Leaving Melbourne Bound for Lock 9 via Wedderburn

Our plans for leaving early on Friday 24^th June were dashed when Lorraine receive a telephone call telling her that the rose garden at Inala Village in Blackburn South was going to be demolished.  The rose garden was established in 1942 in memory of the men of the Salvation Army who formed the band for the 2/22^nd battalion Lark Force in WWII.  Lorraine’s maternal grandfather was one of those men and his rose bush had to be dug up, bagged up and replanted in our rose garden at home.  

So, it wasn’t until 10 pm that we arrived at Hard Hill Tourist Reserve, Wedderburn, having left home at 5.15 pm.  But with Q, we were set up and playing cards with a nice hot cuppa by 10.10 pm.  Bliss!   The township of Wedderburn really took off in the 1850’s with the discovery of gold in 1852 with the population fluctuating between 6000 and several hundred, but in the 1890’s gold ceased to be regarded as a major source of income for Wedderburn.  However, there have been several revivals of gold fever since then, the main ones being in 1950 and 1980.  In 1950 several large finds sparked a rush in which 8000 people visited the town, many to dig and some to simply look. The discovery of the Hand of Faith and the Beggary Lump at Wedderburn in 1980 started another rush and since then there has been a steady trickle of gold seekers and many small nuggets and some reasonably big have been found but none publicised – as we haven’t got anything to report either!

Our campsite last night at Lock 9 at Lake Cullulleraine was magnificent.  Jenny and Cameron had arrived and set up earlier, Cat and Keith arrived later to be greeted by a roaring camp fire, bubbles and nibblies.  The first navigational lock on the River Murray was completed a short distance from here, at Blanchetown in Sth Australia, in 1922.  The weirs and locks were originally constructed to provide year round navigation for commercial cargo and passenger paddle steamers.  They were generally built too late to be of benefit to the river trade, as the development of railways and the growth of motorised road haulage had overtaken river transport.  Today there are 13 navigation locks on the Murray River.

John and Cameron building a fire that Lorraine said we "had to have"!

We left our Lock 9 free campsite (after scaring the local fishermen out in their boats on the water - Keith jumped in for a quick 'shower'! - freezing cold) and checked out the lock prior to travelling to the Waikerie Bakery.  According to Keith, the correct pronunciation matches “bakery” ie Waikerie Bakery [wakery bakery].  It is not Wai-kairy or Kai-ikery as some of us were pronouncing it.  Anyway, the lock was open and therefore allowed us legal access and the ability to pick some of their (tart) oranges off the trees. 

We had to stop at the border crossing into Sth Australia and between us all we were divested of our beautiful strawberries, capsicums, green beans, apples, lemons (for our sundowner G&T’s L) and the afore-mentioned ‘tart oranges’.  

At a small roadside fruit and veg stall further along the road we met a real Aussie woman who managed to sell us nearly all the produce to replace what we’d lost.  In the broadest of Aussie accents (read ‘bogan’), she declared she was an Aussie but she’d, “married a big fat wog” so she had full confidence selling fruit and veg and telling us how to look after our largesse.  Only keep tomatoes out of the fridge, never in the fridge – “that’s why the supermarket tomatoes are so shit, they put them in a coolroom and sell you shit tomatoes”!  And to keep broccoli fresh, “put it in a bucket of cold water, put the lid on it and gases will come off the broccoli and the water will be freezing effing cold in the morning”.  A real treasure she was.

Now, because we went to the Waikerie bakery, we ended up taking the tourist route for the rest of the day.  First to Cadell, which meant we had to get a ferry to the other side of the Murray River.  “Haven’t they heard of bridges here?!” asked Cat.  But it was a very enjoyable and quaint experience.  Lorraine drove onto the ferry, hopped out of the car and joined John chatting to the ferryman.  He showed us a kite’s nest high up in a gum tree and told us all about the two adult and one baby kite that lived in the nest.  He chatted about the other birds that inhabited the area and how long he had been the ferryman.  After about 15-20 minutes, we realised he hadn’t even started moving the ferry and Cat & Keith, Jenny & Cameron were waiting on the other side.  Clearly he doesn’t get many people to chat with during his days manning the ferry.

In search of Worlds End Camping Reserve, Cat’s sat nav told us, about two hours later to turn right up along a country dirt road ... ... one turn right too early and the van got well and truly christened on the red, wet, dirt road.  We had a lovely although damp stay at this reserve, another free camping place that provided some beautiful scenery; huge cliffs and a dry creek bed that showed absolutely no sign of any recent rainfall.