Day 3: Merbein

We planned to drive to Broken Hill today. First stop though was the Farmers' Market in Mildura. Lots of fresh produce to choose from and a lovely sunny morning to stroll around the many stalls along the Murray River. After purchases of bread, muffin, cabana, lime butter, asparagus, oranges and garlic, we thought we had done our bit to support the commerce of the Mildura area. Then on to Broken Hill, approx. 300km away. But first, we thought we would check out a free-camp site just out of Mildura, perhaps useful for the return trip. After the GPS led us astray (again!) we found the camp site of Merbein Common; a lovely quiet spot right on the banks of the Murray River. We stopped for lunch and then thought we might stop for the day and night as well. So we travelled all of 10km for today. But we're not in any hurry, so that's just fine.

Lunch by the Murray River

Setting up camp at Merbein.



We took this opportunity to set up our toilet/shower tent. (With thanks to the folks of the Student System Project at Melb Uni for the Rays Outdoors Voucher.) First time that we have had it out of the bag. It has come in very handy as there are no usable toilets at this camp site. The toilet block is still under water from the recent floods.

The toilet/shower tent

Now that you've seen a photo of the outside, I'm sure you all want to see inside as well...

Yep, pretty impressive isn't it?

Now for some more edifying photos of the Murray River at dusk.

And we ended our relaxing day with a camp fire. Very nice!

Maybe we'll head off to Broken Hill tomorrow.
Or maybe we won't...

Day 2: Mildura

Drove from Sea Lake to Mildura, with lunch in between at Ouyen. Staying at the Palms Caravan Park. It is quiet and dog-friendly. Quite a contrast to the night before at Sea Lake, but we have power and hot water. Life is all about compromises and balance. We'll probably try to free camp about half of the time as we travel about.
We went to see the Rio Vista Historic House. Mildura has a very interesting history. Two Canadian brothers convinced the Victorian Government of the time to let them irrigate around Mildura and basically start the township. Didn't go well at first, due to a drought. One brother goes home; the other stays around and keeps trying until he finally succeeds many years later. And now there are lots of oranges and grape vines here.
We had to visit Orange World didn't we? What a pity it wasn't open at 7pm. Oh well, we got the photo anyway.

Could have been the perfect family photo...

Day 1: Leave Talbot; Arrive Sea Lake

We moved out of our house in East Malvern on Thursday March 24. We then spent a relaxing week in our little Talbot house preparing the car, van and sorting out household contents, before finally setting off on a "trial" trip to Broken Hill.
We left on Thursday March 31. We stopped at Moliagul for lunch, which is a little town north of Maryborough and Dunolly. But a very special town because it is where the Welcome Stranger nugget was found - the largest gold nugget that has ever been found in the world - 72KG.

We drove on to Sea Lake where the book said there was a free camping spot. We plugged the coordinates into our GPS and got close, but ended up driving into someone's field. We picked a wild melon before driving on to find a nice spot to camp. It was great. Very remote. Didn't see anyone else the whole time we were there. No facilities though, so we had to rough it. But that was no problem - for one night anyway.
Look carefully at this next photo. You can just see the Avan at the end of the track.

Our camp site at Sea Lake

 

Judith, Spike and Princess walking at dusk



The interesting landscape at Sea Lake

The dogs are travelling well so far. They are good company and are mostly well behaved. Being 15 years old, they sleep most of the day now and don't get excited about terribly much any more. However, Princess found something that took her fancy at the Sea Lake site and dug a hole for about half an hour. Most unusual for our dog.