Mungo NP Trip Day 6 - Coomealla to Mungo NP

 

After breakfast we left Maree and Frank to head for the final destination of our trip - Mungo National Park. About 45 km of the road were dirt but well formed with occasional bits of deep sand, rutted surface and muddy grooves.

We arrived at Mungo Lodge where we have booked a glamping tent for 2 nights and were able to book for a tour this evening.

After a coffee and collecting sandwiches for a picnic lunch we headed to the park itself and walked along the Foreshore Track to the dunes.

There was a display showing the 20000 year old human footprints that had been found in the lake bed. There was also an explanation of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man and their significance.

There was an inground water storage structure.

There is a shearing shed that is still quite recognisable.

And even the dunnies were on display.

We were fascinated by the many plants in flower, some of which were tiny and difficult to see.

The ant holes were also fascinating when we got to the dune area.

The lake bed is huge and flat and in the far distance we could just see the Walls of China which we hope to see on our tour this evening.

As it was quite windy we decided to return to the Lodge and make use of the empty dining room to type up our blogs, upload our photos on the free wifi and have our afternoon tea (slices from Jo to taste test). Yum!

At 4pm our manager drove us to the tour start point across the flat dry lake bed which has apparently not been a lake for 10000 years. It is about 10km wide. There we met up with the tour guide and about 30 other tourists. Our first stop was the boardwalk.

After our talk at the lookout the guide then opened the gate and took us into the dune area.

Over millennia the dune is slowly moving east and the erosion by wind and water  makes for some stunning landforms.

We were led past an animal skeleton that is 'protected' by a ring of sticks.

Some of the erosion has left mounds and gullies that are quite significant exposing the different geological layers.

The dune sand is slowly blowing east and covering the bushland in the next lake bed.

With so much cloud there was only a tiny sunset, but nevertheless interesting in such a flat landscape.

Back home to a lovely curry dinner with a dining room full of bikers on an annual ride. They were heading to Kurumba in Queensland. We eventually headed off to bed in our tent.