Balranald 2003

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11 May 2003
Following my usual route through Yarra Glen, Yea and Seymour, I was heading towards Bendigo then further north to Swan Hill. Eventually arriving in Balranald about forty kilometres over the border in New South Wales.
A Flag Motel this time which isn't too bad. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and plenty of daylight left, so decided to take the road north out of town to photograph the sunset. Forty kilometres along the Ivanhoe Road I still hadn't seen any of the lakes that were marked on the map. Ivanhoe was two hundred kilometres further on and there was no point continuing. The sunset wasn't much but I did use it as a backdrop for some video I shot of the car driving along the road that splits the flat landscape.
I had passed a pub along the way and thought a visit was in order. It’s the only building in the area and looked kind of out of place in the flat landscape. Inside I got into a conversation with the bar tender who was also the owner. He told me about the history of the building and when I asked him about the lakes marked on the maps he told me they had been dry for years.
I took the opportunity to video the old building, which used to be a staging area for the Cobb and Co stages back in the eighteen hundreds. It was dark by time my beers were consumed and decided it was time to get back into the car to finish the journey back to Balranald.

12 May 2003
Woke up around one in the morning and had a good feeling knowing there was still many hours to go before I needed to get up. In fact when the alarm went off at seven, it woke me from a deep sleep. The weather was cloudy but it didn't look like it was going to rain. I wasn't due to start work until nine o'clock and had plenty of time to prepare.
It had been two years since the last time I had worked in Balranald and as I introduced myself to the centres director I remembered what a good Kindergarten it was. The day progressed smoothly and finished just after four in the afternoon. My next stop was Deniliquin.
I planned travelling via a dirt track between Condoulpe and Moolpa, but the lady's at the centre advised against it. Following their directions I backtracked towards Tooleybuk. Twenty-two kilometres short of that town, I turned east on a road leading to Moulamein. A sealed road in good condition which traveled through sheep country with light scrub. On occasions the scenery was dead flat to the horizon. I stopped at one point to photograph telegraph poles receding into the distance. It was just a short time later that the last rays of the sun sank below the horizon and for the next hour I drove in darkness.
It had been a long day and driving at night has never been my favourite time to travel. The thought of kangaroos using my car, as a bonnet emblem is a constant fear. All went well and by six in the evening I was carrying my gear into another motel.

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