Pinnaroo on the Mallee Highway

This will be an interesting exercise as the charging cord does not work on my laptop so I am writing this on my telephone and using two two fingers. 

We are in a small camping ground in Pinnaroo, about 270 km from Balranald. We cut across country and so we are

 now on the Mallee Highway.

It took us about half an hour to find the correct road after Balranald. We drove up and down the main street three times.  I know we liked the town but it was becoming ridiculous. In the end we used Google maps and found the road straight away. A few words were exchanged during this exercise. 

This camping ground was once run by the shire council, and now it is owned by a keen young man. He has already installed new toilets and showers. 

Our car and caravan. We are getting very quick at setting it up. Everything is working  well, thank goodness.

There is a lovely lawn area beside the camping ground so I thought perfect for ball play with Piper. A big mistake. She took off and started jumping and running alongside a tall fence.

And on the other side there is a wildlife park. Luckily she came back to me when I called her. 

Inside the fence there were kangaroos, wallabies, emus and birds. 

A very assertive emu, looking for food probably.

I took Piper for a walk into town. Lots to see and do in Pinnaroo but we only have one night here. We will definitely return. 

Sadly the bakery has closed, quite recently too I think. An empty street. 

The old Pinnaroo Station I think, althouth it is a distance from the tracks, which are still there. South Australia closed most of its railways down in the 1980s. I think the government regrets it now. 

The platform with a railway shed on the other side of the tracks.

There are beautiful old buildings here.

The hotel. 

Now I cannot remember the name of this building. 

This building was fascinating with it's old brick work and very old tin roof. There is a large cafe on the left hand side. Perfect for coffee tomorrow.

There is a very good museum there too, but no time tomorrow. When we visit next time I will be more prepared with information. 

Another view of the wild life park.

I was very organised on this trip and used up all our fruit and vegetables. I even squeezed the juice from the last lemons, and limes and put it into containers. The only banned item which I threw in the bin at the Victorian border was half a butternut pumpkin. Then I thought I should have made pumpkin soup as I had stock and herbs. 

At the check point on the SA border I proudly stated that I had no banned fruit or vegetables. The officer checked the car and caravan anyway. In the past we have had to hand all our recently bought contraband over. 

For people who live elsewhere, the ban on fruit and vegetables is to stop fruit fly entering South Australia, although Victoria and Western Australia have checks too. 

We drove into the first SA service station to fill up with diesel, and such a relief to have the diesel pumps beside the petrol pumps. In NSW the diesel pumps can be anywhere at the service station. At the last place it was around the corner of the building. Always tricky when you are towing a caravan 

Home tomorrow, and looking forward to it. It's been a great trip though and we have learnt a lot about the places we visited. 

Ever onwards.