Mosquitos!!! Big ones and enough of them to cart you away. I kileed three with just one hit on my arm, and we had applied our Aerogard. Russ indicated that he was not getting back out of the car unless there was something photo worthy, lol. 

Today we went to visit the Morrl Morrl Nature Conservation Area, and it did not look like it had retained enough moisture from the previous rain to account for the scads of mozzies, and they were all starving. 

The 4WD tracks were in very good condition, apart from the Kingston Mine (disused) Track, which stopped at the top of a very steep hill just climbed. We had to carefully reverse and go back down again. 

We saw many of the same flowers we have already seen but found nothing new today. We did see a Scarlet Robin while having lunch but were unable to get a good photo through the windscreen and would have scared them away if we had got out of the vehicle. 

We did get a chance to take a beautiful shot of the Common Bronzewing, and it co-operated beautifully by sitting still on the branch as I took the shot outside the passenger side window. The sun was glinting on the wing area, and it clearly shows why it is called ‘bronzewing’. 

On the way back to Avoca we visited Percydale Historic Area once again, but the orchids have still not flowered. Russ is thinking they may be the Greenhood Orchids from the look of the unopened ones, so we will check them out again in a few days. 

The temperature today reached 25 degrees and it was slightly humid. However, the day was made much more pleasant with a cooling breeze. 

Some of the Petong vans left this morning, but there is still an amazing number who stayed. 

We first saw the Morrl Morrl Conservation Area when we took the back roads to Mildura. We had to go along an unsealed road in excellent condition, which was called the Bolangum Inn Road, at Kanya near Navarre. 

The Bolangum Inn was built in 1865 by Robert Holmes, an early land selector in the area, as a hostel for travellers and district residents, and until the 1970s this hotel was the last of a number of 19th century hotels that had been built on the route between Navarre and Marnoo. 

The Inn also became widely known in the second half of the 20th century as the hotel that raised the most funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal in the 1962 and 1964. 

The Bolangum Inn site now only retains footings and other building remnants including part walls which show the footprint of the building. 

There are also remnant plantings including Cypress trees on the site indicating the garden areas of the Inn. 

There is now a Memorial constructed by the local community to commemorate the development of the Bolangum Inn and the achievements of its licensees. 

The Bolangum Inn Site is archeologically significant at a Local level in that it is of importance for its potential to provide information that contributes to a greater understanding of the history of the settlement and establishment of the district and has strong archeological research potential. 

Here endeth the latest in our history bit.