West to Waikerie

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October 12th 2014

Published: October 15th 2014

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MargAndRob

Big Lizzie and me

The journey of the Murray River has been following the river flow in a westerly direction with the water in NSW being sold to Victorian Farmers. The journey continues through Waikerie to Morgan where the river turns south towards Adelaide, or more correctly Murray Bridge, and finally the ocean. But now we are entirely in South Australia until we get to the Nullarbor on route to Perth.

Our Journey from Morgan will take us into the Flinders Ranges, rather than follow the Murray South to areas that we have visited on our last trip around Australia.

Before we headed west from Mildura, we drove south to one of the satellite settlements called Red Cliffs where an interesting piece of history is housed. Big Lizzie was built as an almighty powerful machine to clear forested areas for agricultural development after WW I, particularly for returning soldiers. The intended destination was Broken Hill.

Big Lizzie is a single cylinder 45 Tonne diesel tractor, top speed about 2 MPH. For those interested in the full history of this machine, there is a web site dedicated to Big Lizzie. Well, she never got to the area where she was intended to work.

Can somone teach me to fly?

Hart Lagoon, Waikerie

She needed much modification, but finally ended up close to Swan Hill and Mildura due to floods preventing her moving further north. At that time, she hadn't earned the owner a single penny, so he looked for work in the local area.

So why is Big Lizzie an important piece of history? She is a one off for starters. She is a man's great dream and craftsmanship. Have a look at the wheels in the photos. The driving wheels are way over my height (6" 2") and then they have flat feet so that it was always walking on big flat tracks, but could turn like a traditional tractor.

To judge if the design was successful, I'll leave to you. But this hulk of a machine plus its tender and tanker, were a mighty piece of engineering, even if it didn't set the world alight.

From here, we headed west towards Paringa and Waikerie, but before finally leaving Mildura, we had an important challenge. Each year in the area is The Great Vanilla Slice baking contest. After a little research I found that Hudak's Bakery had won the competition in 2013, and we located their outlet at

Bird of paradise

the Centro Mall. On further enquiry, I found that they had been pipped at the post at the 2014 competition, but was assured that the slice submitted was the same as 2013. I expressed my surprise and suggested that they should have entered a more freshly baked sample. The nice lady agreed, and said she would pass on my advice to the head baker. After much laughter, I purchased two freshly baked vanilla slices made to the 2013 recipe.

As it happened, David and Mary had visited the Wentworth Bakery and had bought a vanilla slice for us too. So after an exchange of slices, Hudak's bakery received the unanimous vote for the best vanilla slice in the area.

Wentworth is at the confluence of two of Australia's great rivers, the Murray and Darling. These rivers were the pathway for development in this central Victoria and New South Wales region. The Paddle Steamers of yesteryear worked hard for many years. They were the life line for most everything that happened in the region.

The good people of Wentworth have erected an observation tower for visitors to get a good look at the two rivers merging. While at

Big Lizzie

Photos do not do justice to the size of this monster

the lookout, a rather hippie barge sailed down the Murray from Mildura, and then swung around and headed up the Darling river. The barge was an artistic something, but he had good taste as highly amplified Johnny Cash music brought a smile to most all faces.There is a weir at Wentworth with plenty of water birds living in the wetlands. The photos include some pelicans who came very quickly when a fisherman caught a fish.

We continued west and crossed the South Australian border to finally set up camp at Martin's Bend riverside camp site. ($5.00 per night) This was a very nice and quiet site for the night. It is a very popular water skiing and fishing point along the River.

Part of our research that night told us that the Paringa Bridge (1927) opened twice a day, 9.30am and 2.30pm. So we planned our day to have a late lunch at a riverside park which had great views of the bridge. The Paringa Bridge is one of only two that open across the Murray now, and as I had never seen a draw bridge open, was keen to see this happen. But it only happens if

Big Lizzie's tender

a boat has booked a request to pass. One of the blogs said to time the viewing for the passing of The Murray Queen paddle steamer.

The Murray Queen didn't show up, and frankly I am glad that I didn't wait and wait for her. She is now a static back packers hostel at Waikerie, and has been for quite some time. Anyway, one small house boat came down stream and two very flash house boats went up stream at 2.30pm and we captured the action. The bridge has a centre lane, originally for trains, but now for pedestrians, and a lane each side for vehicular traffic. Wide loads should avoid this bridge!

The tidy little town of Berri is close to Paringa. There is a slipway here for servicing paddle steamers. The Marion was up on our visit and due to return to service later this month. The area around Berri and Waikerie are very fertile where irrigated. Citrus and grapes probably dominate, but apples and veggies grow there in abundance.

David and I decided to go for a late afternoon walk around Hart Lagoon (Waikerie), about a kilometer from our camping ground. The area is

Big Lizzies driving feet

There are inner and outer wheels/hubs with the 'Feet' displaced so that she is always walking on feet across soft ground

renowned for bird watching, so our hopes were high. David was trying to photograph a bird some meters ahead of me, so I stood very still. Well, that was until a full army of black bull ants thought I was a suitable peace offering to be brought to the queen. Even as I applied all my strength to move away from the horde of warriers,they followed and followed, even seemed to call in support from a neighbouring clan. I survived, but David didn't get his bird photo.

David never gives up trying to get the picture of the day, so he walked down to the reeds at the lagoon edge, and watched diligently as the call of several birds could be heard in the reeds. While he did this, I retreated a safe distance, and after the majority of the ants returned to their normal duties, I photographed the palace centry ants. Then I heard a gentle bird call above my head. Seems I needed to go to specsavers, because I couldn't see the bird. I took a step to the right, and there was a beautiful little parrot singing her heart out. She, I believe was a female

The Murray and Darling confluence

At Wentworth, the two great rives merge for the run to the sea.

Red Rump Parrot. David was still trying to get his reed bird photograph, so didn't see my cute parrot.

The last part of this blog is the Journey to Morgan, the point at which we will leave the Murray River. There are no bridges over the Murray in this area. Crossing the river is accomplished on barges either at Waikerie, Cadell or Morgan. Morgan is another little riverside community with lots of horticulture in the irrigation zone. Outside Morgan as we head to Petersborough, the land goes down hill (quality) very quickly to little better than desert.

Additional photos below

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Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name...more history