Murray River Cruise - First Port of Call

Our first cruise is not far. After the long drive, we are ready to kick back and begin partying. Who christens the keg? Who do you think? While Neil drives and Grant learns, CJ christens the keg. The fellow who has at least three times opened the bar at wedding receptions, has now christened this boat's keg. 

We pick up a spot and prepare to tie up at our "1st Port of Call". As the most experience line handler, CJ is first off the boat. Disaster strikes! On his first step he lands wrong and immediately feels a strain or tear in his upper calf. He's on shore but can hardly walk. The pain is excruciating. The tie up falls to Grant. CJ's only contribution is to hobble to a tree with a stern line and hold it until Grant arrives to tie it off. Getting him back on the boat is a major evolution.

When mother found out we were going on a boat cruise, she asked what our first port of call would be. This is it. Perhaps it should be called Port Fallen Gum Tree.

Once we've securely tied up, it time for cocktails; the only real reason to go on any kind of boat. 

CJ drags himself up to the second deck and the keg. He is hobbling horribly. 

In the first picture Carol, Carolyn and Grant enjoy a drink at the high table. In the second Neil and Bronwyn enjoy their cocktails in the loungers.

Following cocktails on the upper deck, we remand to the fantail for munchies with cocktails.

With cocktail hour(s) completed and the sun beginning to go down, it is time to prepare for dinner.

The kitchen is large, wide open and has great views of the river and riverbank. This first evening, Carolyn has dinner responsibility.

Getting close to the beginning of summer, it remains light outdoors at dinner.

Outback Star

The drive to the houseboat is 300km, about 180 miles. Our three vehicles rendezvous in Renmark for lunch at a recommended Thai restaurant, Nui's Thai Kitchen. Lunch is very good, particularly good for Renmark.

With Harry's assistance, we unload the vehicles and load the boat with Harry taking care of parking the cars and briefing us on the boat. Briefing welcomed but not essential: four of us have cruised Outback Star previously, in 2013. Pictured below is the 2013 crew which consisted of us, Bronwyn and Neil, and Bronwyn's father Brian and his wife Suzie. We had the crew shirts made as a joke on Brian.

Seven years on, the Captain of the Hot Tart (our renaming of the boat and the crew shirts is a very long story) is getting on in years, had a recent accident, and was unable to make this year's voyage.

Outback Star is one of only two houseboats on the Murray to have three bedrooms and three ensuite. Most three bedrooms have none or one ensuite. Some four bedrooms have four ensuite but most of the four bedroom houseboats have two shared ensuite. Our crew voted each time and determined that we were too old for each couple to not have a private bathroom.

The normal entry to the boat is the center of the bow. One enters into the lounging and conning area. Facing aft, the left side of the boat has three bedrooms with ensuite. The right side had a dining table seating eight followed by a large kitchen. There is an outdoor dining table on the fantail which seats six and beyond the enclosed fantail there is a swim platform.

On the upper deck is a lounging area, a high-top table with four seats, a wet bar with keg, and two lounge chairs for sunning or relaxing. There is an alternative steering station on the upper deck which we never use in two cruises.

And we're off.

That is the brewery on the hill.

We leave Wilkadene and a couple kayakers to our stern and begin the Murray River Cruise 2020.

Ray Orbison Tribute Concert

No sooner have we returned from McLaren Vale than we're off to the Adelaide Festival Centre for the Roy Orbison Tribute Concert.

We are with Bronwyn and a friend of hers. Theater seating is marked for every other seat only and it is enforced. Couples are not allowed to sit together. Bronwyn purchased the tickets when the show was nearly sold out. Carol, CJ and the friend are in the last row of the theater. Bronwyn is seated in the row and in front of Carol.

This is not a concert where the singer looks and dresses and plays like Roy. He sounds like him but doesn't play, only sings. He spent time in Nashville where he met the Orbison family. They were impressed and now, whereas the family sue impersonator shows, they not only embrace this guy but also contribute sound overs to the show.

Lunch at Pizzateca

We have been trying to get reservations at Pizzateca for a few years. At Fringe this year they had two mobile food trucks and we sampled and enjoyed their pizza on a couple of occasions.

We managed this Friday noon reservation BEFORE we had pizza at Chalk Hill two days ago. We fear we should have booked back into Chalk Hill and cancelled this one.

We should have followed our instinct, Chalk Hill is the new pizza king of MCV unless Russell's is still as good as it once was.

Longwood Wine Pickup with Phil

After lunch at Pizzateca, we return to Phil's winery to purchase a couple of cases of wine. We're treated to a koala viewing. This first picture is Phil holding up the evidence: koala poo. The second picture is part of the trail of koala poo that leads us to the tree.

Fortunately CJ remembered he had his Nikon in the car. There's the little fellow.

Phil and Lauren have a nice garden next to the warehouse.

Back in the house, Phil demonstrates a family heirloom. He and Lauren were visiting some place where Phil's family was from when a lady came up to Phil and told him the church has something of his. It was this Estey JJ model portable reed organ from Burlington, Vermont. The organ folds up into a box not much larger that the main body of the organ. These portable organs were used by missionaries throughout the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFnSN8ea0zM

Jacaranda Season

Jacaranda mimosifolia is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting pale indigo flowers. It is also known as the jacaranda, blue jacaranda, black poui, or fern tree. Older sources call it J. acutifolia, but it is nowadays more usually classified as J. mimosifolia. In scientific usage, the name "jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the blue jacaranda.

The tree grows to a height of up to 20 m (66 ft).^[6] Its bark is thin and grey-brown, smooth when the tree is young but eventually becoming finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag; they are a light reddish-brown. The flowers are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, and are grouped in 30 cm (12 in) panicles. They appear in spring and early summer, and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seed pods, about 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter, which contain numerous flat, winged seeds. The blue jacaranda is cultivated even in areas where it rarely blooms, for the sake of its large compound leaves. These are up to 45 cm (18 in) long and bi-pinnately compound, with leaflets little more than 1 cm (0.39 in) long.

The Jacaranda is one of the prettiest trees we've ever seen. It blooms from mid to late spring. Some of the Jacarandas seen around Adelaide. 

Peppercorns B&B

Due to a misunderstanding, we thought we could only have the Grape Pickers Cottage for two evenings. We could have had it all three nights. Bummer! This is a major stuff up.

We move to Old Noarlunga, a B&B nearly surrounded by the Onkaparinga River. It is the river that created the gorge that Samuel's Gorge winery overlooks.

The people at Peppercorns are very nice but the accommodation is a huge come down. Whereas Grape Pickers was large, light, modern and an architectural masterpiece, Peppercorns is small, dark, dated and will never win an architectural award.

This is the website picture. It makes it look better than it is; lighter and more airy.

It feels far more crowded than the picture above would suggest.

The gardens at Peppercorns are more developed and compact. Breakfast is home cooked and can be taken in this small gazebo, in your room or in the house.

 

Lunch at Watervale Hotel in Clare Valley

It's been a long time since we've got out of Adelaide. Bronwyn informed us that Walter and Kay were hosting an open gardens event at their Clare Valley property. Since we have multiple needs for a hire car over the next month, CJ has deemed it easier and less expensive to hire the vehicle on a monthly rate.

On the way to the open garden, on Kay's recommendation we lunch at the Watervale Hotel. 

A young couple has taken over and remodeled the dining room, hired a new chef and revamped the menu.

Our waitress is knowledgeable on the wine and food. She is a delight.

The food is magnificent. We begin with carpaccio, the house special fries, and kingfish starter.

For the main, we enjoyed delicious duck sliders and a very special serving of mashed potatoes.

Since it was a cold and threatening day, we had been seated inside. This is the advertised beer garden with a wood burning pizza oven.