28/11/17
First stop -the traditional Tailem Bend bakery stop. by the time we were there at about 1330 they were out of pasties and we had to settle for pies. Still very good.
We hadn't noticed the "Tailem Bend Uneek Animals" display before (just by the train line , a little west of the bakery) and had fun picking the locals that we knew and didn't know and checking the interesting facts in the brochure supplied. Simple relaxing fun at the start of a journey.
Next stop was Keith, where we stopped by the landrover on the pole. we've driven past here plenty of times before, but this time we read the info and it made more sense.
This memorial commemorates the AMP scheme to open up the 90 mile desert for farming.they dragged chains around to clear the desert.
The huts nearby are called Wiles huts and are formed from 2 garages joined together with a verandah. one room is living, the other divided into bedrooms spaces. there were around 50 of these Wiles huts across the area developed, between 1950 and 1960
Along the Dukes highway there are lots of crops looking ready to reap, and many gone already.
We only saw one harvester at work , but this was to change.
We only saw one harvester at work , but this was to change.
Calling in to visit some special relatives in Bordertown was wonderful, and having worn out the oldies, we moved to some younger ones, who kindly shared a BBQ tea with us and caught up some more. This is exactly how our retirement should be used... Seeing those we have been missing out on seeing due to being too busy.
We camped out on the back lawn and enjoyed the balmy night and the stars, if not the very short sleep.
We were up by 7.30 and heading on our way.
29/11/17
First stop just outside Serviceton, where we again caught up with relatives for a couple of hours, before we headed on our way the slow way.
Being someone amused by small things, I enjoyed the garlic wearing a hat.
Being someone amused by small things, I enjoyed the garlic wearing a hat.
There was lots of action with headers today. Lots of loads travelling to nearby silos on the roads too.
We took a very convoluted route via back roads, via Miriam East historic school site to the historic RAAF base near Nhill where we found an RV PARKING site complete with dump point, a walking track and many signs telling of the huge RAAF base built in the space of 10 weeks, which housed 2000 at a time who took part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. This scheme trained 10000 over the space of 5 years in Avro Anson planes (fondly known as Faithful Annies). We had no idea of this. It was one of 34 bases doing similar training across Australia in an attempt to train enough air crews to keep the upper hand.
We took a very convoluted route via back roads, via Miriam East historic school site to the historic RAAF base near Nhill where we found an RV PARKING site complete with dump point, a walking track and many signs telling of the huge RAAF base built in the space of 10 weeks, which housed 2000 at a time who took part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. This scheme trained 10000 over the space of 5 years in Avro Anson planes (fondly known as Faithful Annies). We had no idea of this. It was one of 34 bases doing similar training across Australia in an attempt to train enough air crews to keep the upper hand.
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| Then and now |
We followed many tracks and minor roads, to Lake Hindmarsh (via some black smelling mud areas in the Park) where we stopped at the Schulze Beach campsite for our lunch. Here the long drop dunnies still stand, but the water is a bit lower that it used to be, with the end of the boat ramp well short of water (another 200m would probably do it) and some incongruous looking skiing and boating instructions.
We made a point of stopping at the Lascelles Lake in Hopetuon where we found grassy sites with beautiful Lake frontage, free bbqs, free warm showers (much appreciated) but decided to stay in the air conditioned car and travel onwards in the heat of the day instead of setting up camp early.
The nearby Mallee Bush campsite, also owned by the council, looked intriguing. Here you also have virtually lake frontage but can stay in a modern wheat silo, cow shed etc complete with air conditioning.
It just happened that we continued on via Lascelles and chanced upon another of the silo art projects-this one a little more subtle than the others we have seen.
It just happened that we continued on via Lascelles and chanced upon another of the silo art projects-this one a little more subtle than the others we have seen.
We drove on past Piangil, crossing the Murray at Tooleybuc and on to a spot by the Wakool river near Kyalite (thanks for the tip Al and Zita) , where we finally witnessed a collapse of a blue camping chair (purchased for $5 17 years ago). We still have a hot sun, but it is starting to cool off a little as I write this at 7.30pm.
