Lake Bonney and the Overland Corner Hotel

Before leaving home, we booked three nights online through the Berri Barmera Council to secure a spot overlooking Lake Bonney.

We chose site 17, measuring 9.5 by 8.5 metres, for $22.50, but when we arrived, we faced a small challenge - we couldn't unhitch the vehicle from the caravan because of the site's slope, which was sloping from back to front. After a quick call to the council, they kindly suggested we consider sites 26-33. In the end, we settled on site 27. It wasn't perfect either, but we managed to carefully manoeuvre the van and Chev into a suitable position. We stayed connected, used our ramps to level the van as best as we could, and decided to shorten our stay by one day. The wind when we arrived was quite strong — enough to blow a dog off its chain — and it has continued to blow steadily since we left Balranald. 

Even the smaller vans camping here have had to park across their sites because every site slopes towards the water.

We've now decided to drive a short distance back to Barmera to restock our supplies, including fruits and vegetables we couldn't bring into South Australia. 

The next stop is just 20 km away, beside the Murray River along the Old Coach Road. We'll camp overnight near the Overland Corner Hotel, built in 1859 from limestone and used by drovers and the coach route travelling from NSW to Adelaide. The hotel is renowned for its delicious food. Ros enjoyed her Texas burger with all the usual trimmings, and I could only eat a quarter of my Brontosaurus wagyu schnitzel with mushroom sauce. Dinner is sorted for tonight with the leftovers.