From Green Lake campsite we drove west towards the South Australian border. We passed through many small wheat belt towns in the Mallee but only stopped at Patchewollock where we saw the last of the Silo Art in Victoria. I loved "The Giant Mallee Fowl" statues at the local Lions Park......
Our next and final stop in Victoria is Murrayville before we cross into South Australia.
I chopped up all the remaining fruit, that we couldn't eat, before we crossed the border, thinking fruit salad would be okay to take across the border. Wrong. Fruit Salad is inadmissible and it goes into the bin. What a waste. It really beggars belief that fruit fly could be in a fruit salad, but them's the rules and who are we to argue.....
Pinnaroo is our destination for Sunday night and the caravan park here is another gem with huge grassed sites to chose from. The owner comes around to collect the $35 fee around 4pm and also hands us a voucher that gives us free drinks, with a meal purchase, at the local hotel. Win for us as it is pizza night! We are home before the sun goes down and surprised to find onions and potatoes waiting on the caravan doorstep. Apparently the owners hand them out to those that chose to eat at the pub. Another win for us.
Monday morning we wake to another cold morning - around 4 degrees. We are slow to pack up the van but we don't have far to drive to our next destination - Tailem Bend. We skipped breakfast as neither of us was feeling very hungry after our pizza feast the night before but we stop around 10.30 for a brunch of ham and eggs, and gee it went down a treat.
Checking into the Riverside Caravan park at Tailem Bend is completely computerised. I was a bit hesitant about this idea but as it turned out it is probably the fastest and most efficient check in we have experienced thus far. When I made the online reservation we had to choose a site that was actually the hardest part of the whole reservation. On arrival you walk into a small portable office and there is a very large touch screen right in front of you. As we have already been allocated a reservation number the whole process is dead simple and we are more than happy with the caravan park and site we chose. The whole caravan park has had a make-over and everything is sparkling new. The showers and toilets are better than the ones I have at home! The sites are huge and green with lots of shady trees.
The park is right on the banks of the Murray River and we take a nice long walk in the afternoon but we don't get far along the river and have to stay on the main road that takes us into the town centre.
Today we woke to an overcast and windy day. **Sigh**. My friend Kate said that we must have annoyed the weather gods and it certainly seems that way. But we have a drive planned for today and the weather won't stop that. First though, we have to cross over the Murray River towards the dairy town of Jervois. This dairy country is very low lying and we are surprised that we don't see any flood damage. We stop for coffee and fresh eggs ($5/dozen!) and the lovely lady there tells us that all the farmers banded together and built an enormous levy bank to hold back the floodwaters. They were lucky that they had plenty of notice of the flood so had time to erect the levy. We follow along the banks of the Murray River to Wellington where we cross back over the Murray River on another ferry and head towards Menangie.
Menangie sits on Lake Albert and is an attractive town with some lovely walks along the lakeside. We only walk a short distance though as it is very windy and cold outside the car. The Ostrich represents the "Birdman of the Corrong" who was a diminutive Irishman who had learnt to ride an ostrich when he was living in South Africa. He stole jewellery and apparently used to run around half naked, draped in his stolen jewellery. In 1899 he was chased down and shot by a would-be victim of the Birdman, who did not take kindly to being held to ransom by such a small man......or so the story goes...
After we leave Meningie we head to Coonalpyn where I read that there is yet another Silo Art. The drive is along a quiet country road that runs through some pretty good grazing country but we see very few animals, just a few sheep in the distance. It is only 30kms to Coonalpyn and I am pleased we came this way, as the Silo Art depicting three young kids is very good.
Back in the car and we follow Duke's Highway back to Tailem Bend. Around ten kilometres from the town we see "The Bend" Motorsport Park. It is a massive set-up with a Hotel, Caravan Park, huge amount of parking space and race-tracks that seem to go on forever. It is all relatively new, only opening in 2018. The latest edition to the park is a Drag Racing track that only opened this year. I look online at the racing calendar and see that there are events all year round. Tailem Bend is just 100km from Adelaide and is an easy drive, so it is the perfect spot to build such a significant motorsport park.
Inside the foyer of the main building that houses restaurants, bars and viewing platforms is a display of just a few of the racing cars. Some are behind glass as they are priceless pieces. We also see some are for sale. Anyone got a spare Mil or two??
Tomorrow we head east to Robe that is on the Limestone Coast of South Australia. We have booked in for four nights as there is quite a bit to see and do in and around Robe. I have also booked a well needed cut and colour for my hair so that will be a little bit of self love. We now say goodbye to the Murray River that we have been travelling alongside the past month or so. It truly is a magnificent river system and we treasure the memories that it has left us with.
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