Merbein to Cadell
The sound of rain on the caravan roof overnight was very soothing - especially when I realised we could have been collecting rainwater from our clever collection system! Waking this morning to the silence of the river, I opened the bottom window to look out to the river and saw a pelican sail by! Pelicans are my favourite bird, although Greg laughingly teases me that they are penguins after I once confused them (don't ask!).Greg kindly put the heater on for me so my towel and the bathroom was warm for my shower, but it actually wasn't that cold today. After breakfast, we were on the road by 9:30am, thinking we would get to Waikerie well before Neill and Jude, especially as we knew we would save half an hour crossing the SA border. However, it was raining pretty hard, there were lots of trucks on the road whch do stress me a little when they are behind, then overtaking me - and then we got to the quarantine station just east of Renmark. The caravans have to line up in one lane (to be checked for fruit and veg), cars in another and then trucks in another. Let's just say there was a long line of caravans - this was my view out my rear view mirror:
We heard some of the truckies on the UHF comment that they hadn't seen this many caravans queue here in quite some time. Their comment that made us laugh the most was "we're just jealous because they've got a life". 38 minutes later, our van got checked and the inspector was quite intrigued that we were heading to Birdsville, although he told us to watch the weather! So any time savings we had anticipated were lost.
Arrivng in Renmark shortly after, we parked and headed straight for a bakery for coffee and elevenses. I also took the opportunity to visit Woolies to buy fruit and veg - now that we can carry it! Stocked up, we were on the road again with the sat nav telling us we were going to be late for our rendezvous with Neill and Jude. Pulling into Waikerie, the rain was coming down so after tracking down the Bushtracker, we all piled into it for lunch. Optimistically envisaging the rain clearing, we then headed to Cadell for a riverside camp. What joy to find this amazing site right on the river, with 30 metre sandstone cliffs opposite, pelicans on the river, the ferry visible from our site and a fireplace. It took some engineering to get two vans in and level (good thing we have an engineer on board!) but before long, we had the fire going and a cuppa underway.
After afternoon tea, we collected some firewood, then it was time for pre-dinner drinks. What a hard life! As the sun set, the moon came out and illuminated the cliffs opposite - what a sight! When I can get the real camera out, I'll try an take a photo. Dinner was cooked in the Mallett van - chicken parmagiana, mashed potato, sweet corn and asparagus. Yum!
As we sit around the fire, with the only sounds the crackling of the wood, pelicans swim past us silently in the moonlight. I love that our day is ending the same way it began. I can't wait for more of the same tomorrow!
posted by Tracey @ 8:34 pm
1 Comments:
Gotta love Trace & Greg. The freedom is awesome.
Post a Comment
<< Home