Author: Mr A
Location: Renmark and Berri, The Riverland (Ngarrindjeri), South Australia
We only stayed one night at Renmark, a small town on the banks of the Murray river, and according to a couple of sources, originally home to the Naralte people, about which I confess I can find absolutely nothing.
However, research published last year, led by Flinders University in collaboration with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC), has accurately radiocarbon dated a site near Renmark as having been occupied 29,000 years ago. That’s before the last Ice Age! And yet that news doesn’t even warrant a mention by Renmark town council on their site, or any other related tourism site. This is how ingrained the dismissal of our deep history is in Australia. I just can’t imagine many places in the world that would discover a site of such antiquity and the local people pay such little respect or interest. We hope drawing the attention of our readers goes some way to acknowledging the achievements of our First Peoples. They looked after Millewa, or Yorta, as the Murray is called, for all those thousands of years. Thank you.
Now the Murray around Renmark is home to ski boats who take their baffles out to make the noise on our camp site almost deafening, combine that with the continuous rumble of road trains crossing the bridge at the end of the camp site, and we changed our booking to one night! We did go for a wander in the only marked walking trail in town, which turned out to be also used as a road. Catherine managed to get some good pictures given all of that.
Look at that euro (kangaroo), no matter how many we see, they still delight us. That wasp larvae also elicited quite a few “ooh’s” and “ah’s from us as well. Never seen anything like them, and thats one of the joys of Australia, we still keep coming across new to us flora and fauna.
We moved a short way down the river and have spent a long weekend at a caravan park on the traditional lands of the Meri (or Meru) tribe, a people who I have also struggled to find out anything about. All I know is that native title was finally recognised for them and and other Murray River First Peoples in 2011, after a 13 year battle. It grants “non-exclusive rights” (so not so much really?) to “access, hunt, fish, camp, gather and use natural resources, undertake cultural activities, conduct ceremonies and meetings, and protect places of cultural and religious significance” in some 47,500 square kilometres along and around the river.
In total 37% of Australia now has a recognised native title interest in it, which is managed by a body corporate. What that really gives in practical benefit and influence, I’m still trying to read about and understand.
Berri had little to interest us to be honest. Its a small settlement based around the bridge of the Murray. We just needed to have a few days out of the dust of the Mallee country. And what happens on the first night? We have a dust storm 🙂 Another cleaning session in the caravan required! They have a lovely pool, and in the afternoon heat we retired to the cool of the water. The Murray’s muddy brown water, thanks to the carp, didn’t appeal.
This is Wilabalangaloo Reserve, gifted to the community (National Trust) and run by local volunteers. It is a wonderful place to wander in the early morning before the heat drove us back indoors.
We had a walk round a Martin’s Bend reserve on a couple of mornings, giving Catherine a chance to practice her zooming and catching birds in the act of hiding from her.
So we decided to head off on the bikes into Renmark. We picked a route to avoid the main road, and regretted it, sinking deep into clinging, stinky mud. I managed to wrap a piece of wire around my chain and break a spoke. After some fiddling around, and the odd expletive, we were off again and made it to the car wash on the edge of Renmark. Even the high pressure jet shifted the mud with some difficulty. Stickier than an English toffee that stuff.
Making back into camp with a wobbly wheel, we cheered ourselves up with home made pumpkin soup. Absolutely delicious. Our neighbour then knocked on the door to show us two European carp that he had caught. Apparently they aren’t a good eating fish, very bony, so the pelican got an unexpected Sunday feast.
The wind continues to howl along the water, so there is no sitting outside for drinks tonight, instead we are cosied up (again!) in the Zone sipping a lovely Adelaide Hills Shiraz and tucking into a spag bol. Perfect…we’ve really loved this camp…in those words made famous in our favourite Aussie movie The Castle, “Ah…the serenity”.
Leaving Banrock Station we drove back to Renmark. On a windy, overcast and relatively cool day it looked quite bleak. Most of the streets were shut off in anticipation of this evening’s Christmas Pagent – held at night due to the usually high temperatures. It was 37 degrees centigrade here on Thursday. Today it barely peaked 17! What climate change?
It wasn’t a long day behind the wheel though, and by early afternoon we were pulling up. It was a great location on a bend of the Murray, with only a few other vans here.
It was good to get in the bush again after our caravan park. Tas was happy to see a bit of greenery she could sniff around in, and didn’t seem phased by us being right next to such a large body of water. She really is developing a higher tolerance for new things!
I had been looking forward to getting the Packrafts out on the water, but with drizzle and wind it wasnt too appealing. Our neighbours also wandered over to warn us about a large brown snake that had driven off the previous occupants of our pitch. Ah well, better keep our eyes peeled.
After a cuppa we headed out for a quick explore, with half an eye on the gathering storm clouds. We really have landed in a beautiful spot, a giant grey kanagaroo bounded off when he saw us, more cormorants were splashing in and out of a backwater of the Murray. We really like this location – it’s free to camp here too!
