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On location, hunting for dinosaurs! While waiting for a massive Sauropod to wander across the barren...
Destinations > The Wool Run
The Wool Run
There are some great camping spots here - hard to believe after hours of flat featureless terrain, but the shaded campsites amongst the trees are level and firewood is provided, which is a real bonus. There are group campsites just west of the Homestead or you can drive on into the tree line for another 200 metres and find single campsites spread in a circle served by a FLUSHING toilet! With facilities like this the small camping fee of $3 per adult per night is easy to part with. Whilst there is an old weir within walking distance of the campsites, don't expect to find water out here, as the place is generally very dry. The great news is, even if you are not into camping, you can visit Willandra National Park as it also provides bunk bed style accommodation in the overseers cottage with all facilities including showers and a kitchen. This needs to be booked in advance, but out of the busy times such as school holidays you are very likely to have the whole place to yourself.
Whilst at Willandra make sure you visit the various buildings scattered in the area. National Parks have done a good job of preserving and restoring them and provide excellent interpretive signs. You will soon realise that it was better to be a Ram than a Ewe, the Rams being provided with a shaded hut to keep them happy and in prime condition for their mating tasks, what a job!
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From Willandra it's back onto the dusty road. Study the Hema map and you will see that you can either head north through Trida and then west to Ivanhoe or backtrack to the Mossgiel road and head west to the Cobb Hwy. If the weather turns nasty, you won't be going anywhere as these roads are all closed after just a few millimetres of rain.
Ivanhoe gives the appearance of a town in decline, often the hottest place in Australia, this is not a trip for the summer months. Just north of Ivanhoe you turn left onto the Menindee road. It is 200km of fairly good unsealed road, and you can easily travel at 80km/h. You are in fact following the main east west railway line, and rail crews are often seen along the edge of the road in, what otherwise appears, to be a very isolated part of NSW.
The town of Menindee is steeped in history. Major Thomas Mitchell was first European to pass this way in 1835, followed by Charles Sturt on his famous search for the inland sea in 1844. A fellow by the name of Tom Pain established the Menindee Hotel in 1853 and this hotel has gone on to become the second oldest hotel in continuous operation until it burnt down in 1999. Even Burke and Wills made Menindee their first staging camp in their ill-fated exploration to the Gulf country in 1860. Just past Menindee is the huge chain of lakes, said to be 3.5-times larger than Sydney Harbour, but not always with water in them. These lakes are fed by the Darling River, and to see it today with its sunken bed, dying red gums and dust bowl flood plain, it's hard to imagine that paddle steamers regularly ran up its length all the way to Bourke.
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Whilst at Willandra make sure you visit the various buildings scattered in the area. National Parks have done a good job of preserving and restoring them and provide excellent interpretive signs. You will soon realise that it was better to be a Ram than a Ewe, the Rams being provided with a shaded hut to keep them happy and in prime condition for their mating tasks, what a job!
read on below advertisement
From Willandra it's back onto the dusty road. Study the Hema map and you will see that you can either head north through Trida and then west to Ivanhoe or backtrack to the Mossgiel road and head west to the Cobb Hwy. If the weather turns nasty, you won't be going anywhere as these roads are all closed after just a few millimetres of rain.
Ivanhoe gives the appearance of a town in decline, often the hottest place in Australia, this is not a trip for the summer months. Just north of Ivanhoe you turn left onto the Menindee road. It is 200km of fairly good unsealed road, and you can easily travel at 80km/h. You are in fact following the main east west railway line, and rail crews are often seen along the edge of the road in, what otherwise appears, to be a very isolated part of NSW.
The town of Menindee is steeped in history. Major Thomas Mitchell was first European to pass this way in 1835, followed by Charles Sturt on his famous search for the inland sea in 1844. A fellow by the name of Tom Pain established the Menindee Hotel in 1853 and this hotel has gone on to become the second oldest hotel in continuous operation until it burnt down in 1999. Even Burke and Wills made Menindee their first staging camp in their ill-fated exploration to the Gulf country in 1860. Just past Menindee is the huge chain of lakes, said to be 3.5-times larger than Sydney Harbour, but not always with water in them. These lakes are fed by the Darling River, and to see it today with its sunken bed, dying red gums and dust bowl flood plain, it's hard to imagine that paddle steamers regularly ran up its length all the way to Bourke.
next page »
