As we left Mungo National Park, the sky was looking very ominous with big dark clouds moving in on us. We all packed up quickly that morning as we didn’t want to get stuck on the dirt roads as they turned to mud. We weren’t driving long before the rain started, but luckily it was not heavy – just enough to keep the dust at bay, but not enough to make the roads too slippery. Before long we made it to the blacktop and headed for Wentworth.
The official end of the Darling River, where it meets the Murray, is Wentworth and that was the plan for the final stop before the others headed back to Sydney, but as we pulled in to a fairly uninspiring caravan park we weren’t convinced. After finding out that there was a big caravan show on there the next day which would result in the place being overrun, we decided we would drive on to Mildura instead. We ended up finding a really nice caravan park just across the Murray River in the NSW border town of Buronga. It was set on the banks of the Murray and we were soon settled in.
The next day we explored the town and went to the Mildura Brewery for lunch which was a nice treat after a couple of weeks of making packed lunches every day. As it was Archie’s birthday that day, we all went out for dinner that night at a great place called Pizza Café. It was a lovely way to spend our last night together.
We felt a bit down as the other families headed for home then next morning – we got up early to bid our farewells as they both got an early start at 6:30am as it was a long drive ahead. We had been enjoying being passengers the first couple of weeks as James had done a great job of researching and organising which meant we really didn’t have to decide much at all. Now that the others were gone, the kids didn’t have their playmates anymore and we were on our own and completely responsible for our destiny. Although that was an exciting prospect, it was also a bit overwhelming until we actually got on with things and got into a rhythm.
We spent the next few days getting sorted. We stocked up on food and equipment we needed, Kat cooked up a batch of spag bol to put in the freezer as well as some ANZAC cookies to celebrate ANZAC day, we washed everything we owned and worked out where we were heading next. Once we were all sorted we spent a couple of fun days playing tennis, swimming and visiting the various playgrounds at the caravan park, exploring the Mildura markets and buying treats and dress ups from the local vinnies, in Em’s case a pink tutu, top of most peoples packing list when heading to the outback! It was great just having a few lazy days before embarking on the start of our adventure around the western half of our amazing country.
Wide open spaces 