We left Hahndorf and took the scenic road to Murray Bridge where we picked up our mail and some food. We stopped at the Long Island Caravan Park and found that there is no drinking water on tap. They use brown Murray River water which is not the best for drinking. As we travelled along the Murray we found that in the last 10 to 20 years SA has put in filtered river water to the larger towns, including Murray Bridge. Unfortunately this caravan park hasn't done the right thing yet, supplying only unfiltered river water to each site.

Our camp on Bolto Reserve opposite Mannum.

Our first  free river camp was opposite Mannum, the town was only a short walk away over the river using the free car ferry. The same day we arrived they had the Christmas Parade with about 49 floats including the local Sewage (shit) Truck.

Even an old caravan was a participant in the parade.

These two giant puppets amused and in some cases scared the wee folk.

That night we were treated to a fireworks display and the other campers gathered at our van for the show. It was held directly in front of us and we couldn't have asked for a better spot.

The Eliza Anne Paddle Steamer was not much bigger than our caravan.

We did a scenic tour to Swan Reach and back dropping in to Houseboat Marinas and stopping at fantastic lookouts on top of the cliffs which are dotted along the river. Younghusband, Bowhill, Kroehns Landing, Nildotte, Greenways, Wongulla, Walker Flat, Pellaring Flats and many more. These were small settlements mainly catering for the houseboat industry with many properties having a mooring or jetty in front of their house.

Blanchtown's Lock 1 where all the Pelicans come for lunch

Via Sinclair Landing we stayed at Morgan Conservation Park next and watched more Houseboats travel along the river. Onto Cadell, Hogwash Bend, Ramco Point and after shopping at Waikerie we camped free on the river just near the town boat ramp and the next day did the washing here. So many towns and campsites along the Murray it's hard to remember the names and what they looked like. Most of the Tourist Bureaus supply the free camping information for their area on brochures. Were into the stone fruit season now and are buying apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums for $2 a kilo, yum.

We set up camp at Moorook prior to Christmas just in case the camping gets full. A lovely grassed camping area in town on the river with toilets and only $7 a night. We have had a few skiers and a couple of houseboats go past but it was very quiet until Boxing Day when the crowds arrived.

Sandy's the only one who has caught an edible fish so far, a Callop at 38cm. Not as nice as we hoped but local information has told us to soak it in saltwater for 24 hours which will dramatically improve the qualities, all we need now is another fish. Plenty of Carp and they can be fun to catch on a light line. I bought a shrimp net to catch bait but have found the opera nets work better here.

A fellow camper arrived here, Brian (a sponsored fisherman) who taught me a few basics about trolling lures for Murray Cod when I took him out in my boat. Hopefully I will get a cod somewhere along the river. The lures go down 7.5 meters and burrow along in the mud hopefully not snagging on anything.

How's this for a homemade houseboat. 4 adults and 4 dogs on board.

Took a trip to Berri for food shopping and dropped into Cobdogla for some drinking water as Moorook town site still hasn't got filtered water. The campground started filling up on Boxing day so the peace and quiet we had is now gone.

We took a drive into Loxton one night to see part of their Loxton Lights Festival. On the way we tested the car brakes and the boat rack as we made an emergency stop from 80kmh to 5kmh to avoid 2 kangaroos which jumped onto the road in front of us. I was just waiting for the boat to zoom off the roof and sail on down the road but my brackets worked well holding the boat tight.

At Loxton we drove around Santa's Walk which had over 350 Christmas scenes on display in resident's gardens. We then went to the Christmas Wonderland which has 30 displays over 250m along the property boundary, a stunning exhibition.

Christmas Wonderland - Bethlehem street scene

Christmas Wonderland - Lolly Shop, Fantasy Castle, Candy Store

From Moorook we travelled on to Renmark and stayed the night at Lock 5 sandbar before heading to Custom's House in Chowilla Game Reserve. Here we met Paul, owner of the Custom's House Houseboats, who invited us to a New Years Eve Party.

I took the boat up stream about a kilometer and had a swim in Victoria, the border is that close to our camp.

At midnight on New Years Eve we had about a dozen people swimming off the back of Paul's 60 foot hire  houseboat keeping cool. Our hottest day since we started travelling at just over 48 degrees for 2 days. At 12.30am on the 1/1/2006, when we got home, the van was still 37degrees!

Next  month off to Victoria, this time with the caravan.

Peter and Sandy