With most of the Thompson Clan living in the Adelaide Hills, Xmas has always been down this way which has meant that Diana and her family have travelled down from the Riverland each year. In fact her kids have only had 3 Xmas’s at home. This year it was decided that we would all travel to Berri for Xmas this year.
Our kids however have always woken up at home to open presents so we continued that tradition, then packed the car and was on the road by 9:00 am for the River, in the new Family truckster – a Platinum Nissan Patrol.
We arrived at Diana and Danny’s house right on time at 12 noon even after stopping for a geocache on the way.
I don’t think they were expecting us to be on time. Mum and Dad were already there but Dale wasn’t going to make it for lunch. He was coming off night shift and decided to lunch at Trish’s family then head up for tea.
We sat down for a great Xmas lunch with roast pork, turkey, ham and home grown vegetables. Lunch was outside but just before sitting down, it started to rain however it was short lived. Once the rain went, the sun came out and the temperature started heading north up to around 33 Celcius.
After lunch the afternoon was spent in the pool keeping cool with a few swimming races. I was leading the leader board until Danny got into the pool.
Dale, Trish and the kids made it up for tea and we sat down for more food. Leftovers from lunch were added to prawns and a snapper. Yum Yum.
Again we were outside for the meal but as dusk came so did the mozzies and we grabbed what we could and went inside to finish off.
The day was over at 11:30 pm and off to bed to get ready for Boxing Day.
A perfect morning with a little breeze, temperatures in the mid 20’s and more food for brunch.
After some more family time, it was time to go for a drive to see the river starting to flood.
First stop was Martin Bend Reserve to the east of Berri. The Murray River is starting to gobble up park benches and BBQ’s. The peak flows are not expected for another month so most of this area will be underwater by then.
We then went down to Katarapko Reserve to try for some yabbies. The road and bridges are beginning to go under water. Many of the campsites are now closed due to the high water. There were some young lads out for some fun in their 4WD’s nearby and of course they got bogged. We sat and laughed while we threw out the nets for some yabbies.
Danny and Bradley then went for a wander along the creek to try and spear a Carp. They had as much luck with the carp as we did with the yabbies. The water was moving a bit too quick to get the yabbies and probably the carp as well.
We did manage to get the new car muddy, dusty and wet – that didn’t take long.
Back to Diana and Danny’s for some lunch (more food), then it was time to hit the road for home. Grabbed a few geocaches on the way home and we made it back by 7:15 pm.
Nearly another Xmas down and dusted but we have the Pearce get together tomorrow …….
