Mungo NP Trip Day 5 - Mildura and surrounds

 Sunrise at Maree and Frank's...

Today, after making some sandwiches for lunch and filling the thermos, we drove out to Red Cliffs with Maree as our guide. We pulled in to see the massive Big Lizzie then found the Mildura Farms shop was closed for August so no dried fruit and nuts there.

We then drove back to Mildura to visit the old homestead (Rio Vista) and gallery but found it did not open until 10 so we went a little further to the Lock 11 park for a wander.

Back to Rio Vista for morning tea and a browse of the beautiful old home then the art gallery. There were two paintings we could have bought quite easily (both with the names Leah and Fiona involved in them) but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos. 

We decided to fill with fuel ready for our trip into Mungo tomorrow then stopped at the Botanic Gardens for lunch. Maree volunteers there once a month but had not realised the shop was not open on Thursdays. So no luck with dried fruits etc yet again. However, we were most impressed by the gardens full of Sturt's Desert Pea, the Bush Chapel and the Mallee stump. Because most of the drives were closed we just had a limited view of the gardens.

This one is especially for my Alex - read the sign in the overalls.

Back to Maree's where I did some rose pruning. Soon Frank arrived home in a triple bogie truck to collect Kerrie to go on a delivery run full of oranges. Kerrie had mentioned on her way here that one thing she would love to do one day was to ride with a truckie and just see what their life was like. When I mentioned this a dinner yesterday Frank said he'd pick her up on his way through at 5pm today. However, he arrived at about 4pm and they have gone.

Maree and I had a long happy hour with cheese and crackers while waiting for them. They arrived home at about 7:30 and Kerrie was all smiles having ticked off another bucket list item.