The pack up went like clockwork and we were on the road by about 0930 heading towards the outskirts of Adelaide where we were going to stop and pick up supplies.

We had decided to take the scenic route to avoid the busyness of Adelaide city driving so headed north from Hahndorf through the vineyards and orchards through Cudlee Creek and One Tree Hill into the back of Northeast Adelaide to do our shopping at Munno Para West shopping centre.

The drive was through very picturesque farmland with apple-laden trees, cherry orchards, vineyards as well as sheep and cattle farms.

As we entered suburban Adelaide, we heard a loud bang and metallic sound coming from the rear of our van via the speaker connected to our rear camera. We pulled over immediately – fortunately on a flat street that was wide enough for us to park safely and jumped out to inspect the cause of the noise….

Looking under the van we could see the water tank half hanging down, dragging on the road – the metal bracket had broken at the bend – fortunately we had pulled over quickly and it appeared that the tank had not ruptured. If we had gone on any further no doubt, we would have destroyed the tank!! Branch was in his element – at last an interesting and challenging repair!!

Everyone had pulled over to see what had happened – we decided that the Wells and Weiss group should continue to the shops (less than 5 min away!) and we would work out what to do about repairs… Gordie and Kerry were great, insisting on staying with us to assist – it’s always great travelling as a team – everyone supporting each other!

We rang a local caravan repair place who told Trev that the brackets were easily replaced with a metal strip that we could get at Bunnings. Providentially not only did we break down in a perfect place to stop, the Bunnings was only 10 mins away – 5 minutes past the shops we were going to for groceries.

Kerry and I were watching as Gordie was unhitching his van so we could drive to the shops when an old lady came out of her house that we were in front of. We though she was coming out to see if we were OK or maybe offer us a cuppa, but nothing was further from the truth. She abruptly said “I have already called the council – you can’t park here – I can’t see to get out of my driveway “etc etc…. Kerry politely explained the breakdown situation, but she would not have a bar of it – very rude!! Gordie explained we would not be there very long – she was still not happy, so Gordie moved the van further down the street…. Looking at her place it looked like Fort Knox on a bad day so probably explained why she was so aggressive….

Trev stayed with the van to empty the water tanks, remove the broken brackets etc while Gordie dropped Kerry and I off at the grocery store and went on to Bunnings to get the spare bits needed for the repair.

While we did all this, McGyver and Branch managed to do a temporary repair using some tough webbing straps that we had in the Ranger so when we arrived back with the groceries, Trev was ready to go, planning to do a more permanent fix at Marion Bay our next stop.

Beryl and Rosie had kindly done a coffee run while we had gone to get Trev, so we met back in the shopping centre carpark, picked up the coffees and continued on. Driving out of Adelaide there were a lot of new subdivisions going in – some with very expensive landscaping using huge date palms, still in among the farmland on the city outskirts.

Marion Bay is down at the southern end of the Yorke Peninsula, so we still had about 3 hrs drive to get there. A quick stop for lunch at a rest stop and we continued south down the peninsula.

The terrain was very dry, flat, and windswept with cattle and sheep farms as well as mining areas. Copper was mined at Moonta located on the Yorke Peninsula. Today there is a large copper deposit near Ardrossan which is said to be the largest in South Australia that a company has put in a proposal to mine.

We passed the dolomite mine at Ardrossen. Salt is also produced on the peninsula, and gypsum and lime were also mined down in what is now Innes National Park.

We arrived at Marion Bay Caravan Park, set up, then Branch and Trev went to work on checking the repairs more thoroughly. The tanks appear intact, and everything else seems undamaged – McGyver’s strapping held well!! A more permanent repair maybe in store over the next few days…

Our sites were beachfront – we had a water view from our van – but the scrub in front was great for protection from potential wind!

We all relaxed once set up, then went for a quick walk down the short track to the beach – Marion Bay is a large bay with – yes – a JETTY at one end, blue water, and white sand – although there was quite a bit of seaweed on the beach. The water was surprisingly warm!

Beryl kindly invited us to dinner after our eventful day – delicious mushroom risotto cooked in her Thermomix – it was awesome!!

We all had coffee/ supper together – great to kick back after an eventful day.