Wednesday 9th April

This has been a bit of a nothing day on the whole, certainly compared to the last few days. It was dull and grey when we woke and raining slightly as we left. Tom hadn’t been able to access the internet for some reason but those of you who read us regularly will see that he managed to do it today instead.

Anyway, back to the day’s travel. We had planned to spend some time in Bordertown at its “sights” but once we visited the tourist info, we found there wasn’t a lot to see! There was a little humorous plaque about Scott’s Woolshed, which used to stand in the area behind where the tourist info is now. In the days when the washed wool from the sheep flocks was transported on bullock carts to the port of Kingston (where we were yesterday) the Woolshed was the meeting place for the carters. The end of Woolshed street was blocked by a massive post to stop the bullocks entering, but it “was accidentally removed when an elephant from a travelling circus was hitched to it for safety” – some safety measure!!

I did think I might be able to leave Tom in the toilets by the tourist info but I couldn’t find the keys! And he said that it was just as well the peephole had been locked otherwise he might have frightened the natives!

Tom had read that there was a mob of albino white kangaroos in the wildlife park just up the road, but, according to the tourist info lady, they’re actually Western Greys. There was an albino kangaroo many years ago but these ones are not albinos – we have found conflicting information like that in several places, it can be rather frustrating! So we went to see the greys and all they did was lie there and ignore us. We couldn’t get near them, so the photos had to be taken with the zoom lens, which means they’re not as clear as we would wish. The area they are kept in is not large and has very little to attract visitors, which is a real shame as I’m sure it could be quite a major attraction with a bit of work. We still haven’t managed to see any in the wild (except for the small one I saw near Ballarat) – we’re told they tend to come out to the roads in the evening, where they get run over mainly by the trucks – we’ve seen plenty of dead bodies by the roadside. As we’re in our motels by that time, I suppose that’s why we miss them. And I’d rather not see one transfixed in the headlights of the car just before we knock it down!

That’s all we saw in Bordertown before heading on to Pinaroo. The B57 is an atrocious road, there’s no other word for it. If we thought yesterday’s ride was bad, today’s was even worse. Slowing down was not a lot of help – the bumps still felt as bad and the scenery was no more interesting than yesterday, which was a real shame as Tom had hoped to see more desert-like landscapes. The first section was fairly agricultural, then the soil became more sandy so is unable to support crops or livestock; then we reached the scrubland, which is low and straggly and eventually, there is a bit of desert, although, if you blink you might miss it! There are quite a few stretches which show signs of fire, but whether as a result of controlled burns or just random bushfires, we have no way of knowing. Pinaroo is a small town, with a display in the information office of its history – mainly agricultural – but it has a very good café where we were able to get our daily sustenance. It also has a few well preserved colonial type buildings. On the way out of the town, Tom stopped slap bang in the middle of the railway tracks – I thought he’d finally snapped and had decided to end it all (my nagging must have really been worse that I thought!). I was frantically looking to the left to make sure no train was coming – then I looked to the right, where Tom was taking a photo – and my fears about trains were extinguished! Then it was back on the bumpy road again, where shortly we stopped at another historic site - a memorial to a church. No more exciting sites delayed our journey. Loxton was our next port of call and, as we drew up at the tourist info, guess what was the first shop I saw? Scrapbooking! Tom couldn’t believe we’d just driven for 93kms without seeing any shops and then we pull up here! It had lots of Oz papers so there’s some more to add to the excess baggage.

Berri was the next town and we had our first sight of the great Murray River. There is a Scenic Lookout at the junction of the B57 and the feeder road to the Sturt hwy – the old water tower, which has been renovated and turned into a lookout over the Murray river valley. The river is at the centre of controversy. It runs from NSW, along the border with Victoria, ending in Lake Alexandra south of Adelaide, SA. Water from the river is already being taken at several points in NSW/Victoria and there are plans to further dam it, which means that farmers and towns in SA will lose more access to its waters, and they already have major drought problems. It looks like there’s plenty of water there now but I can see how devastating it would be to slow the flow when there’s no guarantee they’ll get enough rain to sustain the downriver area.

Leaving Berri, we came across the giant Orange – another BIG thing to add to our list! It had been a combined viewing platform + fruit outlet + art gallery + tourist attraction but was now closed.

So no more stops on the last leg of the day to Renmark, where we’re booked into the Ventura Motel. We arrived early at just before 4.00pm so have plenty of time to relax after our exciting day!! Tom’s been out to the shop for a few necessities (beer!) and I shall now go and make our dinner so he can add the photos. Byee!