We left Port Willunga and headed through Adelaide and around to Port Julia. There was nothing there except a good low cost camp at the reserve there. It’s a little fishing town with just houses and a recycle plant.



This part of South Australia was completely different from what we had seen so far. Everything is so dry and they don’t seem to take pride in their possession’s. It was as if they couldn’t be bothered, if it’s broken down its ok to just leave it where it falls. So long as the house is still standing there is no need for maintenance. Was a bit disappointing from where we had been. 

Matt had read that South Australia is the driest state in Australia and I’d believe it.

We made Port Julia our base and did a couple of day trips from there.



First afternoon I had promised to do some face painting. Very bad face painting. Boys made a birds nest and went backwards & forwards checking on it for the next 3 days. No birds went near it.



Tuesday we went for a drive up to Ardrossan. We went past a lookout so we thought we’d drive up and check it out. The lookout was made by the mining company. So one side we saw into a open cut mine and the other side where they load the grain onto the ships. And the beautiful coastline that has a huge tidal area.



The following day we thought we’d go for a drive to figure out where we would go next. Lucky we did. The first place was ok but no one else there. The next place we took a wrong turn and ended up on a four wheel drive track. We found the spot we wanted to go to but couldn’t figure out how to get over the cliffs. We tried again didn’t succeed tried one more time and got there. It was a beautiful spot. Other than dirt road it was easy to get to once we knew how. So Burners beach was going to be our next spot.

We drove back through Yorketown and along the coast. Was so dry and all the lakes had dried up just making them salt lakes. Poor farmers.

We decided to change the boys beds around as Ethan keeps hitting his head on the top bunk and Nate doesn’t want to sleep up there. It seems roomer without the bunk down.



The following morning we went back into Ardrossan and got supplies. This little town has the best customer service I have ever seen. Mitre 10 the guy gave Matt some fishing advice and continued until he had finished even though he had other customers waiting. The Foodland deli lady gave the boys some meat to eat while we walked around. Then Matt took them to the grog shop while I went through the checkout and the guy in there gave the boys a hat each to stop them running a muck in the shop.

Then we went to Burners beach. What a beautiful place. My favourite place so far.



Water was crystal clear. Nice and shallow so it was safe for the boys to swim. Beautiful white sand with cliffs lining the coast.

We all went down and watch the sunset on the first night. It was spectacular.



The next 2 days we stayed around camp. Matt tried a bit of fishing with no luck. We all went exploring on the rocks looking for crabs. We saw Dolphins, stingrays, pelicans and baby whiting swimming. 1 of the day’s the water was a bit murky so we didn’t let the boys go in past there knees just incase shark were about.

On the Sunday we headed down to Marion Bay then on to Innes National Park. Marion Bay was nice little fishing village. Innes National Park was beautiful. It is on our to come back to list. Next time we would stay down there and spend a week at least as there is some much to explore. We stopped in at Ethel Beach and Dolphin Beach. 



We spent another 2 days around camp. Just enjoying the beach. We meet a lovely couple (Des & Karen) there who took pity on Matt and gave us some Australian Salmon to cook for tea. It was beautiful.



We moved on to a little town just the other side of Kadina called Alford. Another fantastic low cost camp at the old school grounds. With flush toilets, water, clothesline, BBQ and a playground. We made this base and we went and checked out Wallaroo and found a fantastic playround. Then we found out that Moonta Bay had a free splash park so we drove down there to check it out. 



  





The next day we went into Kadina to swap over solar panels as one of our panels had broken and Matt had made contact with Redarc (the company of the solar panel) and the guy from Redarc understood how important the solar panels are to us and he rang around and organised for us to just go into the nearest town, which had one in stock, and swap it over. Talk about awesome service.  It had warmed up by the time we got back and with little shade and no swimming spot there was only one way to cool down. All out war was declared and the water fight started.



Was great fun.

• The next day we headed off to Port Germein. The longest wooden jetty in Australia. The town itself we didn’t think much of. But the jetty was spectacular. Over 1557mtrs long. Was so proud of the boys Ethan walked all the way. Nate I had to carry 1/3of the way back.



We thought we’d see if this shop on the corner near the jetty would do fish & chips. When I pulled up the 2 guys running the store were out the front pissed. When I asked what I wanted they were like “No dramas we can do that for you”. Matt committed us to it I was so worried $12 for 3 bits of fish and enough chips for the 4 of us. We went back to pick it up and have a play at the playground. Ended up costing $15 but was pretty good. Not as good as Riverlakes general store but wasn’t the worse fish I’ve had.







We left the Yorke Peninsula the following day and moved on to the Eyre Peninsula.

I love the Yorke. Towns are not a lot to look at but the beaches make up for it. Some beaches without anyone else really around. We will definitely be back weather it be our next trip without kids or before over the school holidays sometime. Not as far as Queensland but just as pretty. 



We decided that bidding on a caravan park near Adelaide and staying there for 10 nights would give us an opportunity to see a bit more than just staying 2 nights in Adelaide. So that’s how we got our 10 nights at Port Willunga Tourists park. It was great having the pool the boys swimming really picked up.

From there we did a big drive to the Big Rocking Horse, which was well and truly worth it. The boys loved it. Matt & Ethan climbed to the top while Nate jumped on my back like a koala and we climbed down.

They have a great little animal farm $1 per person to enter and $2 per bag of food. It was similar to Ballarat wildlife in that you walk around amongst the animals but it’s dried and not the enclosure. We saw lots of peacocks which can come and go as they please. Their was a mother peacock and 2 babies. So cute.

On the way back we stopped in Hahndrof had a look around. We looked in the lolly shop, aboriginal art gallery, Dutch souvenir & clock shop, puppet shop and we got some homemade ice cream. This is one of those towns to go back to childless.

The next day we thought we’d ride our bikes and have a couple of hours at the beach. We parked the bikes started walking down the stairs. It was so beautiful I thought I’d take a couple of photos of the cliffs that lead on to the beach. Only to notice a couple of nude men. I yelled out to Matt, he wasn’t happy that I made them stop. I told him to wait til I catch up and he looked at as if to say why can’t you just yell it out. I got near him and told him that I think it’s a nudist beach. He goes for a look (to really see if there’s any chicks) and yep it is. Then a gentleman walking past confirmed.

We jumped back on the bikes rode around to the next beach and thought we’d try to get into town along the bike trial we hit a steep decent so we turned around went back to caravan park for a swim.

We decided that we should drive into Port Willunga beach the next day. There was ruins of the old pier and some holes in the cliffs where the fishermen use to keep their boats.

The following day we had the ute booked in for a major service. So we dropped it off then caught the bus to the Noralunga shopping centre and we walked around it for 7.5 hours then caught the bus back. Boys loved catching the bus. Ethan has only ever caught one with school and Nate had never caught one.

The following day was named “Fun Day”. We went to the Beachouse. For $130 we had 4 hours of no stop fun. Ethan thought it was awesome, Nate liked it but a bit young for the arcade games.

After “Fun Day” it was mum & dad’s turn for fun day. We caught up with one of my family friends. It had been years since I had seen her, it was lovely catching up.
Then we dragged the boys around caravan yards dreaming what we would do if we had more money. Or maybe if we work for a bit what we might be able to upgrade too. Ensuite van, bunks where both boys will fit perfectly and 20 feet not 17. Then we would be super comfortable and may never return home.Then it was back to the pool.
Then it was Sunday the day we had been waiting for since leaving home. We get to see uncle Trent. A familiar face, a loved someone else to talk to. Someone we all love to be around. We picked him up from his motel then spent the morning at Glenelg. We had a real coffee the best one yet. Then we had to put him on his flight back to Tassie. Was harder to say goodbye this time as we don’t know when or where we will meet again.

We went back to the caravan park made sure we had everything charged up and filled up as we had to leave in the morning.

We both loved Adelaide so clean and tidy. Beautiful, shallow, safe beaches. And so easy to find your way around.

Ethan made a couple of friends at the caravan park which was good for him to play with a few other kids. But he got sad when we left.

We both came to the agreement that even though in a caravan park you have all the luxury’s of power, water, shower’s and toilets. We both prefer free camping as it’s easier with the boys. The toilet is never to far away, you spend more quality time together and you are more relaxed not worrying about who the boys are upsetting with their loudness. Who would have thought that we would completely change our minds.

Til next time on the Yorke peninsula
xo

Our last full day at Renmark we went for a drive through Paringa and followed to the west when we came across a sign that said “lookout”. We thought why not do the touristy thing. We were so glad we did it was our first sighting of the cliff’s along the Murray. We were blown away by them. Such a contrast to what we are use to at “home”.

We stopped and saw the black stump too. What is a black stump? Well we still don’t exactly know. But this is a stump of a fallen tree that was cut by a special machine brought down from Queensland then an outboard motor was put on it to move it up stream. Then it was craned to it’s current position. There was some black stump’s used as outhouse’s, not sure if that was on the river or off.

We went from Renmark to a little place called Cadell. It was a great free camp with a park, boat ramp, free electric bbq’s, a clean flush toilet that smelt amazing and green grass. We meet our first lot of nomads that were happy to chat. They were lovely people.

From Cadell we crossed our first ferry and did a day trip into another little place called Morgan.
Morgan has the potential to be like Echuca/Moama but it hasn’t yet. They are restoring a lot of the old sites so can’t wait to go back there and see what it is like.
It was the largest port in South Australia. With the train station being right next to the port. The cranes still in their original position so you can get the idea how they use to load and unload the barges and paddle steamers. With a bit of a write up on the largest barge on the Murray, explaining how high the loads were and how the driver had to navigate his way without losing any of his load or running into the banks. Can’t wait to go back (child free) and read about all the history.

Morgan is also where the Murray turns 90 degree towards the ocean.

Ethan decided that he wanted to check out the hospital in Waikerie. He came down the hill too fast and lost balance in the gravel and ended up with a big cut in his lip & a slight concussion. It was a horrible 30 mins drive to get him there. I faced him all the way there talking to him and I didn’t get motion sickness. I picked him and raced into the hospital and I don’t remember struggling. What adrenaline does to you.

We moved on to Mannum in the morning. Another good free camp at Bolto Reserve just up from the ferry cost $10 per night. Toilets weren’t as clean as Cadell but still clean enough.
We got our first lot of wind, it started there and we are still waiting for it to stop. At least it’s keeping the temperature down.
We decided that we’d ride the bikes over the ferry to the park and hire some kayak’s. We got them for a few hours and had a ball. We paddled up stream then went through to some wetlands then back along the houseboats & paddle streamers. It was so nice and relaxing. The boys loved it too. Might be something to look at buying.

From Mannum we headed to a little spot called Narrung, where lake Albert & Alexandrina meet.
We followed the Murray along, past Big Bend, where the cliffs are at the highest, through Murray Bridge, first bridge we have seen in a week, to Wellington, the last town on the Murray, then around Lake Alexandrina to Narrung.

From Narrung we did a day trip to the Barrages, as far as we could get on eastern side of the mouth. Then to Meningie. Another great little town to return to. Then back round to a nice green grass camp ground.

We took a ride over the ferry, up to the lighthouse which is the only inland lighthouse.
We meet two wonderful couples at Narrung that have been so helpful, giving advice and ideas of places to go. Both have been doing this for 5 years. Has me thinking I wonder if we could do it for that long.

I have thoroughly enjoyed our trip along the Murray. From green dairy farms, to the red dirt with vineyards where ever they could get the water to, to salt bushes everywhere and harsh environment, then back to beautiful pastures on undulating hill sides. And the river itself has slight banks to no banks to cliffs of limestone/granite back to water meeting the banks.

This weeks thought that is amazing me… Everytime we pack up and move again then set up. It’s just like taking your home and moving scenery every couple of days. As nothing else is changing except the scenery. Our van stays the same but everything else changes.
xo