Broken Hill, Menindee Lakes to Wentworth

We waved the others on their way and settled down for some R & R and do the housework – washing, cleaning the van. Oh dear this life is so hard!! I had a puncture on my bike so we had to go and find a replacement tube. Luckily Big W had what we needed and I found one that has gel in it so won’t go flat. The tyres on our bikes are very thin. Brian fixed it and we cycled down to the city to do a bit more site seeing and took some good photos of some of the old heritage buildings.
In the afternoon I went to visit Pro Hart’s gallery. It was full of his paintings and sculptures and there was a very interesting recorded interview with him. It was well worth the visit. I was really excited to see a desert pea in his garden. They are huge and a beautiful flower..
The next day we headed south to Menindee Lakes. Six months ago these lakes were dry. Menindee Lake is three times bigger that than Sydney Harbour so it is huge. There is a series of four lakes that all feed into one another and the water is very controlled. At the moment they are taking the water from on lake to the other and feeding the water into the Darling in preparation for the big lot of water coming down from Bourke. The lakes provide great recreation (fishing yabbying, skiing and sailing) for the people of Broken Hill. We free camped by the side of Pamamaroo Lake and spent two great days relaxing, reading, going for walks and just doing nothing. We were treated to a magnificent sunset made more impressive by the outlines of the dead trees silhouetted by the reddening sky. Brian used his paint tin fire to boil the kettle and provide some warmth. You just collect twigs and keep the fire going by continually feeding it.
We camped not far the site of Bourke and Wills base camp on the Darling River from where they set of on their fateful expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The trees here are very old and huge but the poor old Darling is very depleted.
On Wed 28th we went to Menindee on our way to Wentworth. Menindee was a busy port for the paddle steams in their hey day taking away wool from the vast stations in the area but now it is a dying town. There is one small grocery store and we paid $9 for a loaf of bread and 2 litres of milk!!
After asking about the state of the road to Pooncarie we decided to take the chance as it is about 100ks of dirt but saved us going back to Broken Hill. The road was fine and we found a fantastic coffee shop right near the old wharf at Pooncarie where they had the best hamburgers.
From Broken Hill the landscape is very bare as they chopped all the trees for about 80ks to use in the mines. Around Menindee they have used the water to plant heaps of grape vines but otherwise the countryside is flat with very small stunted salt bushes and not much else. As you head south it gradually becomes undulating with more vegetation and then flattens out until you get to cultivated land. Even though you travel long distances without seeing anything much the vegetation is fascinating as it is continually changing.
We arrived in Wentworth to find a delightful little town on the junction of the Darling and the Murray and the caravan park is right on the Darling River. Here is it a wide graceful river lined with the huge river gums. You can tell that some of these trees are just so old. Wentworth was a very important port in years gone by. The town is surrounded by water and the gardens are beautiful especially the roses that are splashing their colours down the centre of the wide streets and making a colourful display in so many house gardens.
We went to see the lookout where the Darling meets the Murray. It’s fascinating as the water in the Darling is muddy (from its clay base) and the water in the Murray is green (a sand base) and you can see this distinctly.
This morning we went for a ride on the bikes –and guess what!! I got another puncture this time in my back tyre- another thorn. As there is no bike shop here we went over to Mildura to get another tube. Mildura is a large bustling town with all the usual shops you find everywhere. We found a heavy duty tube so hope that is OK. Think I will abstain from riding in this town. The road from Wentworth to Mildura follows the Murray and there are acres and acres and acres of grapes (They grow a lot of sultanas here) as well as oranges.
We saw a paddle steamer going down the river and there are lots and lots of house boats for hire. That sounds like fun. It was good to see Mildura but we were glad to get back to the peace and quiet of Wentworth and it peaceful river.

I have been having trouble getting the photos onto the blog in the right place so I’m going to try to do a separate post of photos after each post so here goes. If you click on the photos they will come up full size and you will see more detail.