What is Went worth?

Quite a bit as it gives us a half-way (about 850km) break on our trip to Port Lincoln!

We got away at 6:30 which was pretty good as it meant we'd get to Wentworth in good time.  The weather was fine for driving as we set off, with cloud and wind but no rain.  Here is the situation near Jugiong.

Going along the Hume we noticed a car overtake us with no number plates, which seemed a good way of avoiding speed cameras and similar infringements on liberty.  A little further we found said car again with the driver discovering that the Plods do not approve of such strategies and were having a conversation, which I suspect could do very bad things for their average speed, bank balance and future driving plans.

 Autumn has arrived in Wagga as shown by the foliage!

 Round about Wagga we noticed a lot of cars coming towards us in pulses which seemed a bit curious.  An interesting roadside sign promised "Balls baits and bullets" in Narranderah.  On the outskirts of the town we discovered the reason for the pulses: roadworks, fixing up problems that only the Roads engineers were aware of, at the intersection of the Newell and Sturt Highways.  Only about 5 minutes of delay

Once out heading towards the Hay Plain we noticed lots of motorbikes, including many three-wheelers towing trailers, coming towards us.  This continued for the rest of the day.  (That got solved the next day somewhere near Renmark where a sign talked about Ulysses MC AGM.)

Out on the Plain we encountered, as tradition requires, droving.  It was a tad un-traditional in that all the stock were Aberdeen Angus rather than Herefords or mixed breeds.

For many years we had crossed the Plain with no sight of anything to do with cotton.  On both our last two traverses we have seen heaps.  Perhaps we were a little earlier this time but it seemed to be everywhere in vast acreages.  No wonder the farmers are in an uproar about restrictions on irrigators in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin.  This image is a paddock of bolls.

Some harvested rolls: we crossed with many trucks carting these off to ...?

This snap shows: a line of bales in a paddock; the brown stems left after picking,; and a small amount of the whit stuff that always seems to accumulate along the roadside in a cotton area.

We wondered if the cotton was responsible for the dearth of emus.  At one point we thought we might not see any for the trip but a few - perhaps 7 in total were spotted towards the end of the trip.  There were very few birds around except Ravens.  A few Black Kites and Kestrels, 1 Pied Butcherbird and a couple of Black-shouldered Kites.

In my view the Plain ends at Balranald.  On what we saw, so does prosperity.   While the houses still looked OK quite a few businesses in the town looked to be closed (permanently, not just on Saturday afternoon).  On the highway out the other side we encountered another lot of road works that delayed us again.  I know roads have to be maintained but no-one here seemed to be working except the driver of the pilot vehicle.  All the others seemed to be sitting around talking about obesity - or at least demonstrating it.

This also gave the caravans a chance to bunch up and make driving slow.  While this is a further tradition I had thought it had been dispensed with as on our recent trips vans moved along reasonably quickly.  Perhaps the Hume Highway is different to the North South roads such as the Newell?

Somewhere around this point a truck was kind enough to spit a rock at our windshield.  I didn't notice a new chip so carried on.

On getting close to Wentworth we called in at a fuel station in Dareton.  It had closed but as a friendly local explained (there were no instructions on the pumps) there was a terminal on the wall that allowed one to get fuel.  It merged that as is often the case in rural aral areas the advertised price for diesel was for the dirty stuff that trucks use and car diesel was about 2 cents a litre dearer.  Grrrr.  It then emerged (again no instructions) there wasn't a pay-for-fill option.  However you could put in an amount of $400 and they'd only take what you used, with the remaining amount staying as an open order for 7 days.  Trust us - sure wouldn't.  them we'll get fuel somewhere else, of need be in Renmark the next morning.

As it turned out we got fuel in Wentworth as a servo operated by a human.  After shifting minimal kit into our room at the Central Motel (which allowed the small dog in the room - HUGE  bouquet) we went for  walk around the riverbank.  This is the  Darling, which merges with the Murray nearby.

There seemed to be a lot of water in the Rivers:presumably there has been good rain from cyclones in the head waters of the Darling in Queensland.

A statue of John Egge an immigrant from China who seems to have been one of the biggest traders on the River.  Or, in a flood, the main street of Wentworth which he sailed his boat down!

A memento of the old days.  I'm not sure if this paddle steamer moves or is just there to look good!

Although we have been to Wentworth before I do like a good War Memorial.

After the early start and a longish drive an early and solid night sleep.

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Not a black Commodore

Bird of the Day:  A very rare bird, which I won't name ro protect it.  It was given a bit of competition by Major Mitchell Cockatoo (not common for us, and spiffy) and Black-faced Woodswallow (2^nd ever for me) who engaged in a vulgar brawl on the red carpet.  A late contender (17:13) was a pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

Plant of the Day:  Eremophila (Emu Bush) as it was in flower and spiffy.  Close contenders because of being interesting were the Leopardwood Trees (Flindersia maculosa).

Scene of the Day: Grey flood plain of the Darling – largely because of its vastness.

Art of the day:  The old fencing rig ute at Newchum Hanger.  The paint job was eclectic and reminded us of our favourite work by Emily Nganwaree

Typically Australian thing of the day:  Gates on station roads through the dust.

Maximum Temperature: 20  Minimum temperature 5

 Distance traveled  with camper  0  without camper  65

After a peaceful night - read: total silence- I arose and chucked a log on the fire and made coffee as the sun rose through the Coolabahs.

We then headed off for a stroll around a convenient set of tracks with the dog.  This yellow aster was about the only flowering plant - dry, cold weather inhibits flowering!

As we neared the airstrip we met the husband of the lady who had welcomed us to the property.  He had a very large, and very dead, feral cat in his trailer and was on the way to bury it.  His small dog exchanged sniffs with Tammy.

Our main business was to do a 55km drive around the property, following trail notes offered by the owners.  It started at the homestead where sheep were penned for transport.

A large cattle dog appeared looking to exchange insults with Tammy.  She was up for this, but at a 1:10 size disadvantage was not going to be happy with the outcome so was grabbed.  The local lad was told-off back to the shearing shed from whence it had come.

Starting the drive we soon came across a Red Kangaroo (the grey colour indicating a female). We were struck by the size of their ears - they appeared much larger than those on our Eastern Greys at Carwoola.

Moving off the black soil of the flood plain into the red sand hills, we were also impressed by the spotted bark of the Leopardwood trees (Flindersia maculosa) with the spotting causing by discs of bark dropping off.  They are apparently members of the citrus family.

Finally a flowering shrub: Eremophila longifolia or Emu bush.

Just after this sighting we saw a very rare bird which I won't name to protect it from the forces of evil.  (The appropriate authorities have been informed and asked me to obfuscate it, so I have.)  I couldn't get the camera up in time but that was what it was: a lifer, and a rare bird!!

A windmill and cattle yards at a dam.

These chains indicate that quite a bit of clearing had gone on in the past.

That is probably a signal that the time is right to cover a bit of the history of the station.  Although large (320,000 acres) Trilby was part of a much larger property that had been split between members of the family.  Before the current owners took over it was a mixed grazing and wheat growing operation but they decided that if they gave up farming they could run it themselves without permanent help.  This included

• their kids who- according to the story by Liz - were riding motor bikes when they needed a tree stump to remount after falling off!  
• Gary did some of the mustering by plane (they have two in the hangar at the end of the airstrip); and 
• Liz coordinated things over the radio,

As well as the sheep they have a nice little earner in trapping feral goats, of which we saw lots!  The process involves gaps in the fence into a paddock with electric wires arranged so that as a goat enters it receives encouragement when coming inwards but a strong disincentive to leave.  When the paddock is adequately full they are trucked off to a halal-certified abattoir in Albury and then exported.

The property has a lot of "stuff"  left around where it was last used.  Two of the workers used to use this bus to travel into Louth.  The naturally air-conditioned nature of the roof is due to them misjudging the height of a (the?) bridge on the way home.

This is the other transport they used: it reminded us of a car door painted by Emily Kame Knangwarrey which we had seen (I think at Heide) some years before.  

They'd even left a boot behind!  This reminded Frances of a painting by van Gogh.

Onthe nearby dam we were alerted by the squeaks and buzzes to the presence of a flock of Zebra Finches.  We had seen Zebbies earlier in the trip but this was really their habitat.

The nearby abandoned homestead has been left as it was on the day the occupants walked out.  Open books on the table, stuff in cupboards etc.  I suspect this is Mulga Bill's bicycle left in the shed.

This Aga stove could be sold for many quid in Country Life!

An arty farty shot into the mirror showing my dust and, above the mirror a shot which defines MBF.

Back at the camp the Pelicans were reflecting on the state of the Darling.

It was time for a shower so we went back to the homestead and used the amenities.  The kids toys were carefully stored in a tree!

Just after dark the glow from the fire showed a bird landing in a nearby tree.  Tawny Frogmouth gets added to the list!

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To Narrandera and Yanco

The day started on time, with us leaving at 8am. If Napoleon had been this organized for the battle of Borodino we must follow the example of Gruen whatever and ask “What would Putin do?”.  The answer is at the foot of this post.

As we left Carwoola the weather was a brilliant Spring day.  Passing Yass it was still excellent with glorious wattles of unidentified species lining the road and the paddocks green.  

Somewhere round about Gundagai I noticed that the wattles, while still brilliant were whipping about a bit: the promised front was on its way. 

The one blot on the trip to this stage was the health of the small dog.  She seemed to be a tad bilious so the start of the trip could be titled the Return of Chunderpooch.  Fortunately she settled down.  What didn’t settle down were the lambs in the paddocks we passed: they were gamboling all over the place.  “What would Mary Stuart do?”  Answer at the foot of the post.  There was still a lot of water around and the canola crops were lurid.

So we rolled on down the road sitting on a very relaxed speed.  Became frustrated with 2 minute delays for roadworks here and there.  One place we measured had the lights 400n fom the start of the works, which were about 50m in length, but we had to wait 5 minutes.  At another set the only workers in site were slouching back against their machines – apparently stacking a few zs.   There was also the usual crawl through Wagga 15km of drudgery – I hesitate to think how much a bypass would cost: it will clearly only happen after the Pacific Highway is upgraded.  Whatever.  We got to Narrandera in a tad over 4 hours with 30.7mpg.

Our first activity was a comfort stop, where I discovered that the local youth had been part of an art project.  Possibly led by Kilroy.

We next did a walk around the town, giving attention to War Memorials (I have done a special post for these).  The first was the Tiger Moth Memorial in Narrandera Park commemorating the guys who trained to fly here during WWII.

We had some doubt if this was really a War Memorial then I found a plaque commemorating all those who died.  Later I found the War Graves in the Cemetery of which a high proportion seemed to be the airmen who had died in training accidents!

The walk around town was very pleasant, although we only did part.  Lots of the dwellings were old and attractive,

The Churches had interesting architecture (but if they are locked I am not going to publicise them) and some of the businesses were still historic.  The banks were in old buildings and still seemed to be banks which is unusual: in most country towns they have become lawyers offices or such like.

Most of the recognised War Memorials are in a linear park in the centre of town.  One of the best – a ceramic fountain - had been vandalized but subsequently rebuilt.

We then went to Narrandera Wetland just off the Newell Highway beside the Murrumbidgee.  This is a most excellent spot with lots of birds, several hides (blinds for Norte Americanos) and a good lot of information.  This sign was well executed using the metal silhouette style which seems very popular.

Avian highlights were Yellow-billed Spoonbills.  Reading a brochure since, the Wetlands have a primary purpose of cleaning up, by natural processes, the storm water before it hits the Murrumbidgee.

We then went to Narrandera Common to see what was in flower.  The answer seems to be weeds: we only photographed two species, neither of which we could identify from our knowledge or our book!  This one was pretty.

Looking at the piles of flood debris from earlier in 2012, and the 'watermark' on the gums, most of the area appears to have been under 1m+ of water, so there was no understorey left.

 The highlight here was a Little Friarbird calling loudly (and attracting another of the same species).  My first for several years.

We then found our way to the Cemetery.  The first point to note is that by this time, the weather was struggling to achieve ‘social disease’ rating.  10/10 cloud, howling gale and odd raindrops.   A second point is that the Mower Morons (who aspire to the IQ of bush-fire brigade members) had been around and skun the ground so that only Capeweed had survived.  No orchids here thank you!  That being said the cemetery has an interesting collection of memorials.  The Chinese section, while small is interesting 

and the ‘Old Catholic’ section had some interesting memorials.

There was a small brass plate describing a lady as the mother of person A , the housekeeper for Father Y (surely not an accidental juxtaposition) and John O’Brien’s ‘Sweet Josephine’.

We headed off towards Yanco with a quick foray in to part of the MIA State Forest.  It was obvious, from the debris in the barbed wire, that this area had also been under 1m+ of water.  Again it seemed that the floods had obliterated most of the understorey.  Frances commented that she hadn't seen a single flowering shrub.

We bailed out and went to our place in Yanco 

which seems excellent.  The owners have had the place for less than a year (they a poster showing it as a ‘renovate or detonate’ proposition and have restored it to match modern needs with the history.

Possibly it was the first house in Yanco.  The owner – Peter – showed us how things worked and it really does seems to be a very satisfactory place to stay.

Answers

1)  Putin would be speaking French!

2) Mary Stuart would send out for mint sauce.

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Day 1 To Wentworth

This first day is basically a blat of 862km across the Hay Plain to Wentworth.  Hopefully we'll get there early enough for a bit of a look round.

After an early start to the day we left home at 6:50am.  A small dog was esconsed on the usual high pile of bedding for long trips:

We travelled through Canberra, rather than Bungendore, to avoid the macropods.  

On, on past Yass in rather foggy conditions.  This abated after about 200km when we turned off the Hume Highway (which was being heavily haunted by Mr Plod).   Actually, the fog was replaced by showers that happened more or less all the way (another 650km) to Wentworth.  Ho hum: welcome to Winter!

Once off the Hume the amount of water laying around in the paddocks was astonishing.  This was, I think  left overs from the rain in February-March coming down the pipe (aka the Murrumbidgee).  The worst remnant was the trashed fence beside the servo at Narranderra.

Out on the Hay Plain ... 

...  the great surprise was the amount of baled cotton around in the paddocks.  I have always thought these farms grew maize not cotton.  The round bales are apparently a new technology.

We were listening to an interview on Radio National (ABC – the Australian equivalent of NPR)  about Woody Guthrie which was very interesting for 120km – 1 hour, 2/3rds of the distance between Narrandera and Hay!  It was impressive that we could pick up the station – albeit on different channels all the way across.

A bit later we came across a herd of cattle being droved along and across the road.

There were lots of raptors around all the way across the Plain.  Black-shouldered Kites were the commonest (perhaps averaging about 1 per 5km), but Nankeen Kestrels  were also common and Black Kites appeared in kettles of up to 10 birds later in the trip. (There is a more rigorous commentary on this on the last day.)

Before Hay we saw no emus but in the leg towards Balranald we saw quite a lot.  The first was a flock of at least 12 and the later groups included a couple of controversial sightings:  1 on the Northern side of the road and the other on the Southern side, but between the road and the fence.

After Balranald we had a small drama with a rubber seal around the windscreen deciding to migrate.  It was disciplined: hopefully well.  Not so: it required help as detailed in two days time.  About this time the weather started to look a tad average.

On arrival in Wentworth we had a little difficulty getting in to the unit but a touch of controlled violence on the key safe solved that. We then went for a stroll around the town which seems rather pleasant.  


This memorial is to the Grey Fergie.  They are given justified approbation in this town as they were the workhorse in shoring up the levee in an a lajor flood in th past.

 I am unsure what the catfish has done to deserve encapsulation in a seat!

 An Anglican Church.

 The War Memorial.

The school dates from 1881.  I like the post boxes/nest boxes in the front.

I also like this old water tank posing in front of sunset lit clouds.

I noted a plaque about Major Mitchell accompanied by one about the “Dig Tree”.  This seems to have been where he left some doco  about his stouches with indigenous folk in case he ended up not making it back to Sydney.  A small amusement was a bloke charging out of one of the many pubs asking Frances if she had had lunch there today.  It emerged that someone that looked “a bit like you" had done so and left their mobile phone behind. A nice touch.

Getting back to the units I noticed a couple of doggy trailers in the drive.  It turned out they were used by a heap of greyhounds which were inside the unit and keen to discuss matters with Tammy: as we unloaded the car herself escaped and was equally keen to see the 'hounds.  Fortunately we recaptured her before the bloodshed occurred (I don't think she would have won).

The place is generally good, apart from lacking a decent reading light (and we forgot to BYO – which we have known to do for yonks).

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