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Tuesday, 16 April 2013

April 15 Menindee Lakes – Tilpa – Louth

"The Darling Run" saw the river boats going up the Darling from Wentworth, Pooncarie, Menindee, Willcannia, Tilpa, Louth then to Bourke. Brewarrina and Walgett. Today we continued our journey as close to the Darling as we could. Arrived in Tilpa about lunch time and after a quick look at the town, decided to continue on to Louth. We are camped next to the pub and on the banks of the Darling. The road up was all dirt but was a reasonable dirt road. Not long since it was graded. Lots of bull dust though.

This evening, Jo & I walked to the cemetery to see the Celtic Cross. It is made of marble and was a memorial to the wife of the man who established Louth. It apparently radiates light with the evening sunlight but as it was very cloudy, we did not see the radiating light. However, we had a magnificent rainbow that light up the sky and made an arc over the cross. En-route to the cemetery, we met up with “Fantastic Mr Fox” who was making his way towards the town. Was pretty skinny.

Menindee

Evening Drinks

Morning Pelican Parade

The Darling Runway - Traffic congestion

Sunday, 14 April 2013

April 13 -14 Menindee Lakes

April 13 Lake Mungo – Menindee Lakes

Up early to see the sun rise over Lake Mungo. It was really special as you could see the whole lake as the sun rose over the horizon. Must have been an amazing sight when it was full.

Drove to Menindee and have set up camp “On the Banks of the Darling” at Burke and Wills Campsite. The river is running as a result of all the rain in Queensland and they are letting water out of the lake into the Darling. People are fishing and catching lots of yellow belly. We saw a mass of carp not far from where the water was being released. Sat on the edge of the Lakes and watched the sun set. What a magical experience. There were pelicans just cruising along and lots of ducks and cormorants. They were backlit by the setting sun.

April 14 Menindee Lakes

Last year, I read an article in the Sunday Mail about “River lady” Tour on the lakes at Menindee. It was a sunset cruise which I would have preferred but they are not running them at the moment. To get to the boat, we had to go to the Main weir and then cross to the other side. The road across was closed to traffic today as water is being let out of the lake system.

The cruise actually went done the Darling R and in Lake Wetherell which is formed from the back up water from the dam. Cruise was good. There are hundreds of dead river gums in the lakes. They apparently drowned when the floods came down 50 years ago.

The Menindee Lake System is really a group of lakes: Menindee is the largest, Cawndilla and Pamamaroo are about the same size while Tandure is much smaller and Emu is the smallest. Jo and I did a drive to the lookout on Menindee Lake and water was pouring into it from the weir. We then went to Copi Hollow for a look and found a group of Black Cockatoos – made my day!!!! I got some lovely photos.

Yellow Belly for dinner tonight. My Dad would have loved to be here. He was a great Yellow Belly cook too.