Kinchega Homestead

We drove from the Woolshed to the site of the former homestead.  It was around 11:00am by that stage and I was very glad of my long-sleeved shirt and hat because the sun was quite strong.  

The homestead ruins are protected by a boardwalk and I'd started to walk toward that, when I surprised a goanna - or vice versa!  

We could see lots of his tracks around the site, so we think he was a resident.

The Kinchega homestead was built in the mid to late 1880s.  Stores were brought in by steamer and there was an extensive vegie garden on site, tended by a Chinese gardener who used square steel tanks for irrigation.

Lake Cawndilla was our next stop.  There were so many paddy melon vines growing along the sides of the road along the way.  I can't remember ever seeing them in such numbers.

It seems the term paddy melon is commonly used to describe two types of wild melon, both introduced.  I'll have to look more closely next time.

We enjoyed another cafe lunch and then spent some time looking around the Main Weir reserve, where a couple of young emu were strolling along the water's edge.  There was a campground nearby, where Burke and Wills' Base Party had remained from 19 October 1860 to 26 January 1861 (when the advance party had proceeded to Coopers Creek).