On the road to .....Lake Bonney, South Australia

 

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.


 

Lake Bonney has canoes, paddleboats and the pontoon for swimming

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.

Grapevines just out of Barmera

It 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.

Grapevines just out of Barmera

 

We had a great shady site which was close to the jumping pillow and the swimming pool which kept the grandchildren happy and not too far for us to keep an eye on them.


We were soon in Barmera and got ourselves set up in the Lake Bonney Caravan Park.
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.



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. 

 

 

Monash Playground



Monash Playground

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.

 

 

 

On the Road to ... Wentworth,Broken Hill, Silverton & Menindee

Wentworth is situated in New South Wales, Australia, at the confluence of two great Australian rivers, the Murray and the Darling.



River Darling at Wentworth, NSW

The confluence of the Darling & Murray Rivers at Wentworth

Fotherby Park, Wentworth, NSW

Possum at Fotherby Park, Wentworth, NSW

 

 

 

 

Perry Sandhills, Wentworth

Perry Sandhills

Perry Sandhills, Wentworth

Perry Sandhills, Wentworth, New South Wales

Our stay in Wentworth was better than we had expected.  The weather was perfect and we saw some amazing natural beauty.  Apart from our trip out to Mungo, we also did a drive out to Perry Sandhills.  We had seen the signs to the sandhills and thought we would go and have a look as it was only 6 km out of town.  The drive out was not particularly interesting, just the same old scenery of low bushes, blue bush I think, but once we turned into the minor road to the sandhills we saw the bright red sandhills in front of us.  We parked the car and got out to get a closer look, but the wind soon got the better of us and we decided to just drive around the base to see as much as we could.  They were really interesting and if we had known it would have been good to come out there at sunset as I'm sure the colour would be magnificent, but we did get some good photos, and even found a lizard hiding among the bushes.  The drift patterns on the sandhills were fascinating and we did get some good photos.

We left Wentworth about 10 am but had a problem with the diff lock on the LandCruiser so had to find a mechanic to get the problem sorted.  Luckily we found 0ne who was very helpful and although he was extremely busy, he looked at the Landcruiser and after a bit of gentle persuasion got the diff lock unlocked and we were on the road again at about 11 am.  We headed to Broken Hill about 350 km north of Wentworth.

The drive from Wentworth to Broken Hill is mainly flat terrain with saltbush and low shrubs. It was a good road and we enjoyed the short drive and it was a really nice day.
We stopped at Popilta Lake for a lunch stop and to stretch our legs.  There were a few other vans there, all enjoying the nice sunny weather and it was good to see the lake which is one of the lakes fed by the Anabranch of the Darling River.

 

 

Lake Popiltah where we stopped for lunch

 

 We did see a few feral goats and also some road kill kangaroos.  We arrived at Broken Hill early afternoon and booked into Lake View Caravan Park, which is quite central to the main part of town.  After setting ourselves up we decided to have a quick drive around town and to visit the Information Centre to find out what we should see while in town.  I also needed to find a hairdresser, so had a walk up the street and the first salon was able to fit me in so about 1/2 an hour later I had a nice cut and blow dry and I felt much better for it. 

A bit of history about Broken Hill 

In 1844 the explorer Charles Sturt named the Barrier Range while sesarching for an inland sea. He named it Barrier Range because it was a barrier to his progress north.

Broken Hill was founded in 1883 by Charles Rasp.  He discovered what he thought was tin, but this was later found to be silver. 



The Kintore Shaft, Broken Hill, NSW

The Kintore Shaft was typical of early shafts at Broken Hill.




Broken Hill Town Hall

 

Broken Hill has many beautiful old buildings and we noticed that many had been restored.   The Town Hall was built in 1890.

"Ant" Sculpture in  the park  by famous Australian artist Pro Hart



Broken Hill Post Office

The Post Office was built in 1890-92 and is a beautiful building with a magnificent turret.

Broken Hill has many artists in residence and there are quite a few art galleries as well as museums.  We decided to visit the gallery of Jack Absalom whose paintings we have always admired.  He is one of the "Brushmen of the Bush" and when we arrived he was actually in the gallery, which is adjacent to his home, and we were thrilled to be able to meet him and have a chat.  He is a real gentleman and it was such a pleasure to talk to him about his paintings as well as his magnificent collection of opal which he personally mined and is the best collection in the Southern hemisphere.  He also signed a couple of prints that we purchased which was certainly unexpected and made our visit memorable.

Silverton

Silverton is a small town about 25 km north west of Broken Hill.  Rich deposits of silver were found in Silverton but the large silver/lead/zinc deposits  in Broken Hill soon made the town a "ghost" town, but today there is a small permanent population and is mainly a tourist attraction.

The iconic Silverton Hotel



An interesting old cottage with an interesting sculpture

The Ticket Office from the old Railway line in Silverton

 

The drive out to Silverton is another fairly uninteresting drive, but we always try to make the most of our trips and look for highlights along the way. The old railway is no longer in use but the Ticket Box is still standing so we had a look around and took a few photos and I also found some different flowers there. 

 

The old Silverton Railway line which ceased operation in 1970

Some of the flowers around Silverton

 

This great little cafe was a real surprise to find in Silverton.  We enjoyed a very special Quondong Ice Cream which was particularly good on a hot afternoon.  The cafe also had a lovely collection of tea pots as well as other old wares.

Silverton is a great little place to have a look around, with lovely old stone buildings, some needing some TLC and others which have been lovingly restored.  There are also quite a few galleries to look at, it seems to be a mecca for artists.

St Carthage Catholic Church, Silverton

View of the Mundi Mundi plain from the Umberumberka Reservoir just out of Silverton



The Umberumberka Reservoir near Silverton




Mundi Mundi Plain

 

Menindee 

Menindee is a small town on the Darling River and was the first town to be established on the Darling River.  The weir on the Darling River diverts the water into a series of overflow lakes which regulates the flow for irrigation for South Australia. 
 
We hadn't planned on going out to the Menindee Lakes but as this was our last day before heading home, we were just going to relax around the town, but it did seem to be a waste of a day and we decided to see what the lake was like.  We have friends who had said it was worth a drive out, so I packed some lunch and drinks and we set off.

An Egret near the diversion weir

It was a really pleasant drive through similar countryside of blue bush  and dry grasses and it was quite a surprise to come to the lake and the first sight of it was amazing, with so many birds on the lake and people fishing from the weir.

 




Diversion Weir, Menindee, NSW



The Main Weir, River Darling, Menindee, NSW

The main Weir, River Darling, Menindee, NSW



Birds on the weir, Menindee, NSW