Murray River, Sunraysia District Part 1

The distance from Renmark, the last town in South Australia's Riverland Area to Merbein, the first town in Victoria's Sunraysia District is 134 km. It only took about one and a half hours to switch camp sites, but we had to go into a different time zone and lost half an hour there too. We had been told of the Merbein Common early in our travels so this was to be our camp site of first choice.

A houseboat navigating the Murray River, here passing one of the 25 Merbein Common camp areas.

We had to wait a few days but we eventually got into a front row camp site at the Merbein Common. This was "our" view from the caravan and we were able to take this in for 9 days at zero cost. It is only 3km into Merbein Township to replenish fresh water and food supplies.

While camping at the Merbein Common we made a day excursion to Wentworth. This is the Darling River from the front of The Wentworth Club

The Darling River and the Wentworth Port area from the top of the bridge in the previous photograph. 

A model Paddle Steamer located at a Museum in Wentworth. A visit to this museum is a must-do for a visitor to Wentworth. All the models are built onsite in a work shop at the rear of the museum. The apprentice to the model builder is aged 80.

These three models are all of the same PS, Marion. Different owners made individual modifications to the vessel. The PS Marion actually began as a barge in it's early life until an early owner added a boiler and steam engine.

Wentworth is where the Darling River meets the Murray River. The Darling is in the foreground and the Murray beyond. It is not evident in this photograph but the waters of the two rivers are very different in colour, the Darling carries a yellow pigment while the Murray is more of a brown colour.

Fergie Park is a tribute to the little tractor that made the installation of the irrigation system in the Sunraysia Area possible.

Located at Loch 10, Wentworth, is this diagram of the vast Murray-Darling River Basin and it's associated water storages. This diagram does not show that a large part of the Darling flow originates in Queensland.

There once was a 'Hermit' nick-named Possum who lived along the Murray and Darling Rivers. This bronze statue is in recognition of Possum's life in the area and is located at Fotherby Park, Wentworth. Possum rarely visited towns but lived his life in isolation. Apparently he was never idle but was continually helping out the farmers of the area with free unrequested labour. Repairing fences and the like. In return for this assistance the farmers left out parcels of flour, tea, sugar and clothes etc. to help Possum survive in his self imposed exile.