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Hi all,
Around June last year parts of this trip were pre booked, accommodation on Rottnest Island (off the Western Australian coast near Perth) Ferry fees, return flights for Jen from Perth etc etc.
At the time of leaving on this trip there were no travel warnings or restrictions as such within Oz so although the timing wasn’t perfect, we decided to head off taking all necessary health and safety precautions and conscious of the need to keep up to date with all relevant info relating to the Virus.
I hope this and the following reports give you a brief respite from current restrictions and the difficult times we all find ourselves in.
Col.
When we left Melbourne I wasn’t sure where we would end up that night, but heading towards Western Australia was the plan.
It was hard to pass the Nullawill Silos without stopping once again to capture the fantastic mural painted by Sam Bates known as “Smug” it depicts the close bond that a farmer/stockman has with his working dogs.
Sea Lake is basically the next town you come to, so again some pics of their silos painted by talented locals, Joel Fergie (The Zookeeper) and Travis Vinson, known as Drapl, it features artwork which is a,
“celebration of the still and silence found in outback Victoria, and the associated feelings of wholeness and freedom”.
“The young girl, swinging from a Mallee Eucalyptus, looks over Lake Tyrrell and reflects on her Indigenous heritage. The Indigenous name ‘Tyrille’ means ‘space opening to the sky’ as the colours of dusk and dawn are reflected in the shallow saline bowl”
“The artwork aims to connect and bring the viewer closer to some of the relatively ordinary and overlooked elements of the outback landscape and allows viewers to see these elements from a new perspective”.
So you now know what it is all about.
At Werrimull this old horse trough took our eye, a nice legacy that George left behind.
On our return I did a bit of research on George’s life.
He was born in Brighton England in 1859, arriving in Echuca Vic via N.Z. in 1873.
In Brisbane in 1882 he opened a bird dealers shop, he then moved to Sydney in 1884 where he went into business with his brothers making mattresses, he retired to suburban Melbourne in 1908.
Following his death a trust fund of around 80,000 pounds, (today’s value being approx. $1.15 million) that he had set that up, was used to construct horse troughs across the country.
A clause in his will said
"..construct and erect and pay for horse troughs wherever they may be of the opinion that such horse troughs are desirable for the relief of horses and other dumb animals either in Australasia, in the British Islands or in any other part of the world subject to the consent of the proper authorities being obtained”.
Surely the “Dumb animals” was not referring to humans (for there about as dumb as they come considering some actions by a few!!)? interesting wording!! About 700 troughs were built and distributed across Australia with approx. 50 going overseas, four are still known to be in existence in England.
In 1924 he became a Life Governor of the RSPCA.
Moving on; most of Australia had been in severe drought, parts of the country suffering through what has been the worst of it’s kind in history. Thankfully good rainfall has fallen in many areas recently, some areas even experiencing floods. Victoria has had some rain, but the north west of the state remains severely drought effected.
Many roads in the area are officially closed as sand/soil drifts have made access along them near impossible. Even the main Sturt Highway had warning signs along it, warning drivers of treacherous conditions as sand drifts edged out onto the main traffic-able part of the road.
These were scenes we didn’t expect to see.
You can see in that last pic how the corner post of the paddock had created a wind break creating a small dune behind it, preventing in a way further loss of so called top soil from being blown away.
I wondered how this marginal land could remain viable for the land owners. With the extremes of our climate getting worse, things will get even harder in the years ahead, how devastating it must be for them.
Our next stop was at a beach on the mighty Murray at Renmark in South Australia, Jen hadn’t previously been to this one.
A brief stop for a cuppa at Lake Bonney just north of Barmera.
As you head north of Burra, on the right hand side of the road this old house/ruin (built around 1920) can be found. It was featured on the cover of Midnight Oils Diesel to Dust Album released in 1987, it has now become one of the most photographed buildings in Australia.
The surrounding area looked quite a bit different from when I was last there!! Pic taken before the drought.
A few pics of some of the historic buildings in and around Mount Bryan, the next place we came to on our trip.
A bit further up the road at Hallett is the Wildongoleechie Hotel built in 1868, it is known locally as the “Wild Dog Pub” possible something in that name!
We then drove across to Appilla Springs where we set up camp for the night. The waterhole was nearly dry as the drought and long hot summer had taken it’s toll, it was also cast in shadow so no pics worth showing.
We pitched our new 10 second up tent not bothering with a fly as it was quite warm and maximum ventilation was required.
A bit of colour in the sky was a nice way for our first day on the road to end. (978 ks done in the day)
On our way the next morning we passed the Yarrowie Hotel (1875) in Appilla.
Our first destination that morning was Wirrabara, I wanted to show Jen their amazing Silos and other artwork around town.
“Smug” also painted this Silo.
The artwork depicts the rich history of the area which had strong ties to the forestry industry as well as some of the local flora and fauna that the area is known for.
More local art.
Many of their “Scobie Poles” had also been adorned with artwork.
On the out skirts of town, the St Augustine Catholic Church.
Murray Town, a short distance further up the road is virtually a ghost town.
The North Star Hotel in Melrose.
A lovely welcome sign to Wilmington.
A couple of lovely old buildings there, the hotel was built in the mid 1860s.
If old Land Rover 4 wheel drives are your go, this is the place to come to!
Well it was time for heads down and bums up, our next stop being Kimba.
Their Silo (painted by Cam Scale) has just about over taken the giant Galah as being the most photographed part of town.
And to show I’m not biased here’s the Galah.
We now headed for Streaky Bay where we planned to stay the night. The day had been pretty hot (41 degrees) so it was time for a refreshing swim and a bit of R & R.
Before we got to the towns Foreshore Caravan Park I just had to take a pic of the towns St Canute’s Catholic Church built in 1914.
When we enquired about a site (pitch)!! at the park, the receptionist said it was full, although they did have some unpowered sites still available, as that was all we wanted, all was sweet, Bobs your Uncle type stuff. The only downfall was we had to have this site in the shade of this lovely old tree right on the beach, oh well, I suppose it would do. Whoo Hoo!!
We sent pics of our site back to our family, they were very impressed with our social distancing, and so were we.
The rest of the day was spent in the water and just relaxing, how nice was this, although the flies were a bit of a bugger. We even had some obliging pelicans keep us company for awhile.
There was a dry change due that night, with the top temp the next day to be around 30 which would be a helluva lot better than what we had just experienced.
A very pleasant evening was spent in the shallows of this delightful spot.
There was some pretty crappy weather forecast for the Nullarbor (the centre of the bottom part of Australia) in 2 or 3 days time, so we decided to back off a bit and stay another day here and then the next night at Ceduna, waiting for the worst of that weather to pass before heading across to W.A.
And that’s the end of my first report, we as usual had seen and experienced quite a bit since leaving Melbourne the previous day! (1556 ks away)
Regards, Col and Jen.
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The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
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Topic: Pre Carona Trip, Across Oz & Back.
