Spent the night near Broken Hill in Kinchega National Park in New South Wales last night sleeping all by myself along the Darling River – with no other campers in the park. It was a beautiful park, full of a wide variety of wildlife. I saw countless kangaroos, including BIG grey ones I’d never seen before, that would make extra-big jumps when hopping away from you in your car – perhaps trying to intimidate you with their powerful rear legs. I also saw countless emus, smaller-than-usual-looking monitor lizards, strange black, chicken-like birds that preferred to run rather than fly, and heard lots of strange, loud noises at night – especially when sleeping along the river. All the animals seem to rely on the river to drink in the evenings, so it is amazing what you will see and hear there. Lots of big fish lurking underneath as well.
I tried taking a shortcut up from Mildura, Victoria (nothing to write home about), on my way here and found some of the worst dirt roads I have ever had to negotiate. The roads inside the national park were not much better. But then I remembered that it was just a little less than a year ago that this entire region was hit by massive floods:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2012/02/29/3442480.htm
Where I pitched my tent was about 2 meters below the flood lines on the trees in the area. The roads had obviously all been submerged and washed out at the time, so it is probably a miracle that they are in as good a state as they are at the moment.
Unfortunately for me, it was one of the very hottest nights I’ve ever had camping. I set up just my tent with no fly, and it still took forever to cool off! I tried to do like the animals and go for a swim, but the bank was so steep and muddy that I could only wade in about a foot to splash myself. Venturing any further in would sink my legs into very deep, endless clay, so I thought it best to stick to the shoreline.
I would have liked to have spent more time there, but the heat was a bit much to deal with. Should cool off in the next few days…
Today’s Drive
