Our plans changed a little from the original ones, but a short post is still warranted.
Coorong National Park is Park of the Month for November and they were offering free camping at some of their campsites for the month. We still needed to book, but didn’t need to pay as well. This news had us somewhat interested and then more news turned up…
They were offering ranger talks for free as well…. On Saturday afternoon they were offering a guided bird walk at Parnka point with the local ranger in charge and also the President of Birds SA (John Gitsham). We were hoping to gain some local knowledge of the birds and the area. On Sunday morning there was a ranger guided walk to Ocean Beach from 42 mile crossing (a little further up the Coorong).
Unfortunately both of the ranger walks were cancelled when COVID escalated in SA, and although we had booked the campsites for two nights, Friday night would have been terrible as the hot north wind would have been desperately unpleasant for sleeping, so we decided not to camp then.
Eventually, with the weatherman promising much nicer temperature for Saturday afternoon and Sunday, we continued with the early plan to camp for one night on Saturday night at the Pelican campground on Parnka Point.
The family birding and camping group had become three vehicles and five people with Raelene, Jan, Ross, Erica and Trevor all making the trip.
We all met up at the Botanic Gardens at Wellington, before heading onwards to the campground.
The campground is only small, with seven campsites in total. We had number 4, which was small and fairly exposed to the open water (and wind), but scenic, whereas the others shared site 1 (more sheltered, but less scenic).
By the time we arrived at the campsite, it was steadily, but lightly raining, and this continued until after dark, so we all made use of our camper to sit together, chat and snack, before dispersing to our separate vehicles for the night.
Unfortunately the night got windier and it was pretty hard for any of us to sleep. It felt like a group of energetic teenagers were rocking our vehicle all night. There were some bleary eyes in the morning (and reluctant risers). The wind dropped at about 6am, but that was way too late for us to sleep well.
It was Rae’s birthday so it was good to sing happy birthday and share yummy carrot birthday cake together, as we battled the march flies at the campsite.
We also had the chance to try out fitting the awning to Rae’s vehicle, Tilly, and found it to be a fairly easy procedure (although probably not easy for one person alone).
We broke camp, going our separate ways as we headed back to our various home locations and other weekend activities. I took the opportunity to capture the view from our spot once more before we made the requisite trip down to the end of the point (1km away) where the closest toilets are located.
On the way out from Parnka Point we stopped to photograph the pink lake and pink salt collecting around the fence posts and wires , before proceeding towards home.
Lunch was at Tailem Bend, beside the river, where we sat and watched the ferry travelling across the river and back again as we ate our sandwiches and considered our route home.
We decided to cross using the ferry and travel up the south western side of the river to Murray Bridge, and then homewards via the freeway. As we came close to the freeway (just near the old puzzle park and butterfly house – now a hotel) we came across a new and unusual building and stopped to investigate.
It turned out to be a new waste water treatment station (Nankeri Tapatawangk- place of good water), which has won a design award. It is decorated to reflect the local aboriginal stories and the water is recycled to water local plantings which also reflect the aboriginal history. Two huge black swan eggs (mosaic by the local kids) are part of the artistic offering here as the Black Swan is the Ngarrindjeri Ngartji (totem).
Then it was homeward once more, and time to clean up our camping gear ready for the next trip.
Luvapuzzle 