Water, water everywhere!

My morning started with a walk along the Mighty Murray. As I watched the pelicans float and glide and wake to the grey skies I was reminded of our stay at Murray Bridge twelve months before.  After breakfast and farewelling our hosts we headed off to look around Mildura.  “What is it you want to see?” asked Will, who, with his nose headed home was finding it hard to play the tourist.  “I just want to get a sense of the town, see the Grand Hotel where I believe my parents honeymooned and look at the waterfront.” So off we went.

I noticed the Grand Hotel, it looked nothing like the photos I’d seen of Mum and Dad standing out the front many years before.  Due to a misunderstanding of directions we managed more turns and roads around the town than was expected and then ended up at Loch 11.  As we wandered towards it Will pointed out a houseboat cruising down an arm of the river and sure enough the captain completed a U-turn and ended up in the Loch.  It was interesting to see the gates close, water rise and the boat float out back on its way, and all in a very timely manner.

So we too started making our way to our next destination – Sea Lake. Having heard about it I was determined to catch that magic photo, with the sunlight just right and just a spot of water to make it really spectacular!  As it had already been raining in the district for days I was guaranteed some water, the chance of having the sunlight right was very slim as we’d decided to head to Will’s sister’s place in Castlemaine for a guaranteed dry night’s sleep and good company but still I was determined to try and Will was determined to get me there. 

When we arrived we dodged the rain drops and made our way to the viewing platform.  The salt lake reminded me of Lake Mokoan many years ago – shallow but full of choppy waves!  No salt pan to be spied, no flat surface for a reflection!  Oh well, there’s always next time.

Our watery day was not yet over.  We had lunch and made our way towards Wedderburn with the iPad on my lap opened to the Emergency Alert page and the Road Closure website.  We watched as each puddle and full drain got closer and closer to the road edge until Will said, “Water over the road signs.”  My heart sank as I’ve always strongly believed you shouldn’t drive in flood water, every newsbreak Daniel Andrews was telling us not to drive through flood waters and here we were about to do it with the old van in tow.  “That’s a VicRoads truck ahead, he’s checking it out.  I can tell from what he does and where he goes if it’s safe,” said Will, “no stress!”  OK, so only one of us was stressed!  After at least five water crossings we made it through the Charlton area with dry feet and no mishaps.  One more spot of water just passed Marong and we were home and hose!