The Mighty Murray

Since leaving Kingston, we headed through Pineroo and across to Mildura, the flies at the Pink Lake in the Murray Sunset National Park carried us to Mildura,  they were bad, the worse we have seen them in all of our travels, we couldn't even have a drink outside, (I'm not good at sharing).

Mildura is beautiful, and Australia's fruit bowl, we purposely didn't stock up on any fresh fruit and veg, knowing we would enter the fruit fly quarantine area, but now we are in it, there is so much fruit available and at prices you just can't imagine, the fruit is sweet and delicious.

Wentworth was also a beautiful town, one of the oldest towns in this region. It is situated at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers, also home to Lock No. 10 and we had great fun watching the houseboats go up or down in the lock depending which way they were heading.

                                   
                                                    The Darling and Murray junction.

From Mildura we found a few bush camps along the Murray before coming into Swan Hill.

Swan Hill, is another Gem on the Murray, the Pioneer Settlement, was a couple of days well spent.
I can't rave enough about it, along with the General admission we did the PYAP cruise up the Murray and the night time Light and Sound show. It took us two days to get around all the displays, even catching the horse and cart or one of the vintage vehicles running around the settlement didn't save us any time in traversing the grounds. The highlight for the girls was dressing up in the period costumes,
or for Grace having her Wanted poster printed "Wanted for causing Havoc and Mayhem" who would have figured? I can't choose between the old favourites lolly shop or the Tea Rooms (Food heavily influencing my descision), Les enjoyed the old engineering shops,  the equipment is still used today to assist with the up keep of the settlement and all their machinery.

 

Caravans have changed a lot over the last 100 years. Thank goodness

 

Clipsal V8s

Before I go any further I must show pictures of the V'8s (boy did I get in the poop after last post when no cars were put in) so all the V8 fans here we go.

 

Adelaide

Hit adelaide just in time for the Clipsal 500,  Les is happy, he has something to keep him busy while I catch up with the girls. :)

                                              West beach with Lara and Jade

 

Adelaide is turning on the weather for us, it is absolutely beautiful, enjoyed a day down at West Beach with Lynda and her gorgeous girls. (Les still at Clipsal)
Come Tuesday we headed down to Myponga, Mum and Dad have had a shack here forever and it is a place that has many happy memories, it is special  now to be able to share this place with my own family.

 

Glad to report (Aunty) Cheryl's Christmas tree is still going (growing).
Mum and Dad planted this when Cheryl moved to Cairns 20 years ago, didn't think it would make the journey up there and would have more of a chance down at the beach, it was about knee high in a pot at that time.


Time has flown and once again time to move on, we have two weeks to spend on the riverland before heading into Melbourne to catch the flight out on the 25th. 
First a detour to Keith to catch up with one of my oldest friends, Mary and her tribe in Keith, and then onto Kingston, where my sister is spending their long weekend. (Adelaide Cup Holiday).
How is it that when you see your friends kids they all look so much older than last time you see them?  I never see myself getting older in this same amount of time - Maybe I should look in the mirror more carefully.

 

 

Streaky Bay and beyond

Oh NO, not again!!
Yes, but thanks to Karl at Streaky Bay Mechanical we were back on the road in no time.
Thanks Karl,
Before departing the Bay however we found a gem of an art gallery and museum at the back of the Shell servo, displays of all kinds of memorabilia from catches off the coast here, including this model of  the largest Great White Shark caught at the time, over 5 metres and weighing in at over 1500kg. Thank goodness we didn't see him (her actually).

 

It was cold and windy when we arrived in Ceduna,  perfect weather if surfing, so we took a drive out to Cactus Beach with its left and right break. after seeing  that model in Streaky there is no way I would go in there, especially dressed in a black wetsuit looking like lunch, or in my case dinner.

 

 



 

 

 

                            After Les has had his fill of oysters its time to move on yet again.

 

Adelaide here we come. :) 

Swimming with sealions and dolphins

www.bairdbay.com you have to look them up and if ever in this area of Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula you have to do the swim with Dolphin and Sea lion Tour.
 OMG.  Thanks to Alan, Trish and Mick, the morning was unbelievable.
 I have a new favourite animal, bugger the puppy dogs and bunny rabbits- Les and the kids better look out too. The Sea Lions have it all.

 

 

                                                        

 

Their big grins say it all

Eyre Peninsula

OK, off again, did a couple of day trips from port Augusta, one down to Point Lowly, but unfortunately not able to see any giant cuttlefish, 2 or 3 jellyfish but no cuttlefish, also headed North to Woomera for the day to look around the old Defense Base, the museum was fascinating and the the exhibits of rockets and satelites amazing. The highlight, however, was stopping on one of the many salt plains on the way home, its funny how the small things are the memorable moments.

Headed down to Port Lincoln after Port Augusta, didn't see any tuna, although for a price you can go swimming with them, I think I'd rather eat them.  You could also go diving with Great white sharks -  I don't think so, I've seen jaws, those cages just don't work!
What was fun was the hiring of sandboards and surfing the sand dunes - Cool Dude. And Les has still got it, that mis-spent youth water skiing the Murray has paid off.

                                    
                                               Boy, are we going to feel that tomorrow

Flinders Ranges

Hawker was beautiful, highly recommend anyone coming through to stay at the Big 4 in town, the hosts were fantastic, the park, large and shady sites and a great playground and pool area,We could have stayed here much longer, Jessica was actually most upset we were leaving as a movie is being shot in the region and she was hoping for a glimpse of the stars and all the action. The production crew had all cabins in the park booked out, but no idea where the stars were staying.

So, from here we ventured into Wilpena Pound, but once again our timing is impeccable, as the walks were closed due to the rangers culling the feral goats. There are quite a few scenic drives through gorges and around ridges and we took in as many of the lookouts as possible, but have had to put it on the "Next Time" list.

Travelling South once again,we were half way between Hawker and Quorn when our vehicle started to make horrifying noises, at first we thought it was the brakes screeching against the discs but they seemed Ok, if we engaged 4WD the noise quietened,Les found that we had actually broken the front left CV joint, we decided to limp into Quorn to seek help.  The mechanic there was extremely helpful but suggested unless we wanted to be stranded for weeks waiting for parts to get into Port Augusta, he ranga head for us and found an approved repairer to look at it this week. So very slowly we drove into Port  Augusta and that is where we are now.

Its not as bad as it sounds, luckily we are members of RACQ, and as such they will pay for accomodation and a hire vehicle till all fixed, so we have been able to get out and about.

Whyalla is not far and a whole day was spent looking around this area. The HMAS Whyalla museum was well worth the visit, as was Hummock Hill, and one for Dad the model railway.