Friday, Oct 28 - Driving South

We got up at 6:30 went into breakfast and split a delicious plate of Sweet Corn Fritters, seasoned with sweet red pepper and cilantro, with a drizzle of cream and a side of sautéed spinach. We added an order of thick-cut raisin toast with marmalade for a great breakfast! The bar was full of cowboys getting their morning coffees. What an hotel! Bar for locals and city types, art gallery, and gourmet restaurant - too cool!

We set off south and drove for a couple of hours past scrub land with emu families and kangaroos, with dramatic mountains on the horizon.

We stopped in the town of Hawker for gas ($100 for the Monster) and water, and headed southeast through Orroroo and Peterborough, and entered wheat fields and agriculture and left the bush.

We stopped in Burra for a walk around town: quilt shops, second-hand shops, pubs and no chains! Some of these little villages are fading into ghost towns, but most have spirit and pride and promote their historic sites and have pretty gardens.

We entered the Murray River area of fruit orchards, orange groves and vast vineyards. The area has recently come out of a ten-year drought and the Murray River is flowing strongly now, but there was some evidence of dead orchards and leafless Red River Gums. The river is crossed mostly by ferries, free and running 24 hours! We drove down a small road and there was a little four-car ferry chugging across the river for us! The lady ferry captain waved us aboard and off we went! Up the other bank an off to the town of Waikerie and our next stay at the Waikerie Caravan Park. We were only able to reserve a small ensuite unit, a single-wide with bunks for six (!) and small kitchen so it will do very well for us! We unloaded our bags just before a brief violent downpour, and then set out to explore town. We ended up at a Woolworth’s (a supermarket chain) and got wine, a roasted chicken, potato salad and coleslaw, plus eggs and bacon for tomorrow. We are here to explore the Gluepot Reserve, a private reserve that is the largest original mallee preserve in the country.