Hello everyone,
I hope you are doing well and thanks again for visiting our blogsite. Our latest travel experience included a three day houseboat trip along the Murray River. The Murray River is the largest river sytem in Australia and flows from the mountains in Victoria down to South Australia out to Lake Alexandrina. It was a extended weekend as Monday was a holiday celebrating the Queen's birthday in Australia. The houseboat trip was organized by the teacher exchange group SATEL and there were 24 people signed up. We had two 12 person boats reserved, the Kia Mist and the Black Swan. The boats were quite large with spacious bedrooms, two bathrooms, big living rooms, nice kitchen areas, deck space, and a top deck with a sunroof. We left from the Kia Marina station about 8 miles west of the town of Mannum on board the Black Swan.
German, Canadian, and American exchange teachers aboard!
Kim taking a turn driving the houseboat- notice the intense concentation.
Reflection of the Kia Mist along the Murray.
Nightime along the river.
Our general direction for the three days on the river was upstream in a west to east fashion. We traveled from Kia Marina to Younghusband then on to Bowhill and back. We had training provided on how to operate the boat and everyone was able to operate and steer the boat at some point in the trip. They are very fun to drive, although they respond very slowly which takes some getting used to. The trip organizers Joan and Jim did a fantastic job of organizing the event and catering and cooking all the meals. The food was wonderful! The Murray River is quite nice and we had some calm weather and nice cool days with sunshine. On the second day the river was very calm and extremly clear and had a glossy reflection.
Early morning clouds along the Murray.
We saw a lot of birds and wildlife along the banks of the river- here is a pelican hanging out on a gum tree branch.
We also got to cruise along under some neat cliffs. We docked at some very nice moorings in the late afternoon and were able to explore some neat countryside and hike some around the river. They also had kayaks and rowboats onbaord so we could take the boats out along the river for a paddle. We had group dinners in the evening and some nice campfires by the river later at night. There were exchange teachers from Japan, Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, and the United States onboard, and Kim and I really enjoyed getting to know everyone on the trip! Thank you to: Joan, Jim, Larry, Carolyn, Mike, Paula, Erin, Chrissy, Polly, Sophie, Maria, Joe, Caroline, Russell, Ron, Rachel, Ellie, Hidemi, Juan, and Yoko, and Denise- we had a wonderful time! Here are some photos from the trip.
These are some of the cliffs we floated alongside of on the Murray River.
Dining room area on the houseboat- here is Chrissy, Maria, Kim, and Polly is off in the kitchen.
Guitar maestro Larry deciding which song to play next.
Kim peeking over the deck.
Caroyln found this big gum tree on a hike and climbed up INSIDE it!
The huge Princess Murray paddlesteamer cruising by on the river.
The coneheads on the Black Swan houseboat- left to right Larry, Carolyn, Sophie, Polly, Paula, Chrissy, Kim, Maria, Erin, Patrick, and Mike.
