Murray River continued....Loxton (2/12/11 - 3/12/11)

From Renmark we headed to Loxton, stopping firstly at Monash, home of Adventure Playground - a fantastic kids playground with some unique play equipment, a maze and lake.  The kids had it all to themselves most of the time and LOVED it.  It has definitely been added to the Favourite Playground list!  From here we drove to  Berri, home of the Big Orange.  Very nice town.  A bit further on and we were at Loxton.  We were a bit disappointed with our "riverside" site - the river was a good 100m away and not much grass to be seen.  However, we were more understanding when we discovered that the many riverside sites the park did have were destroyed in last years flood and they have had to relocate much of the caravan park.

Loxton is a beautiful town, with a lovely main street.  The highlight however was the amazing Christmas display that the town puts on.  The main street, many businesses and hundreds of houses are filled with Christmas decorations and lights.  One couple who live just out of town put on an awesome Christmas display, which goes for about 150m.  This is the 27th year that they have been doing it.  There was Father Xmas, Bethlahem, angels, Xmas Lolly Shop, heaps of TV characters, massive candy canes, and on it went.  The kids were in heaven and it definitely got us into the Christmas spirit.  The photos unfortunately do not do it justice, but it was spectacular.

100m in front of our site

And..by night

The Xmas display (part of)!

Grumpy Father Xmas

Happy Father Xmas

The Murray River - Renmark (30/11/12 - 2/12/11)

From Clare we headed east to Renmark on the Murray River.  We had a fantastic site right on the river, with the historic Paringa Bridge 100m away.  This made for a great view, but the cars and trucks crossing it at night were so noisy!  Renmark was a a beautiful town, dominated by horticulture and houseboats.

Paringa Bridge - view from our site

View from the other side

1 of the Lock's on the Murray River

Clare (26/11/12 - 30/11/12)

We arrived in Clare on 26/11 and stayed for four nights. Clare is a well known SA wine region, but more importantly home to some Thomas rellies.  We spent Sunday in the sheep yards at Wayne and Helen Thomas' farm.  The kids had a ball.  Simon's thoughts on sheep work have not changed (he still can't stand it, but was happy to help out).

The time in this area has also been great as Simon has had the opportunity to visit his grandfather's grave in Hallet for the 1st time and the original Thomas Family farm, where Rex (Simon's Dad) grew up.  Simon's grandfather passed away 68 years ago, at the age of 38, when Rex was only 2 years old.  This certainly puts things into perspective and really makes us appreciate how lucky we are to be doing this fantastic trip as a family.

The next few days we enjoyed touring around all the historic towns, including Burra, where we spent the day learning about the history of this early town, that was once one of the biggest inland towns of Australia.  The kids loved visiting the old jail, mine, dugouts, but their favourite was the old brewery and its underground cellars.  They are definitely their father's children!  Ben and Chloe had fun dressing up in old period costumes at the Burra Town Hall.

The kids loved the Mintaro Maze and all the gnomes and games in the gardens.

It was great to catch up with Bruce and Eleanor and finally get to see their beautiful town of Clare.  

Mintaro Maze - the race is on to find the middle!

They found it!

Burra - Copper mine

Old Burra Jail

Dugouts

"Cup of tea anyone?"
Burra Town Hall

The Old Ghan Railway (25/11/11)

We are now on our way back south, heading towards Clare.  We are following the Old Ghan Railway track.  This line was replaced by a new line further west in the early 1980's.  The Old Ghan track was once an important link to central Australia, and the SA section is definitely very scenic with the Flinders Ranges in the background.  Simon and the kids had great fun collecting “dog spikes” (held the railway line to the sleepers) and other relics of the past.  

Lake Eyre (25/11/11)

Co-pilots ready for takeoff

The kids were so excited to be flying in a 6 seater plane.   Lake Eyre was HUGE and it was great to see it with water in it.  Whilst the water has receded a bit from a few months ago, it still had heaps of water in it.  The last time it was so full was in 1974.  It is the size of Holland and is also famous for being the lowest point in Australia at 15.2m below sea level.

Unfortunately, the thin air and motion of the plane put Ben into a deep sleep for 1½ hours, so he missed seeing the lake!  A very expensive sleep!

It was a fantastic flight and it gave us an understanding of how harsh the environment is out here.  It also satisfied Simon’s desire to see Lake Eyre so we decided not to drive the 400km round trip on rough roads out to the lake.  Donna was somewhat relieved about this.  Simon took some great photos which will give you some idea of the lake and the barren environment.

Ready for our flight

Fast asleep, lollipop and all!

Lyndhurst (25/11/11 - 26/11/11)

We left Wilpena Pound with the intention of heading to Clare to catch up with family.  We stopped at the Yourambulla Caves just south of Hawker – some great aboriginal rock art and more walk trails!  We met a couple who had just been to Lake Eyre and raved about it.  Lake Eyre was one of Simon’s places to see while we were away, but we had gone off the idea somewhat, but after speaking to these people we decided we would do it after all.  So instead of heading to Clare we followed the old Ghan train line on the western side of the Flinders Ranges until we reached a tiny town called Lyndhurst.  The caravan park was basic but fine and we would rate it better than Coober Pedy.  The plan was to drive out to the Lake Eyre for a day trip.  However, plans changed once again.  We ended up going for a two hour flight over Lake Eyre.  AMAZING!!

Lyndhurst at sunset

Lyndhurst by day - not quite as nice than sunset shot!

Yourambulla Caves

View from Yourambulla Caves

Flinders Ranges - Wilpena Pound (23/11/11 - 25/11/11)

On Wednesday we had a short drive up to Wilpena in the Flinders ranges.  The Wilpena Pound Resort caravan park was lovely and so quiet, surrounded by huge red rivergum trees.  Again we found ourselves camped near the Taylor's.  They were probably beginning to think we were stalking them!  The kids had a great time exploring together.  

It was a lot cooler in the Flinders Ranges and we even had rain on day two and three.  On Thursday morning we did a great walk from our campsite into Wilpena Pound – 7.2kms away.  We didn’t realise it was so long when we set out, but thankfully the kids coped fine.  We saw kangaroos, an emu with its 6 babies, rock wallabies and a goat and its kid.  The view from the top lookout was fantastic – thank goodness given the climb up to the top was quite steep.  We are definitely getting our exercise!

Back to camp in time for birthday cake for morning tea.  It was Alex’s 8^th birthday so we made him a cake. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the Flinders Ranges – we were able to drive down through Brachina gorge – spectacular – unfortunately the kids were asleep when we were down there so we didn’t get out and explore.  Dinner with the Taylor’s and another birthday cake! 

We were woken the next morning (early) by a very cheeky and persistent kangaroo rummaging through our outside rubbish bin.  Simon's attempts to get rid of it resulted in the kangaroo hissing at him.  He had to resort to throwing a boot at him!

We loved the Flinders Ranges - so scenic, beautiful and quiet.  This is where we parted company with the Taylor’s unfortunately, but we look forward to catching up with them next year in Brisbane.

Walk track to Wilpena Pound

Wilpena Pound Homestead

We made it to the top!
Wilpena Pound top lookout.

Some of the beautiful Flinders Ranges scenery

Driving through Brachina Gorge

Ben running (again!)

Sharing cake with Lucas and Alex

The friendly resident kangaroos