Mildura to Balranald Saturday 6th March, 2019

We haven’t travelled very far today, about 160 kms. We had a very hot night last night until early morning when the doona was needed. We woke to a much nicer day, with sunshine and clouds and a cool, fresh breeze. Driving was a pleasure.

We chose this town to stay in because of the facilities offered to travellers. We are in one of two free camping areas, basically a car park. This is the nicer one, though the flushing toilets are old. The other camping space is enclosed with buildings, whereas we have playing fields and tall trees. They have nicer toilets and hot showers, plus a cafe.

We arrived relatively early, at about 2.00 p.m., and after lunch and a rest we went to the Visitor Centre, which included a delightful small Discovery Centre, with lots of information about this area. We are close to the dry lake, Lake Mungo, where Mungo Man and Mungo Woman were found, and also to another nearby lake with birdlife and wetlands. We will be following the Murrumbidgee as we head east and after Hay there are better free camping options near towns on the river.

We are now just over 800 kms from Canberra, making good time despite driving short distances. Of course, we needed more time for this trip, 2.5 months is cutting it fine as we want to be back in time for the Denmark Festival of Voice at the beginning of June.

We haven’t booked anything in Sydney at this stage as we hope that we will have a clearer picture of Mum’s health by the end of our stay in Canberra. We can cut things short and head home if necessary.

The Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers are green and opaque. We are wondering if the Murrumbidgee will have clearer water by the time we are closer to the mountains. There appear to be an abundance of fish, which attract a lot of birds, including migratory flocks. This suggests the water is healthy. The featured image is a sort of abstract of the river with reflections.