MANNUM TO VICTOR HARBOUR

From Mannum we continued following the river through Taillum Bend and Williamtown. Although we didn’t stop, Williamtown looked fascinating and the ferry there is the oldest continuing service in Australia. The buildings, particularly the old court house built of stone was fantastic. We arrived in Goolwa and found the caravan park after missing a turn that took us firstly across the Hindmarsh Bridge onto Hindmarsh Island. A quick turn around put us back into Goolwa and into the park. Even though school holidays had begun it was very quiet, in fact we were the only van in the park when we arrived.

We travelled across to Hindmarsh Island again to explore and to reach our goal of following the Murray to its mouth. It is from Hindmarsh Island that you can view the Murray Mouth (or what is left of it). Hindmarsh Island is 15 kms long and 6 kms wide and is unique as it faces fresh water on one side and salt on the other. For some years (since October 2002) they have had to continually dredge the mouth to keep it open as there are NO flows coming downstream. You can see the dredge in one of the photos. However even though there are no flows coming down, the landscape is so green down here.

Goolwa is such an interesting town with such a colourful past. It was surveyed in 1840 and settled in 1841. Goolwa was one of Australia’s most important river ports with paddle steamers towing barges from NSW and Victoria laden with wool and other produce and returning with produce and building supplies. The Steamranger Cockle Train runs between Goolwa and Victor Harbour. It is a heritage train, picturesque and historic and only takes 30 minutes between towns and is the oldest public railway in Australia. You get a ¾ hour break before its return journey! Originally it was a horse drawn tram. Why called “The Cockle Train” you may ask? Well in the early days of settlement, local residents would take the horse drawn train to Goolwa to collect cockles from the beaches near the Murray mouth. We had a great day out on this, and it was a cold wet and windy day where there was not much else you could do anyway! Walter had a ride in the engine with the volunteers too! (Big boy’s toys!)

During the week in Goolwa we also took a drive up to Strathalbyn, a lovely heritage town with lovely old stone buildings. We then drove out to Langhorne Creek, tried some great wine and found a winery that also grows and sells fresh horseradish! Walter has been trying for 3 years since we were in Austria to find fresh horseradish here in Australia and this is the first time we have been successful! We then drove home along the edge of Lake Alexandrina through Milang. Now this is where you really get to realise the seriousness of the Murray-Darling basin. Check out the photos of the jetties, the water level is now well past the ends of them.

Another day we drove into the outskirts of Adelaide then down the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Again lots of rain showers but the scenery is spectacular! And it is so green.! We drove right around into Rapid Bay and to Cape Jervis. Cape Jervis is where the vehicular ferry to Kangaroo Island leaves from. From here you can get good views of the island. We decided not to go over this trip as it is quite expensive. $89 for your vehicle then $1.50 for each 10 cm! Add that up for a one-way trip with a 23’ caravan!!

We also drove out along the Sir Richard peninsula to view one of the Barrages. There are seven barrages that have been constructed in the 1920’s to keep the fresh water from the Murray catchment separate from the salt inflows. These stretch across the rivers and outlets from Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island. Whilst we were out there enjoying the view we viewed our first seal frolicking in the water.

After a lovely week we then travelled a whole 23 kms to Victor Harbour to stay for another week. Now this is one gorgeous town and so much to see and do here. In summer months there would be even more. We have really copped some wet weather whilst we have been in the area though. I would love to come back here again in the warmer months. However, that aside we have been busy seeing and doing so much here. As we arrived to a partly sunny day we didn’t want to waste it, so we walked from our caravan park (facing the beach) up into town. We purchased tickets to go across to Granite Island in the historic horse-drawn tram and off we went. The causeway was built for the port in the late 1800’s and the tram transported goods to and fro from the ships coming into port. Now Granite Island is run by the Parks and Conservation department and has a colony of fairy (or little) penguins that have made it their home. There is a great walkway (1.5 kms around the island) which has great views of Victor harbour, The Bluff and Port Elliot and Middleton. Also when the whales are around it is a prime viewing spot for these magnificent creatures. We decided we would also take in the night penguin tour where you get a chance to view the penguins as they come home after a days fishing! They also have a Penguin Centre there that rehabilitates injured penguins so you get a chance to really see them close up. When we visited this we were lucky again that we were the only ones there so the penguin carer took us to show us a female with 2 lovely little chicks!

We took a drive down to Deep Creek Conservation Park and took the 4WD track down into Blowhole Beach. This is the prettiest area I have seen for some time! It overlooks Kangaroo Island and the valleys were filled with Arum lilies and kangaroos grazed and slept in the hollows. We had packed a picnic lunch so we ate that there overlooking this magnificent view. The Heysen Trail also runs through this place. The Heysen Trail is a walking trail that runs from Cape Jervis to the Flinders Ranges some 1200 kms. After lunch we drove north towards Victor Harbour to find the Newland Conservation park. We had read about a walk from there to a waterfall. It was a 3.5 km return walk and sounded pretty good. We headed off about 2 pm into the park along a wide trail. We had walked about ¾ km when the trail sign pointed to the left and stated it was 800m down to the waterfall. The track suddenly went to rock steps that went straight down for the 800m to the waterfall. Of course when we got down there we had to climb the 800m straight up again! It was a lovely walk but quite strenuous and we both had sore muscles for the next 2 days! Some beautiful wild flowers along the track though, many I have never seen before.

This is a big area for whale watching, nearly as big as Hervey Bay here in the south! Before we arrived there was a sighting of a mother and calf but since we have been here there has been nothing. So we went to the Whale museum instead. Really well done and definitely worth the visit.

One other highlight for Walter here was finding the equivalent to an Austrian Wuerstal Stand – (hot dog stand). Served only German sausage with sauerkraut, cheese and onions!

Tomorrow we will leave the coast and head north to Hahndorf for a few days before going on to the Barossa and Clare Valleys. From there it will be onto the Flinders Ranges. We initially were going to go over to the Yorke Peninsula but we are sick of the wet and cold weather so going north to hopefully have a change of weather.

We hope you are all well and life is treating you gently. We are both well and enjoying this life.

Until next time,

The Happy Travellers
Rob & Walter

RENMARK TO MANNUM

We still had a bit to see before leaving Renmark.

We headed first to Headings Lookout about 12 kms out of Paringa. These are beautiful red cliffs overlooking the Murray and are spectacular at sunset. We actually visited them twice as the first time was a bit overcast and so we did not get the sunset reflection that they are renowned for. As you can see from the photo it was worth the second visit. Further out of town (about 30kms) we also visited the Customs House. It is run as a house boat agency and general store now but the building was built in the early days of the paddle steamer trade and all boats coming from NSW or Victoria had to stop and declare their goods and pay duty. A bit disappointing that it hasn’t been kept as an historical building though.

Another day we visited Rushton’s Roses. This is the largest rose farm in Australia and covers 25 acres and has 50,000 roses. Even though it is winter there were still enough roses out to see their beauty. It would be a spectacular place to visit in October during the rose festival. There are also large old fashioned display gardens and lovely nooks and crannies to explore. A huge avenue of David Austin roses and a corridor of ‘specials’ Such as roses dedicated to special people such as Princess Dianna, Grace of Monaco and even Ian Thorpe. They have a lovely cafeteria there too with a great old classic car collection and even some old outboard motors!

Within the town limits there is Olivewood House. This was the original home of Charles Chaffey – one of the Chaffey Bros. An orchard of very old olive trees stands in front of the house and even the old olive press is on display in the museum behind the home. Run by volunteers, it gives a fascinating picture into life in those early days. The volunteers are in the process of re-constructing the processing plant at the rear of the house showing the original methods of olive processing. They have sourced much of the original equipment and are currently putting it all in place.

After a week at Renmark we headed just 39kms down the road to a tiny place called Kingston-on-Murray (KOM). The village has only a population of 200 but again right on the river. We had picked up information on a number of things to do and see from this location. One was a river cruise called Loch Luna and the second was to visit Banrock Station winery and wetland centre. Banrock was only 5 minutes drive down the road and the winery overlooks their wetland. It is in a beautiful situation and they run a truly remarkable wetland conservation program and have been the recipient of many awards for this program. Their wine is pretty good too and in fact one of the rare wineries where we found the wine cheaper there than in the bottle shops! They have good walking trails around the wetlands but so bird lovers can see it in peace (no ankle biters running around making a lot of noise) you have to book. This way they leave at least an hour between walkers. We made our booking for the following Thursday, picked up some nice champagne at $7.50 per bottle and had a nice cup of coffee and wattle seed scones with Quandong Jam and cream….yum!

We also rang and booked our cruise (3 hour duration) on the Loch Luna cruise boat for the Monday. The weather was a little cool on Saturday and Sunday and Walter had a cold so we spent the time going to the Berri Farmers Markets on Saturday, also did some shopping there at Coles and then onto the Mallee Fowl restaurant which has really whacky décor and their signature dish was Quandong Cheese Cake!

On Monday we walked the 5 minutes down along the river to the cruise boat. The fog was thick but beginning to rise as we reached the boat. Blue skies were showing promise of a nice day. Cal was the boat owner and tour guide. He purchased the business about 8 months previously, quitting the bank for a ‘sea change’. He had a real passion for the river and its’ wildlife. His afternoon cruise cancelled just as we boarded so he said if it was alright with us we wouldn’t hurry and spend a bit longer then the 3 hours out there. It was a marvellous day with heaps of bird life and some quite rare sightings. We had homemade bikkies for morning tea and ended up spending 7 hours out along the river and the back creeks, arriving back after 4 pm. We certainly got our monies worth!

Banrock Boardwalk was 8 km s long and wended its way right around the billabong. Lots of black swans, Eurasian Coots and Purple Swamp hens around the water, but also Golden Rosellas, and many Mallee birds through the bush. Too many to list! We had packed our lunch and so just spent about 4 ½ hours wandering our way around.

We also took a drive ‘down stream’ to Loxton. Again a town of about 3,000 people has a pioneer village and lovely park areas along the river. We didn’t bother with the Pioneer Village as it didn’t look anything like the great one we saw at Swan Hill.

After a week at KOM we then headed further along the river (another 40kms) to Waikerie. Another nice park across the road from the river. It’s a town of about 5,000 people and like Renmark and KOM, rich in agriculture, particularly citrus and grapes, both wine and table. There is even a fresh orange juice factory here. Along the lovely cliffs along the river there is a cliff walk, and outside of town the Maize Island Conservation Park. Also the lovely Murray River Queen Paddle steamer resides here. You can even go on board during the day as they run a café/coffee shop on the back deck. We did this but also found that that evening (Saturday) they were running a 5 hour dinner/dance cruise. We jumped on that opportunity and booked. Gee now I had to go and work out what I was going to wear! Hadn’t “dressed up” for a while! We were treated to a couple of hours cruising down the river before sun set and then called into dinner. A lovely 3 course meal was served and they had a live band playing as well. After dinner (still cruising) everyone got up to dance. The cruise travelled for 2 ½ hours downstream toward Lock 2 before turning around and cruising back to Waikerie.

In Waikerie there is also Haverhand Chocolates and local place that hand makes chocolates mainly for the Adelaide market but also sell hot chocolate made with Belgian chocolate and also Chocolate fondues. We opted for a hot chocolate and a chocolate cookie only!

We drove out through Ramco towards Morgan through citrus orchards and vineyards. Morgan was one of the busiest river ports in the southern hemisphere during the Paddle boat era. Many travelled by train from Adelaide and caught the passenger boats to go along the Murray to Wentworth and then either along the Murray further or up the Darling. Morgan is also interesting as it is here where the BIG BEND is in the river. From its source, the Murray travels west until Morgan and it is here it turns south to the mouth. Geologists believe that many millions of years ago the river did disgorge itself into St Vincent Gulf, north of Adelaide but there was a great volcanic upheaval of the land forming the Adelaide Hills and blocked the river so it then found its way south.

Morgan had another great little museum run by volunteers which we found interesting. We drove back to Waikerie via the top road visiting Lock 2 on the way home.

From Waikerie we also spent a day driving up to Gluepot Reserve. This is about 65kms north of the town and owned and run by Birds Australia. Gluepot Reserve is Birds Australia's first publicly funded Reserve. Located in the semi-arid South Australian Mallee it is considered by many to be one of the crown jewels in the nation's reserve system. This 50,000 ha large area of virgin Mallee scrub contains no less than 6 nationally endangered bird species and a unique flora and fauna adapted to the harsh conditions. Purchased in 1997, Gluepot is rapidly becoming a centre for scientific research. Its accessibility means it is one of the few areas in Australia where birdwatchers can relatively easily observe otherwise hard-to-find species. So we packed another picnic lunch and went and visited and walked. Saw some amazing birds we had never seen before. If we come that way again we would go out and camp for a few days

From Waikerie we decided to drive as far (61 kms) to Swan Reach. This is another very tiny town on the river but we had a reason for going there. We wanted to drive up to Blanchetown where the first Lock is on the Murray is and just outside of Blanchetown is the Broomfield Conservation Park. This is one of the known habitats for the threatened Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat. They are only located in a few spots in Australia, another being along the Nullabor. So we packed up a picnic lunch and the Thermos and headed to Blanchetown. It’s another small place on the river but as we were having a cup of coffee in the café the girl told us we should go out to Portee Station. Portee Station was originally settled as a sheep grazing property along the banks and flood plain of the River Murray, the station took its name from the French verb PORTEE (to carry) caused by the need to unload and carry vessels and freight over the Moorunde sand bar at times of low river flow. It is 20,000 acres and now run as a B & B. However, the Australian Shearing team was there for this weekend to practice their craft. The team was punching through 3,000 sheep in order to get their time down so they can get their hands on the Golden Shears World Title being held in Norway in October. They were trying to raise money for their team so the public was invited. Well it was only 8 kms out of town so we made the decision to go. It was fantastic watching this team work. The roustabouts, Debbie Chandler from West Australia, and Mel Morris from Tasmania are wool handlers that are also part of the team heading to Norway. They made us tired just watching them! The current World Champion, Shannon Warnest, says this is the only time the team had to practice together. He told us that "This was pretty unique. This was the first time the Australian team had ever got together before the World Champs." The station owner and his daughter Liz invited us both back to their Gourmet BBQ dinner that night in the ground of the old homestead. So we went wombat hunting out at the reserve, finding plenty of warrens and holes but no wombats and then returned. It was a beautiful night with white tablecloths and crystal under gas heaters in front of the homestead. When Liz asked if we found any wombats and we said no, she told us a track on the property to drive on before returning to Swan Reach. Sure enough we saw three Southern Hairy nosed Wombats so all boxes and then some were ticked for theWe then left Swan Reach and drove another 69 kms to Mannum. It is a beautiful and historic river town with lovely stone buildings and good museum and lovely views across the river. We have driven further down to Murray Bridge (shopping and fuel cheaper here) and came back on another road crossing the free ferry back to the caravan park. The beautiful Murray Princess Paddlesteamer leaves from here for 4 to 7 day river cruises. It would be lovely to do but does fit the budget at this point in time.

Yesterday we travelled down to Monarto Zoo. This is jointly run by the Adelaide Zoo but is an Open Plains Zoo. We arrived early at 9.30 am and were on the first Zoo bus leaving for the Grasslands. This took us through Barbary sheep, Bison, Przewalski's Horses and varied Antelope including Bongo. We had never been up so close to some of these animals, even though they are at Dubbo Zoo. We got back to the Centre to be able to jump on the African Bus. Again so close to Giraffe, Hyenas, Zebra and then amazing Cheetahs and lions. Absolutely a different zoo experience. Very different to Dubbo.

Today is cold and miserable and tomorrow we leave for a longer trip (150kms) to Goolwa and the Mouth of the Murray. From all accounts the mouth of the river and Lake Alexandrina is quite sad with no water flow coming down at all so the salinity is rising and wildlife and aquatic life dying. We will report on this in our next bulletin.
We hope you are all well and happy,

Love to you all
The Happy Travellers

Rob and Walter