27 July – The high road to Wentworth and beyond

Sooner or later there comes a time in each of our lives when we need to seek out pastures new. Today, for The G and me, was one of those days. Of course, once you have been staying in a place for 5 nights, packing up feels a bit like moving home. We are headed for Mildura which, The G tells me, is grape (eating rather than drinking variety) and citrus country. We had enjoyed Broken Hill but felt that we have taken everything that it had to offer, determined that we would not live there for quids and concluded that it would probably be a ghost town in 20 years’ time.

Our ultimate destination today is Mildura but Wentworth is on the way and seemed to be an interesting place to stop. Wentworth is the place where the Murray and Darling Rivers meet, as I thought, in a turbulent confusion of rushing waters. In this expectation I was to be disappointed.

As you can see from the map, there is
not a lot of stuff along the route from
Broken Hill to Wentworth.

The drive between Broken Hill and Wentworth is about 280 kms and is across bushland that varies between relatively open to low scrub with scattered trees. There isn't a lot of forest. There are slight inclines in the road; Broken Hill is 315 metres above sea level, Wentworth is 37 metres and Mildura 50 metres so we dropped 250 metres as we came but it was not noticeable. The road, like the others we have travelled on, is straight. It is also extremely well made. We have remarked to one another that the condition of the roads in the outback of NSW is remarkably good.

There is little to see. It’s not boring so much as just unchanging, and you would not want to drive these roads with any frequency, at least I wouldn't. There are no sights of any note but we did pass a couple of points of vague interest. There is a road stop at a place called Coombah. Between Broken Hill and Coombah there are a few kilometres where the road travels alongside what looks, to all intents and purposes, like the country park of an English gentleman. There are trees that are well spaced out with grass in between. We had seen this on the drive between Mudgee and Cobar. We are not sure how it happens and whether it is natural. I am not sure that we care very much but perhaps we ought to.

Parkland - well, almost.

The Coombah road stop is unexciting. We stopped nonetheless, but it looked so uninviting that we did not go in even though I was sure that they had the best bread and butter pudding in the state. I have formed a fancy that outback roadstops vie with each other for the best bread and butter pudding. I found an article that made me think perhaps it would have been interesting. The woman who manages says that she has seen an emu trying to self-serve petrol. That would be a sight.

The Combat Roadhouse where emus fill themselves up with petrol

About 100 kms from Wentworth there is a sign to the Gingko Mine. We thought we had heard of this before. There are, in fact two mines, the Gingko and the Snapper mines and they mine mineral sands. These sands are from old beaches from an inland sea that existed about 7 Million years ago. A highly informative website told me that they mine Rutile and Zircon. Natural rutile can contain significant amounts of tantalum and niobium, as well as up to 10% iron. It has the highest ability to propagate light than any other known mineral. Zircon is very hard, apparently, and is used in blast furnaces (it has a melting point above 2,500 degrees C), in spacecraft because of its resistance to heat and corrosion, and in computer disc drives. So, now you know – wake up at the back.

There is a bridge which is at what I think is called the Bunnerungee Bridge Rest Area. It is quite a large bridge which seems to cross a dry river. I think that the area is a lake system that does not always sport lakes that are full. I walked down to the river or lakebed and it was pretty muddy. I did take a picture of a magnificent thistle. As we left we saw a trio of memorial stones but it was not clear exactly why they were there.

A handsome bridge over a dry lake although the lake bed was wet and muddy

A very handsome thistle, but I am not sure that New South Wales is its native habitat

We were not sure why there were three memorials at the Bunnerungee Bridge Rest Area. This is one of them

Continuing along the highway (that's all you can do other perhaps than take one of the many turns to Pooncarrie) there is a signpost to Annabranch Hall about 65 kms from Wentworth. I had visions of a magnificent hall in the bush but in fact it is just an area with nothing there.

As we drew closer to Wentworth there were more and more turnings off the road to properties. None of these properties had a house that was visible (though one had a “for sale” sign with a “sold” sticker across it and the sign bore the picture of a house). These properties each had a sign which proclaimed its name. Each sign could be read if one was travelling from Wentworth (the opposite direction to us). The point is I suppose that no one would be travelling to and looking for these places from Broken Hill so the information needed only to be advertised from the one direction.

The G had selected a place called the Artback Gallery and Café for lunch but when we arrived it was closed. So was the rest of Wentworth or so it seemed. Far from being the hustling bustling centre of life I had anticipated it was quiet and dull. The G dealt with the Tourist Information Centre which, with two people behind the counter, was grossly overstaffed. I think that the main result of that was that we found a baker that served an acceptable coffee and homemade (or made locally) Cornish pasties and jam doughnuts. They said that the man who made the pasties was Cornish and certainly (and I am something of an expert on the Cornish pasty) I think that they were close to the genuine article.

I wonder who persuaded the Marketing Department of Massey Ferguson that they should erect this memorial. On reflection, such a tiny tractor seems perhaps less than appropriate 

We took a walk of a couple of kays each way to the place where the two mighty rivers meet. Far from the crashing sounds and turbulent sights that I had expected I was confronted with an expanse of quiet water, muddy and grey-brown, that was presumably wending its way somewhere but which was in no great hurry to get there.

"In the land three rivers I'm longing to be, Where the Tyne, Wear and Tees meet the north rolling sea." Oh, no, that's another country ... this one is two rivers and they meet in calm, if muddy, waters

An MX7 like Terry used to have (he had two apparently and surprised when he said the they were very reliable)

I have decided that I am interested in the flora and fauna of the bush (this interest will pass) and, having noticed that there is a Botanical Garden near Mildura determined to visit it on the way. As it happened, as we drove out of Wentworth, The G spotted a large corrugated iron shed with a sign outside proclaiming “Auto Museum”. We had to stop. It was $5 each and when we got inside it was wonderful. Quirky would be the word. The shed was filled with cars that looked like barn finds. We locked the fellow in conversations and the place is basically for people to put cars in while they get round to restoring them. One interesting one was a Ford Falcon Delta was an XL Falcon sedan given a Mustang-style makeover (I mistook it for a Mustang and then got confused by the boot). This car was apparently used in an armed robbery and its history is documented.

The Big V Auto Museum - quaint, quirky and, to anyone the least interested in motor cars and their restoration, a must visit. There's a nice collection of bikes as well

A row of barn finds ... 

A bit of rodding goes on: this Beetle has a nicely modified back end

Another RX7

A Toyota Crown. Very unusual now; we spoke to its owner who had done all the work including some lovely velour upholstery work. He had never done upholstery before but, he said, bought a sewing machine and just "gave it a go"

Ford Falcon Delta

An old Chev (I do not know the model)

If I were to have a truck this is what I would have. The G agrees - indeed she thought we would be driving off in this

Nicely done Ford rod in the entrance

The result of stopping here meant that we were too late for the Botanic Garden so we rolled into Mildura and found our accommodation. It’s an old shop and they have gone for the distressed look and I may say that it looks wonderful. It’s very well done and I am sure we shall be very comfortable. On the way in we noticed signs advertising the Merbein Great Australian Vanilla Slice incorporating The National Dried Vine Fruit Bake-Off. A Mildura woman won second prize in this competition last year and her shop is but a cockstride up the road. I shall be sampling some of her wares tomorrow.

The G is pleased with our apartment; we both love the distressed look

The bathroom, fortunately, is not distressed.

A bedroom wall. Beware the number 85 London Transport bus on its way to Victoria from Hyde Park via Islington that has decided to route itself through Mildura

Magnificent lock on the bedroom door - ain't no one gonna get in!

The G had decided that we would take dinner at The Black Stump and that we would also join in their Trivia Night. Firstly, I should say that dinner was excellent. The saltbush mutton was magnificent and The G, Terry and Enid were all impressed with theirs. The waiting staff, notably Jack the Man, we really friendly. The Trivia Night started at 20:00 and we had to move to the bar. There we found a room full of people none of whom seemed to be more than half our age. We called our team The Old Farts and proceeded to come a healthy last with 42 points. But we were equal last with two other teams so honour was partially satisfied!

The Black Stump men's room: a new look to the brick shithouse! 

Saltbush mutton

A chocolate affair enjoyed by The G

Cheese served with honey curd. We had not heard of honey curd but will try it. This one was not made with eggs, apparently just cream, honey and butter

Trivia night at The Black Stump