We decided to go down through Gippsland, as I hadn’t been down there since I was a kid, and Matt had never been down there. I have a lot of family history there and lots of family in Gippsland. 

We were amazed at how beautiful it is down there. It was March so the weather was warmish which made us liked it even more. 

The caravan air conditioner had to get fix, so we left the van for the day in Warragul and headed out to Nerrium South to find where my dad had gone to school. We also found the farm where he grew up and the farm my parents shared farmed on. 
    
I was quiet surprise by Nerrium South it was a great little town, very tidy and pretty and had an awesome playground for the kids.

We then went in search of the Ada Tree which was left during the harvest of the old forest and is now one of the biggest trees of its kind. Boys were amazed at how big it was. 
  
  
We then went to the Noojee Trestle bridge. A beautiful old wooden bridge that was used to cart timber out of the forest. It is amazing. 

  
  
  
So beautiful green and dense forest down here. We picked up the caravan and then camped Wirilda Environment Park at Yallourn North. It was a great little camp spot. With creek running through and weir a little way up and the pump house. Was perfect. On the way there we past the Yallourn Power Station boys were very impressed by the process which gives us power. And all the steam. 

  
The next day we were very lucky to be able to camp at my cousin/god father’s beautiful house. The boys were in heaven. I was stressing to the max, a brand new house and 2 untamed boys. It was so lovely, we were made very welcome. We had a family dinner to see everyone, which was fantastic. 

The next day we left van and drove to Lou Yang power station to see coal mine and power plant together and operating. It was amazing the size of it all. 

  
We then drove to Tarra Bulga info centre and took the walk over the suspended bridge. It was drizzling but made the walk pretty cool as it felt like a rainforest. There were so many cool trees and different tree ferns. Matt of course shook bridge, so then Nate didn’t want to cross but eventually he did it. Was great spot. 

  
  
  

  We then decided to keep driving around out there and we found Tara Falls which was a beautiful little falls. We then came through some little towns that were in such a beautiful place. Then up on to farm country. 

That night we caught with some of Matt’s friends that he work with in Darwin. They were so lovely and they let the boys trash their shed so the boys were happy.

The next day we said goodbye to my cousin/god father and his family. It was so lovely reconnecting with them after so long between seeing him. I will treasure it forever. 

I can’t believe we have never been to Gippsland before, it was so beautiful and so different from the parts of Victoria we normally visit. I loved it down. The forest and timber mill history, to farming countryside and then these power stations and massive coal mines. 

If you’ve never been do yourself a favour and go explore Gippsland. 
Take Care xo

It’s been a few weeks since we were in Coober Pedy and the Flinders Ranges but thought it was time to do a blog.
We arrived at Coober Pedy and it was hot, dry and nothing but dirt to see. It’s a weird place when you drive through as it’s pretty much dirt and junk laying around. Buildings that look old and out dated. When you look past the main part of town there isn’t heaps to see but pipes sticking out of the ground and old shacks. 

 The things that we soon found out was that Coober Pedy, in a good year will receives 150mm of rain, otherwise there is not much water. So that explains the dirt and why things look so out dated. The dust and harsh environment just ages everything so quickly. The pipes sticking up are actually underground houses and the shacks are the front of them. When you realise that you see how big Coober Pedy is.   

 It is a unique place, out of this world. There is no place like it. It’s quirky and on the surface boring but once you start looking lots to do.

We were super lucky that our friends were caretaking Faye’s underground house and mine so we got our own personal tour which was so amazing to see how people live underground, the boys loved it. And the amount of effort gone into the mining and building of Faye’s place was crazy. She did it on her own. What a truly remarkable woman.

  We drove out to Crocodile Harry’s place which is quirky and creepy at the same time. But a must do while in Coober Pedy. We then drove to the Dingo fence and on to the Breakaways. The breakaways were amazing. The colours were incredible purples, oranges, whites and browns. In the middle of nowhere beautiful coloured soil.  

 
  
We had a look at the Serbian Church which was incredible. They have carved sculptures into the walls amazing.

  We went through the Desert Cave Hotel as they have a museum there which had lots of information on the aboriginal culture in the area, the making of the Stuart Hwy and of course Opals and it’s formation and mining. 

We walked through the Umoona Opal museum which covered formation and mining of Opals but always the fossils found in the area which was pretty interesting. 

Both had opal shops which I tried to talk Matt into buying me one but no such luck.

We did all this in one day which was information overload. My brain hurt at the end of it. You definitely need more time in Coober Pedy to explore it. We also found out that ground temperature there gets to 65 degrees. No wonder the van was hot.

We really enjoyed our time in Coober Pedy.

We left Coober Pedy and got to Lake Hart which is a salt lake and is pretty spectacular. It was really white this time. When we went to Darwin it wasn’t as white so I’m assuming that it has to do with water. There was even rain on the other on the horizon which was pretty cool. 

  We then continued on to The Flinders Ranges which was closed due to vermin control so we went and stayed in the Parachilna Gorge. It was a great spot. Some water flowing so the boys could play in it beautiful scenery. We took a drive to Blinman which is the highest town in South Australia. They use to mine cooper there. 

   

 Once the goat cull had finished we moved into Teamster Campground which was actually a four wheel drive track but we got the van through with care and great skill by Matt. We drove the Brachina Gorge drive into Wilpena with a detour to Stokes Hill Lookout then we drove back to campground by Bunyeroo Road. The views on each track were similar but also different. We were so glad we did these without the van attached as I don’t think our poor Jayco would’ve made it.  

 The guy at information centre told us that you can see fossils in the rocks where we were camping. So we went exploring and found them. And a cool Cave.

   
 The following day we checked out Sacred Canyon which was interesting and a bit of fun then we walked to Wilpena pound lookout then took the scenic route back to campground via Moralana drive which was to the south of the Flinders Ranges and was so different. It was more sort of grazing country, undulating hills and stations. Was great to see the differences.  

    
 The next day we left but we stopped at Hawker on way out and checked out Jeff Morgans panorama art gallery which was amazing. He is one patience and talented man. 

  While in the Flinders Ranges we showered alfresco which the boys loved and we made pet in a yellow footed rock wallaby which we all loved.
We love our beautiful, diverse country that is forever changing around us. 

Take care xo

 

Not many people travel the “Red Centre” in Summer. It’s dry, it’s hot and everything is dead and dusty. We loved it. Hardly anyone around except backpackers, caravan parks had deals on so it was perfect for us to find our feet again freecamping and caravan parking til we got our groove again. It was perfect.This part of the country was amazing and boring. Miles between spectacular place. And a town called Alice Springs with a river named Todd that runs through it. The perfect combination just like our friends Todd and Alice that we had many great times with in Darwin. We choose to stay at Macdonnell Ranges Big 4 they had pay 3 stay 4 which was perfect for us a bit of power to run the air conditioner of a night to get good sleep while exploring through the day. But of course our air conditioner once again decided not to work. We contemplated getting it fix in Alice but decided because we were heading out freecamping and hopefully going to be getting cooler weather we’d wait til we get to Victoria where we can freeload while it gets repaired. So we thoroughly enjoyed their pools and not to forget to mention free pancakes on Sunday morning. Winning.

  
We drove up and looked out over Alice from Anzac Hill. Was a great view with a great memorial. We also did truckies hall of fame where we learned so much about Shepparton and some of the great truck drivers that came from there. It was fantastic. We also took a look in the mall and some of the aboriginal art it was great to see. We stocked up on supplies and struggled with the limited alcohol buying time. All just a learning curve.  

 

 
  
The MacDonnell Ranges both east and west were truly amazing. I’m no geologist but the rock formations were worth the hot, tiring walks. There was some water in the waterholes that made the walks a bit more enjoying knowing that you got to cool off in them. 

 

 
Where we camped at Elery’s Creek big hole which had some warm spot and cold spots in the water. We found out that it was 9 metres deep and you could soon feel the water spring releasing water from below. The rocks here have a curve in their formation absolutely spectacular.

   

 
  
We moved on to Uluru staying at Yulara which had a good deal pay 2 stay 3. Yes thanks and with a pool. Perfect. 

The dirt/sand here was no word of a lie rusty red colour. I loved it. According to my non geologist national park rangers the red here and in Katherine is actually from the rocks rusting. Due to the oxidisation of the iron particles in the rocks. 

 The Rock was breathtaking, every single time we drove to it and from every angle … breathtaking. Even the boys were gobsmacked by it. We didn’t climb it due to extreme heat it was closed and the chance of rain. We did the Mala guided walk with ranger and it was full of great information and aboriginal stories and culture.

  
We also checked out Kata Tjuta/The Olga’s. We walked to the first lookout and down to the creek in the valley of the winds they two were just as amazing. But we really enjoyed the Walpa Gorge. There was water in it, lizards, rare wattle species and a cliff face apparently higher than the Rock and it’s completely vertical. I got dizzy looking up it.  

   
We even got to experience rain in the red centre it was lots but we can say we saw it rain in the red centre. 

 

 
So much to see and do. We rush through it but I could go back and spend more time there exploring it more. Maybe in winter though. 

xo

After Louth Bay we moved on to the Lincoln National Park. It was as beautiful as we had heard and more. We camped at Surfleet campground and checked out the rest of the park from there. It was beautiful Australian bush, actually had a bit of green & height about it. The bush ended where the cliffs/edge started then sand then beautiful blue ocean. My kind of heaven. 



A couple that we had meet at Louth Bay, Harry & Robyn came down to camp for a couple of nights. We really hit off with them, Matt & Harry started a fishing friendship were neither would catch fish but both would get advice off fellow fishermen and compare notes. We went for a drive around the park to Fishman Point, September Beach, Donington lighthouse and beach. If you ever get the chance to go there and you have 4wd my recommendation would be September Beach camping ground. It was fantastic. Big campsites, your own fire pit and picnic beach to each campsite, the ones that back onto the beach had their own walkway down to the beach & drop loo’s. We saw dolphins swimming too.







The Donington lighthouse, the views and some of the emu’s.









Matt took Ethan fishing to practise his casting out and Nate went swimming.



Next day we went and checked out Wanna. A complete different part, it had high cliffs and waves were crashing below and to the right on the rocks there was a sea lion.



That afternoon we went on an adventure to see if we could find where Matt had been fishing the night before. We were right on a point and we could see port Lincoln from there.



The next day we moved on to Farm Beach, which had been recommended by so many travellers. It was a good low cost free camp with allocated sites, toilet block with 1 cold shower & a hook to hang your shower bag. The beach was about 500 Mtrs away and its was another spectacular beach with a bit of character with the tractors and 4wds on it. Was great friendly spot as a lot of fishermen around and the camp there for months at a time. We also meet some few travellers that have just set out on their new life travelling Australia Dave & Terri. A lovely couple.



The next day we trekked down to Coffin Bay National Park to have a look around. It too was spectacular but so different for Lincoln National which I didn’t really expect considering they are so close to each other. Coffin Bay NP was dry, more sand therefore only really shrubs and sand dunes everywhere. The boys loved it. And so secluded.



When we got back to camp Harry & Robyn were there.

The next day we decided to be lazy and drive the 4kms to Gallipoli Beach. Thank god as we drove along we realised it would have a huge effort for us let alone the boys to make it there. This place (now thinking about it) would be my favourite place. No one else there a beautiful beach. The feeling of the place and its meaning. And it is home to a pod of dolphins that apparently will swim amongst you. Magical.



The following morning we said goodbye to Harry & Robyn and headed to Walkers Rocks. When we got to Walkers Rocks the wind was blowing from the wrong direction and blowing the sand straight in the camp. It was an ok camp with a lot of the camp sites in amongst scrub, which would have been ok. But we decided to push on to Haslam. We had heard there was a mouse plage there but thought it wouldn’t be that bad. Oh how wrong we were. They were EVERYWHERE!! On our roof, in the annexe it was horrible. After our first night we changed our minds 4 nights would be our maximum here. 

We backtracked down to Murphy’s Haystacks. They were spectular. Formed over millions of years from the wind blowing away the top soil and exposing themselves. 

Dave and Terri were leaving when we pulled in.



We then drove down to the sea lion colony at Point Labatt. This is one of the last colony left. It was amazing with all the different sizes and ages. Some playing, some lazing around, and some swimming. So fascinating, I could have sat there for ages.



From there we drove into Streaky Bay and did the close loop drove and showed the boys some blowholes and whistling rocks. We also went to Cape Bauer. The cliffs were amazing. They are apart of the Great Australian Bight.



The next morning, after a horrible night with the mice, we decided that we would leave the next day to cross the Nullarbor. So we headed in to Ceduna to get supplies and have a very quick look around then get back to camp and start packing up so we could get an early start the next day. When we got back Dave & Terri were there. Also a couple from Tongala pulled in too. They know Uncle Pete, such a small world.

Our last part of the Eyre was a bit faster than we expected and only saw a little bit of it. The rest will be done on our next trip. It is such a beautiful part of our country. I understand why we met some many people that are spending a few months down there. 

I love how you run into the same people all the time as you get to make new friendships.

Til next time xo

As we drove down to our first camp on the Eyre we blow a tyre on the caravan. Not too much of a big deal until we realised that the jack wouldn’t lift it up high enough to put new tyre on. So we had to get car jack out (which is behind boys seat) and jack up enough to get some pavers under then put jack on top. After an hour Matt had it changed.





Our first camp on the Eyre was at Port Gibbon which had been recommended to us by fellow travellers, Garry & Kath. It was a good low cost camp with 2 drop loo’s, water, shower cubicle which you can take your solar shower into and have a wash. All for $5 per night, can’t go wrong. As we were setting up other travellers came over and spoke to us. It was exactly what we needed. We hadn’t had a very good couple of days so friendly people was exactly what we needed.

Beach wasn’t nice but covered in seaweed. Still good enough for playing in the sand. 



I have never seen seaweed like this. The waves were crashing and pushing it up. It was fascinating.



We took a drive into Cowell, a great fishing town. Seems like a popular place for fishermen as caravan park was full and so was the boat ramp. Boys had a play at park.



On our way back to camp we stopped and looked at some air raid shelters that were left from world war 2. They were pretty interesting.



We had been told there was sea lions just around the point. So we took a drive to see if we could find them. But the boys found sand dunes instead which is much more interesting and fun.



After some fun in the sand dunes we started looking for the sea lions. Off in our own world Ethan yells out “What’s that?” He spotted one. He thought it was a rock until it moved. 



We couldn’t find anymore. One was better than nothing and he was a big one. Matt got within 3 metres of him until he started to growl.

The next day we had a cruisy day a bit of fishing, bit of washing and a chill out day.

From here we were going to go to Lipson Cove which is meant to be beautiful but very open. It was a windy day so we decided that we’d keep going down to a place called Louth Bay. It was a good low cost camp. Only enough room for 6 vans but flush toilets, 2 in each. And there was water and 100 meters away a beautiful little beach. 500 meters there was a jetty and playground. All for $10 per night. So we stayed 5, making this our home base to see some of the places we’d driven past and to explore Port Lincoln from.





We went into Port Lincoln and got 2 new tyres for the caravan just so we didn’t have to worry about blowing one going across the Nullarbor and paying top dollar. They were both as old as the van. We also wanted to get a new battery so it could run our waeco as we have been struggling with  having a enough power. So Matt found what we needed online and organised for it to get ship from Adelaide overnight. Being a long weekend they told us we had to have picked up from the transport company by 8.30am Saturday. We raced into town got it then went back to camp and chilled out.



Matt had been fishing every night since Port Gibbon but hasn’t  caught anything. His luck had finally changed and he caught 3 squid. Not knowing how to clean them he brought them back to camp as Ethan & I had watch Des clean some back at Burners Beach. So with some very poor instructions Matt cleaned them up.



Next day we back tracked and went and checked out Tumby Bay & Arno Bay. Both were great spots that we’d love to spend some more time in. Tumby Bay was the bigger of the two and more commerical. But beautiful.







Arno Bay was full of history, with the boys we find it very hard to read all the information plaque’s. 1 that I got to read said about the mail ship bringing the mail,it would take a month for the mail to get there from Adelaide and that obviously would depend on the sea. So there would be signal put out so that people knew when it was arriving. People from all areas would come and see if their parcels had arrived. What a different time it was back then. 

Matt read 1 that told the story of the first man that started the farming of tuna in the ocean. How he would hatch them in aquamarines then taken out to sea and put them in tuna pots so that they were still in their natural habitat but in farm conditions. Each pot has to be more than  3 kilometres apart. We then started noticing these everywhere.

Was a great spot with lots of fishermen. Community is really behind the tourism here which just makes the towns just that bit more inviting.











 Ethan wanted to watch the sunrise, so he and I went down to the beach the next morning and watched. It was beautiful.



He did get a little bit sidetracked when he saw some seagulls.



We had been bribing the boys with Maccas for the past few days. So we drove around Port Lincoln checking out the Habour, called in and got some more supplies then they were rewarded with Maccas and a play at the park.





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