was driven with a setting sun, and then we watched as the kangaroos came out to play. I don’t recommend driving after the sun goes down, but we were very careful and we made our destination just on dark.
We are still in Quilpie for one more night, staying ar the Channel Country Tourist Park and Spas. It is a lovely and clean park, with a very social camp kitchen and plenty of people to talk to at happy hour. The managers are more than happy to help with anything you need, and at $31 a night for a huge drive through powered site and Artesian spas laid on, how can you go wrong? The only disappointment was that the local swimming pool is closed during the ‘winter’ months…the fact that is 32 degrees outside doesn’t seem to mean much!
So it’s on to Longreach tomorrow. We are ready to go dinosaur hunting!!
Ciao for now
Jude