Being a tourist in my own backyard!

Yesterday I received a couple of visitors when my cousin Debbie and hubby Peter called in on their 2 month holiday touring around the country. They live in Queensland and have motored down through New South Wales and Victoria to South Australia and then will head back up again through the centre of Australia on their way home. It is 15 years since I have seen Debbie and it has been good to catch up again. As my mum is one of 10 children, there are 45 cousins scattered around the countryside somewhere!? This is their mode of travel and I was interested to check this out, as I think I could manage something like this??

About mid afternoon, I thought that I should show these tourists what my town has to offer, and was trying to think about where to go. So the first stop was our local council office to pick up a visitor's guide! 

A picture of one of the pages describing our district. Not sure if you can read these or not? We are in the District Council of the Tatiara, which is an aboriginal word meaning "the good country".

Just in front of the Civic Centre is a bust of Bob Hawke, who was once Prime Minister of Australia. Our town is famous for the fact that Bob was born in Bordertown and lived here for the first few years of his life. Here is Debbie and Peter getting to "know" Bob.

Next we drove past Hawke House where Bob lived, although this pic is from the internet and not one I took. This house has recently been used as local government offices, but will soon be a Bob Hawke Museum.

Bordertown was established in 1852, adjacent to the Tatiara Creek and was the site of a base camp created by Alexander Tolmer who was in charge of the gold escorts from the Victorian Goldfields to Adelaide. These historic escorts saved the infant state of SA from bankruptcy. Tolmer Park is named for this and is a lovely place to stop if you are passing through our town. (This photo is borrowed from the internet and was one of our stops in town.)

The Bordertown Recreation Lake was created after the by-pass was built to detour the highway from the town in 1988. Part of the development was building a bridge over the railway line and a massive amount of soil was dug out nearby, which left a big hole. It was decided to turn this hole into a lake and it is a popular camping spot, with walking trails, a barbecue area, and a jetty. (This pic is actually one of mine, taken at Easter time at sunrise.)

In the tourist book there are details of an Historic Drive which we took. (Some of the information I have written comes from there). I have to say I have learnt a bit, lot more about my area!

Our first stop out of town was Poocher swamp, and you can read the information on the sign. I have been here before, when the swamp was full of water. I had expected to see some water this year, as it is spring, but obviously our area has not had enough rain this winter for there to be any runoff into the swamp. So the 2 runaway holes were visible this time, although they are very deep and I could not see to the bottom from where I was standing.

This is the tree where the Pinkie family lived and is very large, and not in great condition anymore.

I did find this picture of Poocher Swamp in the tourist brochure, from a year when there was enough water flow to fill the swamp.

When Poocher Swamp overflows in extremely wet winters, the surplus water is directed along drains and a lot runs into Scown's Runaway Hole which is further up the road. From this and other runaway holes the water drains down through the layers of soil to underground and recharges the vast underground water supply.

There were a few other places mentioned in the brochure, but we must have been too busy talking and had gone past them before I realised. (This was The Shearing Tree, and a Gold Escort Marker and an Aboriginal Burial Ground.)

We did stop at The Plaited Tree. The tree was plaited together, with the branches crossing over one another, and was an aboriginal meeting point. Over the years the branches have grown together and some limbs are quite large.

Our next stop was the Buckingham Church, which used to be the local school which opened in 1885 and continued until 1956. The church remains a place of worship today and is part of the Tatiara Uniting churches, which includes Buckingham, Mundulla and Bordertown. This is the first time I have been here, and we were pleasantly surprised to find the doors are alway open. It was a very peaceful setting for the church amongst the paddocks and gum trees.

From here we travelled back towards the small town of Mundulla. It is a pretty time of the year to be out and about in this area, and there are many vineyards, just showing the first signs of growth...........

..............and fields of green and yellow crops, with large gum trees along the road.

In Mundulla is the Wirrega Council Chamber building, which was built in 1886, and used until the Wirrega council became part of the Tatiara District Council.

This is the Mundulla Common area, that is part of the Moot Yang Gunya swamp, that is also dry this year. The tourist info tells me that there is water in it 2 out of every 3 years, and fills about every 7 years. This swamp also helps feed the underground water system, and is home to many birds and animals.

We were almost back into Bordertown and stopped at Clayton Farm, which which is a restored farm that was owned by the Wiese family from 1871. There are several interesting buildings on the historic farm and there is a display of restored farm machinery housed in a shed built for the purpose. It was about 5pm when we arrived here, and the sign said it closes at 4pm! Bit late for a tour of the buildings, so a few photos will have to do.

Another stop when we were back in town was the Wildlife Park, which is one place that I have taken visitors to. This was developed in 1968 and is just off the main Adelaide to Melbourne highway.In the park are grey and western Grey kangaroos and wallabies as well as a variety of birdlife. The park is famous though, for its white kangaroos and is a tourist feature of our town.

Debbie and Peter left this morning to travel to Murray Bridge, where they will stay with my mum for a few days before heading north. It just so happens that there is a family celebration up that way tomorrow that I am attending, so I will be seeing them again, as well as other family.

Now that I have finished this post, and in the process, learnt a lot of history about the town I live in, it is time to finish the quilt on Max. I also need to bring in some more wood, as the weather has turned cold again, after some overnight rain that has been welcomed by us all.

I have managed to cross a few more quilts from the list this week, and these have all gone to their homes for binding, ................

...................................... and hope to post more photos from the files soon. Our exhibition is coming up fast, and there is less than 4 weeks until that. And only a few more days to wait for the baby, number 10!!

Blessings, From Jude