TUESDAY,
APRIL 22 MARCUS HILL TO MILDURA/OUYEN
We left Warrawee at 9 a.m. with Rose
and Buschy in charge for the next few months, confident that everything would
be fine in their capable hands. During
the night it had been very windy and some rain but it cleared for us to pack
the last few things and get underway.
The big question was “how would Millie handle being locked up in the
boat?”
The answer was evident when we
stopped to check a couple of hours later – one brand new pet bed shredded! Not happy, Millie?
Lunch stop and pie report from Avoca –
good pies. Uneventful day, just regular
stops to let Millie have a run. We
travelled through St Arnaud, Birchip and started looking for an overnight stop
after Birchip. We found a wayside camp
with a few fellow travellers between Ouyen and Mildura. It was a bit noisy with lots of trucks
travelling on the highway, and a train going past early in the evening. With no power, it was an early evening in bed
after dinner. Millie slept in the camper
– hope she doesn’t get used to that! At
one stage she even thought she might be more comfortable on the couch! I didn’t think so.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23 ROADSIDE STOP TO TEROWIE
On the road at about 8 a.m. Millie is getting a little used to the cage
in the boat, still not happy about getting in there, but she seems to
understand it’s necessary if she wants to come.
Another uneventful day travelling
through the Riverland area – lots of fruit trees, grapes and almonds, and some
very large paddocks in places. There is
quite a tinge of green about everything, even away from the river so there must
have been some rain recently. No pie
report today – pie free day – sandwiches by the road, without tomatoes which
had been confiscated at the border, along with other fruit, beans and potatoes.
We travelled along roads we hadn’t been
on before after Renmark, new highlighted lines on the map. There were lots of piles of stones, ruined
cottages and outbuildings where the early settlers had made their homes.
As you drive through the long stretches of
open countryside it makes you realise how harsh the environment must have been
for those pioneers. Clearing the
paddocks without machinery in the hot summer would have been so difficult,
particularly considering most of the early settlers would have come from
beautiful green English countryside.
We drove off the road a little way to
Terowie to have a look. It’s like a
ghost town. It used to be quite a
thriving community because train travellers and goods needed to change here as
the rail gauges on each side of the town were different.
There is a plaque at the station
commemorating the spot where General Douglas Macarthur made a speech when he
came with his family by train from Alice Springs to Adelaide. It says that his family had flown from Darwin
to Alice Springs and his wife said she refused to go any further by plane. It
also says that this is where he spoke the famous words “I will return”. Not sure if that is correct – maybe he said
it more than once. When the rails were all made the same in the late 1970’s,
the population changed to only a few people.
There are some interesting old buildings, and free camping in the old
railyards beside the remnants of the station so it was worth the drive off the
road. For those of you new to the blog, this is how we travel.
Exciting news this morning with the
arrival of Charlie Eric Muller at 10.30 a.m. to join my nephew Simon and his
wife, Natalie and the gorgeous Isabelle.
THURSDAY, APRIL 24 TEROWIE
TO PORT AUGUSTA
From Terowie we were heading to Port Augusta
to stay with friends, Mark, Lia and Billy for a few days. This was only a couple of hours drive so it
was an easy day. Just out of Terowie
there was a paddock with lots of tin sculptures and old bicycles, probably the
main tourist attraction in Terowie! We passed through Peterborough and Ororoo,
both very tidy little towns. In Ororoo
there were corrugated iron statues in the main street, one of kangaroos and one
of horses ploughing. They were very well
done.
Mark met us at the entrance to Port Augusta
to take us to their place as we hadn’t been there before. Apparently Billy was very excited about us
visiting and wished “they were here yesterday”.
They have a nice big backyard so we have plenty of room to set up camp
here. Mark also had a shed full of
“toys”.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25 PORT
AUGUSTA
Mark, Lia and Billy were going to
Whyalla for the drag racing today and Mark left us his car. They suggested a drive through Quorn to
Melrose where there is a good pub, the North Star, for lunch. The scenery on the road to Quorn was lovely,
through the south part of the Flinders Ranges.
The pub at Melrose was great, obviously very old and well
preserved.
The new additions were done
well, the service was great and the meal excellent. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. There are lovely old stone buildings all
through this area.
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 PORT AUGUSTA/WHYALLA
In the morning we found the shopping
centre of Port Augusta and made a few purchases, including a chain for Millie
at night so that she doesn’t have to sleep inside! We then drove to Whyalla to have a look at
Mark’s passion – drag racing. This would
be first for me. Mark wasn’t racing but
he is very involved in the organization, as is Lia.
Billy is very much at home there and loves driving around in the golf cart. There were lots of impressive looking
cars that went very fast, and it was quite entertaining, but I think it will
probably be a once only attendance.
When we left there we drove to Point
Lowly to have a look as it is a fishing spot that a lot of people seem to
visit. The lighthouse there was lovely
and the area quite unspoiled.
There were
caravans and motorhomes just pulled up all the way along the shoreline. As we were driving around we spotted a
slide-on camper which looked familiar.
It was Denis and Joy McCabe from Geelong. They were quite surprised when we pulled up
for a visit.
SUNDAY, APRIL 27 PORT
AUGUSTA
As we hadn’t seen much of Mark and Lia
we decided to stay another night to spend some time with them when they got
back from Whyalla. They have given us
the keys and directions to their beach shack at Smoky Bay so we will be heading
there from Port Augusta. They got back
from Whyalla about lunch time and we spent the afternoon catching up, then had
dinner outside as it was still quite pleasant.
MONDAY, APRIL 28 PORT AUGUSTA TO SMOKY BAY
After saying goodbye to Mark, Lia and
Billy we left Port Augusta at about 8a.m., headed for Smoky Bay. The drive took us past Iron Knob, which was a
very large reddish heap of dirt/stone.
This raised the question – how much iron is needed to make a ton of
steel? Ms Google later provided the
answer – 2 ½ to 3 tonnes.
In this part
of the countryside the vegetation was largely grey/green saltbush with a few
larger scrubby trees, always with the red dirt underneath. Later the vegetation
became much thicker with taller trees. The
colours of the Australian landscape are so varied and quite dramatic at times. We are very lucky to live in this amazing
country where we can see such spectacular scenery and colours, find unspoiled places
of quiet and have “adventures”.
After a fuel stop at Kimba, the
countryside became flatter with large paddocks for grain growing. In all the small towns there are large silos
by the railway line, no doubt the lifeline for these communities. There was also a strong north wind blowing,
causing big clouds of dust which made travel a little unpleasant.
At Poochera we turned towards Streaky
Bay and the welcome sight of the ocean.
It was then a short drive to Smoky Bay.
Mark had been extolling the virtues of Smoky Bay for years. His family has had the fishing shack here for
a long time and he has recently had it replaced with something a little more
comfortable. We found the shack (not
really just a shack now) and offloaded the camper beside it.
This is certainly a hidden treasure – Smoky Bay (don't tell anyone about it). An undeveloped fishing village where there are still a few of the old shacks right on the beach, only one store and an unspoiled beach. It was amazing to be able to sit at the front of the shack and have only beach in front of you, the only sign of live being a few birds on the beach (including my particular favourites, pelicans). This is paradise!
We walked along the beach to the jetty
which has been sympathetically restored and saw a few people fishing off the
jetty.
One fisherman had caught a blue
swimmer crab which he was going to put back as it was only just legal size. He let me take a photo first – the colour was
brilliant. They are aptly named.
Dotted along the beach there are rustic shelters which seem to encapsulate what the town is.
The caravan park near the jetty seems to be
well occupied, this is no doubt a favoured spot for fishermen and grey nomads. We
visited the store which is well-stocked with just about anything you could
want. Dinner was cooked outside with the
ocean in the background. During the
night it became very windy and rainy, with the camper being blown around a bit
but feeling very cosy inside.
Hello to everyone at home - missing you all, but happy to be travelling again.
Merrilyn xx
