Gismo Queen and her King

Cadell to Port Augusta

After a beautifully quiet night on the banks of the Murray, we woke to an overcast morning but as soon as I opened the blinds, there were my favourite pelicans!

It was a slow, relaxing morning riverside. Cuppas in bed, breakfast, showers, pack up, morning tea - all before 10:30am! Then it was time to provide entertainment to our fellow campers. They all gathered under the awning of a fifth-wheeler to watch the two chicks reverse the vans out from our unique campsite. I got Mighty Merlot and the Patriot out, then Jude reversed the LC and Bushtracker out - to a round of applause from the watching audience!

We drove around the corner to the ferry, singing the song "don't pay the ferryman". He loaded us first, and then squeezed the Bushtracker in alongside. There wasn't much room in between!

It was a weird sensation to be moving but not doing anything. In a short few moments, we were on the other side and powering Mighty Merlot up the ramp and onto the Goyder Highway. An hour or so later, as the scenery changed from saltbush to open paddocks, we arrived in the historic town of Burra - especially for a Cornish pasty. Fortified by the delicious pasty and a coffee, we headed off to Port Augusta, climbing some winding hills through the towns of Spalding and Crystal Brook out onto the main highway.


We commented on the "renovator's delight" stone houses that littered crop paddocks. Greg told us the story of why these houses no longer have roofs: The Cornish moved out here back in the day, buying one square mile (640 acres) of land. however, after several years of drought, they were forced to move away. Enterprising purchasers bought up the land for a song, but in order to avoid paying rates (which was calculated on every dwelling, and the definition of a dwelling was that it had to have a roof), they removed all of the tin roofs. The stone houses minus the roofs are still very evident.

Afternoon tea was in the quaint seaside town of Port Germain, with a fuel top up for Mighty Merlot from the jerry can because apparently, it's been 13 years since they have had an operating petrol station!

We arrived in Port Augusta at about 5 o'clock, then queued at the caravan park just as it started to rain! Pre dinner drinks were under the ensuite verandah (because it wasn't cold) and then dinner of steak and vegies in the Bushtracker. Washed down with port and chocolate, maybe it's not so bad being in a caravan park while it's raining outside!

posted by Tracey @ 9:11 pm