The Hay plains

After leaving Renmark, I drove through Mildura and on to Robinvale where I camped at Lake Bananee.  This land is amazing with what seems to be lakes everywhere which are fed by the Murrumbidgee river and they all have lots of water in them.

There were a couple of other campers here, all caravans.  We all parked under the peppermint gums which was lovely.  There were also shade shelters, toilets, water, bins and barbecues, all for free.

Tuesday I drove onto Hay across endless flat plains.  Just out of Balranald, there was a sign to Yanga station indicating you could take a tour of the homestead at 10.30 am.  I was about on time and drove in.  I was the only person taking the tour so I got the personal approach from the ranger Mon. This was a huge property, at one stage the largest in the southern hemisphere, taken up by squatters in the early 19th century and had some famous owners along the way such as WC Wentworth.  The State government had bought it in 2005 from the Black family who had it for a century.  They were absentee landlords who remained in England and made their way out for inspections from time to time. Some time before they sold it, they emigrated to Australia and now live in Melbourne.  I checked out the web and it said that the government was rumoured to have paid $38million, but that was pooh poohed by Mr Black who wouldnt say what they paid.  It was an interesting tour going through the homestead, the kitchen, cooks sitting room and the main areas of the house where the manager was allowed to live unless the owners were arriving, then he had to move out to one of the outbuildings.  The structure was interesting, the newer part made with split white ceder pine logs and the older part with wood slabs.

The property comprises of sheep farming with some cropping but the spectacular part and obviously why the Parks people now have it, is because of the Lake - which is HUGE.  I was told it was over 20km in length and had lots of bird life and fish.  It however was bone dry for over 5 years in the recent drought and has been filling up from the floods up north over the last 5 years.  The Lachlan river runs into it.  I assumed it was irrigated from the lake, but was told no, the water they use comes from the Murrumbidgee because the Lake is dry at least once every 5 years.  Photos in the exhibition included lots of huge murray cod being caught in the lake.

I then drove onto Hay and camped at Sandy Cove on the Murrumbidgee river again a lovely spot with lots of river gums to shade, toilets, water and bins.  There were a lot of people here and most had been there for a few days.  All those I spoke to were from NSW and gave me ideas about where to travel next.

It wont let me add any more photos - it thinks I have had my quota - I am going to have to publish this and then start a new entry to put any more photos on.