Our lake side camp was not too bad but the temperature sure dropped and the wind was blowing again when we got up chilling us as we packed. We headed into Renmark along the Stuart Highway for most of the way and as we entered the outskirts we noticed an almond factory that had a showroom that opened at 8:30AM. We were a bit early so attended to some ‘morning business’ nearby and back tracked to it. It was just a little store inside the factory but had a window to view what was going on inside and you could see all the conveyors and people stacking and sorting. They had all sorts of yummy stuff for sale and a tasting tray as well. We left with a few goodies.

We grabbed a tourist brochure at the almond place and picked out a few places to visit. The brochure told us the bridge would open at 9:30 and 2:30 so we headed off and with a combination of our electronic navigator ‘Lee’ and my stressed navigator ‘Sharon’ we actually made something when it was going to happen. The bridge closed to traffic and opened right on time lifting a huge span to let a couple of rather large house boats through. The bridge was built in 1927. We almost got blown off our feet watching and quickly retreated to the car to ‘un-chill’. Just down the road a few 100 meters is one of the locks that regulate the water levels in the Murray but nobody was going through today. House boats were everywhere here tied up along the bank.

Closed

Houseboat 1

Houseboat 2, they are BIG

Our next stop was back into town and the visitor centre. The lady in this one was really good and helpful and we left with a few ideas and some brochures for Renmark and the rest of our trip down the Murray. We then drove all the way back across town to the Ruston’s Roses. They have over 4,000 different types of roses on display. The Ruston’s visitors centre has a selection of vintage cars, motors and outboards to keep the blokes interested. Sharon spent ages in the gardens smelling and looking around. Best of all it was free but we did have a scone and cream before we left.

Large scale rose farming

So what, we are on holidays……

They have ‘Australia’s second car’ on display a Zeta. The story goes they thought they could sell these super compact and small cars to Australians as a cheap second car. Only a few hundred were ever sold. There was also a station wagon version and they have one they are yet to restore. The Zeta was a 500cc 2 cylinder capable of 60MPH. An oddity of the Zeta’s gearbox design was it could do the same speed in reverse as it could going forward! There was some other quite interesting cars on display as well with well presented history information.

Zeta

Zeta, ‘Australia’s second car’

Zeta appointments

Zeta wagon, not yet started restoration

We decided our next adventure would be right across town near the bridge again. We went backwards and forwards across town no less than 6 times today as each new attraction would be just where we had just come from. The Black Stump is a huge root ball of an 800 year old Red River Gum. It was 8M in diameter and weighed 8 tonnes, the biggest in Australia. Apparently there are 11 Black Stumps in Australia. We read the info board but we are still none the wiser what a ‘Black Stump’ is yet.

The Black Stump?

While looking at the stump all manner of police cars with boats behind them, SES vehicles and Firemen went speeding past lights and sirens going. We headed out in the same direction to the Headings Cliffs lookout. When we arrive we were overtaken by more SES vehicles. Down by the river there was much searching going on and I spotted an esky and a boat fuel tank floating in the water. A tinny had been swamped and one made it to shore but the other was missing. By this evening they have still not found his body and stopped searching till tomorrow. The river was very muddy, had large waves on it and you guessed it was blowing a gale.

Police boat searching, taken from the lookout

SES and police boat + moored house boat

The SES, police and firemen were pretty busy today as the local golden arches sign got ripped apart by the wind and hit some vehicles and at least one crashed. We drove past not long after it all happened. While checking in tonight a guy wanted to borrow a tarp as his car had been hit by the maca’s sign and smashed his windscreen on the passengers side. Blow me down but the car had Tassie registration! We heard on the radio the SES was also attending a roof blown off a house boat, first time I have heard that one and plenty of damage in the area as well.

We did a bit of shopping for the rest of the day in between running to the car to avoid the rain showers. We checked out two of the local free campsites down by the Murray but ended up in one of the caravan parks for the night as I did not want to be under any trees tonight. There was a lot of cut up limbs and branches lying about and none of the sites met my criteria for safety. As I write this blog things have moderated quite a bit but the temperature is dropping (14.7 @7:25PM). Sharon is having a haircut tomorrow morning at 10AM and then we might mosey on down the road to Mildura and see where fate takes us.