Well here we have stumbled into 2020, not so much with a roar and a hiss but more a gentle turn of the page. To anyone I haven’t said Happy New Year to I hope 2020 turns out to be a good one for you all.
So Christmas in Port Augusta. It was a very quiet day I think only about 4 or 5 caravaners were there, but there were quite a few families in the chalets. The main highlight for me was the dip in the pool, as it was a reasonably warm day. This is the first Christmas since I emigrated that the dogs and I didnt go to the beach on Christmas morning. Well I guess technically that is not quite true, as we did got to sort of beach in one of the inlets in Port Augusta, but there weren’t any waves to speak of although Cody did his best to stir a few up.
I left the campsite on Boxing Day and was heading to Kadine for my next overnight stop, but when I got there the campsite was full, looking at my trusty camping book and wikicamps app, it seems that there are not too many free camping places in the Southern part of South Australia, I did manage to get my self into a small campsite in Port Wakefield for a couple of nights. Although the site wasn’t up to much, it was in a very pretty location with lots of walks around. I must say the roads were surprisingly busy on Boxing Day. From there I trundled down to a town called Murray Bridge, stayed at what looked like a brand new campsite very clean and tidy, with all sites drive thru and gravel. The only drawback was I found that the grey water pipe from my van to the drain was slightly up hill. I could have turned the van around but I had got everything set up and couldn’t be bothered. So it was a case of every morning just lifting the pipe to drain the water out of it. No hardship but a lesson learnt. Murray Bridge is a good size town and as the name states its right on the Murray River. This river and I have become very well acquainted on this trip.
Back on the road again New Years Eve, heading down towards the town of Narracoorte, and the skies were very hazy with all the smoke from the bush fires around Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. I found a free camp at Cockatoo Lake which was recommended so decided to take a look and see if it was for me. By jove it was, very nice location, and to make it even better no-one else there when I arrived. The actual lake like so many others had suffered because of the drought, and it looked like just over half of it had evaporated but it still had enough in for the birds and some kayakers. I was only going to stay here a couple of days, but with all the fires going on I ended up staying a week keeping a wary eye on which way the fires were travelling. A few days the sky got very smokey but thankfully CFS/RFS seemed to have most of them under control, except the one on Kangaroo Island which ended up buying half of the Island, with a huge loss of wild life and livestock, and also two men. The Saturday I was at Cockatoo Lake it got really chilly, barely rising above 20c (apologies to my UK readers, but after high 30’s to mid 40’s you do feel the difference), and on the Sunday we had some drizzle, while other parts reasonably close by had proper rain. When I left on the Monday morning there were lots of people phoning in to the ABC radio station telling them how much rain they had received. One woman was in tears on the phone in, she lived out in the bush and she said it was the first time she had water in her rain barrel in 3.5years. Nowhere near enough to end the drought, but gave them a bit of relief albeit for a very short time.
From here I swung down onto the south coast with every intention of doing the The Great South Road drive in its entirety, my sister and I did a decent chunk of it a few years ago, so thought it would be good to revisit. However, it was stupid busy with people everywhere, all the campsites were fully booked, So when I got to Port Fairy I gave it up as a bad job and headed inland to find somewhere to stay. In the end I went 35kms inland and ended up at Hawkesdale racecourse for a couple of nights. A free camping spot with toilets. After setting up the outside I went inside to put the kettle on and on opening the door the whole caravan smelt like a bag of Salt and Vinegar crips, and there was some liquid over the floor, which both Whisper and Cody took one sniff at and promptly went back outside. On further investigation I discovered on opening the fridge that my jar of pickled onions had fallen over and the lid had somehow unscrewed. Mystery solved. Thankfully my jar of homemade beetroot had also rolled over but it had remained firmly sealed. So even before having a cuppa a quick mop and tidy up was in order. A while ago I had bought myself a solar shower, basically a large 20ltr back which you leave in the sun and the water inside heats up, so on the second day as I was alone I thought I would put it through its paces (SOCS or users checks as we used to say in the RN). I placed said bag on the tailgate of the truck and thought no more about it. About four hours later when I came to use it I discovered two things. Number one was that lifting 20ltrs of water above you head to hang it up with the bag flopping around is no easy task, so I thought I had better drain some water out of it, which is when I learnt lesson number two, I could have made a cup of tea with the water, it was damn near boiling. Far too hot to shower with I could barely put my hand in it. So after draining about half of the water, and leaving it hanging under the awning in the shade for a couple of more hours, a jolly decent shower was finally had. It will certainly come in handy on my further trips.
Whilst I was at Hawkesdale I discovered I was only about 150kms from the start of the Silo Art trail. As previously mention these are large grain silos which have been very artistically painted by local and overseas artists. The Silo Art trail is a series 9 of these silos spread over about 200kms, so I thought I would go and have a looks.
I drove up to a small town called Murtoa, and you can tell you are in the heart of arable farming country. Lots of these silos everywhere, huge piles of covered grain being stored, and when I say huge they are about 3 to 4 hundred meters long and about five or six meters high, and in one paddock in Murtoa there were seven of these piles. Being from UK I’m used to fields being oh I dont know about 50 to 100 acres max each, out here the paddocks are measured in Kilometres they are just massive. Anyway the small site I stopped at in Murtoa was very pleasant right on the lake edge. Managed to top up my meds at the local Pharmacy which was a bonus.
The Southern end of the Art trail starts at a small town of Rupanyup and then winds it way Northwards. The road up from Rupanyup to the next silo at Sheep Hills, was one of the bounciest I had been on in a good while. It felt like every few feet there was a dip in the road which would get the car and van going. Now I normally cruise along at about 90kph on the back roads, but I hit one dip at this speed and actually felt the front wheels of the truck come off the road. So it was an ease off and I was toodaling along at just over 60kph. These roads get really torn up by the large trucks and agriculture machinery that regularly uses them. It is easily possible to do the whole trail in a day, but as I was in no rush I spread it over two. That night I spent in Hopetoun (no not a misspelling) and did the second half of the trail the next day without lugging the van around behind me.
My final stop before reaching Bendigo and spending some time with my sister was at a small town called Wycheproof. Spent two nights here, and when I went out for a walk with the dogs on Sunday morning for a paper and coffee, I found that nothing was open, not even the petrol station. It was like a ghost town. Still it was a lovely walk with the boys.
In to Bendigo on Monday morning, booked in for a week at the local campsite, and spend a great week with Pat and her close companion Mollie (labradoodle). Did a couple of odd jobs for her around the house, had a nice cooked breakfast out at the Beechworth Bakery and also went for a pub lunch at Heathcote winery. I even managed to purchase a lovely cheeky bottle of Syrah or Shiraz if you prefer. On Sunday we took all the dogs out to lake Eppalock which is a very large lake about 40kms outside Bendigo. At its peak this lake is over 30meters deep and covers an area of approximately 3,000 hectares (roughly 7,500acres). Well when we got there it was virtually dry, probably running at less than 10% capacity. We were both shocked to see it and the dogs were disappointed that the had to walk about 700meters to reach any water at all, it really did hit home the enormity of the drought conditions being experienced.
Left Bendigo and little sis two days ago stayed at Jerilderie on Monday night and at Parkes on Tuesday. While at Parkes I went out to look at the radio telescope they have there, and man that is a decent size. 80 odd meters high and 64meters across. Lots to see and do there, but unfortunately I couldn’t make full use of it as I had the dogs in the car and was very mindful of not leaving them too long in the car. But it was well worth a visit.
Currently on my way to my brothers house, got to get the car serviced, the van safety checked, couple of minor works (electrical) on the car/van, and I need to go to the docs to get my prescriptions renewed. so hopefully it will only be a week and Im hoping to be back on the road the following weekend.
anyway as per usual a few pics to end with, mainly death by silo art but a few others thrown in.
chin chin for now
Geoff1511 Travels 