We had reached
Mildura on our quest to reach the sea along the Murray but had to backtrack to
Canberra for Stuart's brother Peter's 60th birthday.
It was a great day
with lots of family and friends around to help him celebrate.
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Peter (birthday boy) Sandy, James, Stuart, Andrew, Me and family friend Dianne |
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about to blow the candles out on the amazing cake made by Peters daughter Amanda |
The birthday boy was
suitably impressed when both Stuart's sons, James from Clermont and Andrew from
Brisbane, arrived from Qld to help him celebrate.
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James with Sandy and son David |
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James, Phil, Andrew, Amanda and David |
We got the
opportunity to do a rerun of a photo of the 5 fledgling Hawkes, which was taken
about 30 years ago but unfortunately Stuart's and Peters sister Christine who
is in the first picture couldn't be with us for the recreation as she passed
away 6 years ago.
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All the Hawke men |
Of course while in
Canberra we caught up with our daughter Kylie, her husband Pete and the lovely
Emma. The family moved to Canberra about 6 months ago.
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Add caption |
Our first stop of any
significance was back in Wagga where we returned to Wilkes Park, the free camp
just out of town. The Murrumbidgee was rising and after a
day or so the authorities came and requested that we all leave as the river was
expected to peak over night. We had hooked up and had the car facing
forward with the gear stick in G for go anyway but headed into a caravan park
that was above high water level.
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The Caravan Park in the middle of Wagga flooded
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Just 24 hours between the first and last photo
of the picnic table cover
We had taken a run around town to check out water levels and saw that the caravan park right in town had been evacuated and the water was halfway up the amenities walls
Wilkes Park flooded
The Murray and
Murrumbidgee River systems were still in flood and when we got to Narrandera
and pulled in to a camp on the outskirts of town we decided to go into town out
of the rising floodwater's reach.
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Going to the toilet was out of the question |
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Stuart considering fishing off our patio |
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And I guess a fire was out too |
Along the way we
crossed the Murray many times using the punts or ferries attached to thick wire
rope in either side. My heart skipped a beat everytime we drove onto the punt.
Stuart walked down
one night when we were camped near one to ride back and forth talking to the
driver.
We crossed the border
into South Australia and didn't even have to show our passports but had a
quarantine fellow check out our fridge and cupboards for any fruit or veggies.
I had already
cooked all I had left so I didn't get it confiscated.
As we had heard about an
old historic pub about 1/2 an hours drive out of Berri called the Overland
Corner Hotel. This old pub was a watering place near
the Murray for over landers and drovers in the early 1800's.
The building was
built in 1859 to cater to the drovers and a staging point for the coach route
from NSW to Adelaide. It was also a favourite watering hole
for the famous bush ranger Captain Moonlight who while drinking on horseback in
the bar at the pub insisted that both the front and back doors be kept open for
a fast getaway. It soon became too hot for him here so
he moved back to NSW where he was captured and hanged on 20 January 1884 in
Sydney.
With a few days
around Renmark to see the sights we met a very interesting character who lived on the River in
his "houseboat". He invited us on board to have a look around.
He had all the mod
cons and the council allow him to tie up near the Information Centre as he is
considered a tourist attraction.
While we were there
he sang us a song while keeping an eye on his tea which was a pot of
indescribable stew.
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He did have a loo on board and toilet paper must have been cheap this week |
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Behind this door was his bed (blankets on the floor) where his 4 chooks slept also |
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The wheel House |
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The Galley |
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The Stove |
These wildflowers boardered the highway for miles
A visit to Berri while in the area
bought us to the winery with the largest holding facilities
in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere at Berri Estates.
There are approx
1550 holding tanks holding 268million + litres of grape juice.
Sending 100 million
litres of wine overseas and 30 million sold domestically. They crushed over
214,560 tonnes of fruit in 2015.
All this time
heading vaguely west through Swan Reach and seeing some magnificent cliffs
dropping down to the rivers edge.
We were to meet
friends a week later so detoured up to Hahndorf.
The town was
established by German immigrants who bought with them their Lutheran religion,
their grape growing and wine making skills and their beautiful heritage.
We had morning tea
in a lovely tea house of amazing German cake and wandered the quant towns Main
Street along with a few thousand other tourists.
One of the biggest storm in 50 years to hit South
Australia arrived around the same time as we did so we stayed put till it cleared. We were perfectly ok with a little
power loss (which didn't affect us too much) rain and some wind.
The aftermath meant that we travelled through a fair bit of water but on only one occasion were we going to turn around when somebody went past us and went through and we followed his wake.
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Even the vinyards got quite a soaking |
Keen to catch
up with Colleen and Geoff Jones soon who waited out the storm a little
closer to it than us but they fared well also.
We met the Jones' a
few years ago in Tasmania where we saw the New Year in at Hobart with them and
another lovely couple from Western Australia who we hope to catch up with in
the next 6-12 months.
After 4-5 days of their company which culminated with a dinner cruise on the paddle steamer "Captain Proud" up and down the Murray River out of Murray Bridge we bad them goodby. Thanks Colleen and Geoff Jones and hope to see you both somewhere in Western Australia in the next year or so.
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Sunset from the front of the boat |
Back on the
Murray River again we finished our mamoth journey from Tom Groggans Camp which is as far up as the Murray can be
reached by car in mid January. It is situated on Alpine Way between Khancoban
and Thredbo in New South Wales. In nearly 9 months we have crossed 3
state borders, the Murray itself sometimes up to 5 times in one day and
probably 150 times in all, and travelled nearly 17,500 kms but we have finally
reached the mouth at Goolwa in South Australia.
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This was a journey of just over 13 hours - did we meander too much? |
The mouth of the Murray is best seen over on Hindmarsh island, accessable across a bridge.
While we were there, dredges were constantly removing silt and sand that had been brought in by the tide. There are also a series of barrages set up at the mouth to keep the salt water from rushing too far up river. In doing this it aided the rivers fresh water fish and the ecology of the river. At one of the barrages where the river flows through the wall seals gather to feed on the fish swimming out to sea. Some were so satiated that they just lounged on whatever they found to sleep in the sun.
At Granite Island just off Victor Harbour is only accessible via the bridge by foot or if you are like us via a horse drawn tram.
So we now come to the
end of this leg of our journey and we look forward to you joining us as we
continue our quest for the west.