Plushs Bend, Renmark, South Australia

Wednesday August 24th saw us head off for our second stop along the Murray River. We took the ferry across the Murray at Morgan and retraced our trip from the day before back to Waikerie. A bit of a winding trip with the caravan but we didn't have any problems. We carried on East from Waikerie passing through Barmera and Monash before reaching Renmark.

Here we had decided to stay at a free camp on the Murray River called Plushs Bend. The road in was fine but you could see that they had received quite a bit of rain recently. We found an open area across from the river where we could both setup quite easily. The campground itself is quite good with river frontage and flush toilets set up. Toilets were basic and could have been cleaner so I'll give 3 Stars. The downside to the camp is there appears to be a number of long term residents make the area appear somewhat seedy. I'm not sure we would have stayed if we were traveling alone. Too bad is a lovely area that just needs a bit of supervision to make it more accessible and welcoming to visitors.

Once again we got ourselves setup before the Ransleys took us on a quick tour of the area. First stop was the Visitor Centre where we got to tour a Paddle Steamer. Also found this fellow? with a handbag lurking around.

Next stop was the Red Cliffs at Murtho Forest Lookout. Beautiful view of the cliffs and the Murray River. A couple of Houseboats were docked along the shores as well.

From here we traveled back to Paringa and stopped at the Museum to watch the bridge open at 2:30 for a large houseboat. This is the only operational lifting bridge still working in South Australia. Also had a quick tourist stop at the largest black stump (Sandra maintains it is a root system and not a stump).

We headed back to the campground for the evening. It was a cool night and lots of fog/mist coming off the river in the morning. Was beautiful but cold!