Mallee and Border Track 25th - 30th September 2004
Day 3 - 27th September 2004
Up again with the birds, we took it easy and were in no rush to pack up camp, even though we were on the move today. We had a relaxed bacon & egg breakfast and sat around the campsite feeding the birds.
We eventually got around to packing up camp, under the watchful eyes of the Butcher Bird. A quick game of football and then we were off towards Mildura.
The Hattah Store had signs up protesting the creation of a toxic waste dump nearby. Is this crazy? Why would such a beautiful place, on the border of National Parks be considered as the site for a toxic waste dump????
We stopped in Mildura and stocked up on supplies, had lunch at Hungry Jacks, yuck, and picked up some custard tarts and vanilla slices at the bakery, yum! Time was passing quickly and we visited lock 10 on the Murray.Neither I or the kids had ever seen a lock before, and as a bonus we got to see this one in operation as a small boat was travelling down river.
We arrived at the Perry Sandhills at about 2:30; much later then on our previous trip so I was getting worried that we wouldn't reach camp tonight at a reasonable time. So we cut short our visit here, only staying about 30 minutes. But it was still long enough for the kids to accumulate a few kilos of sand in their shoes and pockets, which ended up in the car, sleeping bags, and all the way back home!
We had to backtrack into Wentworth to get onto the Victorian side of the Murray, and were soon travelling along the Old Mail Route. Though we had spotted a few Stumpy Tails so far, this road was teeming with lizards. James eventually lost count, but we managed to miss every single one of them.
We came to Kulnine near the gate to Ned's Corner, which looked quite a nice spot on the banks of the Murray, but there were already some campers there so we continued on through the gates towards Lindsay Island, passing numerous Wedgetailed Eagles.
We arrived on Lindsay Island at about 4:30, thankfully not too late, and we navigated the tracks through the flat dry muds plains of the island. The track down to Lock number 7 seemed closed by a gate, though there was a track around the gate so we returned and headed down a nearby track to the river.
There were a few people camping along the river bank, but we easily managed to find a really nice spot with lots of shady trees close to the river, complete with a picnic table and a sandy beach. The kids played in the water while I set up camp.
Dinner tonight was a traditional BBQ; very tasty and enjoyable! We sat down to watch a movie on the laptop, but I turned the laptop off as it was booting up, corrupting the hard drive. Not being able to watch a movie wasn't a big deal, but not having anywhere to store my digital photos was a real hassle. Additionally, I was going to be without digital mapping and tracklogging as well! I managed to get the PocketPC connected to the GPS; I didn't have any maps on the PocketPC, but at least I could keep my track logs. Until the batteries died in the PocketPC that is; I hadn't brought the recharger with me. Damn it!
