19th October 2019–Rural Mildura

Distance: 147 km
Fuel: 46 L

Woke this morning to a beautiful sunrise, still air and clear skies yet within an hour or so it was completely overcast and the gusty wind had returned. Decided to take down the gazebo because, even though it was not as windy as yesterday, with the cloudy skies its shade was not needed and the wind had certainly stressed it.

Decided to go for a drive west of Mildura and just explore the countryside. Headed to the small town of Werrimull where there is a National Trust listed Church called Our Lady of Lourdes.

As well as the church the town had a interesting pub, houses and post office, Werrimull might have a population of 100 (perhaps? – my guess).

On the route, and shown on the map are “towns” like Merrinee with their own sign board but the place consists of a silo and absolutely nothing else (though one did have a Telstra hut).

That is every building in Merrinee in one picture While the following pictures show Karawinna and Pirita.

After yesterday’s dust it was no surprise to see more picked up from neighbouring paddocks as we drove.

Anyway on to Mildura for fuel and lunch the latter taken at a cafe next to Mildura Wharf where there is a walking/cycling track along the bank of the River Murray. We ate our lunch looking across the river at NSW where we are heading tomorrow. The weather had improved markedly from early morning to sunshine with the occasional cloud. After eating lunch we walked along the river track in both directions before returning to Red Cliffs mid/late afternoon.

Late News – Change of Plan

There is a break in the weather down south so instead of heading north to Broken Hill we are going to Ballarat and aiming for Phillip Island mid week.

18th October 2019–Mildura

Distance: 52 km

It was cool last night I woke up at one stage and thought my thermometer was reading 0’C (in fact it was 8’C). After my shower I got a load of washing done – That might last me until I get home.

There was no wind early on but that changed during the day. Drove to Mildura to do some shopping and visit the Tourist Information Office, the latter was in a terrific council facility which housed the library, cafe, tourist bureau and an aquatic centre.

Drove across the Murray river into NSW to visit a Holden Museum, it was probably smaller than the Motorlife Museum at Kembla Grange but the cars gleamed and they were Holdens. Not every model was represented, for example they didn’t have an HK or HJ Kingswood but they had an FB – those are the Holdens I have owned – but I did enjoy the museum and it was only $10 entry. Stayed for a coffee afterwards.

Returned to the caravan park for a late lunch then went off to re explore the sights of Red Cliffs – found the lookout which looked out on virtually nothing unless you ignored the, ‘Unstable Cliffs” sign and climbed the fence. also found a dirt track which led to the cliff edge but the views from that were disappointing too.

Near the Red Cliffs shopping centre found and walked along the Peace Walk which was not particularly exciting but it did have some interesting information about the town. The area was originally settled after WWI when the land was cleared to provide soldier/settler blocks for returned servicemen and the town only really got going by 1925 when the post office was built.

Returned again to the caravan park about 3.30pm to find the wind gusting and brown dust clouds on the horizon. The dust arrived shortly after 4pm – not a thick dust storm, just enough to cover everything with a thin layer of red soil.

17th October 2019–Red Cliffs

Distance: 246 Km

A cold, sunny, windy morning, all the rain has departed, we are on the move today but only a couple of hours north west to Red Cliffs (near Mildura). No rush having breakfast, showering and packing up. The gazebo was already packed so it was really only the chairs, table and TV aerial to be stowed. Ran out of things to do by 9.30am so set off, cutting across country on minor roads. Stopped twice – once to stretch our legs and once at the Quarantine Bin to dump an uneaten banana.

The Red Cliffs Caravan Park is on the highway so it wasn’t hard to find, checked in and set up on a quite nice site away from the road next to a vineyard.

According to the local tourist guide there is an interpretive walk near the pumping station on the river and a board walk to view the red cliffs on/of the river bank which gave to town its name. Found neither… Did find the pumping station which was behind high, locked fences and the car park where the board walk was supposed to commence. In the end I scrambled along a difficult track and did get a glimpse of the cliffs (I think) but it looked as if the whole area was neglected and only used by dirt bikes.

After this fiasco drove back to Red Cliffs shopping centre to see the mural on the water tower and Big Lizzie. The latter is an amazing 100 year old engine used to clear the Mallee scrub for agriculture, it had a single cylinder, 60hp oil engine, was enormous and moved at 2mph!

BTW there is a dog show on locally so there are lots of posh looking thoroughbred dogs around the park.