3. - Lake Bonney to Waikerie, South Australian Riverland 20th March ->

Entry 3 – Riverland Region South Australia 20th March to

We continued spending quality time camped at the beautiful setting of Lake Bonney in the South Australian Riverland region. It persisted to tingle all our good senses. With our camp next to the lakes water’s edge we enjoyed overlooking the lake watching the ever-changing water reflections and it’s bird life activities.

Adding to some of Lake Bonney’s different characteristics, one afternoon we were struck by a severe weather storm cell. Black clouds suddenly appeared overhead coinciding with very strong winds sending dust into our caravan open windows. Before we could manage to close all our windows it started to pelt down with rain, wetting us as we were closing our windows from within the confines of our caravan. Once our windows were closed, we rushed outside to reattach our awning poles and tighten all our ropes securing the awning as tight as possible. Meanwhile, sheets of water were running off our roof with the wind blowing these sheets of water into the confines of our awning area. In under ten minutes the wind and rain had disappeared just as quick as it had arrived. Within half an hour the lake surface had returned to a calm with an interesting grey sky with streaks of sunlight breaking through the cloud cover.

There were some strict fruit fly quarantine restrictions in place, more than usual, restricting any movement of fruit & vegetables in this area of the river land. There had been discovery of some fruit fly and the authorities were in the process of eradicating any sighting of fruit fly. We were in the middle of a red zone where the movement of fruit and vegetables was not permitted. We were purchasing only enough fresh food for a few days at a time, as we utilize a flexible travel itinerary, (where to next? How long are we going to stay? Who knows? We certainly don’t!) Thus, when we arrived at Lake Bonney, we purchased some fresh food before setting camp. As we kept extending our stay, we also needed to replenish our pantry. One of those days, we drove the loop around the lake on our way to the town of Barmera located on the edge of Lake Bonney to restock our fresh food items. There were the ever-present grape vines close to the lakes edge, a predominant sight in this region and some market garden crops including a large paddock of water melons.

Occasionally we had thoughts about moving on to explore other locations and then the evening sunsets would arrive, continuing to woo us to stay a little longer.

But wait there was more. Early morning lakeside reflections would keep us captivated for hours with the bonus from the ever-present bird life activity. All of this enchanting lake side activity was viewed from our awning.

During our stay any wind had been coming from an easterly direction onto our off-awning side of the caravan. Our sixth night the wind changed direction coming from the south west blowing directly into our awning area. We woke shrouded in fog, with our lakeside visibility obstructed considerably. Our calm setting was no more, with the velocity of the wind increasing during the morning, making it uncomfortable to be outside. We checked the long-term weather forecast to see the south-westerly winds were predicted for the next several days. We took this as a sign from the weather gods, it was time to move on.

We travelled up the road about 20 kilometres setting camp on the banks of the Murray River near a location named the Overland Corner. It wasn’t as grand a setting as our last week spent on Lake Bonney, though it was still a beautiful river venue. The below picture shows our setting with our caravan on the left of the picture partly covered by trees. Directly opposite on the other side of the river was a pelican on the water with a Herron and a couple of Spoonbill birds feeding on the edge of the bank.

Late afternoon the Spoonbill birds would work their way along the water’s edge searching for tucker and kangaroos would hop down to the water’s edge, feeding on some succulent grass. At one stage we spotted a kingfisher bird, a bird we couldn’t remember ever seeing this far south in Australia.

The rising of the early morning sun lit up the nearby river cliff face providing a beautiful silhouette even if it was only visible for a short time.

The Overland Corner is a 300-hectare reserve managed by the National Trust of South Australia. It was established to protect some special nature and man-made features at this location. The main attraction, a strategically built Hotel in 1858 on the then route between New South Wales and South Australia to cater for the needs of travellers. The Hotel is still in use, publicised as a draw card to attract passing trade. There was also information and signage publicising some extensive walking trails for viewing this area’s special attractions. Sadly, most were closed due to a state of disrepair.

 

The Overland Corner was starting to get busy with a number of caravans looking for camp locations. Evidently caravan sales have been booming with the covid-19 pandemic cancellation of overseas travels. We decided to move on to the town of Waikerie about 35 kilometres down the road, setting camp a few kilometres out of town at a place named Ramco Point on the edge of the Murray River. We read all the brochures we had obtained from the Waikerie Information Centre and a location called Gluepot Reserve caught our attention. It was owned by Bird-Life Australia, a 54,390 hectares reserve promoted to be a bird watcher’s paradise, located about 60 kilometres north of Waikerie. Some more silo art at Waikerie, we did enjoy viewing the nice murals on both sides of the two Waikerie Silo’s.

Once we headed north to Gluepot Reserve, we thought that might be the last of our travels along the Murray River at this point in time. We have previously toured this area of the Murray River a few times. Of interest for this trip, we experienced stays at 6 new different locations out of 10 stops and there were many other unvisited locations we had bypassed. We continued to immensely enjoy its flora and fauna with its magnificent river red gum trees and bird life, a location we shall never tire of.

Some pictures of our last morning whilst at Ramco Point.

 

2. - South Australia, Riverland Region 11th to 20th March

 

Entry 2 – Riverland Region South Australia 11^th to 20^th March.

We spent four days camped in the front yard of friends John and Kathy who lived in close proximity to the town of Berri. Where we enjoyed constant conversation with no subject taboo. We all tried our best to please the others desires including a feast of food. We over gorged on home-made pizza, bakery items, lamb roast, pavlova, chocolate ripple cake, day after day with daily left overs. Our stomachs were constantly protesting, saying “No More,” even when our taste buds were yelling in excitement for more.

While John and Kathy were at work during the day, we spent some enjoyable time exploring the National Trust, South Australian branch Wilabalangaloo nature trail and the Katarapko Murray River National Park.

While John was at work during Saturday Kathy took us out to view some of the quirky nearby attractions.

A bite to eat at a nice grassed location with water frontage

We were thinking water filled hot springs?

Kathy and John introduced us to some enjoyable locations we hadn’t picked up on in our radar for locations of interest. There was a lot to see and do around the nearby towns of Renmark, Berri and Loxton.

We spent a Friday and Saturday evening socialising with the addition of some of their friends. It was four days of constant activity before we departed on a Sunday afternoon, naturally after a pub meal outing. Leaving them to have some recovery time of their own, in preparation for their week back at work.

Kathy, Stephen, John and Mary out playing kelly pool

We travelled to a location about 15 kilometres up the road at Lyrup where we also partook in some recovery time. It had been raining on and off over the last few days and Lyrup was a location where we knew there was an area with a hard gravel surface. Minimising any embarrassment dealing with any soft black clay river soil latching onto our vehicle wheels.

We did sleep a reasonable amount and eventually our bodies had returned to their normal idle speed. Our research uncovered another camp close by, and we liked the sound of Martin Bend. We back tracked about 10 kilometres to Martins Bend camp ground located on the outskirts of Berri.

Martins Bend camp ground was similar to most of the camping areas we had visited along the Murray River. River side views do provide pleasurable scenery and there were several camp sites with direct river viewing available in a setting with magnificent overhead tree canopies at our arrival. Unfortunately, none of these sites suited our need for access to solar generated power and we set camp away from the river in an area without any overhead tree canopy, keeping our batteries happy with a good supply of solar generated power.

We were in the driest state in the driest continent on Earth and the rare sight of a tree lined river setting is most pleasing on the eye, even more pleasing when accompanied with background sounds provided by the happy chirping of birds flittering about. Our senses appreciated the lovely environment provided by a river eco system.

Moving on with our next planned destination we thought Lake Bonney to be worthy of an assessment, about 20 kilometres down the road. We had previously driven by Lake Bonney, with uninviting weather conditions along its 7-kilometre length and 3½ kilometre width, not enticing us to stay on previous occasions. This visit coincided with calm, 30-degree, daytime temperatures and immediately captured our attention with stunning lakeside viewing There were a few other campers at various locations around the lakes edge and we were delighted to find a camp site all to ourselves with our nearest camping neighbours about a kilometre in either direction. Just how we like it, all nice and private.

We saw a large mob of birds feasting on the lake surface. Once feasting time was over, they flew to the nearest trees, resting up directly in front of our camp. A few hours later they were off again, for another meal, resting up at another location elsewhere on the lake.

Early morning just prior to the appearance of the sun rising up from below the horizon provided a setting with more intoxicating viewing.

Each evening we were mesmerised or should we say enchanted by magnificent, sunsets each one different from the previous.

During the day we would walk along the lakeside edge enjoying the lakeside scenery, with comfortable weather conditions enhancing our well-being. We spent hour upon hour lazing in our chairs, gazing across the lake waters thoroughly enjoying its soothing qualities. It was quite hard to read for any period of time without stopping for a look across the hypnotizing lake surface.

We watched many different varieties of birds flying about with galahs and pigeons regularly inspecting the water front tree hollows, looking for a good nesting location. The air was filled with regular bird chatter around us. There was the regular crowing, of crows and we watched groups of cormorants and seagulls, jockeying for control of specific tree limbs they had gathered on.

We found ourselves, spellbound and relaxed by the combination of good weather, helping to enhance the quality scenery of Lake Bonney in the South Australian Riverland region. Our thought process was thinking, how long can we stay, are we taking too many photographs or shall we see how long we can ride out our time at Lake Bonney? Boy, isn’t this fabulous!