Mildura - Renmark - Bordertown - Peterborough - Port Augusta

Camper Trailer? Mildura Vic

Border Crossing into South Australia

When we left Mildura and Victoria on the 4th of March the sun came out. It was a very welcome sight as it had been just over a week since the rain began and kept following wherever we went. It came out and has stayed out ever since. We crossed the Border into South Australia at Renmark. We had gotten rid of a heap of salad items before the crossing but when we got there they were very thorough and we had to get rid of plenty more. They also gave us a booklet so that we now know exactly what can be taken into each state and territory. Some of it is weird though. Some items are not accepted at all, some are accepted peeled and some cooked. And those accepted peeled or cooked are not accepted raw.

Plushes Bend, Renmark SA

Plushes Bend, Renmark SA

We camped the following two nights just out of Renmark at a camp site called Plushes Bend on the bank of the Murray River. It was very picturesque. We threw in the yabby pots and tossed in a line. The dogs had a ball as there was plenty of space to run around and being mid week there were not many other campers there. We managed to catch five carp and one Murray Cod but as he was little and it is illegal to keep them at this time of year we had to throw him back. The biggest carp we caught was about 21 inches long.

Plushes Bend, Renmark SA

Lib & Kate, Bordertown SA

 On Tuesday we packed up and decided to head to Bordertown to visit our one South Australian friend, Kate. It was approx 250km's out of our way but who knew when we would be back that way again. Kate is starting a new job this week as the cook in the pub at Leigh Creek, a mining town in SA. On the way there we stopped at Berri to get photos of Bess with the Big Orange to add to the collection.

Lib and I had dinner at the Woolshed Hotel bistro before meeting up with Kate for drinks in the main bar and playing pool for the rest of the evening.

Murray River, Mannum SA

Murray River, Mannum SA

The next day we headed off to Keith to say G'day to all the people we had befriended on our previous visit to the area for work.

We pulled into Viterra to say hi to Robyn and the gang and to catch up on all the goss before heading over to the Keith Hotel where Tony, the publican, talked us into staying the night. We then headed over to the caravan park to check in and we caught up with Leanne. After dinner we headed over to the pub and after the first couple of drinks, were shouted by the house for the rest of the evening. It had been a good day catching up with lots of friendly people. It was good to feel welcomed back again so easily.

Thursday saw us passing through Tailem Bend and visiting the Big Olive followed by lunch by the Murray River. Then we headed through Murray Bridge and on to Mannum to spend the night, again on the bank of the Murray River. No fishing here however we did take the dogs for a swim in the river.

Paddle steamer, Murray River, Mannum SA

Peterborough SA

 On Friday the 9th we kept heading north and arrived at a rest area north of Tarlee to spend the night.

The next day we kept heading north and arrived at lunchtime at Peterborough. I was looking forward to getting here and checking out Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre. The heritage listed Roundhouse has 23 bays, a working 3 gauge turntable (only one left in the world) and parts of the original workshops now displaying a wide range of historic rolling stock, i.e. a 1923 1st Class Lounge car, a Baby Health Carriage, Engines and other carriages dating back to the start of the century.

Roundhouse

Ist Class Lounge Car

Weighbridge

3 Gauge Turntable

Supervisor's Car

 It was great seeing all this old history. Although, we were told that up until 911 one of the big engines along with some of the 2nd class carriages were used as an attraction. They had an outing once a month which was very popular with tourists but sadly after 911 their insurance premiums went from $5,000 per annum to $85,000. As it is run by volunteers and funded from local business donations and the tourist industry, they could no longer afford to keep it running.

Stored Together???

Aaron's "Bushy" Look

That night we stayed in a rest area just out of town and the next day before heading off we drove out to the lookout above the town for a sticky beak.

We continued on our way and stopped to look at the Big Red Gum at Orroroo and then Hancock's Lookout as we were passing through the foothills of the Flinders Ranges. It was a great view and well worth the 7km drive along the dirt road out there.

Lookout above Peterborough SA

Lookout above Peterborough SA

We had been having engine problems for about the last two weeks and it had finally come to a head as we would be crossing the Nullabor in the next month or so. When we arrived at Port Augusta we decided it was time to get it looked at. We decided to spend Sunday night at a cheap camp spot at Central Augusta Sporting Club at $5 per night. They don't have power but they do have water and only require you to be self sufficient i.e. your own toilet. We also found out along the way that day that Monday was a public holiday in SA so we would have to wait til Tuesday to see the mechanic.

How do you pronounce this?

So we set up and waited til Tuesday and then went to Bruce & Steve's Automotive Service (great service so I thought I'd give them a small plug). They were fully booked for the week and said they would pencil us in for Friday. So we set up again at the sports club to wait. We didn't want to drive Bess because she was getting increasingly harder to start cold. She wouldn't start on gas at all and it was getting increasingly more and more difficult to start on petrol. That night was very warm and we decided to shower in Bess. It was the first time in the two and a half years we had owned the van that we had used our indoor shower.

We drove to the mechanic early Friday morning and dropped off Bess. We then walked around the corner to the local vet so that Charlie could get his final puppy shots. Once completed, we headed back to the mechanics where we spent that remainder of the day.

The Big Red Gum Orroroo SA

They determined that the reason that we couldn't start Bess was that we were getting weak and intermittent spark and so they replaced the coil and module which along with some minor re-wiring solved that issue. That solution inadvertently gave Steve the reason as to why we had been losing coolant as well. I could not for the life of me find the leak but when Bess was running Steve walked behind the vehicle and found coolant coming out the exhaust pipe.

This means we either need a new head gasket or we have a cracked head. Either way it is going to be expensive to fix in the long run. But it is better to know what we are dealing with than not to know. At the end of the day we decided to return to the Sports Club for the weekend to ponder our next move.

Yesterday Lib wasn't feeling well and spent most of the day laying down. I made some minor repairs around Bess and after lunch I decided to go for a ride to have a look around as it was a fairly still day. It does seem to be a fairly windy part of the world most days. I had ridden about 10-12 km's out to West Port Augusta and found myself at Matthew Flinders Lookout. Shortly after I started on the return trip I road through a patch of cat-heads and got a puncture in my rear tyre. I found a servo and bought some tyre weld but as it is an old tyre and tube when I put it in it blew out the side wall of the tyre. So I then had to walk about 8 km's back to the Sports Club via Big W to buy a new tyre and tube. A good run of luck lately, what?

Our Family

We have decided that tomorrow (Monday 19/3) we will try the cheaper band aid solution first and put Wynn's in the radiator and see if it plugs the leaks and allows us to continue on our way and see us through the next two months, which by then we will need to be looking for work again and get it repaired properly.

Newcastle - Broken Hill - Mildura

We had a good time visiting Nads and Charlie (Nads' housemate). We took the dogs for walks on the beach, went climbing, breakfasted at cafes and generally chilled out at home.

Sprocket Cafe - Newcastle

Newcastle Beach

No! I didn't digitise this.It's REAL!!!

We let Nads' on the 24th of February and began heading towards Broken Hill. We overnighted at a couple of rest areas along the way, drove through the "Bogan Shire" (a real place) and then got sidetracked by a trip to White Cliffs to check out opal mining. It was really interesting to see how it was mined and how the residents of White Cliffs lived in "dugouts" under ground to escape the summer heat. We were told that the dugouts maintain an average temperature of between 18-23 degrees all year round. We visited an Opal Shop to see what was on offer but 99% of their stuff was way out of our price range. We even saw emus wandering around in the town. The only downside was all the bindies and cat heads in the caravan park.

White Cliffs - Opal Mining Town

Mining area

Mining Area

Budget B&B???

Barrier Highway into Broken Hill

We arrived at Broken Hill on the 27th and met up with Barry and Judith at the Lakeview Caravan Park. It had a pleasant outlook and did indeed look out over the lake, however, it was expensive at $30 a night with no unpowered option. We spent a pleasant if rainy evening together and decided to head out to Silverton to have a look the next day.

A rainy drive

Bells Milk Bar

Well, the next day greeted us with pouring rain. Not to be put off, we headed off to Silverton. There was plenty of water on the road in town and also in places over the Silverton road. As we were heading out of town it got really heavy but we kept pushing on. We went through a few water crossings and Bess stalled a couple of times but we got her going again.We were about five kilometres out of Broken Hill when we came to a crossing and decided to get out and walk it before we tried driving across. The water was just below my knees and rising. We still had 18 km's to go to Silverton. How many more crossings were there? We had been told there were two creek crossings closer to Silverton. Were we going to get stuck between crossings and if so for how long? Our adventurous spirit quashed we decided to turn round and head back to town. We had to unhook Barry's caravan and turn it around by hand as the road was so narrow, there was no way he could have done it hooked up to the vehicle. While all this was happening a Hiace and a Landcruiser went by. As we were finishing up turning around they came back past. The Hiace had only gone about 500m further and the Landcruiser a couple of kilometers.

Line of Lode Visitors Centre

Palace Hotel

Palace Hotel

Palace Hotel

Argent Street Broken Hill

Palace Hotel

Barry & Judith

The Big Chai

We headed to the race course only to discover that they were preparing for an event and were not allowing campers for a couple of weeks. That was our cheapest option gone so we headed for the next best and stayed the night at the Silverland Caravan Park ($22.50). That afternoon the four of us went for a drive into town and got milkshakes at Bells Milk Bar, a fifties style cafe, visited the Line Of Load and then wandered through the Palace Hotel which has the longest balcony I've ever seen and has most of its walls painted into murals. Years ago a customer could not pay their bill and so they payed by painting most of the hotel, upstairs and down. By the end of the day 84mm had fallen and several roads in the area had been closed. All four of us were getting quite worried that maybe we were going to be stranded in Broken Hill. It wasn't an issued for Lib and I as we have no timetable but Barry and Judith needed to be home by Sunday.

Wednesday dawned and in three days approximately 200mm had fallen in the area. The road to Silverton was closed, the road to Menindee was open with caution (water over the road), the road to Wentworth was open with caution (water over the road) and the Barrier Highway to Adelaide had been closed because a bridge had collapsed and all traffic was being diverted through Wentworth. Also all dirt roads in the area were also closed. With another 50-100mm being forecast for the next three days Barry made the decision to leave early. He had commitments at home on Monday and was worried about being trapped, as well he should. Lib and I bade them farewell and made the decision to wait out the rest of that day in the caravan park playing cards and watching television.

On Thursday we left the caravan park late and after stocking up on supplies we headed up to the Line of Load Tourist Centre and Miners Memorial. The memorial was closed due to rain and the Tourist centre consisted of a tiny gift shop and cafe. We then went to the Silver City Art Gallery and Mint. It is the home of the worlds biggest canvas painting measuring 12m x 100m. As we couldn't get Bess in we didn't bother paying the entrance fee and got no photo, however, the rest of the gallery was really interesting and there  was quite alot of good work to see. Afterwards we went window shopping in the main street as much to take the dogs for a walk as to kill time before heading out to a rest area east of town to spend the night. It rained the whole day. Damn this rain. We had come to the area at exactly the wrong time.

Friday saw us head into the visitor centre to find out more about road closures as it had not rained at all the previous evening. We still couldn't go out to Menindee to camp as all dirt roads in the area were closed. The highway to Adelaide was still closed and was likely to remain so for at least a week or more but the Silverton Road was open. With more rain expected late that day the lady advised that if we were to go, to go now as she said it was likely with more rain on the way it would be cut off again.

Silverland Caravan Park Broken Hill

Silverland Caravan Park Broken Hill

As we headed out to Silverton we noted that the road to the mine tour was closed. Also, we saw places where water had ripped up the road and we crossed two creeks that were still flowing over the road, but they presented no difficulties. We stopped to take photos and then lobbed into the Silverton Hotel for a beer. It is an interesting pub as it has been the site for many movies and commercials over the years, most notably being Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice. We saw the Mad Max 2 museum and got a photo of Max's Interceptor. As far as 'ghost town's' go it is one of the more interesting ones.

Creek Crossing @ Silverton

Creek Crossing @ Silverton

Sandbagged House @ Silverton

Refuse halfway up the sign.

Silverton Hotel

Interceptor - Mad Max

How huge is this fly? On the base of an ordinary coffee mug

With more rain on the way and with the rest of the attractions we wanted to see in the area being "washed out" we decided to continue on our journey and headed toward Port Augusta via Mildura. We spent last night in a rest area 130km's south of Broken Hill and are staying tonight at the Sunraisya Caravan Park in Mildura. It still hasn't stopped raining but is supposed to by Sunday.