Kinchega NP NSW

Given everything was shut for New Year’s Day we headed out to Menindee to explore the outback oasis that is Kinchega National Park.

First stop: the quirky settlement of Sunset Strip on the northern edge of Lake Menindee. Established in the 1960s as a holiday escape for Broken Hill locals with boats and fishing rods, it’s now home to a grand total of 42 people - and their pub! Clearly neither building inspectors nor the BCA have a role to play in ‘the Strip’ but the locals appear fiercely proud of their ramshackle abodes all the same.

Next stop: Menindee, known as the first town on the Darling River and famous for its significant Menindee Lakes system, rich Indigenous and explorer history, including as the last European outpost for the ill-fated Burke & Wills expedition.

Inside the National Park we explored the ruins of the Old Kinchega Homestead, once the headquarters of one of Australia’s largest sheep stations, before finishing at the mighty Kinchega Woolshed, which in its heyday saw up to 80,000 sheep shorn in a single season, with bales floated down the Darling River from the port of Menindee to markets in Adelaide.

Leaving the NP we took the ‘scenic’ route back to Broken Hill via the Cawndilla Channel (approx 53km in the wrong direction) but pretty all the same 🤦🏽‍♀️ Who knew pelicans were so prevalent in the outback!

We finished an epic day with sunset at the Living Desert Sculpture Park with its sweeping views back over Broken Hill 🌅Read more