Murray Sunset Camping Trip 24th-27th May 2024
The following SA Moke Club members in their Mokes- Chris Katsikas (Spider), Jack Mavromatis (Jacks Jukebox), Chris Jonas (Stix), Greg Lynch (The Gift), Louis Leeuwrik (BeachBoy) Pete Dreyer (Mighty Moke) and Support Crew Alan Raynor and Navigator/ Rescue Crew/ Fireman/ Spare Driver Fletcher participated in the spectacular trip wonderfully organised and led by Spider.
We met at 9.00am at the Ampol east of Murray Bridge and after a quick refuel of Mokes and Coffee mugs we ventured off in anticipation. We were very fortunate in that the weather gods were in our favour with 21-23 deg days forecast, though the nights were all single figure, closer to zero than wished for.
The Murray Sunset National Park is part of an Aboriginal cultural landscape that includes traditional Country of the Latji Latji, Ngintait and Nyeri Nyeri Peoples. This remote and unspoilt corner of Northwestern Victoria is home to the famous Pink Lakes. Murray-Sunset National Park is between Ouyen, Mildura and the South Australian border.
It is about 550kms from Melbourne and 400kms from Adelaide. This large, diverse park was declared in 1991 and is the largest national park in Victoria. It plays a unique role in protecting Australia’s biodiversity and contains four designated wilderness zones. It is one of the last remaining semi-arid regions in the world where the environment remains relatively untouched. The northern section of the park is dominated by Mallee woodland, large tracts of pine, Savannah Mallee and grasslands. The southern area offers a true sense of wilderness among the big horizons of the Mallee – from sand dunes and Pink Lakes to semi arid woodlands and open plains.
In preparation for this Trip all the Mokes were thoroughly inspected at earlier organised Garage Days where the owners were directed to any areas of concern. Many thanks must be given to Graham and Helen Nuske for providing the facilities for those inspections to take place and once again thanks to Spider for his expertise inspecting the Mokes. The result of this was ZERO issues apart from one staked tyre and a possibly failed engine mount. Not bad considering the 1200kms traversed.
The first day of travelling had us cover some very dusty but good condition tracks, hardly any corrugations or hard rocky surfaces so the general running was fairly smooth. This did lead to some good speed across some of the tracks and good distances covered. UNTIL..... Spider let the Jukebox take the lead and a 10k foray down the wrong track had us turning up at our campsite just on sunset at Rocket Lake.
All good, and once we had our sites selected and shelters built for the night, we had the campfire roaring and dinners underway. A pleasant evening discussing the days adventures whilst keeping warm around the fire was had by all. But all was not what we thought as around 8.00 that night we could hear a distant rumbling and the occasional flash of lights was sighted. Oh no! Was that an incoming storm, well yes but not a thunderstorm.... It was Alan and Fletch doing an incredible job traversing the tracks at night to join us for the next couple of nights. Fortunately Fletch(not his real name) had been issued the all important special permit to assist with vehicular movements. Fletch was also very skilled in keeping the fire fuelled, which was welcomed by all. Rocket Lake was named by the workers on the rail line as the bosses sent up a rocket to let the workers know when it was break time. These days it is a wide-open expanse and hasn’t seen water in many years.
Day 2 saw a very, very early start, and after a feed, a warm up by the fire, and the Mokes packed refuelled and checked we were on our way to see “BIG LIZZIE” On the way we followed Nowingi Line, old tracks used for transport of salt and Gypsum and came across an old relic on the Raak Plains from the old gypsum mines that still stands tall beside the track, the Gypsum Hopper, which looks like something out of Mad Max.
On reaching Redhill we were able to use some facilities, refuel and inspect Big Lizzie. Big Lizzie was an enormous tractor built in 1914-15 used to clear vast expanses of land around the river at the Red Cliffs soldier settlement. It was constructed by Frank Bottrill and it was employed by the government to do land-clearing, virtually clearing all of Red Cliffs, and it was capable of clearing up to 50 acres in a day. Very impressive.
After travelling a few kms on the bitumen we were crossing the border into Wentworth NSW. We stopped here for a feed at the Pub and cleansing Ale. After lunch we had a quick stop at the junction of Australia's two longest rivers, the Murray and the Darling, this gave us a chance to stretch the legs and look at the Canoe Tree before heading west on The Old Mail Road to Ned’s Corner.
The tracks were a little rougher but just as dusty and we had to keep a good distance between Mokes. By now we had established a very good convoy routine to ensure no wrong turns were taken by stopping at any turnoff or intersection until the next Moke caught up. This continued for most of the afternoon until arriving at our next campsite near Neds Corner for the evening. We arrived in time to have plenty of light to set up our shelters, gather wood and cook our dinners. Firewood was a plenty and we kept the chilly night at bay. During the days we observed plentiful wildlife such as Kangaroos, Emus, Wedge Tailed Eagles etc and the Kookaburras had a good laugh at our Mokes(or us).
Day 3 we all rose at a far more sensible time and Jack showed his culinary skills were indeed worthy with a massive feed of bacon for whoever dared. It was delicious. Little did we know at this point that the extra protein was going to come in very handy. We started the day with a pleasant drive along the banks of the Murray through the most magnificent grove of River Reds you would see anywhere making our way to Neds Corner.
Neds Corner was first settled by Europeans for agriculture in 1849. The property was named after a shepherd called Ned who worked for leaseholder Edward Bagot. After World War l, some of the leaseholds were broken up for soldier settlements. By 1948, the property was sold to the Kidman Pastoral Company, becoming part of its agricultural empire which encompassed three per cent of Australia. Trust for Nature purchased the Neds Corner Station 30,000ha property in 2002 and its native vegetation is being restored through working with Traditional Owners. Trust for Nature have transferred their owner ship of 30,000 hectares of regenerated farmland to the First People of the Millewa Mallee Aboriginal Corporation. We left the banks of the Murray to head South via Cullulluraine for a quick fuel stop and Ice Cream before hitting the dust and sand to make our way to the Pink lakes.
We had some fairly technical tracks to traverse before getting to Mopoke track. This is where The Gift found a ditch and spiked a tyre, possibly at the same time. A quick change over with the spare and we were on our way, but not for long.
We were now getting into the desert and with all deserts you get dunes. The Mokes were going well till Mighty Moke found the going a bit too soft without enough momentum. With a further drop in tyre pressure and some pushing and run-ups, we got through this section. A little further on the going got tougher, but with all hands on we pushed and pulled the Mokes through. This delay, however, had put a big dent on the distance covered and the planned campsite was not reached. At this point The Jukebox, Alan and Fletch(not his real name) had to make a bolt for home due to commitments. The remaining 5 Mokes then set up campsite at Pink Lakes.
The Pink Lakes are medium-sized salt lakes. In late summer a red pigment, carotene, is secreted from the alga Dunaliella salina and gives a distinct pink colour to the lakes. This area was the site of a major salt industry from 1916 to 1975. At its peak, ten thousand tons of salt was harvested and railed from Lake Crosbie, Lake Becking and Lake Kenyon to the nearby town of Linga.
After a very pleasant evening around the Bush TV we packed up camp, chatted with the Ranger, had a quick stroll to the Lakes and readied the Mokes for the journey home. A quick stop at Underbool for Coffee and Morning Tea had us all in good spirits after a fantastic weekend of incredible views and scenery and lots of miles of testing our driving skills and Mokes capabilities. The journey home was uneventful and I think we were all longing for some more dust rather than bitumen. We did have a quick stop to check out the old army tank collection at Murrayville that reminded Spider of a Explorer edition from June 1985. A special mention must be said for The Beach boy doing the trip top less and with no fuss or fanfare. Also Stix and Spider for giving Fletch(not his real name) some lessons on Vehicular movement with a stick..
