Journey Home

From Meningie we decided to take our time heading home and spend a night at a free camp in Nhill and then a night at a ‘donation’ camp at Smythesdale… this is how they trip home unfolded…

Our first stop was in Coonalpyn – a non-descript town on the main highway between Adelaide and Melbourne.  To change people’s perception and make them stop, they painted 5 local school children on their large grain silos. It is an amazing sight and very cleverly done!

Keith is another town on the main highway and we stopped there for lunch. While in town we saw an old settler’s cottage and a land rover ‘on a stick’.

We crossed the border, back into Victoria and once we got to the town of Nhill we went out to the local aerodrome which was a major aerodrome during the war. Today there is not much to it, a free camping area and a small museum.

The next day we continued the journey home, pausing at the Pink Lake near Dimboola.  

Leaving the main highway we drove to Smythesdale near Ballarat. The local park / gardens is a place to free camp. They request donations to help with upkeep. There is a code to access hot showers and basic toilet facilities.

There is also a terrific pirate ship carved into an old pine tree stump. The kids had a blast climbing aboard and getting to know the wooden headed Captain Horse Radish.

We walked into town via the rail trail and found some more wooden tree carvings, the old gaol and the grand former post office. Enjoyed poking around in the local antique shop.

Enjoyed a longer walk back via the Woady Yaloak Creek and were treated to a great sunset to finish our last day before heading home!

$50

A day trip from Meningie we took was to circumnavigate Lake Albert. By doing so we were able to explore more of The Corrong National Park, visit an Aboriginal community, cross a ferry and see Australia’s only inland lighthouse…

Heading out of Meningie on the Narrung Road, our first port of call was at Long Point.  Here we met a few more pelicans and enjoyed terrific views across the waters to the sand dunes. 

We’d heard that there was a couple of resident seals that had adopted the local jetty. We were also warned to stay clear of them if they were there as they are quite aggressive. A fisherman told us they aren’t just aggressive, they are malicious – they deliberately destroy things, well, because they can. Sounds like a gang of teenagers with nothing better to do! Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately the seals were not around when we visited.

Continuing our journey, we stopped at Pelican Point where there were plenty of other birds. After a snack we continued on, stopping to admire some ruins along the way.

We next visited the Aboriginal community of Raukkan. It is a welcoming place – in fact the self-appointed Prime Minister of Raukkan (Russell) wandered over and introduced himself and took us on a bit of a tour which ended at the local café for a coffee! Raukkan is ‘famous’ as the birthplace of David Unaipon (1872-1967). He was an Aboriginal preacher, author and inventor. He adorns our $50 note. Also on the note is the little church in Raukkan. This is what brought us here, to see this church.

Russell told us all about the new murals on the community centre and the artist who painted them. He even showed us photos on his mobile phone of the artist at work. The faces of an Aboriginal Elder and the staff of the community centre were absolutely brilliant!

Russell suggested a nice place by the lake (Lake Alexandrina which joins Lake Albert), so we drove there for our picnic lunch. By the lake we spotted countless birds, and several different species.

After lunch we continue our circumnavigation and came to the Narrung Ferry which crosses the narrow body of water where the two lakes join. The mighty Murray River enters Lake Alexandrina before it flows into the Southern Ocean.

Across the (free) ferry and we did the short walk up to the Point Malcolm Lighthouse – Australia’s only inland lighthouse. Paddle steamers used to ply these lakes and had to navigate the narrow gap between the two lakes.

We found some tiny baby turtles on this walk which was very cool!

Continuing clockwise, we found our way back to Meningie. 

Albert's Lake

The first night at Lake Albert the wind howled and it rained a lot. Then it continued into the next day, so we had a bit of time to play games in the caravan. 

We ventured out between rain storms a couple of times to explore the little town of Meningie. We found a large carved pelican in the main street as well as a nice playground that paid tribute to ‘Storm Boy’ the book / movie that made the pelicans of the Corrong so famous.

Had a laugh when we saw this vehicle… the local lawn mower – with a trailer load of sheep!

‘The Birdman of The Corrong’ is a bit of a myth – it involved a pint sized bushranger who supposedly got around on the back of an ostrich… To celebrate this, the good people of Meningie have erected a replica of the ostrich which they encourage you to climb on. Alongside it is the unusual story of John Francis Peggotty, aka The Birdman of The Corrong!

The caravan park management have a good sense of humour. There were several signs and other features around the place that led to this conclusion:

The dog on the toilet was a reminder about picking up after your dog…

As for the human toilets, there was one for those who have one and one for those that don’t have one…

The surfboard in the tree, well I’m not sure what the message was there…

There is no doubt that early in the morning was the best time on the lake. It was mirror still and the pelicans were about.

We enjoyed kayaking the lake and seeing some of the pelicans close up.

These pelicans, apparently are the local taxi service for lazy sea gulls…

This stunning sunset from the rear of our campsite was… well, simply stunning!