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| Canoeing on Lake Bonney |
Lake Bonney is a beautiful freshwater lake in Barmera in the Riverland area of South Australia. There is a scenic drive around the lake which is approximately 20 km around and is accessible from the main road by various tracks to the edge of the lake where you can camp among shady trees in some places.
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| Lake Bonney has canoes, paddleboats and the pontoon for swimming |
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| Lake Bonney is great for water sports |
We packed up the caravan and headed to the lake in the Riverland for a few days away with our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.
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Grapevines just out of BarmeraIt is a great drive through the wine growing region of the Barossa Valley, South Australia and into the Riverland, stopping at Waikerie for lunch at the Bakery and we also got some fresh fruit and vegetables from the stall there as regulations prevent taking fruit and vegetables into the Riverland which protects South Australia's important fruit growing region. We also stopped to get some fresh orange juice from Nippy's factory outlet. You can't beat fresh orange juice and we felt like drinking it straight from the container, but we restrained ourselves and put it in the fridge till we got to the caravan park. |
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| Grapevines just out of Barmera |
The park is quite a large one and is right on the shores of the lake, although our caravan sites were back a little but near to the Jumping Pillow which was one of the main attractions for the children and we could see them from our site which was a huge advantage for us.
When we arrived on Thursday afternoon the temperature was 40 degrees and it was almost unbearable as we unhitched and set up the van, even the air conditioner in the van struggled to keep the temperature down, but at least it was better than nothing.
Kirsten, Michael and the children soon decided to cool off in the lake while we cooled off in the van. There were two pontoons in the lake and they proved to be the place to be with children and adults enjoying the water. There is a roped off area for swimming and to separate the speed boats and jet skis. Shelters are on the foreshore but it was just too hot for us to sit under them for more than about 15 minutes so we quickly got back to the air conditioned van.
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| Jumping off the pontoon was very popular |
Friday morning was much cooler so after we had a very relaxing start to the day, breakfast outside and generally just sitting around enjoying being on holidays, we decided to head off to the Monash playground. On the way we called in to a roadside fruit stall and got some beautiful fresh plums, grapes and avocadoes, as I am doing Nachos for our nibbles and drinks. We also stopped at the Berri shopping centre for some extra shopping and Kirsten found a shoe shop so the kids got some new sneakers which they need for school next week.
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| Monash Playground |
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| Monash Playground |
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| Amelie at Monash |
The children had a great time at Monash, and we were quite surprised at how different it is now from when we used to bring our children here, which must be at least 25-30 years ago! I know that things change but Monash used to be a huge "paddock", no grassed areas and the biggest slippery dip we had ever seen and quite a few other interesting and very large play things for the kids. The Monash playground that we remembered was in its day a very inventive playground designed and made by a local man who had some great ideas and families travelled from all parts of South Australia to enjoy the playground. Today, the old playground has gone, I think because it was considered unsafe in our new "Nanny State" where everyone puts responsibility on others and nobody takes responsibility for their own actions. The new playground is a beautiful place to bring the children, and it is an oasis in a very dry area, and the children enjoyed the different types of play equipment, and although they still managed to fall over, scrape their knees and generally behave like kids, we did all have a good time, and I even managed to find a bench to sit on in the shade.
Saturday morning we woke to a cooler day and enjoyed sitting around having an extra coffee while the children played. We had a walk around the park before lunch and afterwards Ron and Noah spent some time building the model engine that we gave Noah for Xmas. Kirsten, Amelie and me went for a drive around the lake. It was about a 20 km drive and we found another caravan park which was smaller than the one we are in, but it would be suitable for Ron and I if we were to come our own as we don't need a caravan park with "bells & whistles" as we enjoy the peace and quiet and to watch the birds and wildlife, so we will keep this park in mind for our next trip here.
We had a short time before we planned to go to Waikerie for the evening Australia Day event on the oval with the fireworks that Amelie and Noah were looking forward to. The children wanted to swim so we all went in the swimming pool to cool off and have some fun together.
