Sunraysia

From Adelaide, we followed the Murray River along to the northeast. We stopped for 3 nights in a great little town called Loxton and visited the area, including the nearby town of Renmark.

The region of ‘Sunraysia’ doesn’t really have a set boundary, but it is considered to encompass a large horticultural area of eastern South Australia, northwestern Victoria and southwestern New South Wales.

The presence of the large Murray River, the Darling River and several smaller off-shoots means that there is a lot of irrigation and fertile land. Everywhere we looked there were citrus trees, almonds, grapes and canola.

Renmark

Renmark is one of the largest country towns in South Australia. It is popular in summer (as it is in Mildura and other towns along the Murray River) to rent a houseboat and cruise up and down the river.

The area is also famous for its paddleboats and still has a few older specimens that run off steam.

The Murray River has a series of dams, weirs and locks built in the early 1900s. We visited one of the locks/weirs in Renmark while we were there. The pelicans were having a grand time waiting by the fish exit of the weir and surfing in the current.

Due to all the rain we’ve had in eastern Australia this year and last, the water levels on either side of the lock/weir were basically the same. They had an interesting sign showing the amount of water and how it is just under flood level. This was also apparent by the water over the walking path in the town.

Mildura

From Loxton, we continued northeast to the large regional town of Mildura on the Victoria / New South Wales border. We stayed at a lovely caravan park on the NSW side of the river. We ended up staying for 3 weeks in Mildura (although we ventured away during the weekends).

The Great Vanilla Slice

I overheard another guest at the caravan park ask about the Great Vanilla Slice festival. Since we had nothing better to do that day, we went along to the festival located in an adjacent town. They had lots of markets and entertainment and of course, the entries for prizes:

Murray-Darling Confluence

We also visited the nearby town of Wentworth which is where Australia’s two largest rivers join – the Darling flows into the Murray. The town itself wasn’t really anything to write home about – a couple of old buildings. But I didn’t end up taking any pictures of them.

Mungo National Park

One weekend, we took a trip to Mungo National Park. This park is made famous by its special landscape and by Mungo Man and Woman. These are the oldest Homosapien remains found outside of Africa – approximately 42,000 years old.

This area was a vast lake system back then. The lakes dried up about 18,000 years ago and left human remains and footprints. Scientists are still exploring and uncovering new findings today.

The drying of the lakes left some really interesting rock formations and ‘solid’ sand dunes. The most famous called ‘The Great Wall’ – photos below:

The visitor centre is on the site of an old farm – there was a pretty cool sheep shearing shed.

We also saw lots of wildlife there – tons of kangaroos and emus.