2019/11 Australia trip - Mt Grenfell & Wilcannia |
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Wednesday November 13th
It was much cooler and the wind had dropped. We drove to the Old Reservoir, some rough country surrounding a pinkish lake.
We found a stumpy tail lizard and a striped snake of unknown species, perhaps a tiger snake
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Stumpy tail (5.53) |
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Old Reservoir (1.38) |
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There were not as many animals as the literature suggested but we saw magpies and willy wagtails, and the lake had a few spoonbills in the shallows.
The next town, Wilcannia, was only three hours down the road, but we were taking a side trip to Mount Grenfell, site of some Aborigine art. Along the way we saw this dragon in the road taking its usual defensive action: freezing, not much use against an oncoming truck.
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Grenfell Road (2.36) |
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The dirt road had some soft spots, but was mostly good. There were puddles in a few places so at least this part of the country was still getting rain. We saw a few goannas; they run fast when threatened, a better defence.
This picture shows the countryside around Mount Grenfell, almost a desert but supporting 
shrubs and small trees. This savannah scenery may go on for hundreds of miles.
There was a walking trail from the parking area up into the rocky outcrops. The art was on the sloping ceilings of three rock shelters, now protected by an iron grid. This made the art difficult to see, so there were holes in the grid where we could poke our heads or camera, but only if we could get our heads down low enough.
Despite the difficulty the pictures were worth seeing, a mixture of humans and emus and kangaroos. There were also a few handprints, made by spraying ochre by mouth. Nearby was a large deep waterhole in amongst the rocks, which, along with the shelters, must have made this place a favoured place to stay.
It was a long drag to Wilcannia, mostly through savannah, red soil and a thin covering of scrawny acacia trees, but no ploughed fields so we didn’t have any more dust storms. We crossed the Darling, a good-sized river with plenty of water, just before town.
There were two motels in town, one average and one less so, though only the latter had room for us. It was located in a dingy street behind the service station. Judging from the guard dogs and razor wire there was a crime problem in town. The main street had only a couple of shops still alive and they had grills over the windows.
Wilcannia was once an important part of the river trade, but now the only business seems to be as a country town for the surrounding sheep farmers, and as a bump in the road for the Barrier Highway
The evening was surprisingly cool. We ate at the Golf Club, the only place open in the evenings. The food was of course Chinese, but quite good. Back at the motel John and Edna settled into their room and found that it was really dirty, with blood-stained sheets, but by then the service station was closed and there was no one to complain to. They were getting most of the bad luck, as it was chance as to who picked up which set of keys.