Late morning of Monday 26 August Lib and I headed off for a change of scenery for a week. With the Skoda loaded with stocked esky and pantry box and a bag of clothes each our first destination was the Berri Caravan Park where I'd booked a cabin for two nights. It's always nice to hit the open road starting a road trip.
We stopped for lunch at Strathalbyn which is a town about half an hour's drive from home. Pasties at the local bakery was the fare. I had a Ploughman's, Lib a standard. Mine was so big I struggled to finish it, despite it being the best pasty I'd ever had. Lib agreed with that assessment. We resolved to stop there on our way home and buy some for the freezer.
Between Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge we picked up the freeway heading north. I drove peacefully, not really knowing where I should turn off. I couldn't find my road map of SA before we left but was unconcerned thinking there'd be plenty of signage to take me to the Riverland. Mistake. At Tailem Bend the Murray was on the right (how come?) and I was wondering where the turnoff was. I kept going. By the time we reached Coonalpyn I knew I'd gone wrong. At an intersection I saw a number of cars parked in front of a school/library, so I did a leftie and thought I'd ask at the school. I could find no people, despite entering several buildings, until after about 10 minutes I found a group of four ladies in an office way out the back. They explained it was a student free day which is why the school was almost deserted.
They explained I should have turned off into Murray Bridge, the road to the Riverland was from there. There was a quicker back way along gravel roads to pick up the road I should have been on at Karoona. The youngest of the quartet, a delight, offered to come back to our car to help me how to work the GPS. She couldn't get it to work then I remember there wasn't one installed even though the facility by way of a screen was built in the dash. So, she tried my mobile phone into which Gord has installed some sort of Google map GPS thing that I don't know how to operate. We gave up on that and she gave me verbal instructions to follow the road I had turned into until it hit a bitumen crossroad then turn left and drive some 40k's to Karoona, then turn right and we'd get to Loxton/Berri. I have to admit I was totally disorientated, maybe that's a symptom of advancing age. I apologized to the girl for being a nuisance and thanked her for her effort. She said, "Not trouble at all, thank you for giving me reason to get out of that boring meeting."
By the time we got to Loxton, a three-hour trip had turned into five hours. Lib said she felt like a steak for tea so as we looked for a butcher, we saw a sign T-Bone Steak $24.99kg outside an IGA. They were in two packs and huge. Berri was 15 minutes or so away and we pulled into the caravan park at 5.28pm just before the office closed, which would have again tested my technology to manipulate the afterhours procedure. Cabin 24 was OK but standard ordinary, comfortable enough for us. The steak was magnificent. Lib cut meat off both, they were so big, we kept it for stir-fries for another meal.
Tuesday was windy, we took the opportunity to rest up in the cabin reading, and in my case doing crosswords and sudokus. We did a quick shop and took a walk on the river in the evening when the wind stilled. Lib made delicious tuna mornay for dinner. Wednesday, we drove to Renmark for a salad roll picnic lunch in a park by the river, then Lib stocked up on clothing from an Opp shop. Back in our cabin, after booking in for two more nights, we had the rest of the T-Bone steak with stir fry veg. Again delicious. Thursday, we explored around Loxton and booked into the caravan park there for two nights, but only stayed one as it turned out. Lamb loin chops for dinner back at Berri. Lib cooked on the nearest communal barbecue as she likes to do. Each night we the only ones using it. I cleaned it up afterwards, as I did also the dishes in the cabin where we ate.
The cabin at Loxton was newer, spacious and upmarket at $180 per night! Right on the river, with great walking tracks along and up steps to a grand lookout. Friday, we toured the historical town/museum for $10 a head, seniors price. A cooked chook from Woollies with salad for dinner, again delicious and with plenty of meat left on the chook for lunch sandwiches the next two days.
Using our phones we booked the Saturday night at 'Balcony on Six', an old hotel lodgings at Murray Bridge. An hour or so was spent in the gaming venue next door where Lib indulged a flutter on the pokies. I played too, on a one cent machine one line at a time, I lost $2 but had an hour's entertainment, if you can call it that.
Last night on our trip, so we got a family sized Italian pizza from 'The Oven' in the main St around the corner and it didn't disappoint. Leftovers to go. Sunday morning we were out to Monarto Safari Park early to pay entry and catch the first tour bus at 9.30am. We also booked a close encounter with the lions for 12.40pm, which was a fantastic experience. just enough time between tours for lunch from the esky of chicken sandwich and pizza.
Sunday it was nice to get home after stopping at Strathalbyn to get pasties to take home. That's about it. Gord did a good job looking after Pip and the maggies and the house in our absence. Roast lamb for our customary Sunday roast dinner. Magnificent.
If you think I seem to be preoccupied with food, you are right. It seems the older I get the more I enjoy my tucker, and a week on a leisurely holiday is the perfect chance to focus on simple joy. Also, by recalling meals helps me recall places where we were and what we did, the general sequence of events.
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