Day 6 Sunday 30th Balranald, Beautiful but bloody cold Balranald!

Sorry for the swearing but although the sun was back out today it was still very cold. The thermometer struggled to reach 13 and the wind was icy. We were not to be deterred as we really ae quite cosy with the heater on in the caravan. Anyway we headed to a museum that I thought Rob would be interested in. “The Southern Cross” aka “The Shed” houses a replica plane of the Southern Cross and the Lady Southern Cross. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross visited Balranald when he was touring around Australia and the working replica plane was built and used for a TV mini-series about “Smithy”. Our local guide was extremely knowledgeable and we were amazed and impressed with all the other engineering feats built by locals over the years which were never patented. We saw the forerunner of air-conditioners, sleepers in trucks from the 1930’s, a round fridge and many other interesting pieces displayed in the museum.  I didn’t realise that Burke and Wills were camped near Balranald during their expedition and the trunk of the tree with the camp number that had been carved into it, was proudly on display. Our guide spent over an hour with us! We had a coffee at the tourist information centre before going for a frog-hunting walk around the town. We returned to the van for lunch and then headed out to check out more of the town. I visited the cemetery and Rob checked out the golf course. From here I went for a “nature/history” walk. Balranald has produced small information boards for all the locals who served in the First and Second World Wars. They are located along all the main streets and special walking tracks. I did a nature walk through the “Lowbidgee Wetlands” and thoroughly enjoyed the combination of history and nature.

Day 5 Saturday 29th (Jasmine’s Birthday…Absent parents again!) Balranald, From Riverbend and Rivergardens to Rivers!

 With most of the south of Australia caught up in a cold front with heavy rain, we were hopeful that we might avoid it but it was not to be. We left Gol Gol around 10 am heading the short distance to Balranald. We called into the small town of Robinvale to stretch our legs and a coffee break. This town would be one of the most multi-cultural, we had visited. Approximately 8,000 people live here and the majority of the population would be from Vietnam, Tonga, Indonesia with the older population being of Italian descent or Aboriginal decent. It makes for a very interesting main street. The town’s only hotel burnt down in 2015 and has never been rebuilt, so the town does not have a pub. Many Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and cafes lined the street. We opted for coffee at a Vietnamese bakery and the coffee was good and the sausage roll passed the test too. We bought a vanilla slice to have later with lunch as I had read that the vanilla slices here are pretty good and there is an annual “Vanilla Slice” competition for this area! The journey to Balranald was uneventful and we checked into the caravan park, set up and had lunch. Balranald is located on the Murrumbidgee River and our caravan park is also on the river. Following lunch we drove out to the nearby, Yanga National Park. We had decided to do a self-guided audio tour of the old Yanga Homestead located on Yanga Lake. The early part of the homestead was built in 1850’s and added onto and reconstructed in 1866. We were the only people there and thoroughly enjoyed the tour. The lake on which the homestead was located is huge so big in fact, it has its own sailing club!  The last muster and shearing at Yanga was in 2005 and the station was then purchased by the state government. From here we drove out to the large Yanga Woolshed well over 100 years old, and once could accommodate over 3,000 sheep under cover. The shed was located on the banks on the Murrumbidgee as originally the bales of wool were taken to Echuca by paddle steamers. We also saw the “Blade Tree” located behind the wool shed. This tree was used by shearers in the pre-mechanical shears days. At the end of shearing and when the blades from the cutting shears were no longer able to be used, the blades were thrown into the trunk of the tree. A competition was held to see how high up the tree they could throw their blades. There are still blades embedded in the tree, probably well over 100 years old!

Day 4 Friday 28th Gol Gol, Great weather, Golf, and Cemeteries

Rob and I headed out to the Riverside Golf Course this morning and we were blessed with beautiful weather. I dropped Rob off and while he was enjoying a round of golf, I visited the nearby, large cemetery and spent about an hour there mainly looking at the older headstones. The most tragic were those of young people who had drowned and unfortunately there were many of those. One family lost two children on the same day and after looking the names up on Trove, I found this very sad article. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102155808 

That was enough for me to leave the cemetery and drive into town. The main part of the Mildura riverfront has a lovely walk which incorporates indigenous culture, history, the arts, waterparks, galleries and various cafes. I was so impressed with both the repairs to existing structures and new infrastructures installed since the recent 2022/23 flood. I thoroughly enjoyed wandering along the paths and of course visited both a café and gallery. Upon arriving back at the car, Rob called to say he had completed his round of golf. After collecting him we returned to a riverfront cafe for a late lunch. We then visited a lookout but realised we had actually visited this lookout before and unlike the Murray River lookout out from Renmark, it wasn’t that spectacular. Rob did have fun climbing some of the structures in this area!

Day 3 Thursday 27th Gol Gol, Exciting morning at the bridge

As we were packing up to leave the Riverbend Caravan Park, we (I) was excited to see a houseboat waiting to go under the Paringa bridge which meant that a section of it would have to rise, for the houseboat to go through.  Of course we were not in any hurry and so stayed and watched this event! From Renmark, we had an easy drive to Gol Gol. Gol Gol is a small town on the Murray, in NSW. It is very close to Mildura and seems more like an outer suburb of Mildura. We are booked into the Rivergardens Holiday Park, another beautiful caravan park, with river frontage. After settling in and some lunch, we visited Mildura to purchase fuel and check out the golf course which Rob is hoping to play on tomorrow. The course is almost level with our caravan park on the opposite side of the river. This golf course just happened to be on the same road that led to the main Mildura Cemetery so we had a quick look and I might head there tomorrow while Rob is golfing. Returning to the van, I decided I should make the most of the beautiful weather and went for a lovely kayak. I spent a couple of hours, enjoying the peaceful river and birds. I didn’t encounter one other person on the river!

Day 2 Wednesday 26th June Renmark, Lucky at the Lock

 The weather was kind to us so after a fairly slow and lazy start we decided to walk along the river to Lock 5. On our walk, we passed many moored houseboats of all shapes, sizes and comfort levels. Arriving at the lock we noticed the lock staff were out and a houseboat was about to enter the lock along with a small surveying boat. A family had also arrived in time to watch the process of the water changing levels. It was about a three metre difference in depth. One of the lock staff was quite friendly and said that there was no flow over the lock today because the small surveying boat was measuring the different depths of the water close to the lock, a job that probably would have been nearly impossible had there been any water going through. Returning to the caravan park, we prepared a picnic lunch and drove to Berri to visit Bunnings. Stopping on the riverfront, we had our lunch although we ended up eating it inside the car as the wind was bitterly cold. We went for a short drive and I went for a walk around Berri while Rob visited an electrical store. On our way back to the caravan park we called into the Paringa Cemetery so I could do a quick walk around it. Quite a small cemetery and not many old graves, so it didn’t take me long!