Swanport Reserve, Murray Bridge
River Murray at Swanport Reserve, Murray Bridge
Swanport Reserve is just south of Murray Bridge in South Australia. This small park on the banks of the River Murray is one of our favourite picnic spots. Being a ten minute drive from home is an added bonus.
This park is popular with locals for picnics, barbecues, fishing and various boating activities like canoeing. In the warmer months is also a popular swimming spot, the small beach being a relatively safe area for swimming. (Many other areas along the river are dangerous due to hidden rocks and other objects like the roots of the large trees that line the river.)
River Murray at Swanport Reserve, Murray Bridge
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Related Articles:
- Whistling Kite at Swanport Reserve – from my Birding Blog.
- A cruise on the River Murray – a New Year’s Eve celebration.
- Cruising on the River Murray – another picnic at this reserve.
- Swanport Reserve, Murray Bridge – yet another picnic.
Lunch at Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot
Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot, South Australia
After visiting Waitpinga Beach and having morning tea at the picnic ground in the Newland Head Conservation Park, we drove back through Victor Harbor. This was the start of our return journey home. We stopped for a lunch break at Port Elliot. This little beachside town has become very popular with tourists and day visitors from Adelaide.
Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot, South Australia
Horseshoe Bay is a very safe swimming beach which makes it very popular with families. The wide sandy beach is ideal for beach activities for children. We had lunch in the appropriately named Flying Fish Cafe. We just had to have their famous fish and chips for lunch. This was absolutely delicious though a little expensive I thought. The magnificent scenery overlooking the bay certainly added to our enjoyment.
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Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot, South Australia
Picnic at Newland Head Conservation Park
Settler's Cottage in Newland Head CP
After our visit to Waitpinga Beach (see my previous two articles) we drove the short distance to the camping and picnic ground in the nearby Newland Head Conservation Park. This park is only a short distance from Victor Harbor and little over an hour’s drive south of Adelaide in South Australia. The camping ground is not big and can only cater for several groups of campers at once. The picnic grounds consist of several picnic tables.
Silvereye
A feature of the camping ground is the partially restored old settler’s cottage. This has a large verandah with some picnic tables and a BBQ for use by visitors. It was here that we had our morning tea of a cuppa and some biscuits. While we were doing that we were entertained by the local birds. Several Silvereyes were feeding in the bushes nearby and I managed to take the photo above. A family of Superb Blue Wrens came hopping around our feet seeing if we would drop a few biscuit crumbs for them. Several Red Browed Finches joined in the fun.
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Superb Blue Wren (male)
Waitpinga Beach, south coast of South Australia
Waitpinga Beach, Newland Head CP
After spending some time in Victor Harbor (see previous two posts) we drove on to Waitpinga Beach for a picnic morning tea. Waitpinga Beach is part of the Newland Head Conservation Park a few kilometres west of Victor Harbor in South Australia.
Popular Beach
It had been a long time since our last visit. This beach has been popular with anglers and surfers for many years. The beach is long and the coastline is spectacular. It also holds special memories of a very special visit we had there back in the 1980s. Ah, memories.
Waitpinga Beach, Newland Head CP
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Beautiful Beach:
The beach here is excellent for picnics and for spending time lazing on the beautiful sand. The sand is also great for children but the water is not really safe for swimming. While many do go swimming here the strong waves and the current make it unsuitable for children and those who are not excellent swimmers.
Hazards:
There is a further hazard. Several shark attacks in recent years have seen surfers lose their lives. While many South Australian beaches are relatively safe, there is always the ever present threat of shark attack. South Australian waters still hold the reputation as some of the most dangerous for shark attacks anywhere in the world.
Despite that, it is still far more dangerous to cross a road or to drive a car. Shark attack deaths account for only fifteen deaths in South Australia over the last 40 years. Just this week five people died in just one accident on a road not far north of this beach.
Travelling South Australia
Last Friday evening we had a meeting to attend in the South Australian country town of Coonalpyn, about an hour’s drive from home and two hours South East of Adelaide. We decided to take the day off from work. My wife works in her native plant nursery most days and I on my writing.
How Park
The weather forecast was not looking good, but the start of the day was quite pleasant. We travelled via Tailem Bend to the small mallee community of Peake, nearly an hour east of Murray Bridge. Here we turned north for a few kilometres to a picnic ground called How Park. This small community park is now very run down with a dilapidated toilet block and club rooms, a strip of concrete formerly used as a cricket pitch and an open area previously used as a football oval.
Uninvited lunch guests:
This park would have been much used in earlier times, say in the 1950s and 60s, but its condition is now quite derelict. Some of the beautiful pine trees planted by early settlers are magnificent still; others have either died through the drought or been ravaged by storms. Despite this we still had our picnic lunch there. The numerous uninvited bush flies decided to join us. I only recorded a few birds in the park and didn’t take any photos. One notable sighting was of several Peaceful Doves who serenaded us while we dined.
Peaceful Dove, Cleland Wildlife Park
Jabuk to Geranium:
After lunch we travelled to Jabuk and then on to Geranium. By now the hot north wind was increasing and the cloud cover intensifying. It was not a good day for birding and I saw very little of interest except for four Western Grey Kangaroos. On previous occasions I had seen many birds on this stretch of road. Today was a very poor birding day though I did see a family of White Winged Choughs.
Banksias
One Tree Hill:
A few kilometres south of Geranium there is a locality known as One Tree Hill. It has many trees there so I don’t know why it is called that. Nearby is a soak used by the Aborigines in earlier times; it would have been one of the few places where there was fresh water in the district. There is no surface water now; the local farmers and their bores have lowered the water table. One feature of this locality is many hundreds of trees planted by a local grower, especially many kinds of Banksias (see photo). I was only able to get several photos before beating a hasty retreat to the car for shelter. From that point on it rained steadily all the way to our friends’ place in Coonalpyn.
While the rain was very welcome, the birding was disappointing. Next time we will pick better weather.