21st March – Day 47
Decided to head for Mildura this morning, time to head home!
We stopped in Renmark along the way, what a pretty little town! Visited a couple of wineries and had lunch before making the final leg to Mildura. Carl was very tired again, so I took the leg from Renmark and into Mildura. The landscape is still a lot of wheat and sheep, once we got to just before Renmark and close to the Murray, we could see a lot more wineries etc. Every time we crossed the Murray I fell in love with it - what a picture it is!
Never been to Mildura before – big place. We had pizza for tea, been a while since we had take away.
Tomorrow we will be heading for Charlton, then home and back to the real world on Friday.
Until next time!!! xx
Swing Bridge over the Murray just out of Renmark SA.
20th March – Day 46
This morning we were woken at 7:30am to the buzzing of shears, barking dogs and of course sheep bleating!
Once again, we got off earlier than usual. We usually try to make a leisurely start to the day as you don’t want to be in the next spot too early, it all depends on where you are and what you intend to do.
I just can’t believe the amount of wheat fields, all the eye can see as we drove was either wheat or sheep – where does all the wheat go, and if there is so much lamb, how come it’s so expensive?
I have been doing a bit of the driving over the last couple of days as Carl has been getting quite tired. He has been driving until lunch, and then I’ve been doing the last leg – until today, when we reached the last leg and he decided that he didn’t want to stay there! We had intended staying at Burra, a gorgeous little town apparently originated as a copper mining town, the Cornish people – beautiful little cottages – anyway, he took one look at the park and flatly refused to stop, so on we went, and here we are at Morgan on the Murray. The minute we got out of the car at the caravan park, we took off our thongs and walked around on the beautiful grass!!! We haven’t had grass for weeks and weeks! It was a real treat.
We are right on the Murray, next to a Ferry crossing. We went for a walk along the banks and came across a Paddle steamer called ‘Marion’, she is 115 years old! We had heard all about her on the radio along our travels and were admiring her from the shore when the perser came on deck and invited us aboard for a guided tour! They are all volunteers and are doing a trip up the Murray, one trip is taking 27 passengers, 3 days, 2 nights - $800, he thought it was good value, we thought it bloody expensive – just depends on interests I guess.
It is extremely hot here tonight, oppressively hot. Apparently they are expecting rain later on. Carl is buggered, so we don’t know where we’ll travel to tomorrow, Renmark is a bit close, Mildura might be a bit far, we’ll see how the wind blows!
Until tomorrow xx
The Mighty Murray
19th March – Day 45
The movement in the park was early this morning, so of course that meant we were awake early, so we headed off early as well.
We are heading across to go through Port Augusta; first stop was The Big Galah! It is also the place which is the half way point from the East to West Coast.
We decided to stop at Iron Knob – we had seen the Iron works when we were in Whyalla, so wanted to see where it all started. Bit like a forgotten town! We went to the info centre, which is a museum. Iron Knob is a ‘self proclaimed city’ there is no council, no rates; all works that get done are done by volunteers. You do wonder how people survive in places like that! We had a cuppa and watched their little movie and gave them a donation it was done quite well and we were taken with them. I also bought myself an Iron Ore Necklace and earrings.
From there we travelled to Nuttbush Retreat where we are staying overnight. The property is a working sheep station and they’re shearing at the moment – 25,000 sheep, 250,000 acres. It has been rather interesting watching, we aren’t allowed in the shearing shed, but you can see quite a bit from outside. We have been here since about 2, and all you can hear is the sheep bleeting and the dogs barking. There is a tiny little pup that is in a pen with a couple of sheep, it just looks like it’s natural instinct – eveytime one of the sheep left the pack, he would go chasing after it and bring it back.
Whilst I was watching, one of the sheep dogs took off and ran to the water trough, jumped in, dived under the water at least twice, jumped out, shook himself off, then went back to work!
After the sheep have been Shawn, they are drenched/sprayed with something. There were 2 people doing this, one was a girl, who the dog belonged to, the other was a young fellow, who the little girl belonged to, about the same age as Lennon I’d say. She followed him everywhere and he lifted her over fences as he went. We have just finished dinner, and there she is, swinging on the rails outside the dining room - just brought up in the environment!
Most of the shearers are so young, Carl checked out their cars and lots had P’s on them, one was a hotted up outback ute with ‘Redneck Women’ on it – a girl roustabout! Carl has just come back from the games room, he’s been talking to one of the girls over there – she is a wool classer. Apparently the sheep that we saw coming out very cut today were from the apprentices from the local TAFE, the experienced shearers were on the other side. Apparently the fully fledged shearers shear up to 200 per day, the trainees are only expected to shear 80 per day. The Shearers get $2.60 per sheep, trainees, $200 per day, once they shear over 80 they get $2.60 per sheep
It is very hot and dusty, and believe it or not – windy! They have a pool so we were able to cool down. As a rule you can get a meal here, but as she has 45 shearers, that’s not available at the moment. It’s quite a set up!
The night before we left Streaky Bay, Bill, one of our neighbours showed me how he was cooking a roast in his electric frying pan – guess what I’m cooking tonight??? We’ve got TV reception as well (we can only get digital, most of the coast is still analogue) - first time in nearly 2 weeks, so we might get to watch MKR for the first time in ages. Forget that, Carl has arranged that we go to the Rec Room and watch it with some of the shearing crew; the girls are mostly wool classers.
As we go to sleep tonight, we will not hear the sound of waves or birds, but the bleet of sheep, so if that doesn’t work, we can go out and count them!!!! J
Until tomorrow xx
Overnight Stay at Nuttbush Retreat Pandurra Station Est. 1895
18th March – Day 44
Today we left the coast and headed inland and on our way home. We pulled into the Wudinna Caravan Park very early, much to the dislike of the receptionist – it wasn’t 2 and they hadn’t cleaned the ablution block as yet! – I told him it wasn’t a problem and we didn’t need the toilets or showers, so it was fine J He let us park and set up the van. After having lunch we headed off into the Gawler Ranges. I really wanted to see the Organ Pipes – 40km of dirt road, then 8km of 4WD track, then 500m of 4WD footwork – we finally made it - Spectacular! Although Carl doesn’t think much of ‘rocks’!
I’d had great hopes of seeing a Major Mitchell Cockatoo, but unfortunately not so. We have been fortunate along the way to sight Port Lincoln Parrots and a rare eagle at one stage – Carl is very into birds.
We looked at some other rock formations along the way home, the Pilappa Rock looked like a mini Eyers Rock. The next one we went to was a bit uninspiring, but as you can see, one thing did get my attention!!!
Spoke to the kids tonight, starting to get a bit fidgety about getting home now, although Carl is still good. Tomorrow we are heading to a working sheep farm to stay overnight; they are shearing at the moment, so hopefully we’ll get an experience there
Until tomorrow xx
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