ADVENTURES 20 TOURING HOT SPOTS
WORDS & PICS GREG CARTAN
FASTFACTS
GETTING THERE
Murray-Sunset NP is in the north-west corner of Victoria, about 80km south of Mildura.
ACTIVITIES
This is a do-it-yourself experience, so you’ ll need to make your own fun – enjoy the rich mallee scrub, go bushwalking, do some birdwatching, and check out some of the pastoral relics.
STAY
There are a few camping areas throughout the park – no permits, bookings or fees, and campfires are permitted in the fire pits provided.
MORE INFORMATION www. parkweb. vic. gov. au
Murray-Sunset NP, Vic
Red dirt adventures await in Victoria’ s own slice of the outback.
F or those living in the south east of this great country, and particularly for people who live in Victoria, the outback can seem like a distant dream, a long way off in the centre of the continent. But it turns out you don’ t need to travel for days to get that feeling of isolation or to see endless stretches of red dirt and mallee scrub; you can find all this, and more, tucked away in the far north-west corner of Victoria, in the Murray-Sunset National Park.
Murray-Sunset NP comprises 677,000ha of mallee bushland, and can be seen as encompassing three different sections. The far north-west takes in Lindsay Island, right on the Murray River. The southern section is around the Pink Lakes area, where red algae in the lakes creates a beautiful pink tinge and makes for some great photo opportunities.
In the centre and north( the bulk of the park), are bush camping sites, unsealed roads( varying from good condition to pretty average tracks) and plenty of isolation. This part of the park has some challenging sections of track – there are some soft, sandy strips, quite a few corrugations and, in the low-lying areas, it can get boggy in the wet. For this central section, you’ ll want a pretty tough offroad camper or van or, alternatively, leave the trailer at the Pink Lakes and head off solo in the 4WD.
The distances are not daunting but travel throughout the park can be slow and the majority of places to see are in the eastern quarter. Get your hands on a decent map before you go and you should get around without too much difficulty.
There’ s plenty to look at as you tour around. In the north-west, stop in for a look at the Shearers’ Quarters – grazing began here in the mid-1800s and the pastoral heritage is a feature of the park. Heading east, take a break at the Cattleyards on the Grub Track. These are a classic post and rail structure, now totally dilapidated. But these are great little bits of nostalgia and this one confirms the ingenuity and seriously hard toil the pastoralists injected into the country. From here, continue east to the relative civilisation of the Pink Lakes. The main campground at Lake Crosby is neatly set out in defined sites. There are a few short walking trails and Pioneer Drive is okay for cycling if you have bikes on hand.
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ADVENTURES