Caravan Cruising

 26th July 2025 We wake to a nice fine day with little wind early in the morning. The plan is to continue upstream to the township of Morgan, where we have a need to visit the waste pump out station as it is clear that the holding tanks are close to full. Our morning river view Bob taking Ruby for a walk onshore before leave It is going to take us around 4 hours to get to Morgan and we set out at 10 am, with the breeze starting to develop, thankfully it looks like we will have a tailwind.  The corellas are out in force this morning along the cliffs faces and trees that line them. The further up stream we head the more development there is along the riverfront. We are a bit intrigued as to why the houses are built so closely together when a lot of these houses seem to be holiday homes. View from the Upper Deck of the houseboat The density of housing increases as we get closer to Morgan. Nice residential area called Pelican Point Always wondered what happens to the houseboats wh...

 25th July 2025 Today is a miserable day. We wake to rain and not her easterly winds that we will be heading into for most of the day. After breakfast we sat around for a while hoping condition would improve, but in the end just decided to head off and see how we go. The houseboat has no windscreen wipers and the wind was blowing the rain directly onto the screen, so we were relying on manual wipers to give us some visibility through what is the trickiest part of our trip from navigation point of view. Bob cleaning the windscreen We finally reached Lock 1 at 12.30 pm, and had to tie up and wait for the lock keeper to return to duty, as the lock is closed between 11.30 am and 1 pm for lunch. I called the lock keeper at 1 pm and I suspect he was still at the pub, but he dutifully appeared about 5 minutes later and began to empty the lock so we could enter. About10 minutes later we were given the given the green light to enter the lock.  Lock gates opening for us to enter Soon we...

 24th July 2025 Bacon and eggs for breakfast and then onwards to Swan Reach, where we intend to have a look around and then begin our trip back upstream on the return leg of our cruise. We cast off from our secure berth and headed downstream. The sand banks along the way to Swan Reach did prove to be a challenge with a few groundings along the way. Nothing that we couldn’t easily get off, but not marked on charts. We saw more red cliffs, some with trees hanging on precariously, others hosting large bird colonies in burrows into the cliff surface. We passed a large pumping station, had to wait for the ferry to pass across the river before we arrived and berthed at Swan Reach. Moored at Swan Reach Large irrigation pumping station just before Swan Reach Once the boat was secured, we wandered into town to get some fresh supplies and have a beer at the Swan Reach Hotel. The hotel was quite well presented and we suspect the food may have been a big improvement on Blanchtown. Swan Reach H...

 23rd July 2025 We plan to arrive in Blanchtown at around lunchtime and have lunch at the local pub, so push off after breakfast to continue our journey down the river. The scenery continues to be a highlight and we are constantly amazed at the number of pelicans on the river. There are a lot more houses along the river than we expected  Finally we can see the Blanchtown bridge in the distance. This little bay before the bridge seems to be a marina for houseboats in amongst the dead trees The township is just on the other side of the bridge We arrive at around 11.20 am and there is a dedicated parking area for houseboats just beyond the bridge, where boats waiting to enter Lock 1 wait for clearance to enter the lock. We tie up there and walk about 300 m up to the pub. Blanchtown weir with the lock in the foreground Blanchtown Hotel The pub is rustic and very empty when we arrive. Food service doesn’t commence until 12 noon, so a few of us have a beer whilst others wander down ...