News from Jude: Still catching up on blog posts.................May 2026

It was early May when the office staff told Barry to take some time off work, as it was a bit quieter and they were up to date. Didn't need to be told twice, did we.....and it so happened that we had eye appointments booked at Murray Bridge for the 4th May.....so off we went with the van and booked into Murray Bridge for 2 nights. We had our eyes checked at Specsavers and visited Mum, and then wondered what else we would do??

A decision was made to book in for another week.......Barry had some work to do in the van and also a trip to Birdwood was on the agenda.......headed up into the hills via Palmer, which is very rocky country.....

.............when we go to the Barossa to see family we turn here to Mt Pleasant, but this time we took the Birdwood turnoff.................

.............this is the Mannum to Adelaide pipeline which supplies the city with Murray River water.....and maybe it's time for some maintenance on the pipe??

............one of the historic buildings in Birdwood.........

.........after Barry had finished his business, we drove back to Murray Bridge, bought fish n chips for tea and turned on the heater in the van...........the weather had turned rather cold and rainy...........

The next morning we packed our lunches and headed out of town for a drive along the nearby river towns...............first to Mypolonga, which I remember as a fruit growing and dairying area from my school days..........there is still a primary school there, and some active fruit trees....but a lot of disused dairies and neglected fruit trees.......hard to imagine the water up to the levels shown below............

.......not too sure just why these beds are sitting in the paddock?? Would be a tad chilly at night??

Back to Murray Bridge in time to see the Ghan at the crossing...........

.and a bit of memory lane stuff as we passed my old Infant school...........

...............and here is the town square, called Diamond Park, (well it used to be called that!!) ...................

We then crossed over the river at the Bridge and headed up river on the other side............to Sunnyside..........so close to Murray Bridge where I grew up, but I had never been there.............a nice spot on the river, with lots of shacks, or are they holiday houses these days??...........

.....and then further up the river to Pompoota...................

..........another area where there used to be a lot of dairies, but now they all seem to be unused and derelict...........

......................and then we were into Mannum and these "shacks" are being rebuilt after being flooded recently...............

.......and across the river on the ferry...................

......this is the PS Marion on the wharf at Mannum..................

..............just out of Mannum is a new subdivision, called Mannum Waters Marina and lots of new homes being constructed there............

Another day I enjoyed lunch at the Bridgeport Hotel with DD2, my mum, my sister and my niece.........a nice Mother's day lunch which was the day before my birthday, so double treat............

On the Sunday morning, which was Mother's day, May 10th, we went to church with my sister and BIL.............there were lots of phone calls with my family..........it was a very cold, gloomy day...........so headed back to the van and the heater............but Barry injured his back that evening, and had a lot of trouble moving......I was almost tempted to call an ambulance!!!.......he had a very uncomfortable night and found it hard to get in and out of bed..........

Next morning it was my birthday, and we made the decision to head home where Barry would be more comfortable moving around the house instead of being restricted to the caravan (and he had a dentist appointment that week too)..........his back was still not good, so I had a lesson on packing up the van and hooking up to the car.......and the next job was to empty the cassette, my first lesson for this too..........Happy Birthday Jude!! (insert laughing face here)

We got home safe and sound and did not unhook the van, as we hoped to head off again in a few days.

After a few days at home, Barry was moving a lot freer and his dentist appointment ended up being cancelled, due to staff illness!! We received a message from Specsavers to say our glasses were ready to be picked up, so we headed back to Murray Bridge again on Friday 15th May and booked in for 2 nights, while we worked out where to go next.

...............the next day we drove back to Mannum to catch up with friends and have a chat by the river........and watch the Murray Princess sail by.............

Sunday, May 17th we decided to move on, and head to the South East of the state for a look around.........we were just about the leave town and mum phoned to say that my son and family had arrived, so we stopped at Mums to catchup with them...........Olivia enjoyed Barry reading to her...........

..........and it wasn't long before one of my brothers and his wife called in as well............

It was lunchtime by the time we left and we were aiming for Meningie........but on the way we detoured to Narrung, another place I had never been.............the pelicans were enjoying the sunshine on this jetty, by the ferry...........

We booked into the Meningie Caravan Park for the night.............this is on the edge of Lake Albert.......and enjoyed a catchup with my niece who lives at Meningie..........

................and enjoyed the sunset ...............

.....this was the view the next morning in the fog............

........we decided to stay another night.........and visited the museum which is in the old Lakeside Dairying cheese factory.............once again, there were so many old things in the museum that I remembered from my younger days, that I almost felt that I should be in the museum too.....

We enjoyed our stay at Meningie, and I did a lot of reading and we went for walks..............it rained overnight, and we headed off again, going south east..........along the Coorong.......

............until we reached Kingston............

.....where Barry had some work phone calls to make...................

...........then further on, we bypassed Robe.................. and saw the sign for the Woakwine Cutting.........it was hard to get a good photo, as I was reluctant to hold my phone out further in case I dropped it............it was a loooong way down!!

...........so thanks to the internet, here is a better photo of the sheer size of the cutting!!!

..............and this is the property that was drained...........

Next we found Beachport........will we stay here or not?? No, we will head to Southend..........which was a good plan, as it wasn't far, but there was a detour sign, and we ended up going 50km instead of 20!!!

A very pretty beach.............

We almost had the park to ourselves......................we left the car hooked up to the van

.............and a lovely sunset...................

Next morning we were ready to leave and we had a visitor..........Lynda follows my blog, and the travel page and has travelled to Bordertown for quite a few retreats at my place. She lives in Southend, and it was very special to meet up with her again.

Before we left the town, we checked out the jetty...........

and then headed to Millicent and saw lots of pine tree country.............we didn't stop at Millicent..........we were aiming for further south............

........and further on we stopped at Little Blue Lake for a quick photo op...............

.......and then past Mount Schank................

.............and lots of dairy country, definitely no abandoned dairies here...........

We booked into the Port Macdonnell caravan park for a few nights...........this was to be our base for touring the local area..............

..............Port Mac is only about 20 km from Mount Gambier and next morning we went for a drive there...........

............and I might have found a shop and made some purchases!!

Another day, we headed further east and this was at Donovan.......which is on the Glenelg river................

........and then into Victoria and to Nelson.................

which is where the Glenelg river meets the sea............

we had lunch at Nelson and then turned north, through National Park and lots of trees..............

...and into Dartmoor...............

.......where someone has been very creative and carved all these wooden structures............

.....and then turned west and back to Mount Gambier and around the Blue Lake..........

It was getting late and very cold, so was good to get back to the van and the heater.

Next day we went for a drive to the west of Port Mac, and into Blackfellows Cave..................

.........to Pelican Point..........

........and then to Carpenters Rocks, where we had our lunch looking out at the sea...........and were joined by all the seagulls......................

From the coast, we headed north and to Glencoe..............and this National trust Shearing shed.......(which was not open that day)...............

...........and as Barry is interested in all things communications, we drove up to the top of Mount Burr, to see the TV Transmitter tower...............

.........and then back through Mt Gambier and into Port Mac and the van and the heater. We hooked up the car for departure in the morning. We discovered a power point that was not working, so the handyman spent time after tea, working out what the problem was, and fixing it.

The next morning we left the park about 10am, headed for home. (insert a sad face here). Heading north, we left the rain behind and found sunshine and blue sky!!

Going north, through Penola and vine country, and loving the autumn leaves on the vines...................

...............we stopped for lunch at the Naracoorte Hotel............

......and drove through Padthaway...................

........and arrived back to Home, Sweet, Home about 2pm!!

Time to unpack the van, start the washing, clean the van, and remake the bed. Barry washed the outside of the van, as we had been stuck behind a slow moving cattle truck, on the way home!! We then took the van out to the farm and put it in the shed, not expecting to use it for awhile.

Another lovely relaxing trip, combining touring the countryside, with some easy, lazy days.

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Other May news......

While we were away, the pavers in our pergola were replaced.........they had been looking very sad for ages, and we love how they look now.