When your in-between the outback and the sea, it becomes a matter of the destination and NOT the journey. The western plains are flat and carpeted with salt bush and huge bare paddocks. It was time to re-acquaint myself with the wide open spaces and the horizon to horizon blue sky.
Coincidentally, the RV ‘secret handshake’ made a re-appearance somewhere west of Hay, so we’re back to the hand flick (in Victoria you were lucky not to get the ‘bird’).
I decided to cut the trip to Wentworth into thirds, so the first mid afternoon would find me at Darlington Point. There were a couple of interesting waypoints along the way. Temora was first stop for a cuppa and the large railway precinct meant an easy park and explore. An historic railway station and lots of info provided a distraction for half an hour.
A town called Coolamon or Cooooolamon (if you’ve had a few) loomed up a couple of hours later. Now, there’s a lot more to Coolamon than I’d been led to believe. I mean any town that has a pub, a cheese factory AND a fire station museum deserves more than a drive through. So I found myself outside the Coolamon Fire Museum, where I met Chris, curator and ex-firey who happily showed me around. A former fire station, the museum commands centre stage on the main street and is chokkas with everything from helmets to hand carts. The helmets by the way, go for about a grand each in todays market.
There are several display rooms and Chris is a library of information. He’s been an avid collector for over 30 years with memorabilia from both here and overseas. A donation is all that is asked. A walk up and down the main street and then a short diversion to check out the local showground. Again, free camping on offer but I was content to grab lunch and then continue to Darlington Point, where I wound up next to The Punt Hotel in a very boutique free camping area. Not sure whether it was put there by the Council or a savvy publican, but in either case, what’s not to like about a spot next to alcohol.
By lunchtime the next day I was just shy of Balranald, when a sign loomed up on the left – Regatta Beach. Now this far west, any destination with ‘beach’ in it, is going to get my attention. So, only three clicks in on a good dirt road found me at Yanga Lake, part of the Yanga National Park.
Another diamond in the rough, Regatta Beach has been recently upgraded and I cooked a nice feed on the gas BBQ’s with a view across the lake. On the other side, the regular muffled boom of an air cannon (used to keep birds off fruit) brought back memories of time fruit picking at Shepparton. It was hard not to as that cannon was going 24/7!
And so, onto Wentworth via Mildura for a shop and re-fuel. That ex-cyclone was spreading far and wide and getting bogged somewhere north of Pooncarie was probably not going to work for me. Going back to my Guide to Free Campsites, the first featured campsite report just happened to be called Lock 10 Wentworth…serendipity. Lock 10 regulates the flow of the river and is just below the junction of the Murray and Darling. There’s about a three metre difference in height above and below the loch. And here I am for about a week, just a few hundred metres downstream and right on the Murray. I’ve got some research to do on the Darling River Run – don’t want you miss anything. Ready, set, just about…..
