The Riverland in South Australia brings back wonderful childhood memories for me. As my father was brought up on the River (The River Murray), it was a regular location for short family holidays in my childhood. So when the opportunity came to combine some data collection for my PhD research with a visit to Renmark, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Renmark is about 250kms or 3 hours from Adelaide. It’s a straight forward drive but on a road that has been notorious for crashes, no doubt because it’s a long and straight piece of road.

We left mid Sunday morning so we could visit a winery or two in the afternoon before having a dinner at the Renmark Hotel.

As we drove up My Favourite Person and I reminisced about the numerous road trips we’d done as kids. My Favorite Person has a very different view of road trips – I love them and she doesn’t!

Her reasons are sound, regular trips to Brisbane where her father made a beeline, stopping for nothing. For me it was quite different, I loved our trips.

A trip through Australia even if you don’t go into the outback is something quite special. The terrain changes quickly and the distances are large. On this trip we opted for the Sturt Highway rather than up the South Eastern Freeway and through Murray Bridge, the bumpy but quiet Karoonda Road through to Loxton and then the Sturt Highway to Renmark. The Sturt Highway is joined from Port Wakefield Road and is pretty much a straight trip, skirting the Barossa Valley and then hitting The River at Blanchtown and then over the Kingston Bridge, either taking the Sturt Highway bypass onto Renmark or going on the old road through Cobby (Cobdogla) and Berri where my father lived as a child, the son of a soldier settler and onto Renmark.

As we drove along talking about trips of the past we both remembered how the time of the trip used to be dependent on the punt(ferry) at Kingston which could substantially delay the journey. Today there is no such delay as the punt was replaced by a bridge in the 1970s.

 

 

As we drove I couldn’t help but remember one of our trips across the Australia Day weekend in the late 1960s when with the temperature well into the 40s my poor Dad had to change a tire on the side of the road.

That Australia Day weekend trip was one of the hotest weekends I can ever remember. As was my parents want, we hired a Houseboat at Renmark and then went up river choosing to moor wherever my Dad chose. With the weather so hot we spent lots of the time swimming – Dad had my sister wear lifejackets and fastened by a rope to the houseboat. All sensible precautions. The only thing we had to be mindful of were snakes swimming in the River!! We fished, catching plenty, with mum an expert at fileting fish making our dinners a delight. What great memories.

Thankfully for us this trip was uneventful and we arrived in Renmark in the early afternoon with our first visit The Angove Family Winery .  Although Angoves have been synonymous with St Agnes Brandy, they make some great wines and have recently added a Gin to the range. After some tastings and purchases the Cellar Door staff person, who we had to ourselves for the entire visit, suggested we visit  The Woolshed Brewery at Murtho about 15 kms out of Renmark. It was about a 15 minute drive and a great recommendation.

The Brewery is located in an old woolshed, and the smell of sheep still greets you are as you walk in. I’m not generaly a beer drinker but decided on the Summer Ale and my favourite person on the Hard Lemonade (Alcoholic Lemonade). These were accompanied by a few nibbles of locally made dip. There was really not much more to do than sit on the deck overlooking the River and take in a view you can never get tired of.

 

As my favourite person and I sat taking in below and up came the occupants to buy a six pack before heading back to the tinny and on they went. Just awesome!

Ater an hour or so sitting on the deck we headed onto The 23rd Street Distillery a rennovation of an early 20th Century Distillery. On a lovely day as it so often is in The Riverland what could be better than sitting outside having a drink, coffee and some food?

With a mind on not having too much to drink it was back to the car and off to the Hotel. The Renmark Hotel is a Community Hotel and is one that as a family we’d visited many years before.

Unfortunately our room was not in the old part of the hotel but we did have a stunning view of the River from our room. The hotel has a museum showing how the hotel was set up in the early 20th Century, a far cry from the modern bar and bistro of today!

After dropping our things we headed out for a walk and to the Renmark Club which also held special memories. This was a haunt of my parents when they were first married, so of course we had to pay it a visit and stop on the balcony for a late afternoon drink. Again it was delightful watching the occassional boat go by, as well as the pelicans, shags and gulls searching for their evening meal.

We tossed up about staying on for dinner but decided that it would make a pleasant spot for breakfast and it did.

With a goodnight’s sleep, a delightful walk along the riverbank and breakfast under my belt I went off and met with my interview subject. What a great couple of hours getting such a great perspective on my research topic and then it was time to head back to Adelaide.

On our way back we stopped at Banrock Station for a snack and to take in the views of their spectacular wetlands

While most of the other guests had a glass of wine to accompany their food I passed, as there was still a couple of hundred kilometres to travel before getting home. I’d love to have taken one of the walking trails but we didn’t have time.

So with Banrock Station visited, we set off for home.

What a great short trip. Filled with memories of times past and the joy of visiting The Riverland, one of Australia’s great destinations. I am looking forward to going back again soon!