The NT Nomads: River Ramblings part 2

Historic Overland Hotel

New style house boat

From Lake Bonney we headed to Overland Corner where we drove past the historic pub abd down to the banks of the river to an area known as Heron's Bend where the National Trust allow camping and access to the river with both a boat ramp and posts for mooring riverhouseboats.

When we initially set up camp we had three other vans for neighbours who came fron Tassie and Vic. They were going via the Tanami track to the Kimberley. After they left we had the area to ourselves. (See Tractor trek).

It was here that we got our first glimpse of the new houseboats that are now on the river Murray.

Murray River at Lock 3

While we were at Heron's Bend we went for a drive to Lock3 which wasn't very far along the river back towards Barmera. There is a very pretty picnic area here with lovely lawns and flowers and an interesting glass mural reflecting the river and the rivergums. Unfortunately we couldn't access the area fully as there was more construction going on .

Lock 3 and weir

Glass mural

Lock 3 and weir

After spending our quiet (sic) weekend at Heron's Bend we moved on to Merbein Common. again we got ourselves lost wiht thedirections we had been given at the Service station and approached from the wrong end . however after several tries we finally got the right entrance that took us to a lovely riverside area wiht several other rigs already there. some others arrived after us so we had about 10 ofus there for the night. Several vans etc had been there for about a week or more.

It was such a lovely spot. It was only a few minutes back into the shops at Merbein for any groceries etc and only 10 klms from Mildura.

There was much more in the way of traffic on the river wiht lots of houseboats and the daily river cruise boat as well as kayaks and other fishermen. As there was a boat ramp at our spot several of the locals came down to launch their boats for a spot of fishing.

At Merbein there was also a nice lookout that had been set up by Rotary and had a Pioneer garden attched to it as well as some old machinary on display.

Watching the PS "Ruby" go past.

another houseboat going past

Sunset on the Murray River

From the lookout at Merbein

We had a geat time here at Merbein and made a few new friends as we sat around the campfire at night. It was also interesting as Lynn helped Alan make a firebucket and I helped Kay make a vinyl cover for it so that other utensils etc could be stored in it and not get rubbed. This involved getting out my sewing machine and lugging it down to their van and then plugging it into their generator. Kay needed lots of help as she doesn't do much sewing.

While we were at Merbein because it was so close to Wentworth we took a drive over there. This involved crossing the river back into NSW. the main reason for this trip was to see the PS "Ruby" ( See Blog). and to see where the Murray and the Darling rivers meet. There is a lovely landscaped park at the rivers confluence with story boards and viewing platforms wiht lots to see which made it more intreresting.

Landscaping at Wentworth park

From the ground the confluence of the 2 rivers was hard to pick but if we looked carefully we could see a red bouy in one river and a green bouy in the other. Because of the time of the day it was difficult to get good pictures across the river Murray so I climbed the tower in the park which had been set up just to get a better look, but shoooting into the sun didn't improve matters.

From the park we drove down the road a short distance to the lovely lawned area surrounding Lock 10 and because we were able to get a better look at it we were able to work out how the lock worked. Because of the construction work at Lock 3 it made it difficult to see the workings.

Although coming from Darwin and being ex-sailors we are used to locks as all marinas in Darwin have locks on them and unless you are parked out the front of the Yacht Club you must use a lock to go sailing.

Lock 10 at Wentworth NSW

The lock numbers are in sequence to Lock 10 and then they jump to lock 15 and 23 . We don't know why this is so ,whether there was plans for more locks or that some have been taken out.