On the road again

We were on the road again on Monday - heading out of Canberra and 793klm  along the  Sturt Highway towards the VICTORIAN BORDER (but not quite!!) - to Gol Gol, just across the Murray from Mildura. We were picking up Rod from what is now a very restricted area adjacent to a COVID closed border - and he was going to join us on a little road trip adventure to outback Broken Hill on our way back to Canberra together.

We made it to Gol Gol on Monday in about 10 hours - to a very warm welcome from Julie and Kev, which was just as well as our planned departure for Broken Hill the next day didn't work out. Apparently there is a film crew in Broken Hill this week and accommodation for our planned 3 night stay was tight.

So we stayed in Gol Gol yesterday for an extra day - which proved to be quite delightful.

Yesterday Julie arranged a private tour for us of the beautiful Ampelon Gardens in nearby Gol Gol N Road. The property has been home to the Mills family since 1959 and Margo and Dennis Mills started their married life here from the late sixties. In those days the property was just bare pony paddocks on riverflat clay soil but over the past 5 decades Margo (mostly on her own) has converted it into two sprawling hectares of beautifully designed, romantic, "garden rooms" - a beautiful seasonal garden of lush old fashioned roses, woodland plantings, hedgerows and an extensive vegie and herb garden. Understandably Ampelon is a very popular venue for weddings, outdoor concerts and celebratory events in the district but Margo was all apologies today because "the garden doesn't look its best in winter".

The pic below is of the most stunning area of the garden - not at its full glory today with the water lillies in winter hibernation the willows with no leaves and the bulbs not out yet! But we could see how it must come to life in other seasons!

Even the vegie patch looked a bit bare today although there was plenty of silverbeet and broccoli to pick.

I loved the "doorway" cut into the vegie patch's olive hedge which gave us a glimpse of the family's extensive (commercial) cultivation beyond. Apparently pumpkins will be planted next in these fields  after a few seasons of watermelons.

This looked like early Manchurian Pear blossoms to me.

Margo and Dennis prepared country (classy) style morning tea for us in the sundrenched front room of their charming home. They are both human dynamos - especially Margo who as well as establishing and maintaining this extensive garden keeps her pantry full of preserves, writes for gardening and lifestyle magazines and maintains their home in magazine worthy condition...WOW!

Rod took us to see the Trentham Estate (Winery) and Cellar Door afterwards. It's in a beautiful position on the river and is normally pumping with crowds of people enjoying a wine under the trees or a beautiful meal in the restaurant. However COVID has put a stop to all that and all we were able to do today was try to imagine how buzzy it must be (and buy a few bottles for later from the cellar door (3 people only at a time)).

With nearby Mildura cut off from us this visit Rob and I decided to take a walk in the afternoon - along the river again. We're playing with fire here as that is Victoria on the other side of the river - where no one wants to go at the moment! This is about as close as you'd want to be.

We said goodbye to dear Julie and Kev this morning and set off northwards, via Wentworth, on the Silver city Highway towards Broken Hill, 300 klms from Gol Gol (Mildura).

This is outback NSW we're visiting and today we really knew it - with stiff winds and LOTS of dust around (despite all the recent rain).

We got into Broken Hill with the skies clearing, but still very windy and COLD.... and visibility not great either.

We haven't got a grasp of this place yet... but there is no doubt this is a mining town! The pics below show the huge tailings mound that dominates the townscape - and a corner of the old Palace Hotel - one of the unique settings used in filming "Priscilla Queen of the Desert". Two iconic sites in Broken Hill.

The glory days of Broken Hill were the last few decades of the nineteenth century and the beautiful old buildings from that era predominate in the town centre.

Just around the corner from our motel we found the mysterious film crew trucks and their catering set up. It's a big crew with separate make up, costume, AV and technical trucks but then there are the actors' dressing room trucks too. Who are Wayne, Steve and Mira we wondered????

 This Broken Hill visit is going to be more challenging than we expected. We can't visit or book into anything without phoning/registering beforehand (bloody COVID) and the tours we hoped to join are all booked out because they can only take reduced numbers!!