It has been quite some time since my last blog and this latest addition will only be for a couple of weeks. For those hanging on, it will hopefully be of interest to all. Towards the end of our short trip we will be checking out some fantastic Silo Art, so well worth waiting for.
We have been looking forward to getting away but due to lots of circumstances, we have been unable to. We actually started packing the van last Tuesday, and I even got a buzz out of doing that.
We left Hamilton on Thursday morning and headed up through Coleraine before cutting across to the lovely little town of Edenhope. It is only a fairly small country farming town, but it had a great feeling about it. We stopped for coffee at the bakery and found ourselves in conversation with some of the locals. Everyone was very friendly and it was a lovely little place. The Bendigo Bank in the town had some fantastic artwork on the windows.
From Edenhope, we headed off towards our first overnight stop at Bordertown. The drive was about 130 k's on a fairly narrow road, but I don't think we saw any other traffic for the duration. There was heaps of beautiful yellow canola crops along the way to keep us interested. That would have to be one of the most beautiful sights.
We arrived at Bordertown and headed around to the lake, which is within the town boundary. They have a free camp there for overnight stopovers. It is only a fairly small lake, with plenty of birdlife, and on the night we stopped there, another 3 travellers also stopped for an overnight stay. They have no power or water but at least the toilets were kept very clean. Of course, as is my usual luck, it had a resident huntsman just inside the door, as well as an ugly black hairy critter on the window ledge. You will be glad to know, both of these critters decided to vacate the premises and will no doubt never be seen again.
From Bordertown it was forward on towards Pinaroo, initially, and then to Berri. Once again, loads of stunning canola crops. A fairly boring drive apart from that, but again, very little opposing traffic. We stopped at Pinaroo for the customary half way coffee and on leaving the Bakery checked out a fantastic Chevrolet parked just outside. The car was in awesome condition and the driver, probably about 85-90 yrs old, was also in reasonable nick.
For about the last 20 kilometres coming into Berri, we were amazed at the amount of 'Gazania' plants along the side of the road. They were just never ending and had even started to push towards some of the farmland. It was a very pretty sight, with all of the orange/yellow flowers, but I will have to say, they are not my favourite plant. They self seed and I am sure they will become a bit of a noxious weed if they are left unchecked.
We arrived at Berri, and might I say, what a great caravan park. It would have to be one of the best parks we have ever stayed at. Big, easy to access sites, a couple of swimming pools, jumping pillows, for Debs enjoyment, and within walking distance of town.
After settling in we headed off to the Information centre and then up to check out the Lookout. The lookout is in the middle of the town and you do get a great view of the town and its surrounds. We headed off to check out the sporting precinct and it was very impressive.
The bowling green was just awesome. It is a huge undercover bowling green, with 2 separate greens. It has a carpet type surface and it has been up for just under 2 years. Whilst checking out the area, I was invited to have a bit of a roll and then invited to play social bowls on the Saturday. Sounded pretty good to me.
On Saturday morning it was off for a walk into town for coffee. We walked along the track next to the Murray river and came across the monument to Jimmy James. James was an incredible aboriginal tracker and was used by the Police from SA, NT, NSW and Victoria. He had an incredible record of tracking down escapees, or for locating missing children in the outback. The monument is an awesome polished piece of black granite, with traditional aboriginal designs and a bronze image of James, in the tracking position. James received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1987 in recognition of his service to the Police and the community.
All along the track they have exercise equipment, set up for the gym junkies like myself.
After a bit of a workout it was on to check out the Mural under the Berri bridge. The mural depicts life of the aboriginal people of the area, and is on a huge piece of Jarrah that is bolted to the bridge. There are also figures around the mural, depicting the aboriginal heritage. It is a fairly impressive piece of art.
The weather this morning was pretty good, being in the high 20's, but the wind was appalling. It was in the vicinity of 40 KPH and I had doubts as to whether bowls would even be on.
Rocked up at the bowling green, and of course, those hardy souls were still up for a game. I would have to say it was the toughest game of bowls I have ever played. The wind was just causing havoc on the bowls, but it was still great fun. Just to add insult to injury, the team I was in won on the day.
Sunday was a pretty quiet day, with housekeeping etc before heading out to the Berri Hotel for dinner. It was 2 for 1 pizza night, so being pensioners now we headed down. The meal was not too bad, so be will be back on Tuesday night for a 2 for 1 main deal.
Monday morning it was off down the street for a quick coffee, as Deb had arranged for us to go kayaking on the Murray. We met up outside the caravan park and followed our torture instructor to a quiet spot on the Murray. He gave us our safety lecture and gave us both a map and then left us to our own devices.
Just getting in the kayak was the first challenge, so with that all done, and still being relatively dry, how good was this.
We followed the map as it took us off the main Murray river and through a lake area. We stuck religiously to the map and it was just so peaceful, being at one with nature, so to speak. We rowed through one area that had heaps of pelicans, and at this stage I thought, what a great photo that would make. Maybe it would have, but with every movement in the kayak, it just rocked from side to side, threatening to throw me out, thus making it impossible to get a reasonable photo. I got a few shots of Deb showing off her Olympic style rowing skills, while my kayak refused to remain steady.
It was very pretty rowing along the river, with some very impressive cliff faces. As we neared the end of our ride, I thought, how easy is this. How foolish of me to think I had mastered this task. I was looking at the place of disembarkation, and thinking, how do we do this.
Of course I threw myself to the wolves and tried to get out first. How hard can it be. Deb positioned her kayak beside mine as I tried to wriggle out of the kayak. I am sure it wasn't this bloody small when I got in. What an awesome sight it must have made. I can only liken it to seeing a whale thrashing around and trying to get itself clear from being stuck on a sandbar. Yeah, yeah I know, how funny it must have looked. I do know I got wetter getting out of the kayak than at any time during the ride. How awesome.
Apart from all of that, it was a good day.
That's all for now.
Barry and Deb.
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