32 Sea Lake - Balranald - Hay

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At the end of the last episode I reached Sea Lake and ran away from the school holidays.

Hunkered down back at the ranch for a few weeks, sorted some stuff out, and got an extra solar panel and battery added to the caravan. The old arrangement had trouble keeping up with frequent laptop recharges, let alone several overcast days in a row. However the bigger newer better stuff seems to be doing the job rather nicely.

Of course this took two weeks longer than expected, but I finally got away on 13th May and headed back to Sea Lake and the wonderful little caravan park on the recreation reserve. With my new fandangled power supply I took an unpowered site (of course) and looked forward to the next day at the lake.

Up, showered, fed and watered, I headed off to the lake viewing platform, which was a bit far from the lake so I drove down the track but stopped when I encountered the results of some recent rain.

Probably would have been ok, but the mud was sticky and deep so I thought naaah.

So I dismounted, grabbed the cameras, and set off, following in the footsteps of many who had gone before ...

... and kept following the footsteps ...

This was not sand, but sticky mud a couple of inches deep (5 cm for the illiterate)

The lake was flat and calm. Scummy salty stuff on the surface made interesting patterns on the shore ...

... and on the lake surface.

I found a sandy beach and wandered down for a km or so ...

... following the shorelines of some lagoons.

Between the lagoons was a line of growth - saltbush?

I didn't have a buddy to take a reflecting photo like those in the brochures, so I found my tracks and followed them back ...

... the viewing platform and my car were near the clump of trees on the horizon. The black stuff was the black stinky mud lurking under the innocuous looking red sandy surface.

Across the slimy shallows, again ...

And just to the right of that photo was a salt crust forming on top of old footprints.

That was good.

I went to a different spot the following day, near the old salt works. Pretty much the same only less interesting. I was thinking about doing a mirror photo and was scouting where to place the tripod when I sank knee deep in that stinky black slime. I kept my balance and kept the cameras out of the water, but lost my dignity and will probably have to toss the ol' faithful Blundstones - they are still gritty and stinky after several rinses.

So having done what I needed at the lake I had a long hot shower, packed up, stuck the stinky boots and troos in the back of the ute, and the next day headed off towards Balranald, or more specifically the Mamanga Campground in the Yanga NP, right on the Murrumbidgee River.

Downstream ...

Upstream ...

Camping area and my setup ...

The trees were nice ...

The exposed tree roots on the riverbank were nice ...

... and later in the day the sunlight falling on reflections of trees in the river made some interesting patterns. Not sure I captured them well, but they looked good at the time.

I developed a bug while I was at Yanga so I retreated to a motel in Balranald for a couple of days to recover and watch the rugby then set off again heading west east along the Sturt Highway. It had been raining (probably fortunate that I wasn't in any mud-prone camping spot) and the clouds looked good so I took some photos and used my fancy new software to add a bit of drama which was lacking on the day.

And so I arrived at Hay and checked in to a caravan park. The next day I ventured across the river to Sandy Point Reserve, which contains a large free camp and a great walk along the river.

The Tiger Tree ...

There were some very nice old trees ...

... and copses of younger trees breaking up the sunlight.

Plenty of birds around. I interrupted this kookaburra's bathing routine

I liked the way the ducks were cutting through the reflections in the water

This one screeched at me and told me in no uncertain terms where to go. That way!

So I went That Way and left the Sandy Point Reserve, crossed the main drag and followed the path around the Bushy Bend Reserve.

There were several innovative sculptures along the way. Judging by the distribution and accuracy, this seems to be designed for bird target practice.

There was also evidence of reckless bike riding. This one must have hit the sign at some speed.

Some areas of feral asparagus, originally planted by rough campers.

A bark canoe replicated in tin.

"Murrumbidgee Landscapes" carved in wood.

The local shire had kindly provided several fire pits along the way.

And even provided a device for hanging and dissection, completed with illustrated guide.

A sundial pointing at beer o'clock.

A collection of wheels.

And finally a nice view along the river.

So I wandered off to the Hay CBD for a coffee (first in 10 days!). Very nice too!

When I emerged from that therapy I noticed I had parked in front of a SNSW office. In one of two spots reserved for driving test applicants! (I noticed later that these two spots were favourite parking places for ladies with white hair, driving old Toyotas and Hyundais.

I stayed at Hay a couple of days. The caravan park was good and the town was clean and bright, so I caught up with some grocery shopping, had a pub meal (why on earth I ordered a seafood platter 500km from the nearest sea I don't know but the plateful of little breadcrumbed glories did the job and I went home happy) and went out to the sunset viewing area a few km north, up the Cobb Highway.

The area is very stylish.

The sunset was nice, but cloudless and I didn't know how to get the most out of a photo.

And that was that.