Fri, 22nd Jan, 2016 Overland Corner Conservation Reserve, SA to Maize Island Conservation Reserve, Waikerie, SA (Weir & Lock 3)

Thunder and lightning at 1am then rain with wind. Woke to pitter patter of rain on the roof. Nice and cool at least.

Steve went for a walk to check the road and came back 5 inches taller – the mud (clay/black soil) just stuck to the bottom of his shoes so we will have to wait for it to dry off before driving anywhere.

Clouds parting by midday, 27.5 degrees. No corellas here, just a few cockatoos.

Got Steve to try one of my murder novels (Inspector Bonaparte – used to watch the TV series, Bony). I tried out my colouring-in books – very therapeutic.

A car drove in about 2pm so we headed out to check out Lock 3 back along the road. Looking from the Lock then downstream.

Our neighbours have come upstream to fish.

They had one of these at the last lock but you could hardly read it.

Checked out the old photos.

Paddle-steamer Industry that we just cruised on at Renmark.

Empty lock chamber – massive doors. On the left are the inlet/outlet valves.

The lock gates were opened by turning the capstans, at the end of the lock.

Lovely paddle-steamers.

Bit crowded with ski boats.

Obviously didn’t tie off one end of his boat.

The workers' houses and the office are up higher here.

The Overland Corner Weir and Lock 3 – 431km from the mouth; weir pool height is 9.8m above sea level and construction was completed in 1929.

1956 flood (4.66m) was very high here – nearly 3 Stephens.

The upstream side of the weir.

A couple of carp are swimming in the Lock chamber.

Upstream view.

I walked up passed the lovely rose garden to the office to ask about the weather. He checked the radar and it is clear though Loxton was going to get a dumping. He said they need it here as they haven’t had any rain for 2 months. He a lots of old photos on the computer which he showed me. Of the SA controlled ones this weir has the biggest drop, 3.7m to the river. I asked about the height of the 1956 flood and he said it is became they only have a narrow floodplain, 5km, compared to others that can but up to 30km wide. 2011 flood didn’t go over the top of the weir. Steve wondered why they didn’t just leave the gates open for flood times for boats to go through but he said in the older days they needed a wider area – the navigable pass was usually 1.5 times wider than the lock. In the 1960s though they took out the old timber structures and put in more concrete ones (hence the two different styles of piers on the weir) so the pass is actually narrower now. It used to take 6 men, 6 days to prepare for a flood, now it takes 3 men 3 hours.

He said they have marked more floods on the Lock poles than the official flood marker.

Headed back towards camp. The clouds are starting to look nasty down south.

Looking over the floodplain beside the river where we are camped.

Stopped at the Overland Corner Hotel for a look. The old truck needs some work.

It was restored by the National Trust and relicensed and is up for sale. Would have needed a lot of work after the 1956 flood going by the height of the flood level.

The Hotel sits on the once busy droving route from Adelaide to Sydney during the 1800s. It was built in 1859, 23 years after the founding of the colony of South Australia. It was commissioned by the enterprising pastoralist, John Chambers, and built by three of the Brand Brothers, William, Henry and George, who migrated from Gravesend, Kent, England in 1851. The large Cobdogla cattle station embraced Overland Corner. It was also a stopping place for paddle steamers and coach passengers on the Adelaide to Wentworth route. The Hotel is the Riverland’s oldest with stories of ghosts and infamous Captain Moonlight, (Andrew George Scott – an Irishman, later hung at Wagga Wagga in 1880). He and his bushrangers are alleged to have locked the solitary constable in one of his cells, shod their horses using Government gear and then retired to the hotel for refreshment, Moonlight riding his horse into the bar.

Went inside for a look and chatted with the owners etc. A photo of the Hotel during the 1956 flood and the original Cobdogla Station.

Only small rooms for the bar and dining rooms.

The Brand Brothers –  the 3 on the right built the Hotel.

Back to the truck and looking at the storm coming we decided it would be best to pack up and move on or we might get stuck here for a while waiting for the ground to dry out.

Luckily it doesn’t take us long now – got a good system going. 4.30pm – has to be the latest we have moved camps!! The storm is getting closer and a few drops of rain hit the windscreen.

Back onto Goyder Highway – there is another storm to the north and the wind has whipped up the dust.

Turned off onto Devlins Pound Road to run along the high cliffs with the Murray in a type of valley below.

More new grape vines at the Devlins Pound Winery.

Travelling along on top of the high cliff now with the Murray River below us. Saw some vans so hopefully that’s where we can camp.

Across the Murray on the ferry. Such a novelty for us but I suppose the locals would rather a bridge.

A lookout to check out!!

Off we go again.

Through Waikerie – home of Nippys – will have to send that to the girls at Tuckshop as we sell Nippy milks. They do juices here.

Drove down to Holder Bend to check out that camp area – not much shade but close to town. There is another area at Lowbank 5km down the Sturt Highway towards Barmera so we checked that out too but it wasn’t any good for us. Back towards Holder then we turned upstream and followed a dirt track into Maize Island Lagoon Conservation Park. Passed the ones we saw from the road up on the cliff, which are now looking at.

Kept going around till nearly at the end of the track and decided on a lovely shady spot between a few campers and a property. Not sure exactly where the island part is but we did drive over a couple of dry creeks.

Great maps of the Riverland area.

A few skiing and fishing boats out on the water. Lovely afternoon listening to the birds, while the boats zoomed up and down the river. Dan had rung when we were driving so I said I would ring back later, which I did but he is having problems with his mobile.

Terrible TV reception here – only got Channel 7 so watched some of the tennis and a couple of things I had taped.

A shower of rain passed over then the wind picked up about 10pm. Certainly a lot cooler tonight, 22 degrees, had to put the hot water on for a shower!!