Blayney to Galston - a chilly postscript

15th October 2014

Last night was the coldest we had experienced on the entire trip!  In the morning we discovered there had been a widespread snowstorm and the western highway was closed between Lithgow and Mt Victoria due to the icy conditions.  There was snow from just east of Bathurst through to Blackheath.  This was an unexpected end to the holiday and an unprecedented occurrence for October!

Lithgow in the snow

We left Blayney around 9:30 in the hope the road would be open by the time we got there, which it was.  In Lithgow we parked the van and got out to enjoy the unseasonal weather.

Arrived home safe and sound late afternoon, all well with the house. The caravan will go into mothballs until next year, but in the meantime we will be making some improvements to the battery and water tank capacity to allow us to do more camping off the beaten track next time.

Hay to Blayney

14th October 2014

What  a miserable day!  Huge drive, all of it in rain and the temperature never got above 10 degrees all day.  I think this is the coldest day we have had the entire trip!  Sad end to the journey really.

We will be home tomorrow calling in at Leura on the way to assess the work to be done to our tenanted property there in preparation for sale.  We will be towing the van back up to the Blue Mountains next week so we can live in it whilst working on the Leura house.

That's it until the next trip!

Renmark SA to Hay NSW

13th October 2014

Sad to leave Renmark this morning as we had such a lovely spot right on the riverbank.

An uneventful journey today except for the high winds. All of the journey through Victoria and then into NSW was on flat treeless plains so the wind really gets up some speed.  Poor John was grappling with the steering wheel most of the time.

Hay was founded in the early 19th century as it was an excellent position for people travelling north, and south to the Victorian goldfields.  The town is on the Murrumbidgee River so water was never a problem.  Later the river was used for trade down to the confluence with the Murray but now the town just services the local livestock farming community and passing travellers like us. Unfortunately Hay is another country town that seems to be slowly dying.  The caravan park is very good though.

Around Renmark and Paringa

12th October 2014

Another lovely day and this time we got out the bikes and followed the foreshore trail from the caravan park along the river for several kilometres.  Renmark is a really nice town and was the first settlement on the Murray to have an irrigation scheme.

Water intake for the Renmark irrigation scheme

After lunch we cycled south of the town to a lovely rose garden which also houses a restaurant and a small classic car collection.  So there was something for everyone there.  Renmark seems to be a bit crazy for roses - there is a rose festival starting here in a few days and lots of the private homes have lovely rose gardens as do many of the public parks.

Beautiful velvety rose at Ruston Roses

Later we drove upstream to a lookout in Paringa where the river bank is about 30 metres high. Renmark is very flat but the last big floods were in 1956 as the river is controlled by locks.

Headings Cliffs, Paringa

Wilpena to Renmark via Peterborough and Burra

11th October 2014

We really are on our way home now, just inside the SA border tonight.

Tin sculptures on the way to Burra

The journey was uneventful but we pulled up outside a 'tin sculpture garden for morning tea. Just a little nondescript settlement on our journey where someone with a quirky outlook lives.

Always great to be able to stop any old place and put the kettle on.

Lovely view of the Murray from our camp spot

We are camped in a huge caravan park in Renmark,  Actually the facilities are very good. We have a lovely spot right on the Murray River and were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset right from our door! Doesn't get better than that.

Sunset over the Murray, SA

Bunyeroo Gorge, Flinders Range

10th October 2014

Another hot day so we planned to be at our gorge walk nice and early as it was a 30 minute drive on a dirt road to get there.

Bunyeroo Gorge

Bunyeroo Gorge has similar rock formations to the Brachina Gorge and we did find some fossilised stromatilites.  The gorge is probably not as picturesque as others but a pleasant walk along the [dry] creek bed nonetheless. The 4km return journey was quite taxing however due to the heat and the aridity so we spent the afternoon doing nothing in particular around the caravan.

Bunyeroo Gorge resident.
About 60cm long and brilliantly camoflauged

Wilpena Pound and the Sacred Canyon

9th October 2014

Another really cold night followed by a beautiful day.  Between sunrise at about 6:50am and 10:00am the temperature rises about 18 degrees.

We walked into the pound and climbed Wangarra Lookout for a great view of the surrounding mountains.

Wilpena Pound

Floor of pound with Pattison's curse

The pound is an interesting geological feature, an oval shape ringed by mountains with only two passes through them.  The floor of the pound is almost level and prone to big floods.  The name pound was given by European pastoralists because the mountains made a natural fence to keep in livestock. The indigenous name, Ikara, is far better.  It means meeting place and every year the tribes for huge distances around would meet for corroborrees, trade and initiation ceremonies so it is of huge cultural significance.

Unfortunately the pastoralists over grazed and introduced weeds one of which, Pattison's curse, does look very pretty.  The land is making a slow comeback.

Later we visited Sacred Canyon, a place of great spiritual significance to the local Aborigine.

Rock engravings, sacred canyon

It is a narrow gorge through which water gushes when the rains come leaving behind several waterholes.

Sacred canyon

Animals that come to drink at the waterholes could be easily ambushed as they have no escape. The rock art, in the form of engravings, depicts the animals that visit.  The place is starkly beautiful and so peaceful.

Sacred canyon