A peaceful Murray River
Lake Talbot
We had a very cold and foggy start to the day, but by the time we had hitched up, the fog was starting to lift. We had a very easy drive through Melbourne, once we convinced Doris we wanted to stay on the freeways and tollways! In fact, after entering Eastlink at South Dandenong, we didn’t see a traffic light and had dual carriage roads almost until we reached Shepparton. Once the fog cleared, we had beautiful blue, cloudless skies all day, with the temperature hovering around 14-15 degrees. After England, the wide open spaces of Australia were an absolute joy, especially driving through the Goulburn Valley with its fruit trees and dairy cows.
We decided to stop at Tocumwal for lunch, knowing there was easy parking for the caravan along the banks of the Murray River. We stopped near the statue of the Murray Cod (for those who know the town) and found a lovely patisserie nearby – the vanilla slices were excellent! Before returning to the car, we decided to have a look at the river and take a photo, so crossed the road and as we were walking across the grass, two loud gunshots rang out. We realised that a bloke standing beside a ute parked next to the Cod had fired a shotgun at a large flock of white cockatoos in the gum trees along the river – this was actually in the centre of the town!!! A young boy then ran under the trees, and returned with a dead cockatoo which he threw into the back of the ute. We didn’t stay in Tocumwal much longer.
We continued on towards Narrandera, passing through grain, cotton, sheet and cattle districts. The flat countryside was still very wet, similar to the Victorian side of the border. We did see one emu and one kangaroo, in addition to fox we saw in suburban Melbourne yesterday.
After nearly six hours on the road, we arrived at the Lake Talbot Tourist Park in Narrandera, just beating the rush hour of tourists arriving for the night. This is a lovely park situated on the banks of Lake Talbot and apart from the two yapping dogs just down from us, should be nice and peaceful. We have been warned to expect a frost tonight.
1 comment:
We never had a parrot problem with Beryl around. I can't know for sure, but her nose was a bit beakish, and I think the birds may have mistaken her for some sort of giant monster galah. The impression was only reinforced after her daily sherry or two. Her face would gradually redden (you could quite accurately estimate her level of inhibition by the hue of her face), and her grey hair would get windswept after any time in the garden to complete the effect.
Our garden was galah free until her passing, but within a week of it they got more venturesome, and within two months we had a permanent contingent of the destructive little buggers. Some mischievous relatives have suggested a life size cutout of Beryl might solve the problem, but the galahs might not be the only ones taken unawares by it!
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