We left Broken Hill late arvo heading towards Menindee stopping for the night. At Stephen’s Creek, we were able to get right back off the road and were the only ones there for the night.
The creek was totally dry when we were there, a lovely peaceful spot on the river bank with the gum trees. It was relaxing until the flies came and boy were they bad. All 3 of us had to have our fly nets on for some relief, it stayed warm and the flies hung around until it was dark.
Jess was not terribly impressed with the fly net
Relaxing spot before the flies
Last time we were at Menindee in 2009 the Lake Menindee was dry. It was great to see it full of water, we called into Lake Menindee lookout and had a bit of a walk around.
Sunset strip Menindee
Lake Panamaroo did have water in it last time so it did this time. Last time we camped in the Main Weir area, paddled on Lake Wetherill in the Kayak. It was our intention to stay here for several days but it was so dry and dusty, no grass in sight from over use being so popular.
We decided to move on into Menindee and have a look around. There is a free riverside camping in Menindee that goes for several km’s. We were very surprised to find no one camping here, so we did for several days. Very relaxing camped along the river, thanks Menindee.
Free camp at Menindee
From there we headed towards Wentworth going through Pooncarrie, a road we had not been on. Pooncarrie had a lovely little park with lots of thick lush green grass where we stopped for a cuppa. There are toilets and also showers.
At Wentworth we drove out to Perry Sand Hills, we had been here previously and walked all over the sand dunes. You could also drive around most of it. You can’t do that now, walking on sand dunes is a bit hard for Chris so we drove back into town to Junction Park. Where the 2 rivers the Darling and The Murray meet.
Where the Darling and Murray Rivers join
Our intentions were to drive out of town and find a camp along the Murray River. We tried several spots driving most of the way to Mildura but all with the same result. Very full and very very dusty. We didn’t realize at first why the area was so busy, then we realized it was the Melbourne Cup weekend. So we drove back to Wentworth and stayed at the free Wentworth Sports Complex, which also has a dump point. This was a temporary free camp we believe. Camping was on an old carpark, bit slopey but bitumen so no dust, next to big grassed area to walk Jess. Was nice and quiet with several others camped there.
Dust free campsite with a sunset
With camp areas along the Murray so dry and dusty and with a bit of a heatwave, we decided to stay at a caravan park in Mildura with a pool for a few days. Glad we did with 38 degrees it was great to be able to jump in and out of the pool.
Mildura has a great big lovely park area along the Murray with a very nice coffee shop that we visited a few times while we were there. Last time we were here we stayed at the caravan park across the river, right on the river, it was closed due to renovations and restoration after flooding. We remember our time here where we paddled the kayak down the river with the paddle boats.
We also went to Orange World and did the tour which was interesting, Jess could also go on the little tractor train. Everyone was given a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Which was a very good marketing ploy as no one left there without buying at least one bottle of fresh juice, it was the nicest sweetest orange juice we have ever had.
Live Long and Prosper