We left Hopetoun and Lake Lascelles behind us as we headed north towards Patchewollock and Walpeup. There was a strong southerly blowing so we were like an ancient sailing ship being pushed along. Our fuel economy was amazing. We were a little saddened to see the derelict remains of so many old farmhouses, time has passed them by as more and more properties are amalgamated. The paddocks are vast, hundreds of acres without an internal fence in sight. It was no wonder that the wind was so strong as the plains were largely devoid of trees, I suppose they would just get in the way of the large machinery needed to till and harvest the grain crops.
Of course all these amalgamations are leading to a serious decline in the population of these once thriving areas and the subsequent demise of such picturesque places such as Murrayville. We walked the town and shopped at those few places that were still open. The town will probably become only a memory soon, much like Cowangie.
We turned back from the border (we didn’t want to be captured and held hostage by the South Australians – you know what it’s like – a male thing). We decided to head out to Kow Plain Homestead which we had heard of before but had never visited so this was our opportunity. An interesting collection of old buildings just outside of the Cowangie township (which is literally falling into disrepair). The homestead buildings have been well restored and are apparently looked on favourably by the UNESCO world heritage organisation as an example of early European settlement of the area.
Jenny made comment about how hard life would have been in those days. It made us realise that, in those bygone days, people didn’t have an expectation of happiness, they just lived life and worked hard for everything that they could attain. I wonder how they would view our modern society where personal happiness now seems to be the end goal? I hope they would be envious and perhaps we all need to be a bit more grateful for our lot.
We made our way back to the Travellers Rest Stop at Walpeup where we set up camp on green grass and we can have a hot shower in the facilities here. Doing it in style