Waikerie to Morgan:

There are two roads you can travel to Morgan on either side of the Murray river but which ever choice you make you have to cross the river by ferry to get there. We decided to stay on the Waikerie side as we were advised it was more picturesque. As we headed out of town we passed through the hugest citrus orchard I have ever seen. It is the largest citrus growing area in Australia but funnily enough although the trees had plenty of fruit there didn’t seem to be any roadside stalls. Perhaps they weren’t quite ripe yet but most of them looked ready. There are lots of grapes grown in the area as well. The road passed through several small villages and then we had to cross the river at a town called Cadell. The road dipped quite steeply down to the ferry and the caravan scrapped on the bottom. Then when we got to Morgan we found we had to cross back again to get to our free campsite. The ferries run 24hrs and are free.

Our campsite was in Morgan Conservation Park on the banks of the Murray and directly opposite us was some sheer limestone cliffs. What a beautiful spot this was and so peaceful except for the odd passing of a houseboat or tinnie. The birds were plentiful and enjoyed the huge river gum right beside us. We cooked our meal over Brian’s “paint tin.”

Morgan is a very old historic town and was a very busy port in the paddle steamer days as the train met the paddle steamers here. Six trains a day were loaded with goods off the paddle steams and transported to Adelaide. Apparently there were long queues waiting to unload at the huge wharf. There where steam powered cranes to lift the cargo from the top of the wharf to the awaiting train. Imagine the hustle and bustle!!
Morgan is steeped in history with many old buildings and railway memorabilia which included the station, ticket office, station masters residence, old goods carriages and old cranes.
We found the most amazing old shop full of collectables of every kind. What a dream if you were a collecter. We also saw a room full of exquisite large tapestries done by the owner’s mother who only started doing tapestry when she was 77. I have never seen such extensive and fine work.
We stayed the night in the caravan park back across the river as we had to do washing, fill up with water, and have showers!!
In the morning we went to the Museum which was an old warehouse. This museum had some excellent models of the paddle steamers as well as some interesting horse drawn vehicles. Once again the museum is run by local volunteers and the lady that showed us around was very informative about the exhibits. She moved here from Adelaide and absolutely loves it and has such a busy social life. We loved Morgan. It had a really relaxing feel and the old buildings were everywhere.


Brian at work