The three M's...... Mildura, Menindee and Mungo.

Mildura is really a very pretty town. We have spent a few days here looking around, lazing by the Murray River, finishing off homework to send back to Sydney, visiting the local Gem shop, getting auto mechanics to connect the battery to our fridge in the car and just hanging out (well the kids that is). We seem to be constantly busy, teaching, cleaning up, preparing food and just not really sitting still. We need to learn to relax. It is taking a bit of time for us to chill out. This caravanning  thing takes it out of you.

We tossed up whether it was worth going all the way to Menindee, some 280 km North of Mildura, partly on bitumen, but mostly on dirt road for the kids to see their sister school. And, well, we decided it was. Tagged onto this trip would be a visit to Mungo National Park. A very significant area for not only its Indigenous connections but that too for its archaeological findings. The landscape there is meant to be lunar in its appearance. It sounded like a great place to take the kids.

We arrived in Menindee on Wednesday afternoon at the Lakeside Caravan  Park. There isn't really much in Menindee itself but it is set on a very large lake amongst such a dry background.

As we attempted to remember how to put up the tent, the heavens were looking blacker and blacker and finally just as we finished pegging the last peg in the ground, the heavens opened. And I mean opened. The rain came bucketing down, the hail came as well and so too did the flooding. Our feet were so cold standing in the tent that we actually had to evacuate into a hall, running through the rain with the 3 kids up the dirt road to get there. Luckily our kids have a sense of humour, because it would have otherwise been a little stressful.

We decided to pike out and take a cabin for the night and see what the next day brought. A wise move on our behalf as the rain did not stop. Menindee had not seen rain like this in nearly 3 years. A good thing for the town as they rely so much on water in this district and a good thing for us as now we know our tent can withstand a great deal of rain and wind.

A new day in Menindee and a bit of sightseeing, swimming in the lake and a lot of catching up with  school work. There were a couple of kids whose parents leased the caravan park so our kids had a few mates to play with which Jem really enjoyed.

Unfortunately for us the roads into Mungo National Park had been closed and would probably remain that way for a couple of days, so our visit to Mungo was a no goer. Maybe some other time.

We did however get to go to Menindee Central School. The purpose of our visit to Menindee.
We were pleasantly surprised at how well equipped the school was both in terms of facilities, amenities and quality of the classrooms. For a school of 113 students and  85% Indigenous they had 25 teachers teaching. WOW that's heaps. We joined in on their assembly which was great, had a tour through the school from the principal and had a look at the sleeping quarters in the old train that the kids from Lindfield East sleep in when they visit each year. It was exciting for our kids to see what their fundraising money is going towards.  A real eye opener in many ways...our kids are so lucky and incredibly privileged. We should never forget that!