This morning it was bright and sunny at the Murray Bridge Showgrounds, but things went downhill from there. In fact the most exciting thing about this morning was lunch!
Bright and sunny first thing at Murray Bridge Showgrounds.
From the showgrounds we hit the A1 highway and soon passed through Tailem Bend. At this point the weather turned a bit poor, skies went grey and drizzle started.
We ventured on at reduced pace and eventually stopped for morning coffee at Coonalpyn. I dashed over to the bakery for sustenance while Ann prepared coffee in Bertha. On the way I had a quick chat to a couple of Avanners who we had in fact met at Renmark – it can be a small world can’t it?
The weather actually got a bit worse after that and for the rest of the day we experienced either rain or heavy rain, trucks, and roadworks. Grumble, grumble…
Rain, trucks and roadworks – what a great day!
We continued down what was now the A8 highway until we reached the outskirts of Keith, where we turned south onto the Riddoch Highway (A66), without actually going through the town of Keith itself.
Eventually we pulled off the highway into a gravel pit where we enjoyed lunch. Seeing that we hadn’t been able to stop and see much of anything along the way so far, Ann got busy in the kitchen and put together an omelette with home-grown semi-dried tomatoes, bacon and toast. Oh the joy of being in a self-contained motorhome!
Delicious cooked lunch in Bertha.
After washing up we got back on the highway and continued through to Padthaway, where we stopped at the General Store for a few provisions. As fate would have it, the store also sold some of the finest wines from the local region. We had a nice time checking out the wine racks, purely for research purposes of course!
Padthaway General Store.
At Padthaway the clouds parted and we actually had blue skies and sunshine for a little while, but it didn’t last for long. From Padthaway to Coonawarra and onto Penola we passed vineyards from many recogniseable brands, including Lindemans, Seppelts, Wynns and many more. If the weather had been better and if we had more time we certainly would have stopped many times along the way.
Recogniseable vineyards along the way.
Penola
Continuing down the highway we reached Naracoorte, where we had hoped to do some sight-seeing. However the weather was horrible and we were behind our anticipated schedule so we drove through town towards Mt Gambier.
Coming into Mt Gambier we came passed the start of the many pine plantations in the region.
Pine plantations near Mt Gambier.
The GPS finally took us to the Mt Gambier Showgrounds where we checked in for the night. There was a brief respite from the rain while we hooked up power and water, and from then on we bunkered down inside Bertha, warm and dry as the rain set in again.
Ann whipped up a delicious Moroccan inspired couscous with roasted vegetables, which was accompanied by a cheeky 2015 Giggling Goose Sav Blanc from Padthaway.
The rain is still beating down on the roof of the motorhome. After finishing this blog post we’ll settled down in front of the TV and have an early night.
Hopefully the weather will ease up tomorrow and we will be able to at least do a bit of sight-seeing at the Blue Lake!
Shorty's RV Adventures 