The town of Berri takes its name from the local Aboriginal tribe ‘bery bery’ meaning ‘bend in the river’. Up until the 1870s the area was part of the Cobdogla sheep station and the home of the Erawirunga tribe of Aboriginals.
Waikerie Caravan Park decoration.
So we spent the night in a little luxury at the Waikerie caravan park. The following day we found a fabulous Art Gallery directly opposite the Laundromat. The gallery was manned by volunteers and displayed all sorts including various creatures and objects cut from corrugated iron and scrap metal.
A good experience marred only when Anne somehow got herself locked in the toilet and I rushed to her rescue. I always wanted to be a hero and rescue a fair maid. Just imagined it a bit different. Also meat pie’d and coffee’d at the Waikerie Bakery. Easier pronounced as the Waikry Bakry. Heading to Berri, we found Bella Lavender Estate with believe it or not, lots of lavender products.
So what did you expect on a lavender farm?
They also had a coffee machine which provided my daily caffeine fix. For future reference, yes. It is worth a look and drive in with van attached. The parking lot is big and you can do an attached U turn as long as it isn’t Happy Hour. (N.B. They don’t have one) We found almost free parking on the river at Berri. about a 20 minute walk to the pub so depends on how desperate you are. Almost free because it was $5 a night per van BUT they did have a flushing toilet and dump spot adjacent.
Just $5 a night!
Watched a pleasant sunset with a nice lady with her own coaster bus. Coasters are quite popular we were noticing. Not too big and not too small The Coaster was just right, sort of like Goldilocks and the three bears. A pleasant, comfortable night then packed up for our first main stop at Loxton.
Shock of shocks. An early start. There’s a first time for everything I guess and this was it for early starts. While just a seven minute walk along the river bank to the moored boats and the General store, it had to be 8.45am to accommodate an 9.30am boat trip start. First to the General Store to confirm they did do the very best bacon and egg rolls as professed by Geoff. Confirmed. They were very, very good.
This is Maudes Seat. She is a colourful local who walks along the river bank most mornings and once told the land owner she gets tired around this spot. So he built and installed the seat for her. Apparently, once Maude was going to take a breather but someone was using her seat. So she pointed out the obvious and asked them to move along. Skipper Carl. A wealth of information. The old saying applies. If he doesn’t know it, it’s not worth knowing.
Secondly, down to the river bank to look for ‘Loch Luna Cruises’ pontoon boat and skipper Carl. We made up a small group of four plus Carl on a three hour, very informative and thorough cruise of that chunk of the Murray, Nockburra and Chambers Creeks and other features such as the apparently well names Snake Island. Carl spared us from that patch of dirt and was an absolute oracle on bird life, history and endless trivial but interesting facts of the river.
For example where did the weeping willow trees come from? In fact they were planted by the river boat captains as they were taller and darker in colour from the local scrub trees that line the river. When the river is in flood, the willows mark the river channel. Well worth the AU$40 Deserving a plug. Loch Luna Cruises, Carl and Narelle 0449 122 271 a/h 08 85830155. The next morning we almost reluctantly pulled out of the Park and drove to the General Store for a farewell egg and bacon roll. We sat and took in the scenery with no rush and not a care in the world. Then in the car, turn the key and we did have a care in the world. Our brand new battery went click, click, click, just like the old one. Flat!
Flat battery out front the General Store. Carl spotted us from the other river side and came around to help.
Luckily Carl saw our bonnet up and we were on the road again after a jumper lead start. So change of plan. Now we are heading back to Sutton Ford deducing there was something wrong with the car wiring. (Derrr) The bottom line? Somehow while the car is turned off, if the van plug stayed connected to the car, it flattened the battery. It was supposed to disconnect when the ignition is turned off. Suttons confirmed the problem, but we decided to proceed on our way for now. We thought we could wait till we found a more caravan orientated fix it shop. So for now, to avoid the problem we had to pull the plug from van to car out if we were stopping for longer than say fifteen minutes.
N.B. This blog is meant to be a daily account of our adventure around Australia. However, I had difficulty setting up the blog site and it took quite a long time. In fact it’s not right yet. So I write this well after the date of the experience. I now realise I will never catch up to the present at this rate so I am going to abbreviate and condense the next two months or so. Should have done that in the first place anyway.
The town’s name was changed from Thurk to Kingston O.M. (on Murray)on 19 September 1940. The name was derived from the Kingston Village Settlement Area, a settlement which was established in 1896 and whose name is derived from Charles Kingston, the then Premier of South Australia. (Ed: Thurk?)
A quick and easy pack up in the morning and in to town for a closer look at Barmera proper. As a coincidence, we had been for some time seeing notices of the pending annual Renmark flower show, which in fact had evolved over the years to include the whole Riverland.
This I mention because the first thing that struck us was the very neat appearance of town and the proliferation of rose bushes down the main street.
(N.B. ‘proliferation’ /prəlɪfəˈreɪʃn/ noun- rapid increase in the number or amount of something. a large number of something.) I should have just said ‘a lot of.’
We headed for a cosy looking coffee shop in the main street to get the caffeine fix in, then crossed the road for something to eat, so supporting two local businesses as is our habit.
Brunch of champions, fish and chips then meandered around driving through towns we had never heard of or would ever see again for the simple reason that we could do so with all the time in the world, or what was left of it. Then a though occurred, in my youth I had been to Loxton to visit buddy Rick and hurtled past the turn off to Kingston on Murray, umpteen times but never stopped. (‘Hurtle’ speed undeclared as I don’t know if there is a statute of limitations for that sort of thing but these days I would be scared to do it.)
N.B. Is ‘umpteen’ a real word? (It was probably created by analogy to actual numbers. “Umpteen” usually describes an indefinite and large number or amount, while the related “umpteenth” is used for the latest or last in an indefinitely numerous series.)
So we doubled back to finally inspect what turned out to be little Kingston. The main building in town was a general store opposite a boat landing with mainly house boats moored.
Again, this tiny town had immaculately manicured lawn sweeping down to the river bank with clean public toilets and real friendly home town atmosphere.
The caravan park was a show piece with even a free vegetable patch for the guests and had a recently used levee bank on three sides from the river side to the high ground. ‘Recently used’ because in 2016 the river flooded and this astute park owner had prepared well in advance a six foot high levee bank which had saved the day. after the threat he just bulldozed a twelve foot gap to get to the river. The gap will be easily filled next time. Sure, there will be a next time. It’s the Murray. N.B. Is it levy or levee? As verbs the difference between levee and levy is that levee is (us|transitive) to keep within a channel by means of levees or levee can be to attend the levee or levees of while levy is to impose (a tax or fine) to collect monies due, or to confiscate property. N.B. Deserving a plug. Kingston-on-Murray caravan park. Privately owned by pleasant Geoff and Barb. (Ask them what they did before. It’s interesting) 461 Holmes Road, ph: (08)8583 0209, em: info@komcaravanpark.com.au, website www.komcaravanpark.com.au Geoff, never short to promote their little oasis of Kingston, put us onto Carl and the general store attributes, both of which we utilised the very next morning. But for now it was time to settle into the comfy box with a tasty treat and a generous glass and think of the past, present and future , not necessarily in that order.
‘It is unknown where the name “Barmera” comes from but it is suspected that it means “water place” or “land dwellers”, being a word from a local Aboriginal group. Others postulate it comes from Barmeedjie, the name of the tribe that lived to the north of the Murray River prior to European settlement.’ The lake was named Lake Bonney by Joseph Hawdon after his friend, Charles Bonney in 1838. The name was changed to ‘Lake Barmera, River Murray’ in 1908 and was changed back to ‘Lake Bonney’ in 1913.
The glorious mornings were not getting boring, but we packed up the van and headed into Waikerie past the welcoming ‘RV Friendly Town’ sign and steered for the magic Dump Point. It is a purpose built ‘RV Friendly’ spot to empty toilet cassettes and fill the water tanks with potable water.
N.B ‘If something is potable that means it’s safe to drink. Potable can also be a noun, meaning any drinkable liquid. The word comes from the Latin potare, meaning “to drink.”
We filled up with what we wanted and got rid of what we didn’t want, then proceeded to the city centre where we stocked up on most of the bare necessities. Then down the hill to the Laundromat for an hour plus of reviving soiled clothes from smelly to schmicky.
(N.B.-‘schmick’ʃmɪk/adjective. Informal – Australian ‘smart or stylish.’)
Our box house on the back of the car was immediately out the front and provided the lunch room during the exercise and I took my leave to walk up the hill to the BWS, although I was only interested in the W. (N.B. BWS = Beer Wine Spirit) All necessaries fulfilled, we hop into the four wheel and, click, click, click. Flat battery, roadside assistance, new battery and all is good. Why a new battery?
The logic was this original Ford battery had served the expected term and it just passed on to battery heaven. Total $264. Approximately $50 per year or one dollar a week. Cheap running I thought. We had been to Barmera before and camped in the caravan park right on lake Bonney, however we are now bold and adventurous free campers so headed for the out of town lakeside remote locations.
While we do our own thing, it is a normal inclination of most to camp with a few others not far. This is for just a little security. We found a spot off the water with another van within fifty metres then walked down with stools and drinks to watch the sunset. We got a polite nod from the waterside neighbours and a few cautious sniffs from their dog. Another peaceful self contained night in natures loving care and life is starting to feel good, totally ignoring a burst turbo pipe and a dead battery in the first five days, believing these problems now behind us will readily fade.
Woke to find the serenity was still running. Breakfast on the river bank as the surrounds came to life. But now a breakaway from my favourite past time of nothing, it is suggested by one of us (!) that we go for a walk. Donned our old but proven hiking boots and off we explored. Ten minutes and we came to an elevated spot with a beautiful, sweeping view of the river. We stood and pondered why this spot wasn’t snapped up by other happy campers. Then as we slowly departed, I found it wasn’t deserted at all. Is the collective term swarm? No. It’s army. An army of ants. An ARMY of bloody big ants! We performed what must have appeared from a distance to be a ritualistic and intense war dance increasing at frenzy like pace. End of walk. Back to nothing. A van was pulling out and we discover a camaraderie promoted practice. ‘The sharing of the water.’ You would be surprised how much water a van can go through when free camping. Our van has two, eighty litre water tanks total one hundred and sixty. An average domestic water bucket holds ten litres. So while one hundred and sixty litres sounds a lot, it’s really only sixteen buckets. By the time you bath, cook, drink and flush the toilet, you become very aware of the limitation of water use. So this departing neighbour offered their remaining water to any who wanted it, knowing they would be filling their tanks within the hour elsewhere. More serenity, shifting of the chairs to chase the shade, another stunning sunset and we discuss departure tomorrow for tank filling, toilet cassette emptying, clothes washing and change of serenity location and top up red wine. The sun went down as did the red wine, on the third and last night at Holder Bend. Thoughts of the morrow and yep, there’s that serenity again. Lake Bonney (Barmera) tomorrow.
We arose to a waking river bank. Ducks paddling close but not too close. That is not until there was possible food handout in which case they were ‘right there.’ We noticed pelicans skim the water for hundreds of metres, about a foot above. Fascinating to watch. They sit on the water looking like they don’t know what to do next. Then all of a sudden that great pink bill slashes into the water with the flick of the neck and voila! Up points the bill and down slides the fish. Must be an interesting feeling. They swallow the fish whole. They go down very much alive and less than happy. If they get three in close succession, it must feel like a washing machine agitator down there. We spent the entire day doing just barely above nothing, except sitting, looking, moving the seats for shade as the sun moved and of course eating.
Action shot. This seagull caught a nibble n the wing, thrown by Anne.
Our first rustic cook up in the wild was a whole roast chicken bought from Woolworths the day before. In fact that big chook gave us both three meals and some leftover scraps on toast for breakfast. Next, another fabulous sunset, early to bed and dare I say it, ‘Ah. The serenity.’
A new day and we woke up in this sunny, well kept park with
lawns sweeping down to the river bank. We grabbed our coffees and seated
ourselves on a floating pontoon amongst the ducks and pelicans (they were in
the water, not on the pontoon) and soaking up the delightful, rural ambience
complimented by our coffees.
A BONUS! The park is in sight of a river lock and the
massive, multilevel paddle steamer ‘Murray Princess’ was coming through the
lock. I guessed it had about a foot either side. I don’t know how the captain
did it.
The mighty “Murray Princess”
This magnificent floating multi-storey building laboured
past us with just two crew members on deck. If I had been a paying customer, I
would have slept on deck from fear of missing the ever changing scenery of the
fabulous Murray. Apparently, not so pressing an issue for the Princess
residents who had just missed the lock transition that we couldn’t take our
eyes off of. Why did they bother coming?
N.B. (courtesy of Mr Google) ‘Blanchetown – home of Lock No. 1 and Riverland gateway.
– Blanchetown was one of
the first river settlements in South Australia. Surveyed in 1855, the town was
named by Governor Sir Richard Graves McDonnell after his wife Lady Blanche
McDonnell.’ (Ah-ha! It’s not what you know)
Having taken in the coffee, the ambience and some breakfast,
we smoked our way towards Waikerie and our new pipe. More waving from concerned
travellers and our return waving come thumbs up
response.
N.B. Mr Google. The name Waikerie is said to mean
‘many wings’, after the giant swift moth ‘wei kari’, the name given
by the local Aboriginals. It’s an appropriate name, considering the
teeming birds of the lagoons and wetlands that edge the river. Aboriginals who
lived along the river then were of the Ngawait tribe.
Sutton Ford replaced the pipe in about twelve minutes and we
were on our way. One of the easiest fixes I have ever experienced given such a
dramatic and visual fault. By the way, if you are ever passing through
Waikerie, Dutton’s have a Model T Ford in their show room. Purists will note
the rear end has been ‘tinkered with’ including I think a General Motors Holden
rear end with hydraulic brakes. It doesn’t diminish the effect. I am reminded
of the legendary story, ‘When you order a Model T, you can have whatever colour
you want, as long as it’s black.’
We cruised down the main street with ‘Talisker’ in tow. Yes.
We had named the caravan Talisker. N.B. Mr Google. ‘Talisker distillery is an Island single
malt Scotch whisky distillery based in Carbost, Scotland on the Isle of Skye.
The distillery is operated by Diageo, and is marketed as part of their Classic
Malts series. The brand is sold as a premium whisky. Did
you know: Intense
and powerful, the Talisker family all have a peated, smoky flavour. malts.com‘
Due to Taliskers peated finish and my preference thereof, I
consider Talisker to be a superior if not supreme spirit, as far as I am
concerned. Now, our new van was manufactured by ‘Supreme’ and the model is ‘Spirit’,
so of course what am I going to name the van?
We lunched on meat pies in a main street alfresco eat-in and stocked
up on the bare necessities of bread, red wine, meat, Guinness, vegetables, Port
and red wine at Woolworths and headed four k’s down the river road to Holder
Bend Reserve.
Our first free camping experience! What is free camping? You
set up in a designated free camp spot with usually zero facilities. No power,
water, toilets, showers AND no charge. No facilities. Just nature. You rely on
the assets and stores you have prepared. For us, two deep cycle batteries in
the van, two in the car, four solar panels to charge same, a car fridge and
freezer to back up the van fridge, two, eighty litre van water tanks, van
toilet and shower, a diesel oil heater, a sat dish for remote locations, fans
for warm weather and a generator to run the air conditioner if it is stinking
hot.
We picked a spot right on the river, pulled table and folding
chairs out and for the first time we sat isolated and self sufficient. A
marvellous feeling. Just like the pioneers only powdered posteriors.
There were others not far and as a bonus, we were invited to
sit at a neighbours campfire. We had finally been introduced to (but not yet
become members of) the free camping fraternity of Australia. I won’t bore you
with descriptions of every person we met, but everyone has a different story,
status and reason for being there. Just that first night, I found it
fascinating and for some unknown reason, re-assuring to be on the edge of
becoming part of it.
We watched a beautiful and serene sunset and easily fell asleep to the pure sound
of nature by night.
This is THE start of a two year jaunt around the best
country in the world and we planned to do this at leisure and trouble free.
Our starting point was Levi Park Caravan Park just out of
the city and right on the mighty Torrens River. A slight exaggeration. It is
more affectionately known by locals as the duck pond and if it was not for a
weir , it would be a creek.
Kissing Colin and the happy staff goodbye (figuratively) we
visited a caravan place to order, non vital, failed replacement parts, then on
to the evil weigh bridge. Evil because it doesn’t like us and always weighs us
in too heavy. There are no Jenny Craig weighbridges in Adelaide. Final stop,
the storage container to jettison the last few weight loss items we decided we
can get by without, for the sake of weight legality.
N.B. We have not (yet) been pulled over by the gendarmes
/boys in blue/cops/highway patrol at road side weighbridges, but have heard
storeys that would quake you to your
core. Stories to tell the kids around camp fires on spooky nights.
So finally, on the road for two years! First stop Waikerie
in the Riverland heading for friends, Rick and Diane in Loxton.
We got as far as Smithfield trouble free then we lost the
free. I thought we would have done better than thirty kilometres. A worrying little
light on the dash said something like ‘drive line fault’ suggesting transmission problem. The road side assistance
man announced it was ONLY a hole in the pipe for the turbo and stuck some duck
tape on it which lasted exactly thirty
seconds after he left.
Symptoms of a blown turbo hose you may ask? loss of power
and excessive burning of diesel oil and you become a moving cloud.
So having called ahead to Waikerie, we proceeded on to our
waiting replacement pipe with few interruptions except one young family who
waved us down because they thought our caravan was on fire. We made it to Blanchtown
before we got sick of waving people off and pulled into the caravan park at
dusk. Not the way we imagined the first day at all.
This two year trip around Australia has been on the drawing board for two years and hands on since January 2019. We have purchased a second hand 2014 Ford Ranger for it’s significant feature of a 3.5 tonne pulling capacity. We have also bought a brand new 20 ft (in the old language) caravan with the works including bathroom. After a steep learning curve and several mistakes, we are ready, more or less to hit the road. Feel free to follow us on out national jaunt as you wish. It will be nice to know I am not writing just for myself. Cheers.
