Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 92 - Port Pirie to Mildura

The morning is still, but not quiet. The traffic has been constant all night, but not annoying. We both slept well. Robyn has some work she needs to transmit before we head off, so I take the opportunity to sleep in.

The sleep in is short lived as Robyn is having issues with the printer. Both being relative technophobes, we struggle to sort out the issue. Of course, it’s “user error” and eventually all is fixed, and Robyn is able to print her report for final review. There is giggling at the result, and I contemplate returning to bed, but I can go for a walk.

The caravan park in which we are staying is spartan but does the job. The owner/manager is very friendly, and the amenities are clean and functional. There are attempts to brighten up the dull landscape with perennials, which while adding colour, of sorts, does little to change the ambience, as they are in keeping with the surroundings.

Today’s trip will take us away from the coast, through the wheat belt and to the irrigated Murray. There are a number of ways we can get to our destination according to the maps. Because of tough inclines, Forbsy went much further south before heading east. We are going to cut the corner, we have plenty of time, and we can ease the Cruiser and van if it gets too tough for the cruise control.

Again as we head away from the gulf the wheat crops are prolific, but thin out as we get further from the coast.

By the time we get to just short of Burra, the crops are gone, replaced by vast expanses of bush and arid land. A project, probably as a part of the Elon Musk, alternative power initiatives in South Australia, just out of Hallett, saw a significant number of wind turbines lining the hills and ridges west of the town.

There is very little wind on the road, but the huge structures move in disjointed unison, looking towards us as we approach, suggesting what breeze there is, is coming from behind us. The average fuel consumption tends to agree with this. As each moves, and continues to move the turbines generate electricity, and if the number at Albany has any correlation to the amount of energy being produced, these turbines are producing much more “juice” that would be required by the small hamlet.

The farm is no eyesore, yes, they fill the scene above the ridges for almost as far as they eye can see, but not obtrusively. Is there noise, potentially, but from the road as we are driving, there is nothing to hear. A friend of mine at home (Rugby NSW in fact), has told me of the anti-windfarm movement in that area, which had stopped a similar installation, which was to be spread across many farms, and not concentrated on just one, because no one wanted a turbine in their backyard (read here not just their property but any property adjacent), because of noise concerns.

I wonder if any of these “Nay Sayers” are part of the climate change activists’ groups. Certainly, there must have been quite a vision here in Hallett and South Australia, and if we want to move away from fossil fuels, we must look at alternatives. There are vast tracts of land that apparently are unusable as arable or fit for grazing, perhaps solar farming should be investigated for these areas.

Once we pass Burra, the land becomes even more arid. The temperature outside is no hotter than the 21 degrees, inside the Cruiser, but it looks hot. The dirt is red and looks as if it is baked in the sun. What arable land there is, carries failed or those which potentially cannot be harvested because of their lack of height, crops, a testimony to the drought.

The arid land just seems to continue for ever, then all of a sudden, just short of Morgan, the landscape changes immediately from parched to beautiful green, as an irrigation area exists as we have just driven close to the Murray River. Citrus trees and wine vines are everywhere, but the boundaries of paddocks are clear and stark, as the green contrasts the red and oranges of the dry.

Just as quick as it started, the green vanishes, and we are back to the “desert” conditions. So bad does it get, the dirt seems to not stop at the fence, but all the way to the road. Emus are prolific. Robyn tries to capture them on the camera, without success, they are a little far away, or we are going too fast, or she is not just into it enough.

The emus are numerous, but a bit far away to get a good shot from the side window. The ground is bare, making them easy to see. Thankfully they are staying well away from the road, although some of their brethren were not so smart, their carcasses strewn over the road, along with both red and grey kangaroos. You can tell them apart by the colour of their tales, a red kangaroo has a light tail and a grey on a dark one. A female red, or a blue flyer, can look almost grey, but their tail colour gives them away.

All of a sudden, as we get close to Renmark there are daisies on the side of the road. The next crest in the road explains the daisies. The Renmark irrigation area explodes in front of us. Citrus trees, wine vines and crops, again able to produce despite the drought are in front of us. Its only 1.30pm, so we decide to push on to Mildura to give us a lesser trip tomorrow into Echuca and the new baby.

First, though, we need a top up. An independent distributor station looms up on our left, and the price looks reasonable (in fact it’s the cheapest we have or will see today). It’s a bit of a tight approach, but with care I manage to get the Cruiser and the van suitably adjacent to the bowser and we fill. As is the norm, Robyn goes in to pay, and I update the GPS for the trip to Mildura which we feel we can make given the time of the day, once we have some lunch. Robyn returns, having paid and used the amenities, with the news there was nothing of interest in the food department in the service station.

Heading off the GPS now wants us to make a U-turn, which here in Renmark is all but impossible, and the signs suggest otherwise. Given the issues with electronics and technology in the not too distant past, we decide to follow the signs. The GPS continues to want us to U-turn, but the signs belay the order.

At the Murray River we go over a bridge that can open in the middle to allow taller boats to pass under. The lanes are very thin, making it difficult to traverse. Perhaps this is why the GPS wanted us to do a U-turn. We are out of Renmark, and no lunch!

The road, following the Murray, continues to have irrigated land, then nothing. North Western Victoria is a place that is particularly in the deep grip of drought, even worse, that on the other side of the border. Crop after crop, failed or non-harvestable are passed becoming simply dirt. There was one place where there had been a storm and there was a patch of green in the middle of an expanse of dirt. Other than that, all the trees we pass have nothing but dirt under them. Even on the road there is little or no undergrowth.

Lunch comes in the form of Lake Cullulleraine Store. Not requiring fuel, we pull in and park. Inside we are greeted by a lady who could pass as one of my old receptionists in her mannerisms and voice traits. She is somewhat over accommodating, which is the country way. Robyn is tickled that a potato scallop is referred to as a potato cake, and the saleslady enamours herself to us even more by offering to make a fresh batch for Robyn to eat.

I go simple, three spicy chicken mini drum stocks from the bay marine, a melting moment and a can of coke. We sit at the table in the shop and eat at our leisure, now we are only about 50 kilometres from our final destination for the day.

Back on the road I am between two road trains. The one in front is going away slightly so I increase my speed to allow the one behind to maintain contact. The speed limit on the odometer in the Cruiser, according to the Tom-Toms, we know we have a five to six-kilometre leeway from the actual speed of the car. No matter what speed I maintain, the road train matches, and uncomfortably close. Thankfully there are only a few kilometres to go until we hit Mildura.

In Mildura we come to an 80kph zone and we need to turn left soon after. I engage the left indicator and disengage the cruise control almost five hundred metres before the turn. The truck does not back off, and as the corner comes closer, I get off the road as far as I can, and the road train screams over to the wrong side of the road to avoid collision. I am glad he is gone.

We now are able to finish our trip to the caravan park, at our pace, not stressed by the vision of a road train filling every rear-view mirror we have.

Once at the park, we are given a spot where we need not unhook. It is also not far from the river, and before dinner we wander down to the water’s edge to take shots of the sunset. There are no clouds to give the sunset any silver lining but it is still spectacular across the river, as it drops into the bush.

We are joined by others doing the same thing, and we get to talking to a guy who has been here a few days. He suggests the day before, the park was full of hot rods, in Mildura for a meet, in fact we had walked past one, still in the park, as we headed for the river. Seems we were lucky to be here today rather than yesterday, when we would not have gotten a spot.

We head back to the van and start dinner, heading off to bed, with Robyn very keen to see the baby tomorrow.