Menindee, Mungo and the tri-state area!

The drive from Broken Hill to Menindee was a little over 100km. Not very long, but it seemed to us somehow that we were entering the real start of our trip. The road narrower, the traffic sparse, the landscape more barren, and if BH was a bit of an unknown quantity, then Menindee Lake was off the chart. The first thing we noticed were these patches of mini watermelons along the edge of the road as we drove along. Curiosity got the better of us, so we found a safe place to pull over and investigate. Maria and Caitlin dodged oncoming cars and a road train, raced across the road and took a few photos. None the wiser they souvenired a medium sized melon to ask what they were further down the track. As it turned out they were Camel melons brought out with the Afghan Cameliers. Very tart and not real good for you but the birds love them.

We soon arrived at our destination, the Menindee Lakes Caravan Park. A few km's down a dirt road and we were there. What a delight and a bit of a contradiction in the middle of semi-arid desert. On the shores of Lake Menindee, a natural basin which collects rain water from the surrounding area as well as feeding the Darling River. It is much larger than than Sydney harbour and it filled to the brim after the 2010 Qld floods and is now about 30% full but is still a formidable and expansive water supply.

Chilling on the lake shore.

The park Manager Tim was extremely welcoming. He took over the place in 2009 and since then has been cultivating a half a dozen grass sites on an otherwise red dirt/sandy area. These areas are a real oasis in the dessert. We chose the corner penthouse over-looking the Lake. We had unobstructed views of the entire area which was absolutely devine. In the first 5 minutes we saw pelicans, emus, galahs and any number of other birdlife.

Tim came down later after we'd setup and pointed to a tricky 4wd track leading out of the property which he indicated we could drive down onto the lake bed, let the kids have a swim and we could have a drink or two and watch the sunset which faced directly west.

Menindee Sunset

Hmmm, sounds like we had a plan for the afternoon. 4 o'clock was the agreed time with sunset about 6pm and we headed off. Pictures paint a thousand words but can I just say sitting on an ancient lake bed like it was North Point at Moreton, sipping Pra Suave, (that's Italian!)  nibbling cheese and bikkies and watching the kiddies have a paddle in the lake, I really felt, well, serene. Lines from the Castle followed. "How's the serenity?" - "So much serenity".  Menindee is simply beautiful. We stayed 2 nights here and could easily have stayed more. The afternoon, drive, swim, nibble, sip (okay slurp/gulp) ritual was truly seductive. You can also imagine our dismay and outrage when Tim informed us that as a part of the Murray-Darling solution between irrigators/pastoralists and environmentalists that the entire Menindee Lake system is to be drained to feed the Darling in the hope that one day floods from Qld (!!!) will once again fill the system. Oh dear, we are slowly learning more about this issue as we travel along and it is hard to understand how draining his beautiful lake could aid the system in the long term.


We also visited Kinchega National Park which is right on the Darling river. It was previously 1800's  pastoral land processing (shearing) 6 million sheep in it's heyday. We enjoyed walking through the woolshed and imagining how hard it would have been to live and work here. We followed the Darling River through the park about 20km's upstream. There were about 30 camp sites right on the river under the giant river red gums. All were really peaceful and spacious. We stopped at one for lunch and then had an explore along the banks. We found a little creek with hundreds of carp in it just on the surface of the river. We found out later from Tim it was spawning time.

Darling River Camp

After 2 nights we hit the road for Mungo National Park - the home of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady. It's was about a 250 km trip along all dirt road. The road wasn't in bad condition however the 110km speed limit was never seriously challenged - more like suicide. I did mention to Maria that I thought the camper "may be a bit loose, i.e. not air tight" and "I think I remember there being a little hatch which you can open to create a pressurised seal to ensure no dust gets in".  "Nevermind we'll fix it when we get there....On the way we saw huge wedge tailed eagles close up and I remember feeling excited driving along. There was very little traffic coming the other way or behind us so I could pick the best line to take. What struck me was the change in colours of the road and the surrounding land. Red to brown to white to orange - all I can say is - it was very peaceful. We had a few really bad corrugated sections but overall it was just fun...

...Until we arrived at Mungo NP main campground and opened the camper. Lets just say at this point I could hear the National Lampoons 'Holiday Road' theme song in my head. The Griswalds had arrived and red dust was everywhere. From a thick coating all over the floor to a relatively thin layer on the beds and benches, it was everywhere inside. Lesson learned. Michael philosophical - Maria...not so much.

 We arrived at the Mungo tourist information centre which is quite impressive, but there was no-one there. No staff, nothing. There was a really interesting interpretive display about the area but little direction on how we should go about getting sorted for camp fees etc as we'd heard the tours were exceptional. Eventually we found the honesty box, popped the fees into an envelope and were off to find the campground. Enter dust...In the end with all hands on deck we cleaned up and were settled in a hour or so.

The campground was very spacious but basic. No power or water, just a drop toilet and some rainwater out of a tank. Plenty of local kangaroos and emus were wandering around to welcome us however which the kids were excited about. They were not excited about the flies. There were lots. Thank god for head nets. We took a drive back to the tourist centre which is only a kilometre down the road and it was a hive of activity. Rangers were there. Cars everywhere, it was a different place and we quickly sourced all of the information we needed. Tomorrow would start with a 70km drive around the lake bed and surrounding sand dunes in the shape of a crescent moon, called a lunette. We would meet back at the centre for a guided tour of 'the Walls of China' with the local aboriginal rangers.

Mungo is an ancient lake bed that has been dry for 20,000 years. Scientists have discovered artefacts dating back over 50,000 years across the expanses of the last ice age. This makes Mungo one of the oldest places outside of Africa to have been occupied by modern humans since ancient times. They have discovered 42,000 year old remains of a man and a woman separately. The woman was about 18 and was cremated whilst the man was about 55 and seemed to die of old age. The man was probably over 6ft 8in!! There are also fossilised footprints of men women and children and they are truly huge. The food must have been very good in the area 40,000 years ago. The land around the area is over 100,000 years old and there are currently testing fire places found in this layer of rock which would be quite a find indeed. More on that later. The area was also a pastoral station for many years which of course decimated the area which still hasn't recovered.

Erosion

We drove the 70km loop track around the lake and old station in the morning which took us about 3 hours. We toured the old homestead and and woolshed. The station was massive.  The highlight of the trip was the massive sand dunes near Vigar's Well. It could have been on Fraser or Moreton. The kids had a great time climbing and falling back down again and exploring around the dunes. We arrived back at camp for lunch and were back at the tourist centre for our 2pm tour. Unfortunately so were the 5 other carloads including one full of Korean men (more on that later). Ernie and Tanya were our tour guides. Tanya started off the tour a bit angry about the treatment of Mungo Man and Lady but mellowed as her enthusiasm and passion for the area, the fossils and the ancient history overcame her anger and she was a wealth of information. 

Massive sand dunes

Ernie was so laid back I thought he was asleep. He was very cool as he walked around talking about the history of the area with a beautifully painted guitar on his shoulder. You can only tour the Walls of China area now with a tour and with a guide. It was apparent why within 1 minute of the group setting foot in the sand with Ernie and Tanya pointing down as we walked. See that, it's a seashell from 40,000 years ago, that's an ancient spearhead, that's a piece of bone from a fossilised wombat. What?? we all felt like tip toeing around...except for the Koreans...One of them just took off whilst the others were kicking the bones with their shoes and stamping on the shells to see if they would break. Even Ernie got flustered trying to get the wandering Korean back.

Working out where to tread!

We saw old camp fires, fossilised remains of wombats, kangaroos and a snake. It was a magical place. So much history and so much more to tell as the rains come and reveal more treasures. You could tell Tanya was torn from the fact that what is in the ground should stay in the ground, but her fascination with what these secrets might reveal was irresistable. After the tour we all had a shower at the visitor centre which was very welcome.

Mungo is a fascinating place. It shows the wonder of nature and history, balanced with the blight of late 19th century pastoralism where they had absolutely no idea and didn't really care. What we've done in 150 years is truly atrocious. (I'll get off the soap box now). We were now making our way to South Australia through Mildura in Victoria. We made good time and had our eye on a rest stop 40km south of Pinaroo. As we passed through town and stopped for everyone to wee we basically had a family meeting. Drive for 30mins out of town and camp (it was 2.30pm) or stay in the car for another couple of hours and go straight to Naracoorte. The hands went up and it was agreed we'd head straight to Naracoorte. Three states in one day as we travelled from NSW, into VIC through Mildura and then finally into SA.