Friday
at Mungo National Park
We awoke about 7.30am
to the sounds of the birds in the trees in the National Park and I would not
have got out of bed for a while but for the need to visit the loo. What a
lovely surprise I got when I stumbled out of the van dressed beautifully in a
beanie, coat, jarmies and ugg boots.
The sun was burning off the mist which gave the bush a very soft
filtered light look. Trees and grasses glistened as the dew from the night
before was shone upon by the sun.
I boiled the billy for
tea and coffee and I cut up fruit for breakfast which Greg didn’t think much of
but I was determined to eat healthy. We did not bother with showers but had a
wash in a bucket. We weren’t that dirty as we just travelled the day before and
besides it was so cold it wasn’t like you were hot and sweaty and covered in sweat,
sunscreen and insect repellent.
While we were
attending to our morning bits and pieces, I made a cake in the shuttle chef.
Greg was an important part of this as apart from not having any room, a mixing
bowl, an electric beater, etc, I got him to beat the eggs with one of those old
fashioned hand beater things and cut the baking paper circles to go in the top
and bottom of the steamer bowl. Actually he took such care about the circles I
had to remind him that it was not a craft session, its going to be cooked!
This was a sultana
cake using sultanas I bought off Joe the fruit man near Mildura. Basically I
used a recipe from the classic book ‘common sense cooking’ and adapted it to
the shuttle chef. Instead of baking your cake in a tin in the oven, you put it
in the pudding bowl, put that in the pan of hot water half way up the steamer,
simmer for about 45 minutes on the stove, then put the pan with the steamer
inside in the shuttle chef for 5 hours. The shuttle chef recipe book says to
cook it for only 30 minutes but I did that and it was undercooked. Anyway, I
told Wendy and Pat that I was doing this and should make for a lovely afternoon
tea. We all looked forward to the cake that afternoon. A few little prayers for
it to turn out didn’t go astray either! I put the shuttle chef on the bed and
jumped in the car for our adventure.
The four of us – Greg
and I and our new found friends Wendy and Pat met down at the visitor centre
and booked in for our walking tour. We met the most delightful fellow called
Ernest who is a local tribal lad. We paid for our tour and learned that it
wasn’t until 2pm that afternoon. Bummer we thought it was in the morning. No
matter there were some walks we were interested in.
Mind the Emus crossing! On the way to the visitor centre from camp. |
One was a 2.5km loop
and the other 5km. I wanted to do the big one but the time estimated was 3 to 4
hours. I thought I could do it a lot faster but just in case it was difficult
we decided to do the short one. In
any case, I didn’t want Greg to get really tired and had no ideas of the
fitness levels in the other guys. Good thing as it turned out, as we strolled
along (not fast enough for me) but in saying that we saw all sorts of things.
Greg and I took photos of interesting old fence posts, scenery trying to
capture the vast lake landscape with the bright sands of the lunette in the
distance.
Part of the original fence with the shearing shed in the distance |
We came across about 8
emus in their family group – whatever you call a bunch of emus is – a feather
duster? Boa? Anyway these were wild and just there and don’t get too close to
the wildlife. Greg and I want
spare taking photos anyway and Pat – the emu whisperer went around the group to
see if he could get them to come closer. So long as we were happy so long as a
clump of trees weren’t too far in case they decided to run at us. Ernest had
said that some of them have chicks and can be quite protective. That’s enough
for me, I have no desire to be run down by an emu or several emus.
Our first wild emu on the walk - we could not stop taking photos |
We saw some lovely
Cypress Pines which were nicely growing in a forest until the first farmers
came and chopped lots of them down to make things. They are termite resistant
so became instantly popular for building material. The shearing shed at Mungo and Zanci are both made
of them and are a great thing to see – all be at the sacrifice of a lovely
tree. Anyway they are encouraging regrowth so I wondered why people can’t just
come along and dig some holes and plant some more but I don’t know anything
about conservation so should keep my opinions to myself.
A lovely example of a cypress pine |
We finished our walk which
was lovely but by which time was lunch time so we decided to go back to our
camps and have some lunch and meet again closer to the time of the tour. Back
at camp I had a really good idea to reheat some left over stew which makes a
nice hot lunch – and soak it up with our stale bread. It takes a lot of gravy
to make stale bread palatable and I absolutely hate stale bread.
The dunes in the background of Lake Mungo |
Being a dill, I forgot
to buy bread for the trip and all I had was a quarter of a stale loaf which was
not really smart. I was a bit distracted in Wentworth. Anyway after the ‘shit I
forgot bread’ episode I decided to make a shopping list in my phone! Its
amazing the simple things you forget on holidays – and more importantly what a
dill you must appear to be when asking for simple things around a strange
supermarket. But I digress. Whilst eating lunch the weather started to cloud
over, a mean cold breeze sprung up. We ate outside in our little under cover
picnic area and I got out the computer and started typing things to put in a blog.
I got an hour by which time me and the lunch were cold and the computer was
dying of a flat battery. Time to leave for our tour anyway!
More emus! |
Emus taking a drink at one of the waterholes left by the recent rains |
Whoops but first we
need some firewood!! Ernest said that if we go outside the park for firewood it
would be just fine. We would get firewood later.
We all met back at the
visitors centre. To my surprise there were several other vehicles there.
Everything from Nissan Patrols, Pajeros, Prados, Cruisers, Jeeps, then Subaru
all wheel drives, even a combi van and a few sedans (poor buggers!)
Ernest appeared and
told us all to follow him. He had a Toyota 4wd ute. Another bloke got in the
car with him and he took off. The funniest thing was that everyone wanted to
keep up and that ensured that it was hayhem in the car park as people reversed
and justled for position. It was hilarious to watch. Forming some sort of line
that seemed to be kick arse 4wd vehicles and then the rest, the combi was
behind us. Then he dropped further behind as the road was quite washed out from
recent rain and very corrugated. The cruiser just rode the bumps like a surfie
girl winning a world championship. Hate to be in the combi!
Evening on the road to the lake |
We all arrived at the
spot and Ernest got out and headed for the loos – so we all got out of our cars
and mingled around like lost sheep. At the last minute I got out my coat and a
beanie as I am the first person to get an ear ache and a headache in a cold
wind. Turned out to be the smartest thing I’d done for a few minutes (ok all
day).
Ernest came back from
the loo and his mate got out of the car and bought with him a guitar –
elaborately decorated but it was far from new. Ernest gathered us around and
introduced us to his cousin – Ernie. Now that’s confusing. He wasn’t just
Ernest or Ernie but they were the 4th or 5th. They
explained which tribes they were from and where their parents came from. I
can’t remember where but it was great to hear them talking with such fondness
for their people. Then without further udo he just said, ‘enough of that lets
walk’ and turned and walked off. Ernie following and the rest of us in a
bemused state of sheep – followed without question.
Lake Mungo with the Lunette in the distance |
Ernest and Ernie took
turns explaining what some of the plants were for. They called the area their
supermarket. The first plant was on a blue bushy plant with bright red berries
on it. He picked some and told us they tasted like tomatoes. We tried and they
did. From a tiny small berry about the 8th of a size of a grape came
this vivid amazing tomato flavour. Just delicious.
The next tree was one
that didn’t look that amazing but it had pods on it that opened like a locket.
Inside was a berry that women used to use. Its very bitter. What they’d do when
it was weaning time for their babies was smear it on their boobs so when the
child demanded food they got a gob full of bitter taste and learned quickly
that boobs weren’t good tucker any more. What a great way to wean. I recon they
should sell it to mothers in a boob cream! It must save tantruming kids! Anyway
other than not knowing much about nature conservation I am certainly not a
subject matter expert on weaning kids since I’ve never bothered to have any of
my own – so I’ll leave that one.
The next interesting
thing Ernest showed us was a memorial stone. His uncle Colin was a tour guide
and suffered a fatal heart attack whilst taking some tourist on the walk. Two
nurses were on the tour and nobody could revive him. It was just awful. However
to commemorate his life, they dedicated a good sized stone. The stone had to
come from elsewhere as this region is not good for stone so they bought this
stone in and inscribed his name, plus his past and his children and all sorts
of symbology on it. Then they were going to put it right where he died but it
fell off the truck about 20 meters short. It was so heavy to move that they left
it there. Stuck it into a cement surround and here is stands. Dear Uncle Colin.
On to the viewing
platform where the guys explained some of the ways of the ancient aboriginal
way of life. There was a gate to the lunette and I really wished I could go there
but respected that the people have their heritage there. The talk was really
interesting and I could do the walk again just to try and remember all the
information.
Just when I thought it
would be nice to go over there….. Ernie opened the gate and we stepped all be
it cautiously on to the lunette proper. What a treat, an honour and a
privilege. Nobody said anything I think we were all in awe.
Like walking on the moon! |
In the sand are
certain markings. You may come over a small gathering of shells and stones. A
fireplace was there 20,000 years ago. Over there is a small dark grey patch,
round in the sand. That’s a fireplace even older coming through. Each time it
rains a new thing is discovered. Sometimes it’s a fossil. Sometimes a fireplace
with evidence of local mussel shells.
The folk here used to eat mussels. All you can see now is bush and its
been like it for thousands of years! Along the walk the lunette was just
amazing and one was not limited to following the footsteps of our guide – but
everyone pretty much did. We found skeletons of wombats buried for years and
eventually got to the top of the dunes. The cold wind was buffering us and it
was really cold but the best part was that Ernie and Ernest were telling us
stories of their childhood and their life and it was just great. Then Ernest
said that it was the end of the tour and that Ernie had some songs to sing. I
was wondering why he was lugging that guitar around everywhere.
Vast erosion from rabbits, goats and sheep have lead to some interesting landscape |
Ernie sang songs he
made up about coming home to visit his Nan, you could feel the love he felt for
his family in this song. He also sang about his ancestry and the spirits of his
people that tell him they are with him. Not a concert, just 4 songs and we all
stood there, freezing cold and loving every minute of his music. It will live
with us forever. Just one of the best experiences we have ever had. Greg felt
the same. We all walked back down the sand to the cars where we said farewell
to our guides and told them how very grateful we were of the experience. Gosh
fancy walking on the dunes among such history!!!
I got chatting to
Ernie on the way down the hill. What a lovely bloke. He had had some problems
but sorted them out with help and was kicking goals in life now. He told me his
father and Ernest’s father were trying to make good lives for their boys, to
keep them out of mischief and the grog. They became goat musterers – as goats
are in plague proportions up there as are rabbits and are destroying the
country. Now he works for National Parks as a guide and enjoys taking people
out and telling them all the things. What a great guy and a terrific ambassador.
We arrived back at the
camp and it was afternoon tea time. I was starving which surprised me as we had
such a decent lunch. I unveiled the cake. Praise the Lord that it was perfect
and still a hint warm. Super YUM! I cut slices for Wendy and Pat who had also
returned back to camp and popped them on a place. Two slices each. I trotted
over to their camp site with my latest offering. First a stick now a cake. Hope
they don’t want me to outdo myself tomorrow! They were very grateful, maybe
they were as hungry as me. I left them to make a hot cuppa and deal with their
fire while we went on our new nightly scrounge for some firewood of our own.
Ernie said we could
collect wood so long as it wasn’t in the park, so this time we turned left out
of the park, went over the cattle grid on to private land and pinched – sorry
scrounged firewood from there. Armed with some gardening gloves and with bonus
orange garden bags in the back of the cruiser – we got quite a load. Stoomping
on dead twigs, snapping off sizable branches for firewood was quite an exercise
but soon we had enough for tonight’s better than last night’s fire.
Back at the camp and
over the fire, Pat, Wendy, Greg and I all chatted about the day. We all were as
excited about it as each other. What a treat. It was just amazing. So we had a
happy hour, I found a bottle of bubbly to share with each other then we
retreated to our respective caravans and retired for the night.
I cooked some
Mediterranean chook and rice and we had it in front of our little fire whilst
sat in our camping chairs. We watched the stars brighten in the darkening sky.
So many, many stars…….. and hissed at feral cat that hangs around the camp to shoo it away. What a
great day! Life was very good
indeed.
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