Today is Monday, the 23rd of September. The weekend, with two days on Kangaroo Island, was magical - but also packed full and almost exhausting.
Now it's time for a nice relaxing day riding in a coach someone else is driving, and then being on the river. I did a little research (i.e. as little as possible, by using Google to find a Wikipedia entry - after all, I'm on vacation!) and pulled this info out:
"The Murray River ...is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) ...Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia (the Murrumbidgee, Darling, Lachlan, Warrego and Paroo Rivers). Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.
The Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, then meanders northwest across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows into South Australia. From an east–west direction it turns south at Morgan for its final 315 km (196 mi), reaching the eastern edge of Lake Alexandrina, which fluctuates in salinity. The water then flows through several channels around Hindmarsh Island and Mundoo Island. There it is joined by lagoon water from The Coorong to the south-east before emptying into the Great Australian Bight (often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean) through the Murray Mouth, 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Goolwa South. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of large-scale river regulation, the waters at the Murray Mouth are almost invariably slow and shallow."
I boarded the coach at about 0830, after which we made a couple of more pick-ups of our tour group. We left the city about 0900 for Mannum (So Australia), about 100km +/- away. Once there we boarded the MV Proud Mary for our 1 hour 45 minute lunch cruise. The Proud Mary is built in the style of a Mississippi river cruiser and the original paddle steamers. It has a very shallow draft, as parts of the Murray River are quite shallow.
The first picture below is the Murray Princess; the second (white) is the Proud Mary.
They had morning tea available as we boarded, and then served us a two-course lunch (which was actually quite tasty!). We could sit inside and talk to other travelers, or walk or sit outside on one of the decks. I met some folks (two couples) from Perth and we had a nice talk, with many suggestions as to what to do when I'm there.
After returning to land, we had an hour or so to wander around the small town of Mannum.
We reboarded our coach and then had some chances to take photos as we started back to Adelaide.
In the Adelaide Hills we stopped at Melba's Chocolate Factory and Woodside Cheese Wrights, where we could by treats for ourselves to carry home, and also to indulge in our afternoon tea.
Then back to Adelaide, where I arrived back at my hotel around 1800 (that's 6pm for my American friends!). A very enjoyable day.
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