Murray River - Nyah Vinifera Park - north of Swan Hill

To escape the rainy weather around the Coorong, we decided to leave the coast again & head inland back towards the Murray River but this time in Victoria. We are making our way slowly towards the high country, so decided to have a bigger day in the car & get closer. Using the Camps Australia Wide book we started looking for a camp around Nyah about 30km north of Swan Hill. We had a look at the one in town behind the sports fields, it was okay but more suited to an overnight stop. We headed further south out of town onto Takasuka Rd that took us back onto the Murray River. There are heaps of great spots along here, there where quite a few camps already there, but we managed to find a nice spot. It was close to the road (just the track to the campsites) but it had an open flat area without to many overhanging tree branches. Good for the solar panels & also for safety from falling tree branches.

We could also have a campfire, yeah, it has been a long time. By the time we set up it was getting later in the afternoon. We had our leftover savoury mince from the night before so we just had to heat it up, easy! 

The next day we just stayed at camp. Mat went for a fish but with no luck, the water was really flowing due to the recent rain. It was a lovely relaxing day, we even saw some rainbow bee eaters again. We could of stayed longer but decided there was lots to see before we need to start heading home, so we should get going, so the next day we headed towards Echuca. More on that soon.

Map courtesy of HEMA maps

The Coorong

We left Bordertown after hiding away from the rain, but unfortunately it followed us down towards the coast. We headed down to Kingston first & stopped at the bakery to grab a loaf of bread. The wind was blowing furiously so the light rain was coming in sideways & it was freezing, which of course meant we needed a sausage roll as well to warm up. We headed north along the coast, we planned to camp in the national park. We ventured into one of the camps just south of Salt Creek, it was a great camping area, but the whole area was under water from the rain. It had a picnic shelter that we tried to hide under while we discussed if we should stay, but even it was completely drenched & the rain was still coming in. We decided to try elsewhere. We kept going North & looked at a few other national park camps. All good camps but they were either flooded or so shaded by trees that our solar panels wouldn't work, although the weather wasn't going to help with that either. One of the camps was right on the waters of the Coorong, but the wind was so strong it was covered in white capped waves, not good. 

Our first view of the Coorong

In the end we made the call to go up to Meningie to the caravan park. Not what we wanted but the weather was just terrible. Turns out the caravan park was right on Lake Albert, it was also getting pummelled by the wind. We had to run into the reception office through the rain & by the time we found our site it was still pouring. We unhooked the trailer without setting up & went down the street to find some lunch. Meningie is a really nice little town. We ended up having lunch at the old cheese factory cafe & Mat had some local Coorong Mullet. After lunch the rain stopped so we rushed back to camp to get everything set up before it started again. Just as we finished it started raining again, this time with even more wind. A hot shower was in order & we then spent the afternoon hiding in the tent out of the weather. By dinner time not much had changed, so we thought stuff it, we will just go to the pub for dinner. The restaurant at the pub was supposed to do lots of Coorong mullet dishes, but when we arrived we were told they had no mullet that night. We felt a bit ripped off, but had an okay meal there, but not as good as the reviews on TripAdvisor stated. Just our luck. Back to camp to bed, wishing for some better weather the next day. 

The weather gods sort of answered & it wasnt raining, but still very overcast & windy. Well it wasn't going to stop us, so we set off to explore. We made our way up towards Tailem Bend but turned off into Narrung where we had to get the ferry across Lake Alexandria. On the other side of the ferry we found what we think is one of the best free camps in Australia. It is right on the water, covered in beautiful lawn grass, has a new set of toilets being built (they look almost done, the old ones are okay as well), bins & even a water tap. We can imagine how fantastic it would be in good weather. If you are in the area definitely check it out. 

Free camp at Narrung ferry

Lighthouse on Lake Alexandrina

All of the roads in the area skim the edges of the lakes, & it's quite hilly in places & with the farming country, you get some wonderful views. 

Looking over Lake Alexandrina

We then continued around the dirt tracks to Mark Point where we saw some professional mullet fisherman coming in with their catch, only to be intercepted by fishery officers who seemed to find a lot of undersized fish in their catch. 

Mark Point above & below

We then went up to Pelican Point & this is as far as the road goes. 

Pelican Point

There is no through road for the public to Goolwa on the other side but there is a road across, it looked like there were water barrages further up the road. The bird life was amazing with hundreds of Pelicans, black swans & others we have never seen before. We then came down the other side of Lake Albert & back to Meningie.

At one of the parks & wildlife camps above & below

 It was a good day out & if the weather was better you could definitely spend a week exploring the area further & fishing. They also do boat trips on the Coorong that sounded fantastic but the weather was to rough on our visit. 

Back to camp & we managed to get a few hours of sunshine, well a bit of blue sky anyway & the wind dropped. We decided to get moving the next day to camp somewhere on the Murray river again but this time in Victoria. As it meant crossing the border we weren't sure if we would have to give up our fresh fruit & veggies. So I made up a big batch of savoury mince for dinner & leftovers for the next night. My grandmas neighbour also gave us a huge box of plums so I stewed down what was left with some apples for a delicious breakfast topping. That night we got no further rain & woke to a lovely calm but still somewhat overcast morning overlooking the lake. I snapped a few photos & after breakfast we packed up camp. 

A few clouds still, but at least the wind was gone

Just to give us something to remember SA by, we got another shower of rain before we had finished. Oh well. It was then a big day in the car to cross over into VIC, so this is our last SA post for the trip. SA has some fantastic camping & there is still so much for us to explore, can't wait to get back down that way. It was the 15th of January 2015 when we left SA & into VIC. More on that to come. 

Leaving SA

Map courtesy of HEMA 

Image courtesy of Google Earth

Black Forrest Dessert

For Christmas lunch I wanted something simple that didn't require cooking but was still a bit special. I came up with a Black Forrest creation using beautiful in season cherries. 

Black Forrest Dessert

Serves 4 

Ingredients

- 1 tub of cream cheese

- 1/2 tub of sour cream

- 2 tablespoons of caster sugar

- 2 cherry ripe bars

- 10 chocolate ripple biscuits

- 1 packet of jam rollettes

- 20 fresh cherries, extra to serve 

Directions

- in a bowl combine the cream cheese, sour cream & sugar. Mix until smooth. 

- cut the cherry ripes into small pieces. 

- cut the flesh from the cherries removing the pits. 

- break 4 of the chocolate ripple biscuits into small pieces. 

- add the cherry ripe pieces, cherry flesh & broken biscuits into the cream mix & combine. 

- cut the rollettes into small circles

To assemble

- line the bottom of a container or tray with half of the rollette pieces 

- top this with half the cream mixture

- place the remaining 6 chocolate ripple biscuits as the next layer

- top with the remaining cream mixture

- finally top with the rest of the rollettes

- put the lid on the container or cover tray with plastic wrap. 

- place in the fridge for at least 6 hours to set. Can be left for a couple of days before serving. 

To serve

- scoop out some of the dessert into a bowl, add some extra fresh cherries if you like. You can also add cream or ice cream. 

Murray Bridge

We left Mannum early & headed towards Murray Bridge & ended up being in town just after 9am. We decided to stay at a caravan park for a couple of nights & chose Avoca Dell Caravan Park. They allowed us to check in early & put us on a large grassy site overlooking the Murray River. We then headed into town for a look around. Murray Bridge is bigger than I remembered & now has a new Woolies & Big W. As we were in town so early we got to have a really good look around the area. It was starting to get hot so we headed back to the carvan park & watched some of the cricket in the air conditioning in the TV room, which was a nice change.

The next day I got up early & did the wetlands walk that is a 3.5km loop track near the caravan park that was really great. I saw heaps of water birds & wrens. It was a lovely start to the day. 

Early morning wetland walk above & below

Back at camp it was forecast to be above 40 degrees so we decided to go for a drive for the day. 

Heading towards Mt Barker

We headed west towards Mt Barker & saw a sign for the Beerenberg jam factory & decided to check it out. It is a huge factory where you can buy all of their products & also pick fresh strawberries. 

 We then decided to have a look in the small town nearby Hahndorf, we are so glad we did. This has to be one of our favourite towns in Australia. It is just gorgeous, with tree lined streets & all sorts of little shops including 3 German pubs, ice cream shops, cheese shops, providores, leather, alpaca & wool stores, gift shops, German speciality shops & much more. 

Hahndorf

We had a great time wandering the streets & of course had to have lunch at the pub for some traditional German sausage & pretzels, Yum. 

One of the pubs

We then had a look at Mt Barker & then made our way down to Strathalbyn, we than ran back east towards Wellington picking up some freshly picked potatoes for $5 for 5kg. We then cut back up to Tailem Bend & got some cheap fuel. As we started to head back up to Murray Bridge a huge storm was brewing with thunder & lightning, so we hot tailed it home because the trailer was open. We got there just in time before the storm hit only to find the lovely people at the caravan park had already shut our windows. We tucked everything away & headed back down to the TV room to hide out of the rain & watch the storm come in over the Murray. The rain kept up for most of the afternoon so we decided to head down the street to the local club for a cheap dinner instead of cooking. It rained pretty heavy all night, so we had a very wet pack up the next morning. Luckily it stopped for about half an hour for us to get packed up. There was big rain forecast for the next few days with the most rainfall seen for 30 years forecast, so we decided to head down to my grandmas at Bordertown to escape the rain. We stayed for 5 nights & really enjoyed being in a house during the rain. It was nice to have a decent shower, somewhere to cook out of the wind & we even watched a bit of TV. We then headed down towards the Coorong, more on that soon. 

Storm coming

Map courtesy of HEMA maps

Murray River at Mannum

We left our camp at Moorook & headed south down the Murray River towards Loxton & grabbed some fuel & then headed back west over towards Swan Reach. We explored on both sides of the river looking for a campsite at Walkers Flat & Purnong. There were some okay sites along here, but most of them were only suited to overnight camps as they were close to the roads or boat ramps. We cut back across to Mannum & found a council run site right on the river for $10 a night that was pretty good. It had toilets & a non potable water tap. The sites were gravel, but had lovely green grass in front of them. We set up camp & then enjoyed the afternoon watching all of the house boats & jet boats cruise up & down the river.

Looking across to Mannum from camp

Camp above & below

We decided to head into town to the pub for dinner. We had to catch the ferry across to the Main Street side of town & had a couple of drinks on the pub verandah overlooking the river & then a feed. It was a great night. We headed back to camp to find we had neighbours in a flash camper van/bus thing. After chatting to the guy we found out they were also from Rockhampton. As we were talking about being from Rocky, he looked us up & down & glanced at our trailer & said "yes we are from Rockhampton as well, but we are from the "North" side", if you know the Rocky area you will know he was implying that we were from the "South" side, arrogant b@stard, our house is actually on the north side as well, trust us to meet an idiot from home! By the way there is nothing wrong with the South side. Although we did then go down to the caravan park the next day for a proper shower & Mat got a haircut so may be we were a little rough around the edges, haha. 

Paddle steamer

The next day we explored the town. It is a great little place again & they have an amazing paddle steamer that operates, but unfortunately we missed the cruise. They have some great little antique shops & interesting bits & pieces. We went back to camp in the afternoon & enjoyed siting under the shade at camp with our feet in the nice green grass. This is a really lovely area & another great couple of days on the Murray River, the camping area we stayed in was called the Bolto Reserve at Mannum on the Eastern side of the river. A great stop for a couple of nights, with easy access to the water. 

Looking from town back to camp, can you spot our trailer? 

Houses overlooking the Murray River at Mannum

Lovely river bank parks in town

Map courtesy of HEMA mapsMoorook