Murray-Sunset National Park, Victoria

Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria

Our holiday in Victoria

September 2007

After leaving the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens near Mildura, we headed west towards South Australia and home. We didn’t go the direct route, however. We often take a roundabout way of getting places, especially when we are on holiday.

We took an interesting detour through the Murray-Sunset National Park. This huge park in the extreme north west part of Victoria is mainly low mallee scrub interspersed with some open grassy plains. The bird life is prolific which was a major attraction for taking this alternative – and very slow – route home. All of the tracks through the park are single lane dirt tracks. The photo above perfectly illustrates what I am talking about.  Some are best tackled by four wheel drive vehicles – or at least vehicles with plenty of clearance.

The map I had was a little inaccurate which could have been dangerous. This is remote country and one could easily become lost. There are no rescue services out there and certainly no phone coverage. This is like so many places in outback Australia. One needs to be prepared, take reserves of food and water and make sure the vehicle is mechanically sound.

Because my map was inaccurate it took about an extra half hour for us to find the entrance gate to the park. We saw some interesting farming country along the way. Sadly, many of the farms in that area seemed to be abandoned due the the long standing drought. It is marginal farming land anyway and the prolonged drought has meant some farmers have had to just walk off their properties. In tough times like the drought we’ve been having, there are no buyers. Sad indeed because this land can be very productive in good years.

Links:

• Murray-Sunset National Park – website with more information.

Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria