DAY 113 - MANNUM SA

MANNUM SA

DAY 113


As promised, I took a day around town.

Not a bad move either, as I was feeling just a little licked for some strange reason.

A spot of dehydration perhaps or maybe just a little fatigue.

Whatever, but it does surprise how often just a few hours of rest can work a treat.

Mannum is quite a pretty part of the world anyway, so no excuse required really.

I’m back on the Murray River – somewhere I haven’t been for over 2 months.

The Murray being as long as it is allows one to engage it in vastly different regions and I am indeed in a vastly different region to where I encountered it previously.

In South Australian parlance, this area is known as “Murraylands” – as distinct from “Riverland”, where the Murray flows into South Australia from Victoria in the north.

This section of the river is very much regarded as “downstream”.

Only a matter of miles south of here, the Murray famously enters the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.

In fact, my next destination Wellington is located at this very junction.

Mannum is a popular tourist stop for numerous reasons - least of all it is a well situated and nicely stocked town – a handful of historic pubs, eateries, plenty of accommodation etc.

The main drawcards however are the houseboat and paddlesteamer culture, allowing folk to hire out luxury houseboats for day tripping or even longer excursions with all your wealthy friends.

P.S Marion is Mannum’s historic paddlesteamer in residence and is similarly open for tourist inspection and short-hauls down the river on demand.

The 24-hour/7-day-a-week vehicle punt adds to the ambience although this is hardly a feature exclusive to Mannum.

South Australian river towns north and south have these punts running across day and night, not something to be found so much in the Victorian Murray regions for some reason.

Alas, yet another nasty little storm front has blown into Mannum this evening, so I must anticipate tomorrow’s activity with contingency in mind.

I’d quite clearly prefer to get moving but this weather is for fools and ducks exclusively.

And being neither of these, I’ll just have to wait and see.