Graeme - Memories of a trip to Kinchega National Park

One of my first independent road trips was an exploration of outback New South Wales. I had my first car, an old VB Commodore with 3.60 air conditioning, (3windows down x 60km/h,) and two weeks of holidays in the summer of 1994-5. A friend and I planned to travel, from Sydney, out through Bathurst to Dubbo - 'Gateway to the West' and on from there. We spent a night in Dubbo, then, taking first the Mitchell Highway north-west and turning due west onto the Barrier Highway, we moved on through Cobar, (an old gold mining township,) toward our first destination of Kinchega National Park.

Kinchega ^ over here                    over  800km                            Sydney over ^ here

All had been going smoothly to plan when, about 50km from the township of Wilcannia, the car engine just stopped. I quickly put it into neutral and we coasted along the flat road for another 200m to where there just happened to be a rest area. As we got out of the car and opened the bonnet to see if we could find the problem, another vehicle appeared on the horizon and as they drew closer we managed to flag them down. A nice couple, ('grey nomads' they're called these days,) having an adventure of their own, agreed to tow us into town where we might find help. On arriving at the Wilcannia service station, we unhooked the vehicles, thanked the couple for their help, (though they refused to take any recompense,) and became the immediate centre of attention for the local children, (apparently we were something of an anomaly.) The local mechanic came to our rescue, breaking-in to the local spare parts car yard to retrieve a fuel pump to get the car running again. We were also told that, as it was late in the day, we were welcome to stay the night in the local caravan park, but that it was advisable to move on because the township was known to get a bit rowdy, and often violence became the theme of a Friday night. So, with a few hours of daylight left, we pushed on to our destination, driving through some of the most barren, yet beautiful, land I had ever seen. We arrived late at Kinchega NP and set up camp, had a good meal, and spent the next few hours trying to get some sleep in the heat of the evening.

Kinchega National Park, covering an area of about 443 km² which encompasses the two lakes, Lake Menindee and Lake Cawndilla, is part of the Menindee Lakes district, 839 km west of Sydney (Wikipedia).

Kinchega NP

In the following days, we spent time exploring the park, visiting the old Woolshed at Kinchega Station, walking across the dry lake beds, seeing herds of large Red Kangaroos and Emus, and occasionally other wildlife like snakes and lizards.

The Kinchega Woolshed, "built in 1875 of corrugated iron and river red gum, is a vast and very well preserved classic piece of Australian pastoral heritage." (http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/kinchega-national-park/kinchega-woolshed/historic-site).

The lakes are part of a natural lake system formed by the Darling River in times of flood, though a project in the 1960s saw them modified to become a gated dam area that could be used for local irrigation purposes. The largest of them covers an area of almost 16000ha at an average depth of 7m. Though, seeing these lakes when they were dry offered a unique opportunity to explore the land in its natural state, as the lakes are now more often partially filled. I have no doubt that, despite reports of their beauty when full, the lakes offered us a display of the naturally occurring ecosystems that may only be seen in times of dryness.

A Barren Land

The Woolshed @ Kinchega Station