Shakedown Trip (Mildura, Pooncarie, Broken Hill)

From our miserable (wet, windy and generally dreadful) Halls Gap experience we determined to get warm we obviously needed to head North. The first night we travelled as far as Mildura, testing out the camper and vehicle on the river road (along the Murray, which has seriously risen since our last bush camping trip to Robinvale in around 2008/ 2009) as we found the APEX riverside caravan park. Our trusty GPS was once again very creative in determining the best route! The caravan park (and sunshine) was a welcome sight and Amelia could hardly be dragged away from the huge jumping pillow. After a couple of days exploring the area and feeling very comfortable with the palm tree scenery we once again packed up and moved to warmer climes.

Following a few very bumpy hours of corrugated roads, Lake Mungo (a dry lake in NSW) was a quick stop for lunch. This is where the oldest known proof of man outside Africa was found, the "Mungo Man" covered in Ocre, in 1974. It's estimated that human inhabitation in the area dates to around 50,000 years ago. Also found (in 1969) was the aptly titled "Mungo Lady"- she had been cremated around 40,000 years ago. Stone tools were found that are older than Mungo Man. Unfortunately our little explorer was asleep so we were unable to get out and walk around too much.

 

Pooncarie (NSW) was where we determined to stop and pitch camp. A real (free) bush camp, complete with delightful river views and very few neighbours (the nearby golf course was obviously used very infrequently) it looked perfect. Out we stepped and began the routine set up. And along came the mozzies... We were simply swarmed by a barrage of the blood sucking insects. Being dramatic (I nearly wanted to abandon the camp completely) the air almost turned black! Fortunately we'd come prepared with a dozen or so mosquito coils, which we methodically distributed around the campsite. Combining the approach with liberal doses of "Bushman's" insect repellant, we survived. It did feel a bit sad to be applying such an effective and worryingly nail polish removing lotion to such a perfect face as Amelia's but it did the job. (And the nail polish is a brief testament to my belief that camping can be glamorous, although I think I'll need to modify my viewpoint and let go of my glamping aspirations!) Happily installed inside the annex we were free to marvel at nature and the beautiful vista.

The following day provided an outdoors shower experience, complete with relaxing mozzie coil citronella aroma, quickly followed by our quickest pack up ever. I think we did the whole disassembly in under 45 minutes!

Onto more civilized territory (and an indoors bathroom, albeit shared in a Caravan Park) we travelled to Broken Hill, a large historical and current mining town. The streets are purposefully and appropriately named; eg. Sulfide, Iodide, Gypsum, Oxide, Chloride, Bromide- you get the idea. The weather was much warmed and we were able to dispense with Amelia's singlets and wear short sleeves. The wind blew up a bit and our fellow caravan park residents goodnaturedly blamed us for bringing "Victorian weather" North. We passed a surprising number of grey nomads in very expensive caravans all heading south- so I guess the season is over for travelling comfortably.

 

 

Some suitably Australian images for our international friends...