Hattah Kulkyne

We set off for Hatta Kulkyne early. There was still a bit of fog about as we drove down the Calder. The fog burned off soon enough and we got to the national park in brilliant sunshine.

We walked around the mallee dunes for a bit and spotted some nice wildflowers and some webs that had caught the dew. The forest was also alive to the sounds and sights of a range of birds. I tried to shoot one but realized I had not loaded the battery into the Nikon. Doh! The one thing I had to do and I stuffed it up. Oh well!

Anyway, we continued around the park. Spent a bit of time walking around Lake Hatta and Little Lake Hatta. It was very pretty. They have been allowing environmental flows back into this distributory system and the river red gums are proliferating along the shoreline, also the bird life is magnificent. Pelicans, spoonbills, cormorants, ducks, regent parrots, sulphur crested cockatoos, galahs, little corellas, yellow rosellas, white winged choughs, apostlebirds. What a day to forget my birding camera.

The choughs were really interesting, they were in a largish group chattering away and displaying together. We were quite transfixed.

The landscape at Hatta is quite diverse. We were expecting mostly malle with porcupine grass and the odd buloke. Instead we had that, plus lovely stands of cypress pine, black box open forest, quite beautiful river reds and open grasslands in places.

We lunched by one of the many lakes in the area and enjoyed some lovely sunshine and the water rippling in the gentle breeze.

After lunch we cruised along a number of ever smaller tracks on our way to the Murray Kulkine part of the park that runs along the river. We were glad we had the Subaru in a couple of places. This is a really lovely part of the world with the pick of your camping places on sandy beaches along the Murray. It would be a bit of a quagmire in the wet, but lovely now and I suspect quite busy in the summer months.

Back via Red Cliffs to see the red cliffs. A disappointment. The national park had beter everywhere you went.

Mungo

Wednesday

Well we managed to get up early, ven after having a 6 course dinner at Stefano's. Very nice food, interesting locale, in the basement of the Grand Hotel, and very busy wait staff, they made us tired just looking at them.

The road to Mungo started as you would expect from Mildura, normal road with citrus groves and vineyards along it. It slowly changed to dirt road with huge wheat fields, followed by open malle scub with the odd cow, and finally on to salt bush and mallee with some sheep. Through it all we had a huge sky.

Of course the Wentworth council has ensured that the road has all the modern conveniences.

We eventually (90 minues of dirt road) got to Mungo National Park. This is an odd little place. It is part of the Willandra lakes district. The Willandra was a distributory of the Lachlan when there was water in these parts and it formed a series of lakes. They had water till about 20,000 years ago. This meant there was all sorts of life around the water. More recently people grazed sheep around here and the salt-bush that proliferates at the bottom of the old lakes is apparently very tasty for sheep. After WWII divided up the ountry among returned soldiers the sheep farmers ended up with very dry land which eroded severely. The rosion around Lake Mungo meant that the ridge on the lee side of the lake lost most of its plant coverage and lo and behold we found some human remains which are currently dated to about 42K years ago. Mungo Man and Mungo Lady (not me being twee, it is what she is called) have redefined the human calendar.

We headed to the eroded lunette at the far side of the lake to start.

The lake itself had plenty of dry land wildlife

On the outside lee of the lake, the eroded soil is creating moving sand dunes that march east with the wind. Hard to get a sense but these would have been twenty-thirty metres high.

Back near the park entrance a couple of old homesteads provided some interesting recent history as well. We spent most of the day driving, walking and viewing this place. Really interesting.

Spent the night at Mungo Lodge. Great location just outside the national park. We had booked the cheapest cabins as the place, due to its remoteness, is quite expensive. The cheap cabins lived down to any potential expectation. However the chat with the managers and the volunteer teachers who were doing a five week sting supporting the parents in the teaching of their three kids was quite enjoyable. Especially with a drink in hand, and open fire raging, and a beautiful sunset sky just outside. 

When you think this place is at least an hour and a half from anywhere you realise how big the School of the Air service is in country Australia. What was new o us whas the volunteer service of teachers who drop in to assist. They were a retired couple, he was secondary, she primary and they planned to travel and teach in this way. Seemed an awesome idea.

Thursday

Nothing too exciting. We headed back towards Mildura, but we drove west to hit the Darling, and then drove along it till it joined the Murray at Wentworth. Really we did the previous days driving in reverse. Saltbush, to mallee scrub, to Darling river flats.

Had a nice time in Wentworth, checking out the confluence of Darling and Murray, having a walk between the two rivers, picnicking along the Murray and checking out the bird life in the area.

 A Major Mitchell

 Black Kite

Barking Owl

and a Blue faced honey eater

and just to finish up, I bought a card reader and include some wildlife from the Barmah.

A darter

An azure kingfisher

A pelican




 and a great egret

Winter Blues

Saturday

Well our short winter break kicked off on Saturday morning. Off after breakfast and through town up the Hume. We stopped off at Kilmore for break and had a cuppa at the local bakery. We got into a chat with a local, about 70, who was bemoaning how busy it was these days. After checking out the local market and buying a couple of books we were back on the road.

Got to Echuca at about lunch time. The sun was shining but it was old. The Winter Blues festival had taken over the old part of town and parking was a slight challenge. We managed to get a parl and wandered in for some lunch at the pub. We then wandered around checking on bits of music here and there. We managed to check out three or four acts in bits and pieces and we managed a whole set for the band at the Start Hotel. We did not know any names so we just soaked it in regardless of who they were.

Late in the aftenoon we headed to our accommodation across the river. Moama on the Murray. A modern corrugated iron arrangement of small to medium bain/houses around some water and by the river. We wandered to the river and spotted a Little Eagle (perhaps Whistling Kite) nest and two birds in it. Right over the water.

After settling in we headed back to town for some dinner and more music. We tried a couple of places but they were packed and we were not going to get fed. Oh Horror. In the end we settled into the local Indian place. Not bad but the service was inexperienced and slowish. Still we got a sit down feed. After that we checked a couple of places but decided it was indoors or we would freeze. We found a spot at the Echuca Hotel and the band were playing pretty straight enjoyable blues, so there we sat through a couple of sets and a dessert.

Sunday

Got up early....surprise and walked down to the river to check out the birds. Awesome watching them getting ready for their day. I don't have photos as I have lost my memory card reader and cannot get anything off the Nikon till I get home.

We headed in to a market at Moama. Quite large and diverse. We had some of the best hot doughnuts we have eaten in a while. Bought some dinner stuff and generally wandered.

Went into Echuca and booked a riverboat cruise. An hour on a riverboat with Lisa and the Moneymakers (or something similar) doing some softish blues. Not a bad way to spend some time. The sun was mostly shining and the cold could be warded off with a visit to the engine area which was nice and warm.

The afternoon got really cold but after buying me a beanie and warpping Marjan up in a blanket we managed to hold off and watch Fiona Boyes for a set at the outdoor stage at the Star. Frozen solid we retreated to the warmth of our room and our home cooked steak with a book.

Monday

Another boat trip. We had booked this one from home. A wander through teh narrows and the Barmah Forest. It was a brief drive up to Barmah and we ended up being the sole participants in the trip. Our captain, John, was quite knowledgeable and was very interesting. We were particularly taken with the fact that the Murray along this section is actually higher than the surrounding countryside and lakes and that the tributaries flow out not in.

Even better we got a great view of an Azure Kingfisher, as well as egrets, cormorants, darters, whistling kites, a white bellied sea eagle, ibis, pelicans etc etc. We were on the water for a couple of hours with a short break on land to visit a beautiful huge River Redgum that is invisible from the water.

We got back pretty cool, but managed to sit by the river munching our picnic for a while anyway.

We then had a bit of a drive through the Barmah spotting brumbies, very shaggy, as well as roos and emus.

A nice time was had by us. 

We headed back and I had a huge nap whilst Marjan walked along the river.

Dinner at the bowls club was interesting for the palatial nature of the place

Tuesday

A final visit to the Little Eagles before we set off for Mildura.

The initial part of the drive was through 3 degree frost and fog. Not a lot to see.

As we got to Swan Hill it opened up and we got the views of the irrigation agriculture up here. Huge it is .........huge. We even spotted an Australian cricket bat willow plantation.

We spent a fair bit of the day driving, but a break at Gol Gol with some local citrus, a view of the river and some lovely parrots was very pleasant.

We booked into the Grand for the night, so we could go to Stefano's downstairs for dinner. nHope it is worth it. We had a bit of a walk around Mildura and cheked into the Information centre for some info on Mungo.

A transition day really.