SA, NSW Barmera, Balranald, Narrandera, Forster

Thursday 3 August
Rained all night in Adelaide and hail was predicted for this evening, so when the rain stopped around 10am and a wind sprang up, we got ready to pack up the trailer.  By 11:30 the canvas was dry and we left Browhill Creek.  Rather sad as it was a great place with creek, hills, a walking trail and good caravan park.
Everywhere south of Broken Hill in 3 states seemed to promise rain for the next 5 days.  We decided to head towards the Murray River rather than south to Mt Gambier in hope of warmer weather and less rain.  We also packed up with stay at a cabin in mind, putting clothes and food in the car and camping stuff in the trailer.  Ended up at Lake Bonney, Barmera, in a nice caravan park and a tiny new cabin.  Even watched TV news for the first time in 6 weeks but soon turned it off.  No rain that night and missed being in our cosy somewhat roomy trailer!
Friday 4 August
A dry day so we filled up with the cheapest fuel for weeks @ 118.9 and headed east along the Sturt Highway.  We kept dipping in and out of South Australia and Victoria when we explored a few byways, but ended up at Balranald.  The caravan park here is beside the Murrumbidgee River.  We stayed here some years ago and remembered the lovely river red gums.  Hard to see birds at dusk but a pair of yellow rosellas, a very handsome sulphur-crested cockatoo and a snaky darter were easy to find.

Murrumbidgee River at Balranald

Made camp beside a very good camp kitchen but opted for Chinese dinner at the local RSL.

Saturday 5 August
Rained quite heavily for half the night but dry in the morning.  Drove to nearby Yanga National Park where we walked for an hour, seeing a western grey kangaroo, rabbit, eastern rosellas, pied butcherbird, crested pigeon, willie wagtail, little grebe, wood duck, pelicans, magpie-larks, whistling kite. Had an interesting conversation with the Ranger there.  Visitors are invited online to:
Explore the wonderful Yanga Homestead and return to a time when Yanga was one of the Riverina’s most productive pastoral stations. Located in Yanga National Park, part of Murrumbidgee Valley National Park, the homestead was built around 1870, along with station outbuildings including stables, a gardener’s shed and station store. There are also rose gardens, restored and maintained by volunteers. We did this some years ago and it was worth visiting.  The lake there stretches to the horizon but is only 2m deep, surrounded by river red gums. Drove on to Hay, noting the cotton-strewn roadsides.  We stayed in Narranadera at Lake Talbot caravan park with views over the lake.
Sunday 6 August
Dry night.  Booked for another day here and drove to Rocky Waterholes, crossed a bridge to a levee bank beside an irrigation channel leading up to Leeton and Griffith.  Met a local there who showed us a koala and a dead microbat.

Rocky Waterholes

Irrigation channel

White-browed Treecreeper

Saw 20 birds today before rain and wind set in:
Wood Duck                      Treecreeper                 Magpie-lark   
Black duck                       Superb Fairy-wren      White-winged Chough
Australasian Grebe          Magpie                        
Darter                              Willie Wagtail
Little Pied Cormorant     Australian Raven
 Monday 7 August
 Weather threatening, cold.  Booked an ensuite site at Cowra, not wanting a wet trip for a shower.  Rained overnight.  For want of any alternative,we went to the Information Centre and saw a video about the prisoner-of-war camp in the 1940s.

8-9 August
Rained overnight so we put a tarp over our bed as our canvas was damp. Long .drive to Penrith because of roadworks.  Booked a cabin at Neapean Shores for 2 nights so we could visit my sister Barbara at Kingswood.  She was cheerful but not well - heart problems and difficulty in walking.
10-12 August
Visited my nephew David and his lovely wife Michelle at Lake Haven.  Michelle has had several intensive care episodes this year because of diabetic issues but she looked remarkably well.  Their 8- year-old grandson Josh was there, not well enough for school.  A delightful child.
Stayed the next 3 nights at Forster, trying to have a holiday with no weather problems.

Cabbage Palms Walk, Wallis Lake

Wallis Lake from Green Point

7 Mile Beach where I SAW 2 whipbirds!

 13 August
 Stopped at Sawtell overnight to visit my sister Pat.  Her daughter Anne came over and we all had a very pleasant afternoon.  Took Pat with us for dinner at the Ex-services Club in Coffs Harbour.  Pat is a darling.  She still drives herself locally but cannot bowl any more because of balance problems.
 14 August
Back home in Brisbane to an immaculate house and improved garden, thanks to Barbara's daughter Debbie, who stayed here while we were away.
Moral of the story:  Don't go south in winter!!
 
          

SA Wilmington, Adelaide

29-30 July
332 km from Glendambo to Wilmington where we found an excellent caravan park, Stony Creek Bush Camp, and stayed 2 nights.

Our camp was just behind this wattle

The park was full of beautiful trees

Another flowering gum

This river red gum had survived many setbacks

Female Red-rumped Parrot

We saw many other birds in this lovely place with plenty of tree holes for parrots.

Australian Hobby

Next day we took a neighboring camper with us to visit Alligator Gorge.  We walked to 2 lookouts and may have ventured into the gorge itself but he had a new knee replacement.  Cost of $10 online to drive the road in but we were unaware in advance and paid nothing.

31 July
Drove 318k to Brownhill Caravan Park, in the south-eastern edge of Adelaide.  Cloudy day and rain fell intermittently all the way.  Very rainy, poor visibility in vineyard areas around Clare.  Paddocks of lucerne and other crops were very green; vineyards bare in winter.  Had lunch in a park at Rhynie.  Saw a big rainbow touching the ground at start and end.
The caravan park is neat, clean and edged by lovely hills and creek with some huge trees.

  One in the caravan park, called The Monarch, is a heritage-listed, 400 year old river red gum.
Our site is opposite the excellent Amenities and Laundry.  Few people here and it's very cold.
1 August
Caught a bus to the city, free to all seniors between 9 and 3pm.  Walked along North Terrace trying to find a dry seat to orient ourselves - many nice seats but still wet at 10:30 from condensation.
Aiming for the Botanic Gardens, we by-passed the Art Gallery and University but visited the rather small Museum and chatted with the lady in the Discovery Centre.  The museum has the best Aboriginal artifacts we've seen and an interesting deep sea display on 3 levels, featuring a giant squid.

One of the School Doors

The map was too big for a photo, but most interesting and important.

A meteorite was in the foyer of the Museum.

At the Botanic Gardens I had problems finding South Australian plants and was directed to a small section where few of the plants were specific to South Australia.
I don't know what this tree was. I was not overly impressed with the Gardens compared to, say, Brisbane or Auckland.  We had lunch in a cafe there where a magpie-lark was harassing eaters and a crested pigeon sat decoratively.

2 August
 Drove to Mt Lofty where we hoped to look out from the summit and visit the Botanic Garden.  Both places demanded parking money and it was so cold.  We skipped the Garden and raced from the car to the Summit, took a photo and avoided paying $4 to park.

  Walked down the main street of Hahndorf, looking at all the German handicrafts.  I was interested in the wooden Christmas decorations (made in Germany) but they were very expensive.
At Mount Barker we walked around Laratinga Wetlands and saw many birds: black, pink-eared and hardhead ducks, Australasian shovelers, grey teal, dusky moorhens, swamphens, white-faced heron, white ibis, Australasian grebes, black-fronted dotterels, superb blue wrens, fairy martins, blackbirds.  We were freezing cold and ate lunch in the car.

Australasian Shoveler

Pink-eared Duck

Black-fronted Dotterel

Superb Fairy-wren

 Hakea?

Petrol was cheaper at Mt Barker than anywhere else, 123.9 vs 132.9 everywhere in Adelaide.
Promised rain held off until 8pm but the wind freshened around 6pm and tried to move our awning onto the roof.   David had quite a job fixing all down.
 3 August
Hail was predicted for this night so when things were fairly dry in the morning, we quickly packed up after 3 nights here, having paid for 5.  Rain was predicted everywhere east or south of Adelaide, in Victoria and SA.  I packed differently so we could stay in a cabin overnight.

SA Marla, Coober Pedy, Woomera, Glendambo

27 July

Left Yulara at 10am and drove 500 km to Marla, where we set up camp, ate in the pub and chatted with a nice Swiss German couple.

Next day, David drove 234 km to Coober Pedy. The number and extent of working opal mines at Coober Pedy were surprising.  There were plenty of above ground homes but 60% of the 3500 population live underground where they don't need air-conditioning. Most of the tourist accommodation is underground.

There are 4 underground churches.  We chose the Serbian one, touted as being the most elaborate, and paid a 'voluntary gold coin donation'.  The others were free.

There were also several choices in mining tours/displays.  We went to this one from 1916 which was rediscovered in 1968.  It had over 30 mining displays plus an actual 1930s underground house. It was well worth the entry price.

 

We passed many salt lakes en route to Woomera. 

Woomera was very spic and span but has few people.  At the museum we bought 2 Cherry Ripes to help the seven school children have a camp in Tasmania.  The museum was interesting, celebrating our involvement in Anglo-American defence missiles and rocketry. David took no notes of what he photographed.

 Interesting exhibits related to Aboriginal life here

 Stayed overnight at Glendambo, having driven 500km today.  So windy that we had to move camp to avoid having the awning fall down over our door.  Nothing else to do so I managed to make a boiled fruit cake inside using the electric frypan and gas ring.

The wind died down overnight.