Immediately after our “cruise” in Dreamweaver, we visited Monarto Safari Park. We had hoped to stay in the newly built Safari Hotel. Originally due to open to paying punters by late 2022, it has only just started to take bookings. The resort is now due to open in late May of this year! Too late for us, so we stayed at Murray Bridge about 15 minutes southeast from the park.
We had “chosen” a really hot day to visit the “African savannah”. About 30°C in the shade. Except there wasn’t very much of that! All the walking trails were closed for the day. The animals were all a bit drowsy and reluctant to show themselves more than necessary. However, we had pre-paid. We were going to “enjoy” the day! We arrived before the park was open and left after it had officially closed! And we did get some really good views of a lot of the residents.
Some were ever-watchful …
… others were hell-bent on getting into their daytime quarters (air conditioned!).
Some, like the Tasmanian Devil, were ferociously hungry …
… while the cheetahs waited serenely for their breakfast of half a goat …
… and the lions paraded menacingly across the open “savannah”
Some humans were seen frolicking in the water hole. Ahh, sorry, that was Jack and Benji in the hotel pool trying to cool down after a HOT day out, as viewed from our room five floors above.
Before we left Murray Bridge, we took an evening stroll along the river. There, in it’s own cave, we were surprised by the Bunyip!
The bunyip is a legendary, man-eating monster from Australian Aboriginal folklore. It is said to live in the swamps and rivers of Australia. It has shaggy fur, sharp tusks, and a thick mane of hair and makes booming or roaring noises. At night, it emerges from the swamp to prowl the land, hunting for women and children to eat. The origin of this belief possibly lies in the rare appearance of seals far upstream and the monster’s alleged cry may be that of the bittern marsh bird.
Whatever, it’s sudden emergence in its cave, triggered by sniggering grandchildren, was enough to startle unwary grandparents!
More mundane acoustic marvels came next. The Whispering Wall aka the Barossa Dam, near Williamstown. Built between 1899 and 1902 to supply water to Gawler and other northern country areas. At the time it was an engineering marvel. With the reservoir wall rising to a height of 36 metres, it was, at the time of its completion, the highest dam wall in Australia.
However, nowadays, it’s main attraction is it’s acoustics. Two people standing close to the wall at opposite sides (140 m apart) are able to have a perfectly audible, whispered conversation! It really was quite remarkable!
We did try some complicated tests to demonstrate how much faster light travels than does sound. But our juvenile scientists proved to have short attention spans and preferred playing on the log stacks!
We were, by then, in the Barossa wine region.
We had to check out the mechanised harvesting of the grape crop …
On the hill behind the vale, there was a lookout park. The views over the Barossa were spectacular …
… but some of the sculptures were a bit crooked and needed straightening!
Others didn’t even warrant a photo! Before we left for our last evening together in Adelaide, Phroggy had a very close encounter with one of the rarer local animals!
Read the next installment to find out if Ben survived the attack and whether we will out-live Cyclone Alfred!
Well. You will by now have survived the wrath of Alfred. We too.
Where are you located atm? (Saturday 8th).
Maybe a coffee somewhere with sugar free vanilla slices as I am now a outed diabetic.