MUNGO MAGIC

IF I CLOSE my eyes I can almost hear tribal whispers, but it’s just the breeze drifting across the dry lake floor. Around me is red earth and a dramatic landscape, and I feel like I’m on the moon. The silence compels me to sit, to be still and experience the land with all my senses. This is Mungo National Park, one of Australia’s heritage listed treasures, in the heart of NSW’s Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area. It’s an outback oasis that transports and captivates all who visit, a place far removed from the madding world and yet readily accessible from Mildura, Wentworth, Balranald and Broken Hill.

I’m back after my first visit nine years ago and just as enthralled as the first time. It was a wild welcome. Groups of kangaroos, dozens of them, flocked to us as we arrived at Main Camp; large ones, small joeys, a whole family it seemed. There were no other campers, just ’roos. We had the pick