April 2006
OK, time to get to know the Murray River a little better. The more time we spend on this river the more we like and respect it. It runs for over 2,500km from the Snowy Mountains in NSW and borders Victoria on it's way to South Australia. When we first saw it in Mildura last September it was a muddy brown colour but now is a much nicer colour, maybe because of less rain and run-off. It winds it's way through the countryside often with dramatic high cliffs on one or both sides, beautiful gum trees, locks and weirs, birdlife including pelicans, salt farms, paddle steamers, not to mention the hundreds of houseboats.
The history and importance of this river as a major trade route during the 1800's is well documented at the various towns. The irrigation schemes for crops are of major importance as it meanders it's journey to the sea. Of course, there's not enough water to go around and it's important to take the salts out of it at various points along the way to keep it healthy.
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| Burra dugout where the miners lived until flooded out |
We spent a few days at MURRAY BRIDGE and free camped by the river at MANNUM where we found a marina housing around 100 houseboats!
After a free camp at BURRA CREEK GORGE we headed up to Burra, an old copper mining town which is now a pretty tourist town. Went down into one of the old brewery cellars where the rooms/corridors underground twisted and turned all over the place.
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| Underground cellars |
After a free camp at BURRA CREEK GORGE we headed up to Burra, an old copper mining town which is now a pretty tourist town. Went down into one of the old brewery cellars where the rooms/corridors underground twisted and turned all over the place.
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| Sevenhills Winery |
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| Martindale Hall |
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| A grain terminal, Yorke Peninsular |
We visited YORKE PENINSULAR for 4 nights where we travelled over some of the roughest, corrugated roads we've ever been on - and we were towing the caravan! The main roads are tar-sealed but we like to explore out of the way places - we got more than we bargained for but thankfully no damage done. Stayed our first night at BLACK POINT, a small seaside holiday spot. Next day we travelled around the coast, on gravel roads, to BUTLERS BEACH, where we bushcamped on a farm. They're catching lots of fish here, we're told! Sure enough John and our neighbour caught some (small) fish next morning. The neighbour scaled and filleted his and thought it was such a waste to throw them to the birds, as John did! NZer's are very lucky that our fishing grounds have not been depleted as much as the Australian waters.
Checked out the Innes National Park which had some spectacular coastal scenery. That day we were on the road quite late for us and around 4pm out from the side of the road jump 2 kangaroos. Luckily we were not travelling fast and dodged them. Normally we like to travel between 9am and 3pm to hopefully avoid kangaroos and other nocturnal wildlife. We stayed the night at POINT TURTON moving on to MOONTA the next day.
The Yorke Peninsular is becoming a very popular holiday area for Adeladeans and the Moonta area is an upmarket place with a caravan park right on the beach. We love finding camps like this but fear the high price of coastal land will see an end to them as is already happening in the more populated areas.
Along the SA coast we have seen several large "Wind Farms" which look graceful and fascinate us. We stopped under a windmill and heard only a slight swooshing noise. Any more wind and the sound of the wind would negate any windmill noise. The shadows cast by the turning blades may frighten animals until they were accustomed to them but we think they are a great and pollution free way of generating electricity.
We stayed at West Beach Caravan Park, ADELAIDE, for Easter as our good friends, Margaret and Brian McLean from One Tree Point and family flew in to Adelaide for Abby, their granddaughter aged 12, to compete in the "Champion of Champions" Highland dancing competitions with dancers from all over the world. Abby danced beautifully and came 4th overall - a great achievement. We were lucky our itinerary coincided with their visit and this event.
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| A Kiwi feeding a Possum !! |
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| Pelican looking for a feed |
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| The Mighty Murray River |
After Easter, Margaret and Brian travelled with us for a week staying in cabins in caravan parks and we visited the BAROSSA VALLEY wine region (Shiraz) and then explored more of the Murray River, staying at RENMARK and back down the river to MANNUM. This is a major orange and grape growing region - acres and acres of crops. Where the land is not irrigated the area is very brown and dry right now. Between Murray Bridge and Renmark there are 10 ferry crossings across the Murray manned 24 hours a day some places having 2 ferries running continuously during the day.
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| The beautiful Sturt Desert Pea |
I don't think the GPS knows about the ferries as it doesn't take them into account when calculating routes.
Also this region is a "Fruit fly exclusion zone" and no uncooked fruit or vegetables can be taken into it. So we had a big cook up of all the veges the night before entering it. We've passed through several of these borders now and have never been checked but the fines are high so we always get rid of all our fruit and veges.
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| Hahndorf - a very pretty town |
Margaret and Brian flew back to NZ on 25th April.
John flew out on 26th April to spend some time with Papa before we head up the middle and further away from NZ. So I'm "home alone" until 9 May. My sister Pat and her husband Ken fly into Adelaide on 4th May to pick up their 4WD and caravan out of storage and resume their adventure around Australia so I won't be alone for much longer. It's 2nd May now and it's a chilly, wet day.
Ah, at last, heading back up the middle. Pat and
May 2006 Ken are travelling with us ''on and off'' which is great. They stay ''on'' the ''blacktop'' when we venture ''off'' to dirt tracks. The skies are blue and the temperatures are warming up. So to the Oodnadatta Track. From ROXBY DOWNS we travelled the Borefield Road to the Oodnadatta Track.
En route we saw dingoes, emus, an eagle, eventually quite a few cattle, remains of the old Ghan railway track, a few ruins, some springs formed from seepage of the Great Artesian Basin. The GAB is a vast natural underground resource that underlies 1.7 million square kms predominantly of Queensland and South Australia and smaller areas of NSW and the Northern Territory. It contains immense reserves of water and is constantly being recharged - mainly by rainfall from the Queensland section of the Great Dividing Range. But care must be taken not to waste it. It is the same aquifer basin that sugar farmers in Nth Queensland take their water from.
This road was not good. Corrugations were not bad but the rocky/stony surface made us travel slowly. But once on the Oodnadatta track the road was good to William Creek (and maybe to Marla) where we turned left and headed to COOBER PEDY for a couple of nights. This road is generally in good condition with a few nasty rocky patches.
En route we saw dingoes, emus, an eagle, eventually quite a few cattle, remains of the old Ghan railway track, a few ruins, some springs formed from seepage of the Great Artesian Basin. The GAB is a vast natural underground resource that underlies 1.7 million square kms predominantly of Queensland and South Australia and smaller areas of NSW and the Northern Territory. It contains immense reserves of water and is constantly being recharged - mainly by rainfall from the Queensland section of the Great Dividing Range. But care must be taken not to waste it. It is the same aquifer basin that sugar farmers in Nth Queensland take their water from.
This road was not good. Corrugations were not bad but the rocky/stony surface made us travel slowly. But once on the Oodnadatta track the road was good to William Creek (and maybe to Marla) where we turned left and headed to COOBER PEDY for a couple of nights. This road is generally in good condition with a few nasty rocky patches.
The Oodnadatta Track was a well worthwhile diversion - we drove 425km that day. We found it quite different from the Birdsville Track.
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| Walking into an underground house |
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| Coober Pedy township |
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| An opal mine |
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| A very nice hotel |
To stop dust the floor is concreted and the walls and ceiling are sprayed with bondcrete, which gives the surfaces the most gorgeous colourings. Very hard to beat mother nature when it comes to colour combinations. The temperature inside these underground homes stays a constant 20 to 25 deg C even when the outside temperatures reach 0 or 55 deg.
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| Inside the underground hotel. ) |
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| Coober Pedy golf course with oil greens |
If you want to look for opals you can buy a license for say 50 sq metres for 3 months and start digging. It's amazing the amount of little (and big) mounds of earth where people have been digging. And they don't bother to fill in their holes so it's not a safe place to go walking especially at night.
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| Coober Pedy township |
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| A watering hole for the cattle |
Lack of water in the area was a problem until they installed a de-salinator which makes very pure water but is also expensive so there is only about one garden. The only grass to be seen is on the football fields - soccer and Aussie Rules oval. While in the caravan park we had to use our own
water which can be bought from a tap in the main street although water was available in the amenities block. Showers 20c for 2 1/2 minutes.
A place well worth visiting.
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| Entrance to the Church |
Left Coober Pedy via Oodnadatta Road driving through the ''Moon Plain'' a landscape totally flat and barren. A real rocky desert plain very different from anything we've seen before but with it's own beauty.
When we stopped for morning tea a bit further on it was unbelievably quiet. No trees, no birds, no wind. A little further down the road a few Hereford grazing and a stunning coloured rock in the background. And just us!
But when we got to the Painted Desert the hills were just breathtakingly beautiful. The colours blending together were so pretty and the hills so majestic. To be able to experience these sights with no one else around is so special. We were told we had to get off the blacktop to really see Australia and it's so true. The roads are not too bad, sometimes really smooth but other times rocky. Some of the corrugations are a bit bone shattering but there's no hurry so we just take it slowly.
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| Absolutely nothing but amazingly beautiful |
Very few people on this road - they don't know what they're missing.
A magical day but then we called into Oodnadatta. It was 3pm and we intended staying there but it didn't appeal. Ugh - not for us. Apart from the flies we weren't impressed so drove on. And so glad we did. We found a camp spot at OLARINNA CREEK midway between Oodnadatta and Marla (100km from each). We saw two jets overhead but no other vehicle went through in 16 hours. We lit a camp fire, enjoyed our ''Happy Hour'' and sat under the stars until it was time for bed. A superb day.
Drove up the Stuart Highway (boring) to YULARA, the campground closest to Uluru (Ayers Rock) which is still 20km away.
Pat and Ken are here with their caravan too.
Sadly John’s Dad passed away on 18th May so we flew home leaving our caravan and landcruiser at Yulara.
