HATTAH-KULKYNE NP - MILDURA- MUNGO NP

Perry Sandhills Wentworth-
Apparently Wentworth was a contender for the capital of Australia, since it harboured the port and junction of two of the largest rivers the Darling and the Murray. Over looking the meeting of the waters, which the two rivers were surprisingly distinct in their flow, it's hard to imagine the vast number of boats, barges, steamers, sailors, workers, travelers, traders etc that made this place a hive of activity for so many years.
Out the road a little ways, are the red dunes named perry Sandhills. It's bizzare, these hills have formed in the middle of no where- Salt bush and scrub and then THIS amazing Murray red gum- which has some how many moons ago, miraculously found a water source rich enough to sustain the growth of this tremendously huge tree. Over time the sand hills have been shifting and slowly burying the trunk of this tree. So now, when you climb your way to the top of the dune, you are standing amongst the canopy of this gorgeous gum known as "The God Tree". (see album) I'd like to quote a friend: " Beautiful... That's what lifes about- surviving and showing ourselves to the world ...despite the crap that comes our way".

Mungo NP-
We arrived in mildura keen to find out what was on offer in this part of the world...apparently oblivious to the main reason tourists visit mildura! The world heritage listed Mungo national park. So we thought it would be remiss of us not to check it out! Wow, this place was cool! Not everyone's cup of tea- but we loved it. Nature is AMAZING!!! I'm kinda pleased we knew nothing about it- no expectations often leaves the WOW FACTOR intact. A huge lake bed, now salt bush ( made us wanna see lake eyre), the moon like 'wall of china', phenomenal sand dune formations- which still remain a mystery.
We drove the 70km around the lake, checked out the history, and white mans imprint along the way. All well worth a day trip, and 90km of dirt corrugated road to get out there.

Kings billabong- we rode 20 odd km out to this billabong and nature walk in anticipation of wandering through the nature reserve. Well- this 'nature' walk was rather reminiscent of a 'rainforest' walk in the crown land near home that I dragged my siblings to experience one day during the school holidays. I still
get ragged about the black stump, burnt out 'rainforest' that I insisted was so beautiful and adventuresome all those years ago. Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder- only not today! This 'nature walk' consisted of meandering goat like tracks which you had to hallucinate were there at all, and acres of chest high thistle!! No signage directing our way, just scrappy scrub and weary legs. Expectations, only lead to great disappointment. I'm writing this as I'm miserably walking- Can you tell it's getting dark, we gotta find our way out (if we can) then ride all the way back! Reminds me of the time I thought the headlines in the local paper would read- " SES finds local Chiro lost in warbys"... Dragged another friend along for a picnic lunch one day. "Lets go for a short walk"- four hours later, 35deg day, 1 litre of water between us! Thank God some directional skills kicked in to scale up the gully wall and hopefully find the marked track- otherwise we'd still be out there, hey Clairey!!
And yes, incase you are all wondering- we are heading off into the australian outback! Our Guiding angels have got their work cut out for them, eh!!
It's times like this I wish I could teleport!!