MANNIC MANNUM

Magestic Murray Princess

Whew, were we ever glad to move away from those bushfires! From the beautiful but very warm Clare Valley we headed in a generally South Easterly direction, driving through some lovely and at times quite spectacular countryside. The drive took us thru’ the town of Gawler. Just south east of Gawler, around the area of Tungkilla we drove thru’ some extremely hilly country which I think may have been the tail end of the Mt Lofty Ranges. The road climbed to some considerable heights and wound around some fairly tight bends. I have to say, at times like that, I am just so pleased that it is DD at the wheel and not yours truly. The scenery was outstanding, albeit very dry. I can only imagine how different it must be in the winter and spring. Just now however the hills and paddocks glow mellow gold under soft blue skies. The effects are spell-binding.

Past Tungkilla we went, thru’ Birdwood and finally into a sleepy little town called Mannum on the banks of the mighty Murray River. We drove all unaware through this small and sleepy town, into the caravan park there only to find where the rest of the world had been hiding! You have to realise here that since we left home on the 22nd December, we had stayed at very quiet caravan parks and had only really seen a hand-full of people; Even the Clare CP, which had quite a few folk there when we first arrived, was not a patch on this one for sheer ‘busyness’!

Purple Swamphens Striding Out

It seems that a great many folk flock to this spot for water skiing and jet boating. Every camp (and there were lots of them) had either a ski boat or a jet ski. The camp just hummed (or more accurately roared) from early in the morning until sun-down. Remember that with @#@#$%$$$*** day-light saving, sun-down is pretty late here. Mannum also seems to have an enormous bird population, most of which are either galahs or white cockatoos. Now, we both love the birds, but do you have any idea of the clamouring several large flocks of these garrulous birds makes, particularly just now with all their very noisy and demanding chicks in tow? It was amazing! Added to the cockatoos and galahs were magpies, crows, mudlarks, large families of Purple Swamphens, Coots, Black ducks, swans, shags and squadrons upon squadron of majestic pelicans. Combine all of this with the shrieking and laughter of children and the odd grown-up argument, and I have to say, it was not an entirely restful experience. We arrived there on Saturday and stayed three days. By the third day, a great many of the campers had packed up and gone home and it did calm down somewhat.

Added to all the other noises at the riverside CP was the loud albeit musical tones of the riverboats as they announced their presence to all and sundry on and about the river. We had planned on a short trip on one of these river queens, but as often happens, leaving managed to get in the way. The sight of these majestic boats paddling up the river was quite something. I was entranced too, by the wavelets ever diminishing in the wake of the paddles. The river is also the popular highway for an absolute abundance of houseboats. DD has experienced travelling the Murray in one of these usually luxurious craft, and I have to say, looking at them, it did look like a terrible way to see the river. The hardships some of us have to endure I suppose!

Barren & Dry Countryside Surrounds the River

We were camped right on the banks of the Murray River. I am used to the Swan River and found the Murray to be very odd in comparison. I just cannot get my head around the way very barren country butts right up to the river. Where we were situated, and all around the surrounding countryside, the river just seemed to ‘be there’ as if someone had just slipped it into an otherwise dry and sere landscape. Nowhere to be seen were the belts of greenery and trees that in my limited experience cosy up to rivers and creeks. Quite often, due to the slight undulations in the country, the river could be just a 50meters or so away and you wouldn’t even be aware of it. Just Bizarre! We took a lovely drive out to Purnong – this was mainly thru’ grazing and cropping country, often flat as a tack. The Murray almost negligently lazes its way thru’ this farming country. From time to time, the river flats deepen into green valleys where small holiday villages cling to the river banks.

Something I didn’t know was that quite some time back the South Australian government decided it was too expensive to build a plethora of bridges across the Murray River and so instead has a series of punts or perhaps you may like to call them barges. The punts are operated by wires that stretch across the river. Operators simply guide the vehicles on and off and pull the various levers required for the wires to operate and drag the punts across the water. I was just a little nervous of these punts, but as the first couple of times we crossed the river we didn’t have the van hooked up, I had time to become sort of accustomed to the experience. We crossed the river, via punt, at Purnong and drove back to Mannum on the other side of the river, stopping to buy an ice-cream at Bowhill. Once back in Mannum we drove Zed onto the punt and crossed back to the CP.

Zed & Jezabelle safely aboard the punt.

As the crowd abated at Mannum our views of the water improved and we tossed up staying a little while longer than our planned 3 days. Once again, I would have loved to linger and perhaps get the paints out but DD seems to get anxious after a couple of days. We met another lovely couple at Mannum, yet another Peter would you believe and his wife Heather. They had driven up from Tailem Bend to celebrate a friend’s birthday and regaled DD with stories of Kingston SE and the seaside town of Robe. DD only needs a mention of the ocean to become keen to move on. We had pretty much decided to stay away from the coast until after the school holidays, expecting the coastal CPs to be absolutely booked out, not to say full of noisy families. Somehow, somewhere, that good intention went by the wayside (as do many good intentions) and we headed off to Robe. Not having spent a great deal of time in SA myself, I have to be guided by the lad who of course lived here for quite a few years.



Galahs Acting The Galah under the Sprinklers

 Leaving Mannum meant towing the caravan onto the river punt. Despite having been across twice with just the car, I was still a tad nervous. I just know how much stuff we carry and dread to think how heavy the combined weight of the car and van would be. That punt just didn’t look that big to me and I could easily envisage the punt, car and van all toppling slowly into the green and fast flowing waters of the Murray. DD can only remember one time in antiquity where a truck did topple a barge, needless to say, I was not entirely comforted by his memories, but despite my nerves, we traversed the river quite safely and headed away from the riverside town of Mannum.

So until we meet again at Robe, I wish you all a good-night. Look after each other...Stephanie.


Glorious Sunrise over The Murray