Adelaide S.Aust Sept/Oct 2010

 The reason why we had returned to  Adelaide was because Lynn's Mum was travelling from N.Z. for her 90th birthday. We originally thought that the family would be going to N.Z ,but a couple of months beforehand she changed her mind and decided that she would like to make another trip to Australia. As you may have gathered she is quite a fit and fairly sprightly lady.

 We both have family in Adelaide so having to come back to S. Australia was not really a problem to us ,although no one has room in their backyard for us so we have to stay in a caravan park.  The previous trip we stayed at bolivar and this time we hoped to get into the park at Windsor Gardens but they couldn't take us so we ended up at Bolivar again.

While we were here we spent some time with my daughter and her family of 3 boys. One morning we had breakfast with the family and then walked up the road to the North East road to watch the Bay to Birdwood Run which is a rally for vintage vehicles.  It travels from Glenelg to Birdwood where the vehicles are on display while their owners enjoy a picnic. Birdwood is also the home of a  great old car museum.

 We stood on the side of the road for about an hour and watched the vehicles go past . they came in batches as they had a break at the Tea Tree gully park . There were 1700 vehicles: cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses. Some were very old and some not so old. Many of the people in them wore costumes relevant to the period of their vehicle.

 Lynn went berserk and took about 500 photos so I have just included a few. Don't' ask me what each one is because I don't know.

 

Milang S.Aust Sept 2010

  After spending some time along the Murray  River we headed down to the coast  near Victor Harbor. 

 We went via a quiet country road from Loxton to Murray Bridge .  We passed through some very small places where there were only about 2-3 very old farmhouses.  The roadside was again magnificent with lots of wildflowers mainly wattle  in it's many varieties.

Wattle

 When we arrived at Milang we booked into the caravan park and although there were quite a few vans there there weren't many people staying there. All the rest were what many parks refer to as "annuals", people who only come down to stay in their vans at Xmas or other holidays.

 Milang is on Lake Alexandria and for the first time in many years it was almost full. The whole area , right down to Goolwa and beyond were expecting a bumper tourist season as people from Adelaide and elsewhere came to take advantage of seeing the Murray flowing out to sea again and all the other attractions that would be running now there was more water in the lake.

 The area has a lot of maritime history and we had a look around Milang and Goolwa. We did a day trip to Goolwa to see a whale that was sighted off the beach. we went in the morning as the day was expected to deteriorate weather wise but we ended up with a perfect day .

whale sighted from Lookout at Goolwa Beach

 From Goolwa we drove across the bridge to Hindmarsh Isalnd and had a look aound the marina before heading sacross to the other side of the island. On our way we came across directions to a lookout that offered views othe the Murray Mouth , so we folowe the signposts and came across  the Lookout.

 This board tells the story of how over the years wiht in suffiecent flow in the Murray and the creating of the barrages to raise the levels in the lakes and reduce the salt levels that they have had to dredge the Murray Mouth for many years. Now of course  they don't have to do it and the barrages have been opend.

 Dredging the Murray Mouth.