From sea to fresh waters

A week in Morgan on the Murray River was enough to refresh........and not to mention John becoming an avid yabby catcher, John managed to catch some good yabbies in Morgan one of which was atleast 20cms and really great on the BBQ (John made me write that!) !  We did the touristy thing while in Morgan......museum, cultutral walk etc but when the local antique shop owner told us about a really cheap caravan site over at Cadell. (across the river by ferry and about 11kms) We packed up and moved post haste!!! (I was not keen about taking the van across ferry....too many horror movies?)  We we rolled in Cadell (who also hosts a lovely training complex for those who broke the law) unsure if this was the right place to come - like a population of 100 and a store that charged $5 or more for bread.....ergh! However, after paying our site fees at the local deli we rolled through the gates of the old footy oval to find one van and a campervan.....and their occupants sitting around a cold fire pit, cold glass of wine in hand, we knew we had hit the spot.  The old bloke Jim jumped up in a sec (self made/one man welcoming committee) and directed John into a site like an old HC driver pro.....we felt liked we were at home...strange i know!
Well we have a lot to say about Cadell, Jim and Sandy....the nomad couple we lived next to for a month - who became our grandparents, Patrick the guy who came from Ireland 15 years ago and is still travelling Australia.....the stop overs who either enlightened us or made no impression at all. The community club...lovely family atmosphere, cheap meals and a character local called Mick Mcann (who is 109% when asked how hes is........110% if he owned the pub.)  Or Damien and Jo a lovely community couple who gave John work and made us feel a part of things!  To top it off our friends Julia, Jamie and Chloe came all the way up to spend time with us and provided some very memorable days.....including saving some abandoned kittens lives......we will never forget!
Cadell one little town that was amazing, thankyou!!!!

Take me to the river!

We left Port Broughton and i can tell you i was feeling quite nervous every single KM we drove.   We have been quite comfortable, not only in a familiar town with family, but not having to tow the beast in a while!  We drove through Crystal Brook, Gulnare (where imtold my Grandpa was born) and on to Burra. Burra being quite a nice town from what we saw on a picnic lunch, we were thinking of staying. but after much discussion and a rude caravan park manager....we decided to keep moving.  John was so keen to get to the river and so on we went.  This is where a moment occured that almost ended the whole adventure for me!!!  Such beautiful, pastoral country side, with rolling hills, grazing sheep and open plains....but one of the open plains with its cross wind caused us to get up the wobbles, like SERIOUS wobbles!!!! The van swayed violently from side to side, it was out of control!  John was advised to speed up when this happens to pull it back into line but this made it worse!!  The whole back of the car was being thrown about left to right, i was terrified, John was playing it cool and Adam was thrashing himself side to side like it was a fun show ride!!  But seriously for a moment i thought we were going to be pulled off the road (like countless grey nomads like telling us stories about!!)  Luckily we had the road to ourselves as we literally used the whole road to steady.......needless to say the sway bars we had in the boot of the car, were going on next chance AND we are never going over 80k's again....phew!

Rolling along the river!

Well we have learnt a few things about ourselves during this early phase of our caravan adventures and one of which is that i am no good at keeping up a blog! : /   With that said its time to update our whereabouts and experiences along the way! :-) 

Port Broughton

Well Port Broughton was amazing......but i had been going there all my life so i am biased (granted, not living in a van.)  After some time in the caravan park we hooked up at my mums house (which i might add is on the foreshore!!!) what a spot.  We fished, drank spirits and thoroughly enjoyed the last warm days of Autumn.   The weather for the most part was warm and sunny, we couldn't believe our luck!  John made a great friend.....Stan....a young 87 yo fisherman who lived a few doors upfrom my mothers house.  The fishing tips that this old fellow gave to John, sparked a fishing motivation i have never seen and a hell of a lot of fish for dinner!!! :-)  Half the time John was missing from the vacinity of the van, and was found safe and well hanging around Stan :-)
Johns Grandad from Newcastle also came through to see us and John was so excited to see him and spend some time with him, he decided to (yes, you guessed it) take him fishing!  Well not only did they have fantastic quality time together, John came home with 2 huge Snook!
I was rapt when some of my friends rolled in for my nephews 1st birthday party.What a lovely afternoon that was!

Alas, it was time to move on......no point making the decision to travel Aus and not go past Broughton!!!  We were heading to the Mighty Murray, the Riverland.......so time came to pack up and head off!