Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Playing the Tourist

After our late night at  Mungo we had a rather relaxed day on Thursday.  We went to see “Big Lizzie” at Red Cliffs. She is rather well known.

She is also rather big.

We had lunch at a lovely pub by the river and then went in search of the arid lands botanical garden.  The roses were lovely, but it was too hot to be walking around the rest of the extensive grounds.

We had another evening out.  This time we went back to Wentworth with the Rockhampton crew for dinner, followed by an evening cruise of the junction of the rivers.

There was quite a light show starting to appear to the south and we even had a little rain during the night once we had returned to our camp.

The boat had big flood lights that lit everything up well, but of course, photography was not a success.

I did get a snap of the water of the two rivers running side by side.  The lighter one is the Darling and the darker is the Murray.

Friday saw us on the Murray again.  This time we departed from Mildura on the “Rothbury”, which was built in 1912.

We went past the “Coonawarra”. My Mum and Dad went on a four day river cruise on her in 1999.  They loved it.

The paddle steamers are so elegant.

It must be a terrible life being a riverboat captain.

These old barges remind you of times past when the river was the highway, before trains and semi trailers.

Once again the dead trees are a feature of the river banks.  Note the on in the middle with the mark where the 1956 flood came up to.  No wonder it is still talked about.

Birds love them for nesting.

There are some rather grand homes on the banks of the Murray.

 

This was my favourite.  It was no where near as grand as some, but I could spend ages sitting in the deep shade of the verandah overlooking the river.

Mind you, I would also be quite happy with this spot.

Houseboats are also really popular and a new marina is being built on the edge of town.

 

Or you could travel by a simpler means.

Mick and I decided that this looked the most inviting to us.

Friday night is the first official dinner for the rally.  However, all our crew had opted not to attend this year.  Instead we went next door to the cricket club for dinner.  The junior cricket club had been proactive in putting on dinner for $10 a serve each night of the week.  There was a choice of meats and salad.  We all opted for the steak, which was beautiful.  They had been getting hundreds of people turn up each night and the kids were all getting in and helping with the serving and cleaning up. It was a great initiative. It was also a lovely venue for an outdoor dinner.

Friday was our final day at the rally, as due to work commitments we had to leave for home on Saturday.

There was a grand parade through town of all the bikes on Saturday morning, so we said our goodbyes when everyone else left to go to the marshalling point.  We then had time to pack without being rushed.

By the time we had finished packing the parade was going past the camp ground, so we watched for a while.  Some people go to a lot of trouble to dress up for this.

Seeing as we were headed in the same direction, we just tagged onto the end, trailer and all.

There was a huge crowd lining the way.  I loved this message.

And this family group.

The “Hills Group” from Sydney are always distinctive in their green feather boas.  We have close friends in this group and have attended some of their functions.

As everyone turned off to park, we kept going.

It was sad to be leaving, but we had a wonderful time in Mildura and have brought home some great new memories.

We travelled home the same way.  Remember Mirrool Creek from our trip down.  Well the water had come up during the week and we did have to ride through a little bit of water.

We got as far as West Wyalong on the way home.  We stayed in a different caravan park and wandered up the street to the New Paragon Cafe for the best ever gourmet pizza.  The cafe was straight out of the 60s.  I wish I’d remembered to take photos.

Here I am, all ready for our last day of travel.

Now you must finish things as you started, so we had a delicious lunch in a little cafe at Blayney, back on our beloved Central Tablelands.  It is always so good to see those hills after visiting the flatter parts of our country.

Lunch was a lovely way to end the trip, before we returned to our usual routines.

The next Ulysses AGM is at Harvey Bay in Queensland next April.  We are going to try to attend, but we will just have to see if we can sneak away for the week or not.  Time will tell.

Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Mungo Part 2

The famous and much photographed part of Mungo National Park is known as the Walls of China.  This stark landscape has been sculpted by wind and rain over many, many thousands of years.

You are not allowed to visit this site without a guide, and it was so well worth it, as we wouldn’t have learnt nearly as much.

The relics being unearthed here by nature are rewriting the story of human evolution.  The earliest known human remains have been found here.  The megafauna - kangaroos, emus and wombats were here, as were Tasmanian devils, Tasmanian tigers and dingos.  This is putting into doubt the theory that the aboriginals came from Indonesia bring the dingos with them.  It now appears that the dingos were already here.

Roger told us how the termite nest were underground and the aborigines used them as ovens.  They were all around the shore of the ancient lake and as the families moved around they just used the next oven, then when they moved on, closed it down in readiness for the next group to use.  They would have eaten fresh water mussels and fish.  He found an ivory fish ear on the ground that had been exposed recently.

The research is conducted by the ANU with the tribal elders being involved.  There are no “Digs” on site.  Nature does that.  Therefore, lots has been found over the last couple of years with all the rain.

Likewise, nothing is fenced off.  They have taken a cue from nature to preserve sites too.  Placing a stick on the ground catches the shifting sand.

The remains being uncovered are calcified, rather than fossilised, and don’t last very long once exposed.

 

Behind the stark lunar landscape are big sand dunes.

I loved seeing all the animal tracks. Emu.

Tiny lizards.

Roger showed us how to throw a boomerang. 

Of course Mick had to have a go.

As did Garry.

It was great just wandering around taking it all in.

One lady was busy sketching it all.

By  now the sun was getting lower and the light was changing.

And when we turned around……….

Linda was just enjoying taking it all in.

Nearly gone.

Then  the light changed once again.

Imagine having to see this every day with your job.  Poor fellows.

It was amazing how quiet everyone was while we watched the sun set.  We were all mesmerised.

A wonderful memory was made on this visit.

We arrived back at our campsite at about 10.30pm, having been away for eight hours.  We travelled most of the way back in the dust of a truck, and there still was no breeze.  The chanced of that happening twice on such a remote road makes you laugh.

If ever you have the opportunity of visiting this area, grab it with both hands.  You won’t regret it.

Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Mungo Part 1

This was by far the highlight of our trip.

Mungo National Park is about 120kms north of Mildura, with nearly 90kms of the road being unsealed, sandy and corrugated.  Not the best for Garry’s cruiser bike.  Therefore, we arranged to visit with Harry Nanya’s Tours for a sunset tour.  They were fantastic. The company is run by two aboriginal brothers. 

We were collected at the campsite in a coaster bus for the trip out.  This is what most of the road was like.

It reminded me of the road where we came a cropper on the bike near Cobar some years ago, so I was glad we were in the bus.  We were also in the dust of a truck for much of the way and there was not breeze.

We had Roger as our guide for the day.  He was terrific.  He is local to the area, knows the aboriginal culture and history, the prehistory, the scientific findings, plays the didgeridoo and even tells a good joke. He also had the biggest smile.

The area is known as the Willandra Lake Region and has World Heritage status.  The lakes have long since dried out creating the stark region we now have.  Our first stop was Lake Arumpo for afternoon tea.

We are so lucky to be seeing this area in a good season.  A couple of years ago there was no green vegetation at all.  It would have been a very desolate sight indeed.

The cypress is native to the area, but there aren’t many left, as they were used for building materials.  They are the only wood that is resistant to the local termites.

There were some little daisies flowering.

Saltbush makes up a large part of the vegetation.  There are several varieties.

There are also quite a few of these too.  This chap wasn’t too phased by us being there.  He just sat and watched us for ages.  He was only about 30 metres from us all.

 

Next stop was at the National Parkes and Wildlife Visitors Centre.  It is a great spot.  Roger gave us a demonstration of the didgeridoo and told us about the original “Harry Nanya”.  He was one of the very last aborigines living in the traditional way.  Roger is descended from him.

This small short didgeridoo is an emu caller.  The black stuff on the end is resin made from spinafex grass.  Apparently the spinafex is only just starting to come back now, after the long drought.

The Visitors Centre is on the sight of the homestead of “Mungo Station”.  Surprisingly, the name “Mungo” is from Scotland, not aboriginal.  The homestead is still there but not open to the public.  We did however have a wander around the old shearing shed.

The interior still has that distinctive odour, even though the last shearing took place in 1978.

It is constructed of cypress pine, as is to be expected.  Just look at how it is held together.

Round cypress for the gates and floor, all still in perfect order.

It is hard to imagine that this shed is nearly 150 years old.

Originally there were 30 stands of blade shearers, but that number reduced as technology improved, ending up with only five stands.

Outside again.

Even the old yards are cypress and held together with a really heavy gauge wire.

We had now worked up an appetite for our picnic tea.

Everything was so nice and cold and fresh.  There was a locally made bush tomato relish which went very nicely with the home cooked corned beef.  Just what we needed.

Now we were re-energised for the most famous part of the park and the sunset.  As I have so many happy snaps, I’ll put them on a separate post.