Journeyer’s Chronicles

Here we are back at home. Actually we’ve been home over a week now. It’s taken me this long to drag myself out of holiday mode. It didn’t help that The Thinker had an extra week off. It was very difficult to get myself motivated while I was watching him reading in the sun, heading out the door to golf and doing all manner of other holidayish things.

We had a wonderful time on our two week caravanning trip. In all we travelled almost 2,000km. On the whole, the kids travelled very well considering the amount of time we spent in the car. I tried to have plenty of distractions prepared for them when they were getting a bit antsy. The times I wasn’t prepared we paid the price!

Our trip took us north initially into south west New South Wales. It’s an area we’ve only ever driven through on the way to somewhere else, so being able to stop and take it all in was a nice change. The first destination was Griffith which is the regional centre of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Past the dry grazing and cropping land south of the river, irrigation made a world of difference to the landscape. Vineyards and orchards stretched on forever each outlined by irrigation channels. Rice growing is another very large industry in the area, however we were visiting at the wrong time of the year to see that happening.

The most interesting thing to me about Griffith though was the multiculturalism. Walking down Bana Ave (the main street) you could just as easily be in Melbourne judging by the people walking past. The area is of course very rich in Italian heritage, but there were many other nationalities too. The surprising thing is this is a town of 15,000 people a long way from anywhere.

Of course, irrigation rights are becoming more controversial by the minute in Australia with prolonged droughts. Towns, households and the environment right along our rivers are feeling the pinch of greatly reduced flows. But that’s a post for another day. However, we did see first hand, a major side effect of the drought.

The day after we arrived in Griffith there was a huge dust storm. Not something that lasts for a few minutes and then disappears. This was gale force winds and sun blocking dust for a few hours - apparently the worst they have had in over 40 years. It must have been devastating for farmers to watch their paddocks being blown to Canberra and the Australian Alps. This picture was taken about 1:30 in the afternoon of what had previously been a perfectly clear day.

A local told us a few days later the dust likely came from central Australia, as it was quite red not the colour of local soils.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for us) the duststorm was followed by very good rains. I think it may be a case of too little too late for a lot of farmers though.

Despite the kids that day declaring it the “worst holiday ever”, things began looking up the following day. The rain cleared, the skies stayed blue and we were able to find plenty to keep us occupied. Griffith is surrounded by a number of wineries for those so inclined to visit. The lady at the tourist information centre took one look at our tribe put the winery brochures back on the shelf.

We did pay a visit to the local Pioneer Museum which The Engineer thoroughly enjoyed. He particularly loves old machinery, and being an agricultural area there was plenty to see. The museum is set on 11 hectares and includes many buildings dating back to the settlement of the area.

Lake Wyangan

We also made the trip out to Lake Wyangan, a large man-made lake (from a reclaimed quarry and swampland). It is popular for water sports, although it too was looking like it was suffering from the drought.

To tell the truth, I was surprised that we were able to fill in our time as much as we were. Although I was keen to see something different to our usual trips around the coast, we were a little unsure about our decision to try Griffith. I guess it pays to divert from the usual route sometimes. You never know what you might find.