Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Visiting Wentworth

Once we were all settled in at the camp and had a good look around there we decided to go across to Wentworth for Tuesday afternoon.  We travelled with our good friends from Rockhampton, Garry and Linda.

Being a rather arid area, there are lots of palms.  They look wonderful lining the roads.

Although Wentworth is only a small town, it is quite a popular place to visit, being on the confluence of the Darling and Murray Rivers. It had a lovely streetscape.

We had lunch on the shady verandah of “Artback”, a rather wonderful cafe and gallery.  They even had quite a nice section of textiles. It was a great fusion of an old facade and a modern, light filled interior.  Not what you would expect here.  As you can see, Mick was having a rather laid back day.

The famous old riverboat, the “Ruby” is moored in Wentworth.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit or travel on her, although I believe she did go out one day later in the week.  There is a song about the riverboats which features the “Ruby”, among others.

After lunch we went to where the two mighty rivers converge.

There is a great viewing platform.

The two rivers have distinct colours.  The Darling is much muddier than the Murray.  It is a bit difficult to see here due to the reflections of the trees, but if you look closely you can see that the water at the bottom  of the photo is much lighter in colour and there is a definite straight line  through the tree reflections marking the difference. 

The Murray River is lined with majestic, stark, dead River Red Gums.  This is a result of the weirs being placed along its length in the 1920’s.  Prior to that, the steamers could often only work for a few months of the year while the water levels were high enough.  The weirs made the river much larger for the majority of the time.

From here, we decided to follow a walking trail to see the weir at Wentworth.  It started out fine, but became more jungle like as we progressed.  Mick was our fearless leader.  We expected all sorts of wild creatures to cross our path, but didn’t see anything.  The view at the end wasn’t really worth the effort either.

You can see our relief that we had returned to the car park safely.

It was definitely worth driving around to see the weir from the main viewing point instead.  Mick had a play with the panorama feature on his new little camera.  It worked quite well.

Wentworth is also famous for the locals having saved the town from the huge 1956 floods by building a levy using lots of little grey Ferguson tractors.  There is even a song about it.  It was therefore no surprise to see one up a pole.

Another little statue in the middle of an intersection.

There was even a Fergie garden.

We rather like little grey Fergies, as we used to have one.

There was more to see, but it was rather warm, although not really hot, but hotter than we have been used to after the mild summer we had.  Therefore, we headed back towards Mildura, stopping off for an ice cream on the way.  It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it.

Ulysses AGM at Mildura – The Campsite

The Ulysses AGM Rallies are rather a big affair.  This year just under 4,000 entrants registered.  However, probably only about 100 attend the actual AGM meeting.  The rest of us are just there for a great week long rally.

The main site this time was on a complex of sporting fields. Lots of people don’t camp on site, but we feel that this is the best part of the week.  I’m guessing that there would have been 1,000 to 1,500 camping. 

There are all styles of camping imaginable, from tiny tents to camper trailers with multiple rooms.  You wonder how some carry all their stuff on their bikes, but they manage. 

The site is set out in roads and we were on “Bottle-o Road” as we affectionately called ours.

It is like a little town.  There are basic amenities.  Shower and toilet blocks are in semi trailers.  They actually work quite well, and are better than the first few we encountered.  There is a food court, you can have your electrical appliances charged, there is an enormous marquee for the official dinners, trade stalls and motorcycle displays where you can take bikes for a test ride.

This time they even had a Farmers Market on site one morning and a Craft Market on another.

Being such a wonderful food bowl area there was some great produce on sale.  Unfortunately, we wouldn’t have the chance to use much.  We did, however, buy some lovely pistachios.  The only pistachios grown commercially in Australia are in the Mildura area.  We’d never seen a fresh pistachio before.

When we returned to our camp we found this.

There was a stall selling fresh roses and one of the Rocky chaps bought a bunch.  He then had to scratch around to find enough empty bottles to provide one for each camp site in the group.  It was a lovely touch.

On Wednesday morning we were delighted to see a balloon fly straight over the site.

Of course, the best part of the site is the people.  Each time we catch up with people we have known for the best part of 20 years through rallies and this is the only time we see them.  There are some wonderful characters and everyone is happy to have a chat, as we all have the same common interest.

Ulysses AGM at Mildura – Getting There

I’ve been rather tardy in posting about the rest of our trip after Nundle.  If I don’t do it now I’ll have forgotten most of it.

We got a relatively early start from Nundle on the Sunday morning.  It was rather fresh travelling along and we hadn’t brought much in the way of thermals, as it was only March.

As we travelled west we left the mountains behind us and entered the slopes and plains.  Even though it isn’t that far from home, we have never travelled the road from Dunedoo to Dubbo.  It just isn’t on our direct route from home to anywhere, so it was nice to see some new scenery.

Once we headed south from Dubbo and Forbes we started to see the wide expanse of flood waters from the recent rains.

We travelled as far as West Wyalong on Sunday, staying in a nice caravan park and having a lovely Chinese meal at the local club.  It was here that we started to meet other Ulyssians making the trek to Mildura.

On Monday morning we once again got an early start.  However, that was by the sun, not the clock.  It is amazing how much later the sun rises as we headed west.  Of course, being the last week of daylight saving accentuated it as well.  I love taking photos of our shadow in the early morning.

As you can see, it was just glorious weather for riding along.

The slopes and plains made way for just the plains.

There was still plenty of flood waters around.  There was quite a bit of water flowing down Mirrool Creek between West Wyalong and Hay.

Of course, the water birds are loving the conditions.

Fortunately, the worst of the floods had passed at Hay.  However, about 10kms west of the town we encountered this sign, so prepared to get a little damp.

We needn’t have worried.  This was the extent of the water over the road for the whole trip down, which was much better than we had expected.

So many people complain about the Hay Plains being the most boring road in Australia.  We have travelled it a few times now and just love it.  Admittedly, there isn’t a great deal to see.  We didn’t even see a great deal of wild life this time, just a few emus, which we were glad kept their distance.

It is nice, though, to get to Balranald at the other end.

We finally reached our destination at about 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon.

We registered for the rally, admitting up front that we had left all our paperwork at home.  Oops!  I remembered everything for Nundle, but didn’t give the Ulysses paperwork a thought.  Oh well, we certainly weren’t the only ones.

At the end of the day it was lovely to catch up with all our friends from the Rockhampton Branch of the Club.  This is now the fourth time we have camped with them and it is one of our favourite things about the rally.

Now that I look back at the photos I hope they aren’t too boring, just lots of photos taken from the side car.  However, as we had to travel about 1200kms in a day and a half, stops were few and far between and usually just for fuel and a quick bite to eat, no sight seeing along the way.  That is being saved up for our four days in Mildura.

Saturday at Nundle

Finally the big day arrived and there was a frost!!!!  I wondered why I was a bit chilly in the camper.

Kerry and her helpers had the hall looking lovely for us.

Fiona and Kylie were ready to start.

Sue told us what we were doing.

We worked on clam shells to make this hussef. It was a new technique for me and I really enjoyed it.

We also had the option of working on this sewing box.

At lunch Aunty Alison and I went for a stroll outside, only to find this pair up the tree.  I don’t know what it is that Peg has about climbing the tree.  Dale was trying her best to talk her down.

Next time we turned around they were announcing to the world that they were the kings queens of the castle, sitting on top of a pillar.  Maybe it was the effect of all those drinks they consumed the day before. Rumour also has it that they were seen talking to a local gentleman here.

Back in the hall there was show and tell of projects completed by ladies present using Sue’s patterns.  Some lovely work was on display.

This is what I completed on the day.  I love the fresh look of it.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to play with it since, as Deb very kindly delivered it home for me, rather than me taking it on holidays.

We also swapped our pincushions.  Mine went to a lady from Cowra and I received this beauty from Jenny.

Meanwhile, Mick had a lovely day wandering the streets of Nundle while we stitched.

He had a nice yarn to some fellow BMW riders.

The lovely old Church, now the op shop.

You have to love the knitting needle inspired swings.

He visited the Woollen Mill where he had his own bit of retail therapy.  Fine merino clothing is wonderful on the bike.

Old mining relics.

Then, all too quickly it was over for another year. It was so good to catch up with friends and to meet people for the first time in real life that you “know” from their blogs  and, of course, they are all as lovely as expected.

I’ve already put my name down for next year.