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Hi all,
We had set up camp beside the Lachlan River at the Lake Cargelligo Weir Reserve.
After a fairly full first two days we decided to stay here two nights, giving us all a chance to just chill a bit, (temperature and relaxation). About 10 metres from our van was the entrance to a 1.5 kilometre long channel which was dug in 1902. It connects the river to an area known as “The Sheet Of Water” which prior to the channels creation only had water in it after there had been a flood.
At it’s entrance were the remains of an old weir/timber barrier (built at the same time as the canal), then a pic looking further down the channel closer to where it joins the “The Sheet Of Water”.
Near The Sheet Of Water.
Roughly 500 metres or so in the other direction of our camp was the Weir itself
The concrete structure to the right is an elaborate fish climbing ladder system which enables migrating fish to be able to move freely beyond what would have otherwise made fish movement impossible.
Here is a pic of a conceptual fish ladder showing you how they work.
The river soon reverts back to a more natural appearance a short distance downstream.
Early the second morning at our camp, a disappearing moon, our lovely fire and looking from our van downstream before we left on the next stage of our trip.
When we left camp that day I was quite excited as I was taking the girls to a very significant site that I had stumbled on some years earlier. As we approached it I explained the historical importance of it to them so they could get a true appreciation of how it fitted in with Australia’s and our indigenous peoples history.
You should be able to read the info on the plaques and info panel to see what this place is all about.
Not sure if you can see but there are a number of dates and names graffitied on that plaque, dates from the years 33, 44 and 47 as well as some more recent. It appears that dickheads have been around for longer than what we may have thought!!
When I first visited this site, the timber poles that had been erected with matching carvings were in better condition than they are now, hopefully they will be replaced at some stage.
Another 30 ks or so and we arrived at another significant site, far less historic though!!
“Utes In The Paddock” used to be located on a private property near Ootha west of Condobolin. They became so popular that the local shire came to an arrangement with the owners and the whole shebang was moved to the outskirts of Condobolin right on the main road, to help attract tourists to the town and region.
It attracted us as I wanted to show the girls this very quirky piece of folk art. Sadly for the town they didn’t profit from us financially as we were trying to social distance as much as possible . Still I am in away advertising the art for others to see and maybe one day, pay a visit to the area.
I have shown these before when they were at their original site, we discussed whether the FX was the first or was indeed called that, anyway here are some of them again.
We drove through town and then headed west along the northern side of the Lachlan River, stopping to photograph a few of the locals letter boxes. Kristie would sometimes look out the window to see why we were stopping basically in the middle of nowhere, Jen and I would get out to take a pic, I said to Kristie that this is what she had to look forward to as she got older, the excitement adrenalin pumping buzz you got when you saw an unusual letter box Ha!
This next one I have shown before, it was the second biggest one I had ever seen!!! (Max Smart, Cathie)!!
We stopped for lunch beside the river, such a lovely spot.
As we pulled out onto the dirt road a local pulled up beside us, “what ya doin" she said in a reasonable tone, I replied we’d just stopped for lunch, “thats private property” she said, I wasn’t aware of that I said (no fence, signage etc) she looked at me in away thinking what do I say or do now. We just stopped for lunch I said again, have a nice day and then off I went.
It was an interesting chat considering my GPS showed a reserve along that part of the river. I couldn’t see how we had done anything wrong, firm ground, no mess, if doing what we did was trespassing and a local was concerned about it, then put up a fence or sign.
We stopped out the front of the Billabourie Riverside Tourist Park, how could you not when this caravan and unique towing tug was parked out side.
When I was doing my planning for this trip, at one stage I thought we might stay here. It had quite a good write up and I thought they may be pleased to get some dollars flowing as tourism had taken a bit of a hit in 2020. (Plus the girls may have appreciated a longer hot shower) But when the second wave started to raise it’s head in Melbourne, and we weren’t getting the best of feedback from all other states, I thought better of it. It was also this day that we heard that the border between Vic and NSW was to close in a couple of days.
We pulled up at another isolated spot, again on the banks of the Lachlan River.
Interestingly we luckily had just one bar of reception on our phones which were going off, some of our ill informed friends telling us we would be stuck so get back quick etc etc. Once we got the correct info we felt more relaxed but did decide to keep as much to ourselves as possible so as not to be a problem for the locals. All would be aware that that is how we like it anyway.
Kristie is an assistant primary school principal/school teacher, she loves to get away and do what we do (not sure she gets the letter box thing though) It really recharges her batteries and of course with the Covid situation she has a very stressful job. But I still put her to work on this trip, which I think deep down she enjoys, Ha!!
Not a lot of colour that evening as day turned into night, but the night was nice.
Surprise surprise but I was up (early) first the next morning, I love the serenity of that time of day plus it gives me time to get the fire up to speed for the girls arrival a bit later!!
We planned to stay here another night so we just pottered about the area, one spot we visited was the Willanthry Weir which was less than a kilometre down stream, a lovely stroll.
At the Weir, the junction of the Lachlan and Willandra Creek has been incorporated into it’s construction. There had been reasonable rains upstream over the previous months which had finally made its way here, but there needed to be more before it would make it’s way into the Creek.
A couple of hours later the sun had finally broken through, how different everything looks with it out.
A little bit more colour that evening.
It was the middle of Winter and each night had been a bit piccadilly but this one took the cake. Still it was my job to get up and fire up the fire (so to speak).
This was the top of our tray which had frozen over night, told you it was cold!!!!!!
The sun made an appearance but the girls were waiting for the temp to make it’s way into positive territory!!
One final pic from our site before we headed off on the next part of our trip, and obviously all of that will be shown in our next report.
Col & 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: My Latest Trip (Part 3)
