The two M's out West

Dates : 6th Jun - 10th Jun

Yes we are out west but we are also visiting beautiful country towns of Mildura which has gone from a population of 70,000 to 90,000 since Covid and tiny Menindee lakes with population under a 1,000.

Whilst driving up to Mildura we stopped at a few small towns along the way

Moulamein - which is 106Km from Deni - It's a quaint little town with surprisingly some street art, interesting Utes with fab stickers, and apple orchards.

Balranald - We just did a quick stop here, stretched the legs not much and found out that Mungo might be closed 😢

We also visited the Yanga National Park and Yanga Woolshed - was built over 100 years ago, it could accomodate 3000 sheep and provide work for up 40 shearers, at the time it was built was considered very modern because of it size which allowed them to work when the weather was wet. The shed was decommissioned in 2003, but the sheep smells still remains. The wool shed is located on the Murrumbidgee River.

Mildura, Victoria

Weather - Cloudy 7 - 13

Distance Travelled - 1226km from Berrilee (starting point)

Staying 2 Nights, Big 4 Riverside

We decided to head to Mildura because it's the safest way to get to Broken Hill off the red dirt roads, which are currently very wet and slippery from all of the rain, plus the main thing many of the red dirt roads are closed.

What was surprising about Mildura was the how big the town was. Since Covid the town has gone from 70,000 to 90,000 people in 2 years. It also supplies 80% of Victorias grapes.

Whilst walking around the town we saw some impressive street art and old company signs like Cottees. This stop also allowed us to organise some stuff that we hadn't thought about before we left. We also got a nice sunset at the caravan park.

Menindee, NSW

Weather - Cloudy 5 - 12

Distance Travelled - 1631km from Berrilee (starting point)

Staying 2 Nights, Menindee Lakes Caravan Park (crown land)

Menindee is the oldest European settlement in outback west on the Darling River and for history buffs an ill fated area for Burke & Wills.

We did want to go to Mungo National Park but they have closed the area due to the amount of rain and they don't want to destroy the grounds around the ancient site. It was a bit disappointing, but now we have an excuse to come back to Mungo and Deniliquin for the UTE muster - sounding like another trip which will add to the Great Ocean Road Trip in summer sometime.

We were going to go to Menindee for a day trip from Broken Hill it has so much to see out here, so we have decided to stay for 2 days on the lake. Apparently the bird life and sunsets are amazing, we weren't disappointed. Also our neighbours were very hoppy.

Things we did whilst in Menindee were visiting the heritage trail, visiting the historic pub called the Maidens Hotel which is the second-oldest in NSW - we had a beer here.

We also went to Kinchega National Park - where we visited a shearing shed dated back to 1875 and stopped shearing in 2002. This shed was designed ahead of its time - built with a long shed that housed 4,000 sheep and men which allowed staff to work in the rain and heat whilst covered. It also has spectacular views from the shed.

We went to the campsite of Burke & Wills at Pamarmaroo Creek. Here Michelle had fun taking photos of Spoonbills and Cormorants (sorry for the amount of photos, just had to post a few).

We take for granted internet connection wherever we are. Out here it's not the same. We can't get reception in a lot of places and that's with Telstra. We have had to sit in a shopping centre on a bench to upload and write the blog above 🤣🤣🤣.

We are heading off to the Queen of the Desert next, see you there.

Cheers,

Mike & Michelle