Grenfell to Balranald
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2010
1
6
39
Trip End
Oct 30, 2010
What I did
Bagged a parrot, saw an echidna, dumped fruit (fruit fly exclusion zone) drove
Grenfell To Balranald, New South Wales, Australia
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Set off fairly early on the Mid-Western Highway for the next stop, West Wyalong. Almost immediately, we "bagged" a parrot which was foolhardy enough to be flying in front of us and not quick enough to get out of the way. Of course, 20 minutes of Monty Python ensued ("It's a late parrot...") We hoped it was not an endangered species.
Headed through fields of bright yellow canola. Spotted several dead kangeroos on the side of the road and Claire thought she spotted a live one in a field hanging out with the sheep. What must the first Europeans in Australia have thought when they first saw kangeroos?
A really interesting sighting was an echnidna crossing the road, which was quite intriguing. Although they are widespread across Australia, they are seldom seen. (A woman we were talking to at Balranald said she had never seen one outside of a zoo).[Unfortunately, it was moving too fast for us to get a picture, so we had to settle for a downloaded one.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2000/06/01/2688596
Stopped at West Wyalong where we were lucky enough to find a library and VIC. We were able to send an email to Samantha Rowe. Good thing, as it turned out, as she and Bob had decided to go to their holiday place in Goolwa a day earlier than usual (since they, like us, are retired, their schedule is flexible). We also found a nice IGA grocery store where we could stock up on staples such as potatoes and stove fuel. Having just a small "eskie" for cooling necessitates frequent small shopping trips.
Just past West Wyalong, we encountered the first fruit fly exclusion zone, where we had to dump the fruit we had bought in Sydney. Since there was a large bin with rotting fruit, we probably managed to import some fruit flies into into the zone, because we had the van door open.
At the VIC in Hay, we were directed to Balranald Caravan Park in Balranald, a lovely park with tall trees right on the Murrumbidgee River. Tim walked into the town to replace the fruit we had to dump, and get other supplies at the off-licence (Australia, like Canada, does not allow the sale of liquor and wine in the supermarkets) while Claire started the dinner of rissoles (no resemblance to English rissoles) with red wine gravy (out of a packet).
Our neighbours were a young family who had a mud-encrusted camper trailer and truck. They had come from the Outback.
We also met a very friendly family (husband, wife, wife's sister) who were traveling to Dubbo (north of Bathurst) for a family emergency. Tim was intriqued by their tent trailer, which was a different design from the ones here, so took several pictures of it.
After dinner was cleared away, Claire set off to a private space to contact Joan and Samantha. After half an hour of "support" voicemail hell and being told that her account was not valid, she was finally able to talk to a real person who heard her frustration and activated the number.
Finally got a chance to meet Samantha on the phone after all the emails and the phone hassle. Our destination was changed from Adelaide to Goolwa (see above), which will mean a different route.
