Mungo National Park

Thurs 15^th May

As planned, we were up early to drive further along the loop track to Vigars Well.  The moon was still up, big and full as the sun started to rise in the east.  The sky behind us came to life in a blaze of red, orange and yellow.  It was a beautiful drive.  We were the only ones out there, our footprints the first to break the smoothness of the sand as we walked across the ridge of the dunes enjoying the changing light of the rising sun.

We spent an hour or so exploring the area.  Eventually we returned to the main track and continued our drive, which took us towards the northern end of the ‘lunette’ (crescent shaped line of sand dunes, 30km in length), over the top and down into the ancient lakebed.  This is now covered in bluebush and occupied by emus and kangaroos, but you still get the feeling of driving across a lakebed. 

We had a good look around the remains of the Zanci homestead.  I liked the old stables, built from pine logs bound together with fencing wire.  The roof had been thatched with wire and dried spinifex.  We went down into the dugout, used as a coolroom for supplies but also a refuge from the summer heat.

Having explored the whole area, the information in the visitor centre was now so much more relevant.  There was a short film too, including an interview with the archaeologist who found the bones of Mungo woman and, a few years later, Mungo man.  Really interesting.

One of the megafauna, known as Ziggy.  Oops, I should clarify that's the one on the right!

Meanwhile, preparations were under way at the Meeting Place in the visitor centre courtyard for an event of some sort … a stage, lighting, sound checks, chairs set up and national park workers gathered.

Later in the afternoon we drove out to the Walls lookout, from where we thought we’d watch the sunset and the full moon rise.  It was great out there; they have a boardwalk to enable people to get quite close to the ‘pinnacles’ of the Walls of China.

We were rewarded with the soft, changing light on the dunes as the sun set behind us.  However, long after the sun went down the moon still hadn’t risen!  We ended up driving to the next lookout from where we were lucky enough to see it full and orange, rising over the top of the dunes.

It was magic being out on that ancient lakebed, lit only by moonlight.  We feel we really experienced Mungo today, morning, day and night.  However, things only got more surreal when we returned to the visitor centre – the courtyard was full of people, the fireplaces were aglow and Archie Roach was on stage performing.  There must have been a couple of hundred people.  What a beautiful atmosphere it was, under the desert moon seemingly out in the middle of nowhere.  We felt very lucky to have such an experience.

Archie Roach (centre) on stage at Mungo

Beautiful Mungo morning

We're on the road!

Wed 14^th May

Aaah, the tranquillity.  At our bush camp in Mungo National Park, under the soft light of a huge full moon, we’re enjoying a quiet port.  We left the Murray Valley Hwy at Tooleybuc, just beyond Swan Hill, this morning and travelled north through Balranald.  It didn’t take long to feel like the ‘outback’ as we travelled through flat saltbush country, with the last 100km to Mungo on red dirt.  Plenty of wild emus to be seen; we stopped to acquaint ourselves with a shingleback lizard too.

I first visited Mungo NP nearly 17 years ago and was really keen to return.  There’s a new visitor centre and day area, a couple of boardwalks where it used to be possible to walk on the sand dunes and the courtyard of the shearers’ quarters is now paved as opposed to dirt.  However, nothing can change the magic of this ancient landscape.  There’s a 70km self-guided drive loop which cuts across the lakebed and snakes around the sand dunes – we did half of it this afternoon, with multiple sightseeing stops, then settled in at the Belah camp.

About to hit the red dirt - beautiful

Under the full Mungo moon

Sand dunes known as the Walls of China

The countdown is nearly over - just two more sleeps!  The extra pump we were waiting on arrived yesterday, it's now fitted, the Troopy's packed and on Monday morning we'll be on our way.  First destination is Mungo NP north of Mildura, somewhere I went about 16 years ago and am looking forward to seeing again.  Meanwhile ... it continues to rain in Eurobin :)

Preparations

As part of the preparation for this dream trip, I've found (well, I think I have!) a way of documenting our journey online for family and friends to follow... and this is it.

We don't have an exact departure date but we're aiming for the first weekend in May.  I have Gayle moving into my house on Anzac Day so I've been busy packing boxes, cleaning out cupboards etc. There's still a lot do do, but as I'm leaving the house furnished it's not as bad as it could have been.

The Troopy is ready and waiting to go.  Phil's been doing lots of little modifications to make life on the road as comfortable as possible.  We're both really happy with the set-up.  One of the most significant changes we made was to remove the bulky esky-style fridge and replace it with the drawer fridge we had in the van.  We then had room above to fit a large food box, creating a lot of extra storage.

While it was sad to sell the camper van, we are so happy to have a 4WD which will enable us to get to the places we really want to see.  There are many parts of the Kimberley we hope to get to including the Mitchell plateau, Cape Leveque and the Dampier Peninsula.  Then of course there are the Bungle Bungles - we'll be able to get right into the national park and camp in there.

It's a well set up troopy with a pop-up roof, meaning I can look after my back:)  The seats are really comfortable too.  Along one side is a bench, sink, cupboards and drawers, with a couch along the other side.  This pulls across to become the bed, which is thick and great to sleep on.  There's an extra fuel tank (diesel) and 60 litre water tank.  We have a solar panel to help power the fridge, along with a dual battery system.  We'll be pretty self-sufficient and thus able to bush camp, with just the occasional stay in a caravan park when we want to use the laundry, kitchen or hot showers.

Shane and Emily were both here for Easter and tomorrow Shane's driving my Subaru back to Melbourne as he'll be using it while I'm away.  How long will we be away?  As long as we can!  We'll probably return around mid-October to enable Phil to do another hop season.  For now though, the rest of this week will be very busy but then we'll be on countdown!