Don’t you love it when birthdays just keep on going.
This weekend was planned by Deb so we could wind up my birthday celebrations in style together. We have stayed in Bob’s Bungalow at Riverview Rise Retreats in Cowirra near Mannum.
We left home around 1pm on Sat 25th and took a leisurely 2hrs to do the 1hr drive up to Mannum. The traffic was very light, there was a Super Cars race weekend at the new race track “The Bend” (at nearby Tailem Bend) but all the rev-heads must have got there early. We some how came in on the eastern side of the river, took the ferry over into Mannum and had a quiet drive around town. Mannum has a very historic feel to it with many old building lining the main street and surrounds.
We eventually got the car ferry back across the Murray and arrived at the Retreat around 2:50pm. We were in our bungalow by 3pm and settled in for a quiet afternoon relaxing. The Retreat has 3 bungalows and they all look down over the Murray River and the Mannum township. Cloudless skies meant a quick simple country sunset. We had a delicous cheese platter and an equally tasty bottle of Hugo’s Grenache (thanks Brian & Eileen) for dinner and snuggled up for the night.
We woke around 7:30am on Sunday, and it was cold, 0.3 deg C. Needless to say, we were in no hurry to get out of bed. With the AC on, the bungalow soon warmed up and we managed to get up have breakfast and be out and about by 10.40am. I know, doing it tough!
Our host, Michael, told us of a nice drive along the Murray just east of here. He understated the drive. We had an amazing time exploring the river between Mannum and Bowhill. The drive has everything from rustic old farm buildings, views of scores of houseboats, hundreds of riverside shacks (of widely varying grandeur, rundown shack to definitely not a “shack”), beautiful tranquil billabongs, amazing stretches of red cliffs, numerous birds (ducks, pelicans, swans, hawks and more) and beautiful river views. The 1 1/2 hr drive took us almost 3hrs, and we could have easily taken much longer.
After lunch, we drove into Mannum via the car ferry (the ferries are fanastic) and took a walk around town. So many buildings from the mid to late 1800’s and scattered markings of the level of the 1956 flood (that level looked to be about 3 to 4m above the present river level. We really enjoyed exploring the town.
We had a spectacular sunset tonight, it’s amazing what a few clouds on the horizon do for a sunset.
We have a late, 2pm, checkout tomorrow, so it’s going to be a slow day.
It has been so much fun exploring this part of our state/country, it is so close but so overlooked by us.
It is hard to believe that we will be away again in 2 weeks. Doing it tough. #retiredlyf
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