South Australia and the Blue Mountains

QUICK SUMMARY OF THIS BLOG

We start at Riverton. Left for a few weeks to cover the York Peninsula, not a lot here if you are not into fishing. Some pretty beaches etc.
Back to Riverton over Christmas and had Christmas lunch with John's family, then flew to Perth for 5 days to remind our grandchildren who we are!
Was very hot here then, so headed for Morgan, on the River Murray, then Overland Corner for a free camp and on to Renmark, still on the Murray.
Then another free camp at Martin's Bend and into Mildura/Buronga.  While here went to Wentworth where the Darling and Murray rivers meet and took a ride on a restored paddle steamer.
Then to Balranald, Lake Cargelligo and Parkes.  Finally finishing up here at Bathurst.  While here we did a great tour of Abercombie house in Bathurst and Abercombie caves, which are about 50k's south.
Details and pictures follow :)

December 2012 to February 2013

We left Riverton on the 3^rd of December and headed to York Peninsula (the little peninsula), and after driving into “Bute” we decided that the council park would do for a couple of days, it was really a bit of grass off of the parking lot for the post office, but Bute is a small town and we guessed rightly that after about 6pm there wasn’t a car or person to be seen.

From here we took a drive to Port Broughton, then south via Tickera Bay to Wallaroo, Moonta and then returned to Bute via Kadina. Had a coffee at Wallaroo and watched the Lucky Bay ferry arrive, load and depart.  Nice scenery but not yet what we would call spectacular.  If you were mad keen on fishing I think it would be heaven.

Next day with van in tow we drove as far as Maitland and into the showgrounds and from here we drove to Ardrossan, on the East coast and then down to Port Julia and back to Maitland via Sandilands, but didn’t see any tall footy players.

The next day we explored a bunch of free camp spots on the west coast, down as far as Balgowan, most of which were too small for us to get the van in, the only one we could fit easily was “The Gap”, we liked Tiparra Rocks but it would mean getting some scratches on the van and it was a bit exposed, see photo below.

This is the camping area, right on the beach!

After all this driving around we decided we would have a day off to get a bit of walking in etc.

We then left Maitland and headed to Minlaton via Port Victoria and into a pretty little park in Minlaton.

From here we explored Port Vincent and Stansbury on the East coast, these were pretty little towns and would be very popular over the School holidays.

View of Port Vincent from the Marina

We also drove out to Port Rickaby on the West coast the next day but this was just a few beach shacks and not much else.

Van hooked up again, we headed further South to Edithburgh, for morning tea and then West to Warooka where we were planning to stay, but the oval was not appealing and there was no water or power and as it was a bit warm and we wanted to run the air conditioner we continued on a little way further to Point Turton and booked in there.  What a great little park close to the beach with a nice jetty.

From here we explored Point Scouter, Corny Point and Daly Head one day, and the next we explored Innes National Park, then had a few days enjoying the seaside.

Corny Point

Corny Point Lighthouse

After this we headed up to Port Wakefield for one night and while there had a look at the “Hump Back Vans”.  These are made and sold here direct from the factory and are quite good vans, but we still prefer ours.

Next day back to Riverton.  Had Christmas lunch with John's brother and his family at John's nephew's house, which was enjoyable, then popped in after lunch at Joy’s house and caught up with Joy, Trevor and Tony, John's cousins and family for a quick visit and then drove back to Riverton.

From left Jason (Nephew), Graham (Brother), June (His Partner) and us

On boxing day we flew out to Perth and spent five nights in Perth with Daryl and Arruem and our wonderful grandkids.  We had a great time and thanks to Darryl and Arruem for putting us up in their busy house.

Back in Riverton and John had fun helping his cousin Rodger get his beautifully restored FJ Holden going and was rewarded with the first ride around the block the car had done in 40 years, brought back a lot of memories.

We were going to head back into Adelaide for one last time but the hot weather got too much and we decided to head for the Murray instead!  First stop was the riverside van park in Morgan, right alongside the Ferry. Apart from spending time in their pool we did the walk around town and the museum etc.

Ferry crossing the River at Morgan  - Van park is just to the right on this side

After a week in Morgan we wandered down the road to Overland Corner, a free camp on the river between Morgan and Renmark.  We had stopped here before and although it had changed a bit, I think due to the floods etc, we found a nice spot and set about doing some yabbying, fishing and of course lots of walking into the river to get wet and stay cool.  We managed to catch three yabbies in four days and Barbara caught one European Carp (about 2kg)!  We talked about eating the Carp but were not sure how to cook it, so used it for yabby bait instead.

We had three great days and although we saw that the fourth day was going to be around 44 degrees we decided to stay for that day too. This turned out to be not so pleasant as it also started to get windy, which meant dust – YUK!.  Started the generator late in the afternoon to get the aircon going, to cool down the van, which worked OK and John got a good nights sleep, however as it was still over 30 degrees at midnight and John had put the generator away when he went to bed around 10pm, the van warmed up and Barbara didn’t get much sleep.

Our campspot at Overland Corner

Off next day into another van park alongside the river, this time in Renmark. Nice park with grassy sites and pretty full. While here we did a trip through Berri, Loxton and Barmera back to Renmark.  Had a nice lunch in the pub at Berri, of course looking over the river!

This park is very popular with skiers as they can pull the boats up nearly to their vans, see picture of just a few of the boats, it is school holiday time!

Renmark caravan park

While here we looked at free camps nearby and decided on Plushes Bend for a couple of days but when we got there the sites we could fit in had been taken so we headed back towards Berri and into Martins Bend camp spot for a couple of days.  This spot is a little tight in places for a bigger van but we found a nice spot and settled in.

Left there after a couple of days and headed to Mildura and into the Buronga park on the NSW side of the border.  Again, great park right by the river.  While here we drove out to Wentworth to see the point where the Darling and Murray meet and get a couple of photos. We had been here before but lost the photo’s.  We also went for a ride on a restored steam paddle boat the PS Melbourne for a two hour cruise which went through lock 11 on the river, good fun and only $29.00 each.

Where the Darling meets the Murray

Beautifully restored steam engine!

About to exit the lock - about 4m height difference

Top spot at Buronga van Park!

Off again this time to a roadside stop at Lake Benanee between Robinvale and Balranald. We got adopted by a friendly dog here who decided our company was fine for the day, he went home in the late afternoon, to a house up on the hill behind the camp spot.  We were going to stay two nights here but the noise from the trucks was a bit much so headed off the next morning for Balranald.

Into the park at Balranald which is on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and well looked after.  Took a drive out to look at Yanga National park, Yanga homestead and a nice camp spot just out of Balranald, again on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River.

Took a few photos af the frogs here again, some are different to last time.

Camp spot on the Murrumbidgee

Left here and off to Hay caravan park, didn’t do much here as this was our second visit, just relaxed and waited for the weather to cool down a bit.

After 5 days took off for Lake Cargelligo caravan park for one night, nice little town and after we set up we checked out the free camp.  Should have done that first as it was very nice, right on the lake and of course free, will know next time!

Next day off to Parkes, visited the local museum, some nice old cars for John to look at and lots of paraphernalia from Parkes history to look at.

Then off to Bathurst, where we are now.  So far here, we have taken a drive around the Mt Panorama circuit, we have done this before, but it keeps John happy.  Also went back to the Begonia house and this was just as good as last time.

Took a tour of Abercrombie house, now this was worth doing.  This house house has 52 rooms and was built in the 1870’s in a very Scottish style.  It is now owned by the Morgan family who have owned it since 1969 and have been slowly restoring it and living in it since.

Abercombie house

The Ballroom, they painted the ceiling - took 6 weeks!

Our tour guide was Chris Morgan, the current owner and his tour was very, very interesting, great value for money and it’s not often you get to tour an old mansion that is still being lived in, right down to visiting their bedrooms.  He was only 9 when they moved in and he and his sister had a ball exploring all of the rooms, mainly looking for ghosts. A "helpful" local told him that there was a tunnel connected to another, smaller, old house at the bottom of the hill and he spent many years looking for that tunnel, he is now an Archaeologist. John was pleased to hear that also collects old Austin Sheerlines and has the only 4 Sheerline ambulances in existence in Australia.

We also took a drive South and took a self guided tour through the Abercombie Caves, near Rockley, also interesting.

Just one of the many views

Next we will be heading off to Lithgow or Oberon and then up to Cessnock in the Hunter Valley.

Will touch base again soon.

Keep on Smiling!!

Cheers

John & Barbara