Day 2 – Charlton to Red Cliffs

We had heavy relentless rain all last night.  However, the skies cleared and we checked the weather forecast, and decided that if we headed generally North-West we should avoid most of the bad weather.

Leaving The Travellers’ Rest it was very obvious that the rain had left its mark.  We’re sure that we could see that the water level in the river had risen.

Water at The Travellers’ Rest

First stop was at Wycheproof for a quick walk around town.  Immediately obvious is the single rail line through the middle of town!  We found a very nice bakery where we purchased some fresh bread, and right next door was a yard full of incredible scrap metal sculptures. The peppercorn trees throughout town are a great backdrop to the historic buildings.

Scenes around Wycheproof

From Wycheproof we continued along the Calder headed for Sea Lake, and experienced annoying drizzle on the windscreen.  Through Nullawil, one of many small grain towns, surface water along the sides of the road was notable.

Water by the side of the road

The skies cleared and the sun came out as we got closer to Culgoa, but there was still plenty of surface water in the paddocks.

Surface water in paddocks

Through Berriwillock and Boigbeat we actually saw some blue sky!

Berriwillock

Some blue sky at last

At Sea Lake we stopped and had a good walk around town.  It seemed much more alive than 2008 when we were last here.  Like many country towns there are active efforts by members of the community to add interest for visitors, such as murals, nice places to sit, and interesting, quirky shops.

Views around Sea Lake

From Sea Lake we travelled only a few kilometres to the observation platform at Lake Tyrrell, otherwise known as the Pink Lake.  Lake Tyrrell is the largest salt lake in Victoria and covers some 20,860 hectares.  It wasn’t pink today unfortunately, but there were still some fantastic views over the Lake.  After photos and a chat with some other visitors, we settled down for a gourmet lunch in Bertha (I’m not kidding – smoked salmon and capers with herb cheese on wonderfully fresh bread!).

Views at Lake Tyrrell – The Pink Lake

Back of the highway, near Nandaly we were surprised to be overtaken by a pilot vehicle for an Oversize Load.

Pilot Vehicle

A quick look in the rear view mirror and we very quickly pulled off the highway at the next available spot.  Just as well as the truck certainly wasn’t going to slow down!

Oversize Load

We had only just pulled back onto the highway after the oversize truck when guess what approached very rapidly from the opposite direction?

Another Oversize Load

Continuing along the highway a roadside sign reminded us that we were soon to enter a quarantine area.  The skies were looking very grey and threatening so we decided to pull-over at the next roadside stop and eat our last fresh “Bushy Park” apple, rather than have to toss it in a bin further up the highway.  After enjoying our apple we pulled back onto the highway and the heavens opened up.  Bertha got very wet indeed and visibility was almost non-existent.

Pouring one minute

A couple of minutes later we drove through the rain clouds and sky was clear and blue.  Isn’t nature wonderful?

Clear the next

We went for a bit of a quick drive through Ouyen but didn’t stop for our usual walk-around town this time.  We had stayed at Ouyen some years ago and it didn’t seem to have changed much.

Another 80 kilometres or so up the highway we reached our destination for today of Red Cliffs Caravan Park.  This is quite a nice park and we had travelled far enough for one day of very mixed weather and driving conditions.

We’re looking forward to travelling through improved weather tomorrow.