Laying low by the river

While we were waiting for my sister's arrival we had a few days to kill. We had thought of going to Kangeroo Island but the cost of the ferry crossing for just a few days ruled that out many times over. So we mulled and thought it over and decided instead to lay low by the river at Walker Flat where there was a free camp right on the river bank.

Its the kind of place where families going fishing for the weekend camp side by side with nomads sipping their evening glass of red (they all do this by the way) with a view over the water. And then some super rich people in a multilevel houseboat pull in for the night and you can look right in to their floating living room with its computer and gym equipment and full kitchen from where you sit not 20m away eating baked beans.

The towns are like that too. Working agricultural centres with real estate agents selling million dollar boats and Lamborginis park in the street (presumably fresh off the houseboat with two car garage).

Our greatest Murray moments were in Murray Bridge. After 3 days sans shower we decided that a trip to the local pool was in order. Regional pools in the middle of the day on a weekday are a great travelling secret. We had the entire pool to ourselves. They even opened the diving boards and water slide for us. 

We practised diving. We competed to see who could swim longest under water (Luis) and competed again to see if dolphin kicking makes any difference to the result (it doesn't). We swam laps widthwise. We practised our synchronised swimming salsa moves. We noticed that all this was visible from the ticket office where the nice lady who took our money was hanging out. And finally we capped in all off with a long, long, hot shower. 

On the way back in the evening the light struck the cliffs on the other side of the river making them glow. As someone who had only really seen the Murray at Echuca and Albury where its low and sluggish, this whole experience was incredible. There is a REAL river in southern Australia! 

(NB the other car in this shot is not, as we first thought, another Rojito. It was a Toyota).