Since our last post we made the decision not to go to kangaroo island.  the ferry across was very expensive and we felt that it was not worth the expense.  So we carried on up the Murray River.  We spent on night in Purnong on a site next to the river.  We were the only ones there apart from the pelicans.  The pelicans are very friendly and get more so when you catch a fish!!!  For those who know about Australia the Murray river is the longest one here and the third longest in the world after the Amazon and Nile – it is 2520 km long and in most places it is about 100m wide.  The water is a murky brown colour but it is safe to swim and fish in.  From Purnong we carried on north up the river to a lovely places called Swan Reach.  The towns are tiny most only having one shop in or none at all.  At Swan Reach there was two shops and a pub which did very nice food.   The site was on the opposite side of the river and there was a free ferry running 24 hours just down from the site.  The site was a free site so the only facilities was a toilet.  Not a problem for us as we have everything we need on board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set up on the side of the river – there were only 5 other campers on the site.  We chatted to the people next door to us who gave us some good advice.  We paddled up and down the river and Bob even took Phil out on a romantic Valentines cruise!  No champagne or strawberries but very nice views and good exercise too with all the paddling (he made Phil paddle her on cruise!!) We saw many Murray houseboats cruising up and down the river they looked fab as they had their own spa on the top desks!!  We did think of hiring one of these until we found out the price $1000 a day. Not a chance. Viking Cruses…. for our Ashtead Friends!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of days at Swan Reach we carried on further north still following the Murray river.  We called in at Loxton where we went to the uniting church.  they gave us a very warm welcome but unfortunately for us the sermons and hymns were not to our liking and we moved swiftly on!  We were hoping to try to stay in Loxton but when we got to the site at the golf course where we had planned to stay there wasn’t a water pipe for us and the other campers were not at all friendly so we moved on.  We found a very nice site at Berri.  Berri is quite a large town in the centre of the citrus growing and wine growing area.  Just outside Berri is the largest vineyard in Australia.  The tanks which make the wine are huge. Our first day in Berri was the hottest we had encountered at rising to 46c in the afternoon. Luckily the site we were staying on had a pool and we made good use of it cooling us down,  they also had a jumping pillow – which after great encouragement and when no one else was around Phil managed to persuade Bob to have a go.  It was good fun and maybe when we find another site with one on a picture will be taken!!!  When is Berri we visited the Banrock Station Winery and Wetland Centre.  Banrock are not silly as they do not invite you to the plant where they make the wine as it is a very ugly factory but to a wetland centre where they have pumped thousands of pounds into the area making it better.  Banrock also support lots of centres around the world including the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The temp went up to 46 C which was almost unbearable…

 

 

We left Berri and carried on up the Murray to Renmark.  Renmark is a large town with all the usual shops and facilities.  We headed through the town and up to Murtho Forest Landing.  In the write up about the site it said that it was a dirt road leading up to the site.  We hadn’t expected such a corrugated dirt road.  Everything shook and when we arrived we found the freezer had sprung open and most of the contents were on the floor.  Luckily nothing had defrosted and we popped everything back.  The site was a huge site along the river.  A free site so no facilities at all and only two other campers there.  One about 500 m from us and the other about 1km from us so you can se how big the site was.  It was very un even and we ended up on a huge slope and nothing we could do to level things out.  We decided to take the risk and just be uneven for one day!!  Whilst in Berri we had bought a shrimp net and a yabbie net and we put them both to the test.  The shrimp net worked really well and we got lots of shrimps for bait.  (We are really getting into our fishing – practice makes perfect – we need a lot of practice!!!)  The yabbie net was not doing as well.  After a while we got the hang of the yabbie net and we did catch three.  Two were small and one was about eating size but we did throw them all back as it was not worth cooking just one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phil fishing with a net for Yabbies

 

 

 

The following day we moved on due to the uneven site.  We had read about a site called Hogwash Bend.  We set the sat nav and followed it.  The instructions said that it was a dirt road, so we found what we thought was the right road and set off.  We followed it and followed it all looking good on the sat nav until it told us to turn right.  All to our right were vines and more vines, we were in the wrong place.  The sat nav was still insisting that we were on the right road, but definitely there was no road through these vines.  We turned back and decided against that site.  We called into another site on the route and didn’t like it so tried the phone to get us to Hogwash Bend as the description sounded great.  We turned on Google maps and followed that instead of the out of date sat nav!!!!  Eventually we found the site – the sat nav was trying to get us to the other side of the river!!!!  The site was lovely – it had a sandy beach on the side of the river and there was only one other camper on the site.  The only noise was the birds squawking.  The river was great to swim in and fish in.  Phil caught a small silver perch but had to throw it back as it was too small.

 

 

 

Cheryl, Sarah, Anne, Richard, Steve and David please note the use of the Selfie Stick!!

 

We are leaving this site tomorrow and heading back into Adelaide to meet up with friends Robby and Franz who we met on our journey.