Hi to all from beautiful down town Mildura. 

Since leaving Jamestown we headed to Renmark where we stayed for 3 days and then from there to Mildura, again for 3 days. 

In Renmark we stayed at Paringa caravan park, a small park about 4 k's from town.  There was only about 20 caravan sites but we would rather stay there instead of the Big 4 with about 60 sites. 

We have been to Renmark before and really, there is not a lot here for us to do.  The tourist attraction?? in Parinya is The Black Stump, the largest of 11 known black stumps in Australia.  I must admit I was a bit like you.  This is not what I thought a black stump was.  The story behind this attraction is really quite interesting.  Yes, it really is.

 

It is not a Stump, it is actually the Root Ball.  The root ball came from a 600 year old river red gum and is 8 metres across and weighs 8 tonne.  It was found by local Frank Turton who saw that the tree had fallen into the river 56 kms from Renmark during floods and had been towed onto the bank, out of the main river course.  To get it to Paringa they initially had to borrow a huge chainsaw from Qld to cut it from the tree before it could then be attached to 12 x 200 litre drums, to aid flotation, and it was then towed by a houseboat down the river.  It took them 5 days to tow it to Paringa, where a crane was used to remove it from the river and put it in its current location opposite the Paringa Hotel.

The Murray River separates Renmark from Paringa and they have a huge bridge that spans this section.  With the huge amount of houseboats in this area, as well as paddle steamers from years past, the bridge has a large span that is lifted twice a day at 9.30 am and again at 2.30pm to allow the boats to pass under the bridge.  The bridge is almost 100 years old and it is great to still see it operating today.

We met up with good friends that afternoon, Tom and Cheryl Storer, also from Hamilton who were staying at another park in Renmark.  It is good to see a familiar face after being on the road for 4 weeks.  We went out to the Paringa Hotel for dinner that night and it was a really good catch up.  The Hotel runs a shuttle bus that they caught from their Caravan Park.  It is a great idea and is well used by the caravan park visitors.  Our park is directly across the road so we obviously walked. 

The following day we all headed out to Banrock Estate, about 45 kms from Renmark.  It is a winery and café so of course we had to have coffee.  The business is spending huge bucks in an attempt to bring the scrubby area back to its former glory.  There are numerous walking trails, with a boardwalk and wetlands area, currently dry, but in a few years it will look great. 

That afternoon we headed out to check out the Headings Cliff lookout.  This is only about 12 kms from our park and it is a lookout over the Murray River, from quite a decent height.  The cliff faces are awesome at this spot and make really good photos.  As if on cue, a river houseboat came around the corner and pulled over to the bank not far from where we were.  What a life.

We then headed out to check out Lock 5.  The Murray River has about 12 Locks spread over a huge distance.  For those that don't know, the river is basically dammed off, with a set amount of water released to travel downstream.  That causes the river to have 2 different levels so if you have a houseboat, or any boat wishing to go downstream, or upstream, you have to enter the Lock where the water level is then evened out to allow you to continue on your way.  A very basic explanation that has probably confused the crap out of you.  I can explain it fully if you ask.

The following morning we headed in to the Renmark Hotel for a coffee with Tom and Cheryl.  What a great spot that is.  You sit out on the balcony watching the houseboats cruising along the river. 

In the gardens they have a sculpture of a local Horticulturist David Ruston surrounded by roses.  A really good sculpture and very well done. 

From Renmark we headed off to Mildura.  We are staying right on the Murray, in the Buronga Tourist Park.  This is a really cool park, with heaps of powered sites right on the river.  We are probably only about 25 metres from the river.  There is just heaps of birdlife everywhere, from the colourful Moorhen, to hundreds of seagulls, pelicans, kookaburras and numerous other birds.  Just a great spot to camp.

We are also lucky enough to watch numerous paddle steamers and houseboats trundle along the river just in front of us.  The paddle steamers actually take off from directly opposite our van site.  The pink sky on the first night at sunset was just awesome.

The next morning we headed out to check out Woodies Gem Shop.  This place is just on the edge of Mildura and it is a great spot.  They have hundreds of different types of gemstones, all at reasonable prices, as well as being set up as a huge jewellers shop.  The owner gave a short demonstration into ring making and the polishing of gemstones which was pretty good. 

They also have a section set up like a group of interjoining caves.  In one section are the gemstones that react to light.  When you turn on the black light they become luminescent.  Very cool.  Also in this section are heaps of different rocks from each of the Australian States, as well as from other parts of the world.  Probably my favourite stones are the huge Amethyst geodes, from Brazil.  They look fantastic, and have a huge price running into many thousands of dollars.

 

What would a town be like if it didn't have any murals.  This one was on the outside wall of a shopping centre on the way into the Mildura township.  Looks pretty good.

We have had a friendly kookaburra visit us every day since we arrived.  I have to show you a couple of photos of him as I can't decide which one I like the most. 

We have spent nearly 5 weeks travelling around the Eyre Peninsula before finally ending up in Mildura.  I think we chose the best time of year to travel this area, as most of the tourists have headed up North.  Each area that we visited had something different to offer with no real stand outs.  Streaky Bay Islands caravan park was just incredible with new facilities but this one at Buronga is probably its equal, more so due to its great location. 

The only down side to the trip was at North Shields Caravan Park where I took a turn in the park a bit tight and scraped the awning along an air conditioning bracket attached to the local servo.  No damage to it but a small tear in our awning.  What a bummer, but as they say, s??t happens. 

Bye for now. 

Barry and Deb.         

 

Hi all from Jamestown, S.A.

We arrived here yesterday after spending 3 days in Hawker.  The drive down was fairly good, as the difference in the landscape was incredible.  Hawker is just so much of a desert, apart from the Flinders Ranges, whilst the further south we got, the greener the landscape became. 

We took a bit of a detour on the way here so that we could check out the latest bit of silo art that has recently been completed.  It's in a small town called Wirrabara and the detail in this artwork is fantastic.  A close up on the bird or on the man shows the amount of detail the artist went into.  At the moment there is no information board up so I can't give you any more details.

 

The next town that we travelled through was Laura.  This is probably one of the larger towns in this area, although the population would only be about 570.  They have a statue in the main street depicting family life and another a bit further on of the Australian Bush Poet C.J. DENNIS who resided in this town during his growing up years.  He is best known for the poem, The Sentimental Bloke. (a work of fiction obviously).  These are real sculptures/art works, bearing no similarity to the supposed sculptures further on in this blog.

Our next stop was in Jamestown where we will be staying for 3 nights.  The area was first surveyed by explorer Edward EYRE in 1839 and several years later pastoralists occupied huge expanses or the area for grazing their sheep.  It wasn't until 1869 that an act of parliament opened up the area and it was sold off to farmers who could buy 640 acre lots.  This was done in an attempt to increase the grain production in the very young country.  The first wheat crop was actually produced in 1871. 

Agriculture in the area developed rapidly, with the planting of the Bundaleer Forest part of the timber sustainability plan, and it was then given its name by the Governor of the day Sir James Fergusson.  In 1877, at the height of the growing boom, there were 100 stonemasons working in the town, with many of their buildings and houses still standing today.  In 1881, only 10 years after first settlement, there were 995 residents in the town.  Jamestown was seen as the boomtown of the north but it never eventuated.  There are excellent facilities in the town, even now, with a hospital, medical centre, swimming pool, hydro pool, tennis courts and all other sports ovals.  It is still one of the larger towns of this area with a population of about 1800. 

There are heaps of murals dotted around the town and they are all well worth looking at.  They have a completion called Muralfest, where the murals for that year are displayed in a park at the end of the town.

Of course the local children are well catered for with several playgrounds dotted around the town and a watercourse running through the town that is populated by a large number of ducks.  Across this duckpond they have a really cool swing bridge, and yes, I did walk across it myself.

The next morning it was off exploring whatever the town had to offer.  I arrived at the local Uniting Church to get a photo and was invited in to get a bit of religion.  A bit late for that I'm afraid.  Just to show that I am not biased I also took some photos of the local Catholic Church.  I must admit, the catholic church wins hands down.

 

R.M. (Reginald Murray) Williams, has a tribute centre in Jamestown with his life story.  The famous bootmaker was born in Jamestown in 1908 and lived on a farm a few kilometres out of town.  His father bought and sold horses and it was there that R.M. got his love for horses.  Due to family illness RM moved to Adelaide with his family when he was 12.  He moved to Underbool in Victoria in 1925 and assisted in building a church before then heading to the Mt Margaret Aboriginal Mission in W.A. where he learnt many skills from the indigenous people. After that he journeyed back into S.A. assisting a missionary as a camel boy.  At all times he gathered knowledge from the farmers and stockmen as to their needs.

 
He began experimenting with leather, making saddlebags and elastic sided boots in a shed at the back of his fathers house.  His name became known all over the outback, with stockmen and drovers beating a path to his door.   At one stage in his life he even became involved in running a successful gold mine in Tennant Creek.    In 1955 he moved to Qld where he built a house made of stone and became heavily involved in the establishment of the Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame and the Outback Heritage Centre at Longreach. 

He was heavily involved in the work to establish an aboriginal mission in Nepabunna, 60 k's east of Copley and the R.M. Williams Way, running from Clare to Hawker is testament to the great work he has done over his life.  His story showed he was a truly great Australian.

Across from the tribute area is Memorial Park.  It is a great area for the kids with lots of grassed areas and a great playground.  There are several gas BBQ's as well.  A top spot for a picnic.  In one corner of this park they have a fully restored Bofor Anti Aircraft gun that was used extensively during WW2.  Also in the park they have a fully restored Krupp Cannon.  This 5.9" German Howitzer was Supplied to the Ottoman Army and was used extensively during the First World War.  The Krupp Cannon was known as Big Bertha during the war and could fire a 1 Tonne bomb up to 15 kilometres.  Two of these Cannons were captured during the war by the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment at Palestine in 1917   There are only 2 of these cannons in Australia, with the other one being at the Australian War Museum.

We then went to check out the Penn Cottage Pressed Glass Museum.  Yes, I didn't know what it meant either.  Basically pressed glass is any glass that is mass produced.  We were the only 2 in the place so we got a guided tour.  The museum is actually in the owners' house and it was really interesting.  He has about 14,000 items in the collection with glass coming from all around the world.  Probably my favourite pieces were made of Silvered Mercury Glass.  That is the glass that is inside a thermos and it is extremely brittle.

 

He has glass pieces of every imaginable colour with some of the pieces being worth several thousand dollars.  He even has glassware made out of sand with Uranium traces.  That glassware lit up when put in the room with a blacklight on.  Not sure if I would like to eat of it though but he assured us that it was totally safe.  He even has a total kitchen setting from the U.S. in the 40's, with an electric beater that still works.

 

His oldest piece of glass is from 1846, and with the markings on it he can even tell you what shift produced that glass on what date.

It is now time for a bit of a stroll and get a bit of a cultural lift.  We headed out to the Bundaleer Forest where there is a Sculpture Stroll.  What could be more with nature than a stroll of 800 metres through beautiful forest looking at sculptures.  Well, we found the forest ok but I am yet to be convinced that we found any ' ART '.  I will let you be the judge.  Probably the best bit was when Deb got on a swing and turned it into a ' moving sculpture.'

We did find a good fixer upper on the stroll.  A lovely 6 room air conditioned stone dwelling, needs a bit of work to bring it back to its former glory.  Maybe it was another bit of sculpture, in which case it was the best one. 

At the end of the 'sculpture???' walk there is a well preserved building which is the first ever 'Forests S.A. ' building. 

Well that's it for our time in Jamestown.  We will be having a bit of a slack day tomorrow as I have to check out the local medical facility and then its off to Renmark, where we will be meeting up with friends from Hamilton for a couple of days. 

Bye for now. 

Barry and Deb.