Then it was off to fill up with fuel and head out to Menindee Lakes - where we planned to stay a couple of days and then pick up our Darling River Run south to the little village of Pooncarie. From there the plan was to head out to Mungo NP?
Arriving in Memindee village we stopped in at the information centre / gallery and enjoyed a lovely chat with the lady working there - we viewed some of her artistic works ( she does photo books) in the gallery. In my conversation with her I mentioned going to the exhibition currently at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery - and seeing a similar type of work on display there. Well it turned out it was her work we had seen. Very talented and interesting lady.
After checking with her about the roads and weather forecast - she recommended that we should move on to Pooncarie this afternoon - as it was likely that there would be more rain coming tomorrow and we might not be able to get down the road to Pooncarie for some days.
I love this work of art displayed out the front of the Information Centre - the work of another local Menindee artist.
We had a bit of a look around Main Weir at Menindee - some lunch by one of the empty lakes - and took-off for Pooncarie (about 2pm).
How beautiful is the blue of this sky!!!
A quick stop - on the way out of town - at the "Camel Drivers Grave" - a memorial to a camel driver on the famous Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860. He later came back to Menindee and worked out his days in this area.
It is a shame that once again we are passing through Menindee Lakes without having more of a look around the area ---hopefully we will be back this way again and check out get to stay a few days in Kinchega National Park here at Menindee Lakes.
We head out of town - now on the red dirt again
The countryside is lush and green here also at the moment- and did I mention - we are on the red dirt roads again. Yippee!!!! Glad to be getting back out bush again in the "red stuff".
* the road turned really shitty as we moved further south after heading out from Menindee
* we passed a big Goanna heading off the other side of the road
* plenty af emus along the way
BUT - it was also a bit scary - as we drove into a light shower of rain along the way. This made the road quite slippery in sections. It was good I was not going too fast when coming to these particular spots - and I was able to deal with the changed conditions without any drama.
The problem was that the surface could change quite a bit over the journey and it was not easy to predict, at first, which would be the slippery parts.
We arrived at Pooncarrie at about 4ish (after a slow drive from Menindee) - with the dark clouds looming and darkness descending quickly.
Driving into the camping area down by the Darling River - we checked out the few campsites that were not in the black soil down right on the riverbank.
The sign told us that we needed to go to the pub and pay the camping fees. It was $10 per night - with flushing toilets and a hot shower. Pretty good considering there is really no where else to go. You can get power as well if you want for the same price ( 4 sites had power).
Heading back out - to go and front up at the pub to pay - I say hello to the only other campers there - and the guy says hesitantly - "would you mind asking at the pub for a pizza menu".
Yep we could do that - no problem.
The pub is only 5 minute drive up the road.
The main bar was almost full -- there was all of six guys in there!!
I pay the camping fees for one night and ask for the pizza menu for the other campers. So he gives me one of the laminated menus from the bar - and - writes the pub phone number on the back so they can ring ahead and order. How is that for service!!
Back at the campsite - which is already pretty wet underfoot from some afternoon showers - we just get set up and the quick awning out - our neighbours are out walking the dogs - and down comes more showers.
So we end up standing under our small awning talking to these people. That was fine - all good - but we thought they would never leave - even after the showers stopped for a bit.
But all good - they were nice people and we eventually got dinner sorted.
We were, by now, very wet and mucky underfoot - so a quick cleanup/wash up had us in bed and hoping that this rain would let up by morning.
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