Mildura

We left Port Germein on Sunday and stopped at Morgan overnight. Morgan is a lovely little town on the Murray not far from the Victorian border. It is very popular with skiers and a ferry goes back and forwards from one side of the river to the other.
We got to Mildura on Monday and booked into the Buronga Riverside Caravan Park which is on the NSW side of the Murray River. We have a site right on the river opposite Mildura Wharf.

The paddlesteamers and house boats go back an forth all day so there is a lot going on, on the river. We have booked in for 5 nights so we can get our Xmas shopping done as I couldn't face it when we get home.
There are water birds everywhere, black swans, wood ducks, waterhens, eurasian coots, brown ducks, egrets. It is a really beautiful spot.

On Thursday we went on a river cruise on an authentic paddle steamer which was built in 1912. We turned around right in front of our caravan park and had a great view of our van from the river.

Our van from the river

 We then cruised downstream and through Lock 11. On the upside the water is 3 metres higher as they use a series of weirs to control the water in the river. Without the weirs the Murray would run dry each year. We entered Lock 11 and the water was removed to drop us 3 metres and then we went downstream for about 20 minutes and then came back to the Lock and the process was reversed bringing us back up 3 metres again.

Approaching Lock 11

Locked into the Lock

Down side gates about to open

Guess who with Lock 11 in background

The cruise was great in the old paddle steamer.

It was very hot when we got back and we stayed outside until bed time. The caravan park has a very over the top Xmas display which they have entered in the Bunnings competition in Mildura, so we went around to have a look and take some photos.

High 5 with Santa

The  next day, Friday was extremely hot, 40 degrees and no wind. We watched the paddle steamer party boats going out for the night and then we watched them come back about 10.30pm with all of the party people yelling and laughing. It was nice and quiet after this.

Party Boats

Today, Saturday we are in Hay. When we were here in November last year the Murrumbidgee River was at 6.4 metres, near flood level. This year it was a bit lower. Some people were waterskiing..

 Tomorrow we will go to Gundagai and will probably get home on Monday.

If I don't see you, please have a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Our travels are nearly over for 2011 and I hope you have enjoyed our Blog. I will continue it next trip in 2012. Our 2012 trips will be a bit shorter.

See you all soon.

Port Germein

When we left Streaky Bay we headed to Kimba. On the way to Kimba we stopped for morning tea at a place called Minnipa, a wheat town and also the home of Australia's Concrete Crapper. Now I don't know if the concrete crapper was invented there or what, but it was worth a photo.

We spent the night at Kimba and the less said about that the better. Australia has got a fixation about big concrete symbols. The Big Prawn, The Big Banana, The Big Cow, The Big Sheep. Well Kimba has one of these landmarks also, a Big Galah. I didn't take a photo as it was very faded and a bit sad looking but that is probably the best thing to see in Kimba.
We then headed through Port Augusta and into Port Germein.
You are probably wondering where in the hell is Port Germein. It is about 60km south of Port Augusta, on the Spencer Gulf in South Australia. If you look on a map it is nearly opposite Whyalla. It is a small fishing village, with the longest wooden jetty in Australia. The jetty is over a mile long. In town there are only about 150 people, one general store and a pub. It is a lovely little place, very quiet. The weather is sunny but a bit windy as we are right on the water. I had read about Port Germein in a magazine and while we were in Streaky Bay we were told the crabs were running so we came.
Well today is the 4th day that Ray has been out crabbing. On the other 3 days he brought back 12 each time. He could have got more, but after the first day we realised that was enough for the two of us. So Ray cooked and we ate the first 12. Ray cooked and de fleshed the second 12 and froze them. Ray cooked and defleshed yesterdays catch and we made crab cakes out of them. They are lovely and sweet.

The jetty is so long that you can hire little wheeled carts to carry your fishing gear out to the end of the jetty. So Ray has one of those. Actually everyone has a little trolley of some sort. I saw a local yesterday and he had a motorised scooter with a shopping trolley attached to the back. Some people even take 2 huge eskies, one for the beer and one for the crabs I suppose.
We haven't really done much else. We drove into Port Pirie, which is only about 27km south. That is where Woolies is to do your main shopping.
While Ray has been crabbing (I did go the first day but got pretty burnt) I have been making Xmas cards so I will be able to send them out soon.
We have ended up staying here for a little longer as the crabbing was so good. Ray has caught 75 crabs altogether. It is a big job though, 3 hours out on the jetty, then you have to come back and cook the catch and then it takes 2 hours to get the meat out of 20 crabs. So it is an all day job. But we now have plenty of frozen crab meat in the freezer.
We have met some people from Adelaide, Peter and Rose and Ray goes out crabbing with them and we have happy hour, but they are not Terry and Sue.
There is an unusual way of getting boats into the water here at Port Germein. There is a 1200metre difference between high and low tide, so the boat owners use a contraption called a jinker to put their boats in the water. It is designed to tow a boat trailer and has a motor attached to a platform 2 metres above the ground so the boat can be driven into the water and unloaded. The jinker and trailer is left in the water until the boat returns. They then load the boat back onto the trailer and come back in. This is the link to the webpage to read about the jinkers.
http://www.seamedia.com.au/pdf/previews/RFBDIY59_prev.pdf

Here is a photo which Ray took from the jetty of one of the jinkers waiting for the boat to come back.

You can just see the outline of the trailer under the water.

This is the Port Germein Jetty
Well that is all of the blogging from South Australia. we are heading to Mildura on Sunday so will blog from there.

Streaky Bay

Streaky Bay is a favourite place for Ray and I. We first found it when my sister Fiona was living in Whyalla and we came over for a visit and continued our holiday around the Eyre Peninsula. It is a small town with a great community. When the hotel was going broke, the community got together and bought the hotel. Now it is a great place for a drink and also has a fantastic restaurant.
After crossing the Nullabor we decided to come here for a few days. Terry and Sue came with us. We arrived here last Wednesday and it was pretty windy. We went to the hotel for tea on Thursday night, the courtesy bus came and picked us up and took us home. On Friday we decided to drive out to Point Labatt to the sea lion colony. We stopped at a beautiful lookout on the way overlooking Surfers Beach. We took some photos of the sea lions and then drove out to a place called The Granites and Cape Blanche.

Surfers Beach

Cape Blanche

The Granites

We then came back to camp and had our last happy hour with Terry and Sue as they were heading for home on Saturday. We have had a great time with them especially over the past few weeks. We will definitely catch up with them again in 2012. Thanks guys for your company. We will miss you.

Today is Sunday and it is a lovely day. There is a minimal breeze blowing so we took a run out to Cape Bauer. As the sun was shining the water looked fantastic. There were plenty of boats out fishing and people on wind surfers and jet skis.

Area off Cape Bauer

Bay at Cape Bauer

Cliffs of Cape Bauer

Maura at Cape Bauer

Ray at Cape Bauer

Underwater Blowhole

The Blowhole

We are leaving here tomorrow to head east towards Kimba and then Port Germaine on the eastern side of Spencer Gulf.

Crossing the Nullabor

Ray and I have crossed the Nullarbor twice before. Once with his Mum and Dad in the early 80's and then again 10 years ago when we went to the west for a quick holiday. Both of those times we were on a time limit as we had to get back to work. This time we both wanted to take our time and free camp at a few spots on the way. So this is what we planned. Terry and Sue were with us so we had great company, we were all fuelled up, had enough fresh vegies to do us until we got to the quarantine point, so off we went.
We left Esperance on Saturday morning and headed north to Norseman. On the way we stopped at a little village called Grass Patch, which had been built as a soldier settlement. We took some photos of a couple of memorials in the village and also a model at the entrance to Grass Patch.

Memorial to women pioneers at Grass Patch

Town Entry sign to Grass Patch

Soldiers Memorial at Grass Patch

We then headed on to Norseman and then turned right on to the Nullabor. we decided to stop at a free camp called Wooralba Rest Area. We weren't the first ones to stop as threre was a fellow there cycling across the Nullabor and he had stopped there for the night. By the time it got dark there were about 20 other campers. It was OK but a bit noisy from the trucks going past and it got very cold.

Our camp site at Wooralba

Next day we got away about 8.30am and headed to Caiguna Roadhouse where we stopped for morning tea before going to Cocklebiddy for an ice cream. We stopped at Madura Bluff to take a picture of the view.



View from Madura Lookout



We then went down the pass to Madura Roadhouse and stopped for lunch. Each of the roadhouses are about 150km apart and in between them are the free camp areas. There is not much at the roadhouses, a service station and general store as well as a bar. There is also a barren looking caravan park and a few dongas (these are a basic room and toilet). The free camp area usually have a few trees and an environmentally friendly composting toilet so these are actually the better option. We don't eat at the road houses, we just stop there to make a sandwich or something.

Driving along the Nullabor

We then carried on and stopped at Moorinda Bluff Rest area for the night. We were the first ones here, but not for long as it was quite full by nightfall. We had started to put our clocks forward. First by 45 minutes to Central Western time so we had a bit extra light that evening.

Next morning we got away about 8.30am but before we left we put the clocks forward 1 hour and 45 minutes as that would be the time when we got to SA which was only about 60km further on. So it was really 10.15am.

We stopped at Eucla for fuel, got some bread rolls and went down to the Old Telegraph Station to have lunch.

Road down to the Old Telegraph Station

Old Telegraph Station

Garden at Eucla Roadhouse

Statue in garden at Eucla Roadhouse

Caravan convoy parked at the Old Telegraph Station

After leaving Eucla we arrived at Border Crossing where we crossed into South Australia. We didn't have to surrender our fruit and vegetables just yet. We were allowed to keep them until we got to the quarantine check point at Ceduna.

After this we started to pull into all of the scenic look outs along the Great Australian Bight looking for a suitable one to spend the night. A lot of them have been closed to overnight campers as the parking area has been made quite small because the cliffs are getting eroded away and for safety reasons they have put fences across only leaving a small area to park. We finally pulled into Bunda Cliffs Lookout and parked for the night. We were soon joined by about another 10 caravans, motorhomes and campers (we call them Whizz Bangs, because that is the noise made when the sliding door is closed). It was a lovely spot with about a 100 metre walk out to the lookout.

View along Bunda Cliffs

What a funny afternoon it turned out to be. Most of the people got together for a drink before tea, just sitting around outside the van. One lady travelling on her own in a motorhome was travelling west and as she looked a little mouse got out of her motorhome and started to run around. Everyone was chasing it and it suddenly ran back and got back into her van. Well, she was trying to get it out, all to no avail. Later that evening Terry got out of his van and said that the ground was covered in mice. Next morning we were talking to the motor home and Whizz Bang travellers and they had heaps of mice in their vans all night. One lady killed 13. There has been a mice plague in SA and there are certainly a lot in that part of the Nullabor. Thank heaven we didn't get any in the van. We are all sealed up underneath so water doesn't get in so that stopped the mice getting in.

Anyway after this excitement we got away about 9.30am and as were driving down the road there was dead, squashed mice everywhere.

Next stop was at the last scenic lookout over the Bunda Cliffs before you head away from the Bight again. What a magnificent view.

Terry, Sue, Ray and Maura with Bunda Cliffs in background

We then made tracks further east. The Nullabor this year is beautiful. Because there has been so much rain there are shrubs and trees growing everywhere. It is a sight that you don't see very often as it is usually quite barren.

We were going to stay overnight at Fowlers Bay so we turned off the main road to drive in. It was quite a pretty drive in over the causeway to town, with big sand dunes towering over us. When we got there though, it was blowing a gale and the stench of the rotten seaweed was nearly unbearable so we decided to go back to the main road and stay in Penong.

So we went back to the highway and headed to Penong. All around the area there are wheat fields and this time of the year the wheat is being harvested so there are a lot of trucks on the road. We also got passed by a lot of Harley bikes. When we were driving from Bremer Bay to Esperance last week there were lots of Harleys going the opposite direction. Apparently they had their annual convention in Margaret River last weekend and when we saw them near Penong they were on their way back home.

We stayed at Penong for one night before heading to Streaky Bay for a few days.