A Few Days in the Riverland

After our week relaxing with friends in Gawler it was time to hitch up and start heading east again.  We drove north through the Barossa Valley, through hills and vineyards until we reached the flat floodplains of the mighty Murray River.  We drove about 200km to Waikerie and into South Australia's fruit bowl.

We set up camp at Holder's Bend Campsite and had the place to ourselves.  After many weeks of fine sunny weather, we've got some rain so we just relaxed and watched the river go by.  While we were minding our own business a riverboat paddled past.  Boats are a significant tourist activity with plenty of cruises available and houseboats for hire.  The river is deep and slow moving and is home to many waterbirds here.

Rain showers the next morning as we packed up for the short drive to Berri, via Loxton.  Loxton has lovely dry country gardens as we drive into the town.  The countryside around Berri is picturesque with vines and fruit trees loaded with fruit - grapes, nectarines, peaches, oranges, lemons, mandarines, figs and apricots.  It's peach and nectarine season and we've bought some fruit at a roadside fruit stall as we take the scenic drive after we've set up camp.  Our campsite at Martin's Bend is great.  Plenty of room, with the river close by.

The scenic drive took us all around Berri and surrounding districts.  We were lucky that the Lavender Farm was open.  The aroma was beautiful as we had coffee in the cafe there before walking around the garden looking at the different varieties of lavender.  At nearby Monash we stopped off at the Adventure Playground.  The Chocolate Shop across the road was closed (possibly a good thing!).

The next morning we set off for Renmark, only about 20kms away and the biggest town in the Riverland.  Again we ventured off on the scenic tourist drive, following the informative brochure from the Information Centre.  Morning tea was at Ruston's Roses Cafe.  This rose farm supplies cut roses all over Australia from their 50,000 rose bushes.  Our drive took us past several wineries, vineyards and orchards as we wound our way around the countryside.

We detoured to Cooltong which was an ex-servicemen's settlement established after World War II before stopping off at the McCormick Centre for the Environment, a facility set up to support environmental education, research and nature based tourism.  The Rotary Lookout provided panoramic views from the highest point in Renmark.







We've done our bit for the economy here in the Riverland, buying plenty of fruit - fresh and dried, and almonds from the nut processing factory.  Plenty of yummy snacks for Christmas.


Next we're off to Mildura, about 160km away, on the NSW/Victorian borderland and we'll still be camping on the banks of the Murray River as we make our way along the Murray Valley Highway.  At least we won't have to make timezone calculations quite so often as we move out of the Central timezone into Australian Eastern Summer Time.