Day 12 Thursday 26/12/2024, Buronga to Wedderburn, 38◦

It’s going to be a hot one today so we’re up and off at 7:30, our Pilbara neighbours having beaten us, leaving at 5:00 for Brisbane. Oh, the spirit of the young, I dread to think of all the wonderful places they’ll miss.

By 8:00 it’s already 28◦. I’ll miss this sojourn along the Murray, but I won’t miss the almost fly spray resistant mozzies we’ve met.

Just south of Hattah I spot my first Mallee Fowl, a beautifully marked brown bird about the size of a Guinea Fowl. Will I ever get to see a wild camel? I doubt it.

We should be counting the northbound caravans and ski boats because there are hundreds as families head to the river for the summer break.

Sea Lake is ideal for a quick rest, but nothing is open. By 10:30 it’s 38◦ and the northerly is blowing hot. We make it to Wedderburn by lunchtime. The park manager is a bit of a character and she’s glad that we’ve arrived early because she’s off to the pub for lunch with the family.

We prop quickly and get the air con on. The park is half full but there’s no one to be seen, they’re all hunkering down for the day. Thankfully we’re in time to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Then Woody takes off on one of his walks, he’s mad. Thankfully he isn’t gone for long and I think it was only to make sure they were dispensing beer at the right temperature at the pub. He comes back full of praise for the establishment. Sounds to me like we’ll have to make a return trip one day.

I’m not venturing anywhere other than tohave a look at the historic cottage belonging to the long-departed Nancy Stokes*.

There’s a reservoir behind the park but I’ll give that a miss too.

The cool change hits with a flurry of cool wind and thankfully no thunderstorm causing fires. It seems that one third of the Grampians / Gariwerd national Park has now been lost to the present fire that is still burning.

Accom: 36.00, Towing Kms: 330Kms

*Having only recently arrived in the district, Nancy Stokes was widowed in 1934 with little more than a hessian bag tent plastered with clay and flour to keep out the elements. Which it didn’t. Local lad, 11-year-old Bruce Robertson approached Mrs Stokes with the offer of helping her to build a mud brick home. The two worked together whenever Bruce wasn’t in school. A door, windows and stove were scavenged from old homes and Bruce’s father helped with the roof. Nancy went on to live in the dirt floor cottage until 1979. She passed away in 1982 and in 1983 the house was moved from its crown land site to the caravan park.