At Home!

We are home now and will probably not get away now until school goes back in 2027 as we find the weather is often too hot and school holidays often get busy.  We have decided to sell our van as our last trip away was to the Flinders Ranges and it was wonderful but my OH is finding the hitching and unhitching a problem as he has back, neck and shoulder issues so we think we will quit while we're in front.  We have seen a lot of Australia and many places several times so we feel very grateful to have seen so much and have not had any accidents, a few mishaps but nothing too major.  We still intend to travel but probably closer to home and stay in B&Bs or cabins and many of the stations in the Flinders Ranges have cabins or quarters to stay in and they often have drives that we could go on either with them or on our own so that is another option.

A few months ago the creek (river) near us flooded so we had a day out with our cameras and here are a few photos.  The creek is actually the River Torrens which runs through the CBD from Mt Pleasant iin the Mt Lofty Ranges to the Adelaide plains and on to Gulf St Vincent.

The River Torrens at Walkerville

Gilberton Swing Bridge over the River Torrens

The River Torrens flowing fast

The entrance has an  historic stone door-way. This doorway was erected by the Gilberton Amateur Swimming Club in 1936. The swimming club  was formed in 1915 and celebrated its 100th anniversary last year in 2015. My  OH is pictured here as he used to swim in the river when he was young, and  said he always came home dirtier than when he went and always had to have a shower when he got home!

Another day we decided to walk to the Morialta Falls which is also not far from home and it had been a few years since we had been there, but this time we drove to the Conservation Pqrk below the falls and did the shorter walk of about 4 km return to the falls on a really easy track.

Rainbow Lorikeets 

Interesting rock formations

The  Falls

A good flow of water in winter

The park has a few different walks but we chose the shortest which suited us with a few stops along the way.  There were benches to sit on and if lucky you might see koalas but we weren't lucky that day.

I will try and post more often now we are home.  Thanks for your previous comments and I look forward to showing you more places near our home.

Have a good week.

Day 6, 7 ,8 Echuca, Vic.

 We left Lake Boga on Saturday morning, the weather was sunny so were looking forward to a few nice days in Echuca.  We arrived in Echuca and were a bit surpprised how busy it was but it looked very interesting and we were looking forward to seeing the touristy things, but first we had to find a caravan park.  We drove around and found some signs to caravan parks and decided to go to the G'day Caravan Park  about 5 km out of the town.  It was a great park, with several different areas for caravans and we chose an area that was fairly open  as we wanted a bit of room to sit outside and enjoy the views and the sunshine.

One of the interesting shops we browsed through in Echuca

Day  7

We had a good night sleep, tidied the van and then headed over to Moama, just over in the New South Wales border, where there was a Market.  It was a huge market but as we are on the road I have to be careful what I buy as the cupboards and fridge are already full with very little spare room.  After a good look around the market we drove on to a Truck Show  which sounded interesting but when we got there it appeared to be Hot Rod style trucks which Ron was not so keen on so we drove back to Echuca where we booked a River cruise on the PS Adelaide so we had time to look around the Wharf area and had a nice lunch before boarding the Paddle Steamer Adelaide.  It was a lovely cruise with a good commentary and the river was very nice and relaxing.  Afterwards we had an ice cream and then back to the van.

The Wharf area has lots of character with old style displays

PS Adelaide

River views

Horse and Carriage rides

Beautiful Clydesdale and Percheron horses

Day 8

Another lovely day so we took our time to start the day, and as the weather was good I decided to do a bit of hand washing and pegged it out on our portable clothes line.  I then decided to have a look at some social media on my laptop and to my surprise I had opened a page (link) and then couldn't get rid of it.  I was very upset with myself as I normally don't open links but this time I did, very annoying and so we packed up the laptop and found a computer shop, told them the problem and they said they could fix it and to come back in a couple of hours.  We were so relieved to find somewhere to have it fixed especially in a town we were not familiar with.

Historic paddlesteamer PS Pevensey

PS Canberra, 108 year old Paddle Steamer in Echuca

Lovely old lamps along the wharf area

Echuca Wharaf area

Ice cream treat to end the day

Echuca railway station

On the Road - Day 2, 3, 4, 5

Lake Cullulleraine

We left Renmark after our overnight stay and didn't unhook the caravan so that saved Ron's back which gives him a fair amount of pain although he rarely complains as it could mean the end of our caravanning days and we do love travelling.

Our first stop was at Lake Cullulleraine, a freshwater lake just over the border in Victoria.  We had a walk around the lakeside, and morning tea before heading off to Mildura.

The George Chaffey Bridge between Mildura and Buronga

We had booked a site at Buronga which is just across the river at Mildura.  We were hoping we could get a riverside site but they are so popular that we should have booked much further ahead so we decided to take what we could get.  There are many caravan parks on the Mildura side of the River Murray but we have stayed at Buronga previously, we will have to remember to book well in advance next time.

Interesting sculpture at the caravan park

Not the most picturesque site but we had power and water and we are self contained

After setting up in the park, we discovered we had lost our long sullage hose somewhere along the way so we will make do with the shorter one. The maintenance man at the caravan park offered us some leftover pipe but unfortunately it was the wrong diameter, but we were able to just let the water out onto the grass.

Overnight we had some rain and it was still raining after we had breakfast so we just took our time then headed into Mildura to see if we could get a trip on a Paddle Steamer.  We booked a short trip on the PS Melbourne which was great as we had enough time to have a look around the wharf area before boarding the paddle steamer.

All steamed up!

Stoking the fire on PS Melbourne

Pelicans on the river

PB Mundoo being restored

Lock 11

We had a great trip up to Lock 11 and back to the bridge, also saw the Paddle Boat Mundoo and Coonawarra.  The weather was still a bit overcast and spitting with rain but we were prepared for the weather with rain coats.

The end of another great day on the river

Next morning we drove around Mildura and walked around the riverfront then had lunch at the Dockside Cafe which we had seen on our river trip.  It was a lovely cafe and perfect for a light lunch with lovely views and the staff were very pleasant which always makes for a good lunch.

View of Marina from Dockside Cafe

Lovely swan paddle boats for hire at the Marina

After lunch we did a bit more sightseeing and called into the Information Centre in Mildura which was really interesting and well set up for getting information with a lot of good displays.

Left Buronga Caravan Park after a cold night and headed to Lake Boga where we planned to see the Catalina Flying Boat Museum. 

 On the way we took some photos at Nyah where we had stayed before on another trip, and then to Swan Hill.  We have been to Swan Hill many times so just drove through and headed on to Lake Boga.

Paddle Steamer Gem in Swan Hill

The Catalina Museum at Lake Boga was so much better than we expected and we spent  quite some time there looking at the displays.  

The Lions Club of Lake Boga restored the Catalina A24-30 and the original secret communication bunker as a commemoration to the service men and women who served at Lake Boga from 1942 to 1947.

The museum holds many artefacts relating to the history associated with WWII including the historic Catalina Flying Boat.

Lake Boga Caravan Park