Loxton-Wentworth Monday 18th October 2010

 After leaving Loxton, we travelled along the Murray to Berri, which means bend in the river.
The old water tower has been made into a scenic lookout over looking the town and the river.

 Berri is the home of citrus fruit, dried fruit and the famous berru fruit juices. Next to the Berri Co-Op is a mural painted by the local school children and it is the longest mural in Australia.

 Our next stop was Renmark, where in October the Rose festival is held. We toured one of the local rose gardens which were beautiful. The roses have proper perfume and grow well in the rich river soil.

After Renmark we crossed the border from South Australia back into Victoria. On this particular day, we drove through three states, South Australia, Victoria and across the river into NSW. The Murray river itself belongs to NSW, however towns bordering it have a counterpart on the opposite bank.

After leaving Renmark, the next river town was Mildura. We began to see the famous paddle steamers and house boats plying their way along the river. We had decided to stay at King's Billabong in Mildura however once again the river banks were muddy. We found a suitable spot and then decided to explore Mildura and its surrounds. The NSW sister town to Mildura is Wentworth, some 20 kms across the river and upstream.

At Wentworth, the Darling river meets the Murray. Normally the confluence is bicoloured as the Murray is sand based and the Darling clay based. The meeting point is quite spectacular with the Darling flowing brown and the Murray flowing blue. As there had been floods upstream, the Darling river had been diverted to avoid flooding the already full Murray, and consequently the colours were missing.

 

At Wentworth, Lock 10 is located. There are 26 locks along the Murray allowing river traffic to traverse the river both up and down stream. These locks were introduced in 1920 and have allowed Wentworth, the oldest town on the river to become a recreational weir pool for water activities.The locks are gravity activated and take approx 20 minutes to traverse. They are free to use and are open to trafiic during daylight hours.

Next to the Lock is an Aboriginal meeting place known as Thegoa Lagoon. It is a magical place and has many aboriginal campsites and artifacts located within it. We were able to free camp in this idyllic location right on the water's edge.

 

 We lit a campfire, had a barbie and enjoyed yet another bottle of local wine. As the sun set, the river came to life with bird calls and frog sounds.

The lights from the nearby lock twinkled on the water adding to the magic of this special place. Free camping is allowed for an indefinite time and this is one site we will return to again and again.  (By the way we didn't get back to explore Mildura. Oh well there is always next time!)