Mungo National Park

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Mungo Lake is just one of the Willandra Lakes system that around the time of the last ice age received water from the Lachlan River. The Willandra Lakes was one of the first places in Australia to receive UNESCO World Heritage Status. The whole region covers 240,000 hectares and includes much of Mungo National Park which is the main tourist destination for visitors to the area.

Mungo Lake’s claim to fame in its own right is as the home of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man. The cremated remains of Mungo Lady were discovered first and is the first recorded human cremation. Mungo Man was buried and his remains were discovered a couple of years later. Their remains are the oldest found in Australia and amongst the oldest in the world. Their discovery provided evidence that human settlement in Australia occurred much earlier than previously thought.

We had breakfast this morning on the deck at the back of our lodge (cabin?) at Mungo Lodge. We had a family of cheeky apostle birds join us. They seem very accustomed to the visitors to the lodge and were flitting around outside before we ventured out. When we went out they seemed to have an expectation that humans might mean a food handout. I probably shouldn’t have, but I fed them some sunflower seeds thinking that they shouldn’t be too harmful for them?

With breakfast done, we started today at the Visitor Centre which is adjacent to the Mungo Woolshed. After exploring the woolshed we set out on the Foreshore Walk, a 2.5km walk through pine woodland that used to be the predominant vegetation around the rim of the lake.

After walking the woodland circuit we drove out to The Walls Lookout which is the closest point to The Walls of China visitors can reach without taking a tour with a licensed guide. From the car park there is an extensive boardwalk which facilitates access to two viewing points and interpretative boards. The main point of the boardwalk is to reduce damage from all the foot traffic. The way I see it, I’m less likely to step on a snake if I’m walking on an elevated boardwalk!!

The next and last stop that we were able to access, was the Red Top Lookout. The Mungo Track beyond this point is currently closed. This means that only the western side of the lunette can be seen at the moment. This is probably the most iconic aspect of the park so we didn’t miss out on that during this visit. It would have been interesting to see the different vegetation on the other side of the wall, but that was not to be on this visit due to the works being undertaken on the Mungo Track.

We drove back to the Mungo Lodge for lunch. Their food prices are very reasonable considering how remote the park is so we decided to eat in the restaurant rather than put our own lunch together with two day old hotdog buns that were all we could find before we left Menindee!! After lunch we drove to the Zanci Woolshed and we checked out the Visitor Centre in more detail.

With the day coming to a close we took a sunset tour with a licensed guide so we could have a closer look at The Walls of China. We returned to the car park and boardwalks that we visited earlier in the day, but our guide, Shannon, took us out onto the dune beyond the gate and provided us with heaps of information about the formation of the landscape, the use of the area by the traditional owners and the changes wrought by the arrival of the pastoralists who brought their sheep with them. Ironically, it was the damage caused by the sheep than led to the erosion that resulted in the remains of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man being exposed.

When we reached the very top of the dune Shannon told us that the dunes are moving east at a rate between one and a half and three metres per year. He joked that in another 40,000 years the sand will be in Bondi. From the top of the dune we did at least get a glimpse of the landscape in the eastern part of the park. It was a bit crazy being on the top of a huge white sand dune in outback NSW. It was very similar to the Yanerbie Dunes on the Eyre Peninsula which, of course, were right on the coast.



Steps for the day: 15,755 (10.67kms)

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Comments

[Caroline Brunner]

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Thanks for your photos, Tracey. I went on a tour there last November because I could not get any overnight accom. You were very lucky & I love your sunset shots (which I didn't see).