After a cold night, once more spent buried under a great weight of warmth, we woke late, still coming to terms with the daylight savings change, to a glorious sunny day. For all that promise, the temperature has barely reached 16 degrees and it looks as if we are in for another cold night, hence the decision to stay in a caravan park with electricity.
We crossed the Murray into New South Wales yet again
and headed north on the Cobb Highway, otherwise known as The Long Paddock, a route that continues north to Wilcannia, that
small settlement on the Darling River we were unfairly warned about stopping
in. We travelled up through flat cleared grassland, seemingly unfenced. As we
neared Mathoura, the fences did appear as did the cattle. On our right, to the
east, State Forest closed in on us, all situated on the lower plateau cut off
from the uplifted Cadell Tilt. This geological phenomenon occurred sometime
during the last 60,000 years and caused the rerouting of the Murray River. The
road follows the fault line almost to Deniliquin and the varying levels of the
land are quite pronounced.
We stopped at Mathoura, once a booming timber town,
now catering for the tourist who stop and call into the Gulpa Creek Reed Beds Bird
Hide and the nearby Murray Valley Regional and National Parks. And that is
where we headed on impulse, or rather at my suggestion. The upstream route of
the Murray River from Echuca is a north east arc away from the sealed roads,
but accessible from here at Mathoura or more particularly at Picnic Point.
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| Access across the wetlands |
We drove on down to the Murray and wandered along
the absolutely wonderful reserve on an elbow of the river. Here the banks are
low and the water accessible, inviting the launch of a kayak had we one on
board. There is a rather rustic caravan park sharing the space; what a fabulous
spot to come if one were equipped with small water craft and the desire to hang
about in the one spot for a while. Here beside the river we watched a family of
ducks, a couple of superb wrens and a variety of others, to make up for those
missed at the hide.
The Barmah – Millewa Forest is the world’s largest Redgum
forest, and soon to be proclaimed as the Barmah National Park. The Barmah
Wetlands is a scattering of forested swamps, lagoons, grasslands, lakes and
channels within the forest and is a “wetlands of international importance”
under the RAMSAR Convention.
Returning to the Cobb Highway, we continued north to Deniliquin, just a further thirty five kilometres further on. Deniliquin hosted the CMCA annual rally a couple of years ago and is unsurprisingly an RV Friendly town. There are several free parking spots about the town however as mentioned as I started this post, it is simply too cold to take advantage of this generosity.
We started with the Information Centre which doubles
as the Peppin Heritage Centre, all housed in the original Deniliquin Public
School, situated on the banks of the Edward River. The exhibits include a
touring World War II exhibition, an original ram shed, a well set up period schoolroom,
the Wanganella gaol, and impressively the story of the Peppin family, the
development of the Peppin Merino sheep breed and the evolution of the selections
and stations, the forerunners to the farms here in the region.
The Peppin Merino breed was developed by George Peppin
and his two sons, George and Frederick, from Somerset, England in the 1860s to
meet the demands of the harsh conditions of the Australian environment. Today
it is said that 70% of the Australian merinos are direct descendants from the
Peppin’s flock as are most of those in New Zealand.
We spent half an hour chatting with the two lovely
ladies in the Centre about rice growing and the irrigation system here, and the
effect of the drought years on agriculture in the area.
Deniliquin is home to one of the largest and most
sophisticated rice mills in the Southern Hemisphere, employer of hundred and twenty
people and the home to SunRice whose product we have frequently purchased both
here and in New Zealand. During the drought years from 2007 through to 2011,
the mill closed and rice was sourced from that growing in other countries but
all under the SunRice umbrella. Deniliquin together with Berriquin, Deniboota,
Denimein and Wakool, all sharing the same irrigation system, produces 50% of
Australia’s rice crop as well as 20% of the state’s milk production, 75% of the
state’s processing tomatoes and 40% of the state’s potatoes.
And the irrigation system, the Lawson Syphons, is
quite amazing, a wonder we hope to explore as we proceed along our planned
route. A gravity fed canal runs out of the Murray River at Mulwala, upriver
from Picnic Point, and runs about forty six kilometres north east to Berrigan, then more
or less west to Finley and on to the Edwards River, where it is siphoned under
that body of water and then again under the Aljoes Creek. The work was initiated
in 1939 but held up during the war years, finally completed in 1955. This all
leaves Deniliquin at the centre of the largest irrigation system in Australia.
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| Ute covered with mosaic tiles |
The park we have chosen, price driven, is adjacent to
the Tarangle Creek which wends its way into the Edwards River. Behind us along
the flood bank, a path stretches out enticingly. Perhaps if we are up early
enough we could take a walk before checking out. However experience tells me
that we are likely to be too tardy to do so.
There is one other eccentric attraction here in
Deniliquin, home to seven and a half thousand folk; a ute up on a pole to
celebrate the annual Ute Muster. In 1999 the town hosted the first such rally
writing itself into the Guinness Book of Records with the largest parade of
legally registered utes in the world, a total of 2,839. Today we saw one of the
several decorated utes that populate the otherwise vacant areas of the town,
this one covered with a mosaic of mirror tiles. Needless to say we will not be
seeking to attend the next muster but might check out the elevated vehicle, and
maybe take a souvenir photo?
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