Day 5 – Mildura to Broken Hill

Day 5, 23 August 2013 and I awoke to an overcast morning in Mildura so slept in and didn’t rush out to try and get any sunrise shots.  Before heading off to Wentworth and onto Broken Hill I dropped in at the main wharf on the Murray River at Mildura.

Onwards to Wentworth and decided that I wanted to avoid the Silver City Highway to Broken Hill as everyone said it was a fairly boring drive and that the road through Pooncarie and Menindee and onto Broken Hill was a much more enjoyable option.  This road follows the Darling River for a good part of the way and there are a number of spots where you can stop off and get some nice views of one of Australia’s great rivers.  The first part of the road between Wentworth and Pooncarie is sealed but the leg from Pooncarie to Menindee is primarily gravel.  I checked with the Information Centre at Wentworth and the very friendly lady assured me that it was open and should be an easy drive but she did say there were some nasty corrugations but nothing too bad.

Also, before leaving Wentworth she recommended I check out the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers and also the Perry Sandhills as both were only a couple of minutes from the centre of town.  An overcast morning didn’t make for any great pictures of the junction of the rivers but the sign was worth a shot.

The Perry Sandhills were really impressive and I’m glad I got the recommendation to have a look at them.  Once again the overcast sky didn’t make for great photos but I can’t wait to go back and spend some time there with a cloud free sky.  The red of the sand against the rich blue sky would make for spectacular photographs.

Back into Wentworth before heading off to Pooncarie and I spotted an old piece of rusted farm machinery which I couldn’t go past without snapping a couple of pics.  Here’s one of them:

Finally on the way to Pooncarie on sealed road but didn’t get very far before the first of several stops for pics.  Travelling by yourself makes it really easy to stop as often as you like which is great but you do need to be careful as the time passes really quickly and you can easily spend a lot longer than you intend.

Was hoping to get to Pooncarie in time for a counter lunch at the pub but was 30 minutes too late so had to settle for a pie and schooner.

Back on the road after the break for lunch and not long before I hit the gravel and stopped to try and catch some shots of what I think was a Kite.

Not much further on and I passed the “Welcome to Central Darling Shire”…that’s when you know you’re in outback NSW.  A short while later and the clouds started to part just as I was passing a bend in the Darling River that was offering a great photo opportunity and another reason to stop.

A bit further on and I noticed that a car ahead had stopped and the couple inside were looking at a large bird in a tree.  It was a Wedge-tailed eagle so I stopped the car and grabbed the D800 with 300mm lens and started walking slowly towards it.  Something startled it just as I was in the right spot and I was able to get a couple of shots as it started to fly off and then circled overhead.

Five minutes further on and I spotted a red kangaroo on the side of the road up ahead.  Before I was able to stop the car it hopped off the road but stopped after only a couple of metres, turned around and looked at me.  I grabbed the 300mm again and got this shot of the “red” before it hopped off.

It was starting to get late so I needed to get moving to make it to Menindee Lakes in time for sunset.  But as usual I managed to get distracted again by another Kite/Falcon and also an Emu that ran across the road in front of me.

…and with very little time to spare I arrived at Menindee just in time to grab a couple of shots across the lakes but unfortunately the clouds had moved over again and the sunset didn’t really deliver.

I didn’t hang around at Menindee down by the lake for long before walking back to the car and heading off on the 110 Kms drive to Broken Hill in the dark.  Luckily I didn’t meet any kangaroos on the way…

Arrived safely at the Silver Spade Motel about 7:45 pm and after checking in I headed down to the Demo Club for dinner…King George whiting and salad, then back to the room to load the days photos onto my PC and take a backup onto the hard drive.