Life gets in the way.

Well its been a long time since our last entry. Life seems to get in the way of all good plans. After almost losing Rusty in an accident we have taken stock and decided ‘life is too short’!

Our first trip since the accident was to Broken Hill via Wentworth. The weather was beautiful before we left and a hot spell followed by howling headwinds of course lol. We arrived at Wentworth and scored a lovely spot by the river. The wind dropped and we settled in for a relaxing afternoon watching the pelicans cruising past on the Darling River. Rusty captured a great sunrise shot the next morning.

The next morning we were off to Broken Hill with a terrible headwind. The trip was spent spotting emus, kangaroos and skinks. The dust was blowing across the road making for a very tiring trip. Once in Broken Hill we set up at the Silverland Caravan Park. This is a great spot, quiet, with lovely level concrete slabs for the van and awning area.

The next day we went out to Silverton, the location for quite a few Australian movies including mad Max. Bethany loved the vehicles on display from this movie and the whole town was filled with quirky aussie artwork.

Two semi wild donkeys roam the area and they decided to see if we had anything on offer to eat in the car.

At the edge of Silverton you see the start of the outback, a whole horizon of flat, arid land.

The next couple of days we toured all that Broken Hill has to offer. The Silver Tree and Silver nugget were beautiful. The nugget was smuggled out of the mine by a worker. It weighed 42kg!

We couldn’t go to Broken Hill without visiting the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a free service to all outback people.

Bethany found a very big seat to perch on up at the Miner’s Memorial.

We visited White’s Mineral Art Museum which was amazing. Watching a video of the early days of Broken Hill was an eye opener. We then had a guided tour of how the mine used to work, all recreated in miniature.  The artist uses crushed minerals to do all his artwork and it was beautiful.

After Broken Hill we decided to head to South Australia’s Peterborough, a town steeped in railway history. It was freezing cold but we enjoyed a tour of the railway museum there.

A lunch stop on the way home at Waikerie found us at a lovely spot where we could watch the ferry running back and forth across the Murray river. Another couple of vans were spotted waiting to cross.

Heaps more photos were taken but they won’t all fit on here. 🙂 All in all a lovely trip. Can’t wait for the next one.

Lake Hindmarsh.

Well I’ve been a bit slack with all the hot weather so we decided to go up to Lake Hindmarsh for a look yesterday. Last time we were there you needed to take a cut lunch just to get to the water. Now it’s looking great and the water is quite warm. The powered sites there are quite handy to the water so I think a trip there with the van for a weekend is in need.

Took the gas hotplate with us for some savs and a cup of coffee afterwards.

As you can see the lake is quite shallow for a long way out. Bethany freaked out when the sand under her feet started blowing bubbles. She thought a yabbie was going to grab her. The water was only up to my knees but you can see how far from shore I was.

On the way out of Jeparit we discovered there are some unusual homes and decorations around town. This one quotes on his window ‘I don’t know a lot about art, but I know what I like’. It would fit perfectly into an Ettamogah Pub cartoon.

This one had all manner of items making up windmills. So many we will have to go back for another look.

Hopetoun

Well a lovely Christmas party was had by all at Hopetoun on the weekend. The wind could have stayed away but at least the sun was shining and quite a few were sporting some bright red sunburn, ouch. The lakeside park is a gorgeous spot with powered sites one side and freecamp the other. As the boss was paying for everything we had a powered site and a great time. The spit  roast pork, beef & lamb were cooked to perfection, salads very yummy and a mountain of drinks for every taste. A big thanks to all the hard work behind the scene to organise a great time.

As you can see it is a beautiful spot and great for fishing, yabbying and water skiing.

Everyone starting to arrive and plenty of boats in tow.

The bird life were very used to people and this Noisy Miner didn’t take long to find something to eat.

Bethany spent ages cruising round in the V8 speedboat having a great time helping the skiers. The faster the better as far as she was concerned.

After others had their turn she decided to give it a go. At least she had fun trying but didn’t manage to get up on the skis. I forgot the camera at the time so was reduced to using her phone camera lol. Of course she had it set on the lowest quality.

Half of the group rocked up the next morning ready for a lovely hot breakfast of bacon & eggs. The rest crawled out some time later looking very seedy and tired. I hope they pick the same spot for next year, it was a great time.

Adelaide

We headed off for Adelaide last Tuesday morning with the weather warming up to 30C. Got to the lovely McLaren Vale CP about 3.30pm and set the van up. We were a bit tired after the long drive so spent the afternoon relaxing. Woke the next morning to rain and cold wind, you can’t win lol. So day 1 we decided to have some retail therapy in the city. The new camp chairs were purchased, some life jackets for the boat and show Bethany round this beautiful city. The old buildings look dwarfed by the large modern concrete office blocks.

Thursday was worse in the weather department so off to the city again for a drive around Port Adelaide and hunt down some nice lunch. Friday we were due to have lunch with friends but unfortunately they were ill so we went for a drive down to Cape Jarvis where the ferry to Kangaroo Island comes in. It was a wild wind blowing and I wouldn’t have liked to be on the ferry even though the trip is reasonably short.

On the way back we drove in to Rapid Bay which was much more sheltered. It’s a beautiful spot and I can see why it’s a popular campground. Bethany satisfied her need to throw rocks into the sea. 🙂

The local wildlife were not fussed with tourists pulling up to take their photo. Miss eagle eye spotted these two kangaroos in a paddock.

Saturday was school holidays and the AFL grand final so the park was full and noisy. We decided a day at the zoo was a good idea as the weather was settling down. Bethany’s favourite animals, Pandas and meerkats, were on display. 3 hours saw us walking our feet off and having a lovely time seeing all the animals.

This cheeky fellow was on lookout duty.

It was a lovely break even if the weather was awful. Plenty more to see next time we drive over there. Next stop Houpton at the end of the month.

Life is good.

Days like today really make you love life. Rusty has been hard at work converting our beer keg firepot into a potbelly for the patio. All finished and installed today so guess what the weather did? Yes it warmed up to a lovely 20c. Rusty fired it up anyway and we had a wonderful happy hour or 3 sitting round the fire.

You can just see my lovely Clivia flowering away in the background. It thinks it is spring already.

The Corellas and Galahs decided to visit en masse. Do they ever make a racket and a mess digging up the grass. I’m glad it wasn’t my grass lol.

We finished the day with a sumptuous meal of Ocean Trout with fresh coleslaw, potato salad and crusty bread. It doesn’t get much better than this.