We departed Adelaide on a wet and windy Wednesday morning en route to Sydney to spring our dog Bernard from the quarantine lock-up. Along the way we would pass through a number of distinct regions, each of which has it's own name.
Although our drive took us through the Barossa Valley wine district just north of Adelaide there was no time to stop in at any of the dozens of wineries for any sampling - we were on a mission!
Onwards to the South Australian 'Riverland', which is a big fruit and nut growing region (olives, avocados, grapes, oranges, almonds). We stopped briefly in the town of Renmark on the banks of the Murray River for some lunch before continuing our journey.
Soon after pulling out of Renmark, we crossed the border from South Australia into the state of Victoria and continued towards the regional center of Mildura. Mildura has a population of about 30,000 and is the biggest town in the district called the 'Sunraysia'. This is also a fruit and nut growing precinct that straddles the Murray River. It does not rain much in these areas and there are just a couple of major rivers that are the source of water used to irrigate all of the agricultural activities that occur out this way.
From Mildura, which sits on the southern bank of the Murray River, a bridge took us immediately to the north side of the river and into the state of New South Wales (NSW). The road ran parallel to the Murray for a while before the two diverged and the road continued across the western portion of what is known as the 'Hay Plains'. For those of you that think that southern Saskatchewan is so flat that you can 'watch your dog run away for three days', I think the Hay Plains might have Saskatchewan beaten when it comes to being flat and featureless - perhaps a five day view if you have binoculars that are powerful enough!
So, after a fairly leisurely 585 km drive from Adelaide, we arrived at our destination for the first night about ½ an hour before sunset. The small town of Balranald, which is situated on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, is also on the main trucking route between Sydney and Adelaide. The transport trucks rolled through town all night but our motel room was far enough off of the main drag that the rumble didn't really bother us.
Tomorrow we set out towards Australia's national capital of Canberra. Hopefully we will arrive early enough to take a few photos of some national monuments to include in the next installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?
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