Adelaide to Robe

November 9

The temperature was already 25º by 8:00 am. We bade a not too sad farewell to Sal and Mary, as we will rendezvous with them next weekend in Melbourne.
There was little of interest on the road until we reached Murray Bridge, so named because the first bridge to cross the Murray River (in 1897) was constructed here and is still in use.
We were glad to see that there was still some water in the Murray.



Then it was on down the coast past a couple of dried out ponds, now basins of pink salt, beautiful but no longer able to support the wildlife of the area.



The road runs beside the Coorong, a long thread of inland waterway which I remembered as a picturesque haven for waterbirds, especially pelicans, from my last visit in my twenties.



Sadly, drought and the granting of excessive irrigation licenses by various governments have turned it into a series of algae-infested, saline ponds, smelling strongly of dead fish. It was heartbreaking to see something so pristine and beautiful destroyed by greed and political ineptitude. Although we stopped at the pelican sanctuary, there were few birds to be seen there. I had to settle for photographing the sign!



The only sea creature we encountered was the giant lobster at the town of Kingston.



It was a relief to reach Robe, a small seaport further south on the brink of the southern ocean.



It has a caravan park right in town, with about half the sites overlooking the water. They had the best view and were consequently crowded in spite of having no shade from the baking sun.



One couple, in a wonderful homemade camper with its own solar power, had the best spot as they didn't need a hook-up to the electricity supply.



We chose an inland site, without a view but under a large tree, and had the area to ourselves.