Day 2 Mildura to Wilmington (near Port Augusta)

After being treated to a big cooked breakfast (thanks Ian!) we all went for a walk along the picturesque riverfront in the winter sunshine, with the four kids laughing and running on ahead. The local government is spending mega dollars improving the waterfront, and we enjoyed a coffee at the newly opened coffee bar at the rivers edge. After a walk back along the banks of the mighty Murray, noting the huge flocks of pelicans, past the huge loch 11 (complete with paddleboats and houseboats), it was back into the car ready for day 2 of our journey.  

At 10.30am we headed due west and before long we crossed the SA border. There is quite a large quarantine check point here, and our caravan was searched for fruit, honey and vegetables which aren’t allowed into South Australia. Surprisingly though, he took our lettuce for disposal, and let us keep the carrots! As we crossed the border we turned our clocks back ½ hour.

After heading across the huge bridge at Renmark, we passed through the outskirts of Berri, renowned for its citrus. (think Berri juice), before stopping at a roadside stall to purchase some fruit. The mandarins were some of the sweetest we had ever tasted, and the nearby orange groves were absolutely laden with fruit.

We stopped for a late lunch in the historic copper mining town of Burra. Brendan’s great, great grandfather George Prideaux immigrated from Cornwall in 1849 to Burra, and put his existing copper mining skills to good use carving out a living for himself and his young family for a few years, before following the well worn path to the Bendigo goldfields. The kids were amazed at the distance they would have covered (most likely on foot), with little kids in tow.

Burra has some beautifully preserved stone buildings, including imposing solid towers that housed the enormous steam driven pumps that were used to suck the water out of the mines. The quaint shops in the main street still offer the famous Cornish pastie for sale (3/4 meat & veges, and ¼ apple encased in pastry), made popular by the staple diet of the Cornish miners all those years ago. Burra is surrounded by vast wind farms that are dotted for miles atop the ridges, though thankfully their blades were almost at a standstill today (perfect still weather for towing).

Another couple of hours down the road, through sheep and wheat country, we arrived at our destination for the night , the tiny town of Wilmington (some 40kms west of Port Augusta). We chose a bush camp site on a pretty little river a couple of kms out of town (Stoney Creek Caravan Park), and couldn’t be happier with our choice. Remote, quiet, and extremely pretty, away from the noise of the trucks on the main road. Its been a chilly 10 degrees for most of the day, but sitting in the car looking out at the lovely sunshine, now we really feel like we are on holiday.