We headed over the border to Berri on the 15th January, stopping at the quarantine station to offload all the juicy fresh fruit and veg we'd just bought! We'd discussed the quarrantine rules the previous day but completely forgot it all when i stopped at a roadside stall near Merbein to support the local community of farmers.
This is what i learnt from the quarrantine staff:
Potatoes, onions and garlic are OK to bring into SA. Almost everything else gets confiscated and destroyed
Cooked or frozen fruit/veg can be taken into SA
This is what i learnt from a local farmer in Berri (who was also the very helpful librarian)
You can take all the fruit and veg you like into SA as long as you have a receipt from a major supermarket chain...they don't tell you that at the quarrantine station!
We bunked in at an almost free camping spot along the Murray river in Berri. It was a funny place. It had a caretaker who collected the $5per night we had to pay to use the park. The park itself was really pretty; plenty of shade amongst the river gums, basic toilet facilities, a small playground, easy access to the river...but something felt odd. Neither of us could put our finger on it but after 3 days we decided it was time to move on. Well, that and the fact that we'd determined our solar panels weren't providing enough power to keep our batteries topped up sufficiently. We needed a short stint in a caravan park to connect to mains power and re-load our depleted batteries.
Berri itself was a nice town. The local farmers market provided us all with an assortment of healthy offerings and tasty treats. I reckon the florentines i bought were the best i've ever tasted! I took the girls to the local library to see if i could access their wifi and find some cheap books for sale. I was luckily able to do both. The library staff were super helpful, despite there being a few hurdles for an interstate blow-in! I love the South Australian public library system - basically you can join any municipal library, which then gives you access to all other public libraries accross the state. You can borrow books from any library anywhere and return them to another library anywhere across SA - they somehow make their way back to their point of origin! How fantastic. South Australia's own little piece of magic.
Crossing the Murray River on the ferry at Lyrup
The beutiful old Renmark Hotel
The wetlands near Berri are in drought
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