Meningie to Wellington

As you can see from the map, my original plan was to hit Langhorne Creek today. This far into the ride though I knew that was not to be!

Yesterday, at Meningie, I was told there were no cleaned cabins available. That evening it looked like no cabins were occupied and no cleaners could be seen in action this Sunday. So, no cabins available seems to have been a plan by Management to save money by not paying Sunday rates.

Anyway, I got a powered site although Management advised going to the Motel.

It turned out my powered site had a power pole into which the USB chargers could not fit. Luckily the motorhome next door had elephant transfers – so I recognised a vehicle I have met twice before! The people on board kindly lent me a power board which did fit into the pole and enabled both USB chargers to be used.

It was wet overnight. I took as much stuff as I could, including the loaned power cord, into the (small) tent and the rest, in the “annex” got quite wet. In the morning I used the Camp Kitchen area to assemble my gear and load up the bike. It took a while trying to keep dry the dry stuff and because I am not yet used to the time change following our move off Summer Time.

Eventually all was ready. I slowly rode out of Meningie taking a look for waterfront trails etc. Didn’t take long – there wasn’t much.

The above commemorates the SA bushranger who rode an Ostrich! I recall a character in a Comic (Beano or Dandi) who rode such a bird. This guy was the size of a 7 year old boy. He used to drop down chimneys in London climbing back up laden with jewelry and cash. For his industriousness he was rewarded with a trip to Australia. There he turned to Bush ranging. The Ostrich proved to be an excellent getaway vehicle as in the Coorong sandy soils the trooper’s horse could not keep up. The Ostrichman of the Coorong went well for a while but then, as you would expect, it all went fatally wrong.

How come an Ostrich, non native to Australia was available as a ride? Well, they were imported and raised here to provide feathers to the fashion industry. When that demand stopped, the ostriches were set free!

The ride was featuring a headwind today. I had just followed the road, turning so the wind came from almost behind for once, the speed built up but then slowed for some reason. I check brakes, yes, brakes off. I checked the hill – not enough to be the culprit. I checked tyres, offside front was going flat! How unusual !!

OK. Would this be hard? No, it wasn’t. Front wheel so that popped of easily. The tyre itself was not hard to get off. The hole in the inner tube quickly found and patched, tyre went back on much easier than when I first installed it and the inner tube pumped up well ready to continue.

After a seemingly never ending ride, suddenly we turned left off the Princes Hwy and found Wellington East.

The caravan park is in Wellington West – across the mouth of the Murray River via a ferry. What fun .. A third Ferry ride on the trip.

Now to settle down in the cabin, dry the gear out and have a schnitzel in the Welly Pub.