Sometimes I feel like my trips are just extended pub crawls. And there are some great pubs along the Murray, with views of the river.
Mostly, as with most places in South Australia, they have great food and a good, local, wine list. You could tell the really good ones. People travelled just to go to the pub for lunch or dinner.
I went to a few pubs along the river, but three were standouts.
Years ago I went to Swan Reach with my ex and fell in love with the pub there, so of course I had to go back. It was every bit as good as I remember. Set up on the hillside it has a great view over the river, particularly from the beer garden. They make the most of it with a bar and stools so you can just sit with your drink and watch all the activity.
After I set up camp I walked over to the ferry and caught it across the river to the pub. I was a bit early for lunch, but it’s such a beautiful place to just sit and watch the river that I went in anyway. After all, I could just have a champagne while I was waiting!
The woman operating the ferry gave me a few tips for what was good for lunch, and I very nearly got one of her suggestions (though being vegetarian not the salt & pepper squid) but then decided on the arancini, and of course chips. It was cooked to perfection!
While I was sitting there the place started filling up. Soon it was like a party in the beer garden. Everybody was chatting to everybody else. I had a great talk with a woman who wanted to know all about my travels, though I think her husband was getting a bit nervous that after talking with me she was going to pack everything in and go travelling herself. She was quite excited at the thought.
I nearly missed the pub at Mannum because I was going to pack up and leave after one night. The river was very muddy, and there were a lot of boats and people around. And when I woke up there was smoke haze from the fires in Victoria which was making it a bit difficult to breathe easily. But then I made coffee and sat by the river in the quiet before anybody else got up.
I was tossing up my options. I did want to go to the pub for lunch. I had nowhere else I needed to be, and the other people at the campsite were really friendly, so … I decided to stay for another day. And then as other people got up, they started packing up to leave. I started getting kayaks rather than ski boats. It was much quieter.
All that remained near me was two couples in vans, with kayaks. And three blokes camping together. They did have a boat but didn’t actually take it out much.
I walked over to the pub – well, walked to the ferry which took me across the river, then walked to the pub on the other side of the river. That was more than enough walking – around 1k in 40o heat.
I wandered down to the Pretoria Hotel, which has a beer garden right on the river and a fabulous selection of food. Again, it was 40 degrees but sitting outside right next to the river was perfect. A few boats pulled up at the beer garden and came in to the pub for lunch. And there was live music in the dining room. It made staying the extra day worthwhile. Even though I didn’t actually have pub chips that time.
The other standout pub is the Wentworth Hotel. I’ve been to Wentworth before and loved it. The pub is fabulous.
But it’s obviously a while since I was there. Sitting in East Wellington waiting for the ferry I looked across the river at beautiful, big houses all along the river. They were definitely not all there last time I visited.
But the pub hasn’t changed. A big beer garden on the river, and a great pub menu. One thing about South Australia is that even small, rural places do great vegetarian food. I had an eggplant schnitzel, with chips of course.
But there was no camping in Wellington apart from the caravan park, which is a couple of streets back from the river so no easy access to swim. So after lunch I decided to move on.
With the temperature over 40 degrees I needed to find somewhere I could cool off.
And that’s where the magic happened.
