Menindee

Menindee

We are pleased to be well and truly out of sight of that bloody van! – we take to the road to Menindee – the Lakes are filling for the first time in a number of years – a tour on the River Lady – a glorified oversized tinnie – more than fit for purpose.

Past the majestic red river gums now deceased from years of unnatural inundation – past a tree that 300 years ago donated part of its bark to the creation of a canoe to service the river crossing and travel of the aboriginal peoples who shared the river with it.

Past a lot of incidental tourists – Sea Gulls! – Pelicans! – past the nests of Fairy Martins – past the nest of Whistling Kites

Along the channel of the original Darling River – cross across the flooded flood plain and back into the channel – enjoyable! – recommend.

To Menindee – a tired, tired, tired town – rows and rows of grape vines retired from production and left to wither and die – some latter day optimist, like some of their pioneer forefathers, clearly saw their dreams come to nought.

Visit the tourist information centre – admire the quilts that are on sale – clearly some local is trying to supplement the income from their agricultural enterprise – eventually the manager arrives – he grabs standard maps of the town – out comes the highlighter pen – with an expertise and a bored demeanour borne of providing tourists with the same information year after year, he draws a standard route on the map and dispatches us on our way.

Burke and Wills camp site - the burial site of their Afghan camel driver – the Maiden Hotel – Ah Chung’s Bakery – the rail head used to ship load after load of water to Broken Hill before the pipeline was completed – where have all the natives gone?

Into the Kinchega National Park – follow the River Road – a tight and twisty track that is clearly impassable when it rains – the track follows hard on the Darling River for 15 kilometres – initially feels messy and unkempt but then we come to recognise that it is spectacular in a way that only the muddy water, the high banks of the Darling and the its scraggly red gum forests can be – we find ourselves enthralled and then, seemingly in a virtual instant, sad to see the road turn away from the forest and into the adjacent rangeland.

Towards the Kinchega Homestead and Woolshed – how could people live here? – What is it that stimulated the pioneers’ to believe that they could sustain a life in this difficult and remote environment?

Back to look at Lake Menindee adjacent to diversion channel – the weir has only been open for a fortnight but already the lake looks like Sydney Harbour – one assumes that the upstream rains leading to the opening of the diversion channel will for a short while placate the angst of the locals towards the Murray-Darling Management Authority.

Surely by now power has been restored to the caravan park – head back towards Broken Hill – pause to take a photo of animal handling yards silhouetted against the sky line.

We arrive back at the caravan park – it is practically deserted – everyone without a generator has left leaving behind them piles of destroyed awnings – power will not be on for another day! – Bernie heads off to find a motel with power – the van is packed up with little consideration – gone is the kindness and tenderness that had previously been lavished on this miscreant van – the packing up process gives precedence to speed rather than to any other consideration.

Bernie returns successful – in a flash we are gone!

We say to one another – that is it! – we are over this! – we will change our travelling address to:

Incidental travellers

C/0 Any Motel,

Anywhere

We will also forward our email

From:

              No-connectivity@NBN.com.au

To         

              Incidental-Travellers@anymotel.com.au

We test the motel as an alternative to caravanning – no contest!