4th May - 10th May

Monday 4th

We decided to try and look for a better place to stay than Thiele's sandbar. It is quite a nice place but it is very sandy with nowhere we can park the car/caravan that is not on the sand and sand is getting everywhere in the caravan. We were just about to head off when Ross looked at the places we could drive out and one was really sandy and the other wasn't so much so we decided to go for the sandy part!! (Just for a challenge). We did manage to get temporarily bogged because Ross forgot to put the diff lock on, but after that we were away - it was good to know what the 4x4 is capable of when it comes to towing the caravan.

We found another campsite only a couple of kilometres up the road that wasn't sandy and settled down there to wait for the houseboat to come past tomorrow.

We buggerised around most of the day doing little jobs, etc, waiting for mum and dad and at about 4 pm we decided to ring because we thought they should be here by now. Mum still didn't know what we were up to so I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Well, I reckon I was more surprised when I rang and she told me they were in Loxton already!! How did they get past us?? Well it was all blown by then so I had to come clean - it was pretty funny and we had to try and work out how they got past us. It turns out that when we were moving they passed the spot that we are camped at now and parked about 300 m down the river around a bend overnight where we couldn't see them!! Gah!! Nevermind, we will catch up with them tomorrow in Loxton. We will leave the caravan here and go in and meet them. So much for the surprise!




Tuesday 5th

I did my work in the morning and then we headed for Loxton to catch up with mum and dad. They have Colleen and Brian visiting at the moment - they are going to be travelling with us+mum and dad up the middle of Australia in a few weeks' time when Carol and Des arrive (we will all go up together). We were sitting down having morning tea when we looked up to the carpark and saw Derrick and Robyn pull up who we had last seen at the Yorke Peninsula! Small world! Anyway, we invited them down to the houseboat and the boat needed to go to the "pump-out" station so we took them for a drive - they thought it was wonderful! They are from Tasmania so they said if we get down that way next year we can come and visit them.

Wednesday 6th

Ross and Brian went to check the set lines this morning and came back with a Murray Cod!! They are so rare these days it was a real surprise to catch it. Being so rate they would have put it back excpet that it had already half drowned itself and wouldn't have survived. Most of us had never seen one before so it was a real treat and we ate it for lunch - YUUUUUUUMMMMM!! Heaps better than the yellowbellies we have been eating. Brian has been catching quite a few yellowbellies so we have heaps of fish to keep us fed for quite a while!

Ross decided to try to learn to throw the casting net today and mum and dad had it on video when someone showed them how to do it so he watched then went out to the back of the boat to practice. After several throws he had it pretty much down pat and on the last throw he threw it out and brought in a carp! Pretty hilarious - that would have to be the world's most unlucy carp!!

Thursday 7th

The boys caught another big carp so we decided we might try and cut some fillets off, mince it and make it into fish patties. It was soaked in vinegar for a little while after it was minced and then made some patties. They actually tasted quite good! We made sure we put plenty of other seasoning in it :). So you can eat carp!!

Friday 8th

Mum and dad moved on this morning to go to Berri - they want to go to the markets on Sunday morning. They will stay somewhere near Berri tonight and we will probably go to Martin's bend and stay the night there and then Ross will go to the markets in the morning and meet up with them some time and we will have lunch together later.

When we got to Martin's bend , about an hour or so later a couple of people that we met at Port Parham turned up - sure is a small world! It was fun catching up with them and working out what they had been up to in between here and there.

Sunday 10th

MOTHER'S DAY

We moved on to Lyrup this morning and we all had morning tea with Melva, Tom, Paul and Zager on board as well. We had a lovely morning.

Ross and I cooked lunch as a treat for mum - we cooked chilli con carne. She loved it - yay!