Menindee

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This morning we headed off into the Kinchega National Park. Such a drama buying park passes in NSW! We did try to buy one online as we did (easily) for South Australia, but they wanted us to submit a copy of our vehicle registration showing our home address and a copy of Bernie’s Seniors card. Well, gee whiz, we didn’t think to bring the vehicle registration documentation with us!! Today at the park we need to pay $8.00 for a day pass in actual cash money, put it in an envelope and post it into a slot. How archaic. Fortunately we managed to scratch together $16.00 worth of change to make both vehicles legal should we be stopped by a ranger.

We started with the River Drive now at least partially reopened after the rain last month. Driving right beside the river amongst the river red gums was stunning. The River Drive was closed beyond Homestead Bend so we had no choice but to turn right onto Homestead Bend Drive. We parked near the ruins of the Old Kinchega Homestead and walked the boardwalk around the ruins before setting off on the 2.3 kilometre Billabong Walk.

On returning to the cars we continued around to the Historic Woolshed and Shearers Quarters. The old Woolshed is very atmospheric. These days it’s very peaceful and all about the play of light through the old timbers, it’s hard to imagine the hive of activity it must have been during the era when six million sheep were shorn there.

Unfortunately the section of the River Drive that is inaccessible at the moment includes the section where the PS Providence came to grief in 1872. We possibly could have walked to the remnants of the paddle steamer but, with no way of knowing how far we would have to walk, we didn’t entertain that idea.

We were going to continue around Emu Lake, but that road appears to be closed permanently. Instead we back-tracked to Lake Drive where we turned left to continue around the southern end of Menindee Lake and the northern end of Cawndilla Lake. The lakes are full at the moment, but frustratingly inaccessible. We kept getting tantalising glimpses of the water BUT the river red gums grow densely along the shore and there are few places where you can reach the water’s edge for an actual view of the lake.

The other disappointment was learning a few days ago that boat trips on the lake only operate two days each week with those days not coinciding with our visit!! It probably would have been great to get a water-based perspective of the lakes? After nearly 20 kilometres of sandy driving it was a relief to arrive at the end of the road at the Cawndilla Camping Area to find we were able to walk right to the shoreline for some photographs.

We headed back into town for lunch at the pub – BLTs – and then headed north on the Broken Hill to Menindee Road to the Menindee Lake Lookout at the outlet regulator. Hmmn, 103 species of bird can be seen at Menindee Lakes and what did we see? Seagulls and shags!! Our timing is probably a bit off for birdwatching? There needs to be water in the lakes AND it needs to be springtime. We had to settle for being entertained by a fisherman who fell into the lake in front of the weir. Fortunately he was back out again quickly without serious injury. Only his pride!

After deciding that it would be worth returning to this spot to watch tonight’s sunset we drove out to Copi Hollow and then around the southern end of Pamamaroo Lake. We found the Burke and Will’s campsite where the decision was made to split the expedition into two groups with the fittest and strongest men and camels continuing north while the rest of the party set up a base camp.

At the main weir we were very excited about wedge-tailed eagles circling. Well, we thought they were eagles. However, when we returned to the motel and looked at the photos on the laptop, we realised that perhaps they did not actually look like wedge-tailed eagles. Some Googling had us tossing up between swamp harrier and black or whistling kite.

We drove back out to the Menindee Lake Lookout about 6.00pm. Sunset was much earlier tonight at 6.24pm, following the end of Daylight Savings Time. That made it easier to fit in sunset and dinner! Back at the pub for another meal, we were disappointed to be confronted with a reduced dinner menu due to the chef being unavailable. Not to worry, even the short dinner menu provided us with plenty to choose from. We asked the bar tender if he knew what bird we had photographed. He said kite, but wouldn’t commit to what type of kite. After looking at more images on the internet, I think we’re leaning towards black kite.



Steps for the day:11,429 (7.61kms)

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