From Quorn we headed straight into Adelaide. We found a nice and reasonably priced caravan park not too far out of town.
We had made a promise to the kids at some point between Queensland and South Australia that if they behaved we would take them to the zoo. Whilst the kids’ good behaviour only lasted a few hours, we decided that the zoo would be a great day out. It was a brilliant day, particularly because of the awesomeness of the pandas. We also made friends with the cutest little wallaby. If I could have smuggled her out, I would have had a new pet.
We spent a couple of days doing some touristy things such as the Haigh’s Chocolate Factory, the Adelaide Museum, Adelaide Food Market, a drive out to Beerenberg Jam Farm and Hahndorf. Lucky for us we also caught up with our mate Ross and had a fantastic meal out at La Trattoria Restaurant. The kids got a free cocktail (non-alcoholic) and a free ice cream.
Then the weather turned cold and wet. And by cold I mean we though it was bad at 11 degrees, but then it went down to 8 degrees. We were pretty miserable. We had the heater on in the camper and we still were miserable. It was then we made the decision to head for known roads and return to Craig’s parents place.
To keep the return a secret we posted that we had checked into Victor Harbour when really we were camping on the Murray River at Neds Corner. It was a lovely place to spend the last night of our big adventure. We were even greeted with the quintessential Aussie picture on the way out in the morning of a mob of emus in full flight as well as a kangaroo in the background.
Our surprise was pretty epic for Craig’s parents, who seemed pretty happy to see us. We had also timed the return to coincide with the annual Murray Cod fishing opening. So Craig packed the camper again and headed out to Bundalong to set up camp for a week or two of fishing.
In the meantime I had to return to Canberra to organise the kids schooling for 2019. I also decided to surprise my folks and again the reaction was epic. The best surprise for me in Canberra was being Godmother to the beautiful Chloe and being able to attend the Christening. The kids were also part of the ceremony, which was wonderful.
The kids and I met up with Craig and his parents for some R&R at the river. The kids went fishing and playing in the river. A more sobering experience was the scattering of Craig’s grandparent’s ashes into the river, a place where they loved to camp and fish.
Back in Benalla, we thought we were all done with the trip. However, a phone call and a plan meant that there was at least another week worth of the trip left before we had to call it a day.
