I Think I'm With The Government On This

Saturday 16th June, 2012


Over the last couple of days we have been hearing that the State government wants to close the ferry that operates on the River Murray at Cadell.  They say that by doing this they can save some $400, 000 a year, I say get rid of some of their advisers and they could save a helluva lot more.


After doing some shopping this morning we decided to go and take a drive to Cadell.  It has been more than 30 years since we were last up that way.  Now, Tony and I weren't too sure where it was but thought if we headed towards Morgan we hopefully would find the place.


We decided to go up through Kapunda, Eudunda and then to Morgan. Kapunda  was also a mining town back in the late 1800's.  It was known for copper mining and also 'home' to "The Cattle King"....Sidney Kidman.  This whole area now is farming country.

"Map" the miner welcomes you to Kapunda

Maybe this is the highway we take come December 2012.......hasn't some one predicted the world's end then?

Gentle rolling hills between Kapunda and Eudunda

On the way to Kapunda we stopped off at Freeling.  This little town is well known in the Australian TV series "McLeod's Daughters" especially the Hotel, The Gungellan.  

Old unused shop fronts

We finally reached Morgan, which too is on the River Murray.  We had seen no signs pointing us in the direction of  Cadell.  Thinking that we may have to stop and ask some-one (that too would have been hard as there are not too many people out and about in these country towns) we finally saw a sign that said Cadell was 10 kms up the road.

Driving onto the Morgan ferry

I think the last time we were at Morgan was when we went camping with Tony's sister and brother in law.  My first and only time camping.  Not the life for me.  I prefer the luxury of a motel.


We had to cross the river via the ferry and soon came across Cadell.  It was even smaller than I imagined.  The only thing going for the town is that this is where a low security prison centre is located, Cadell Training Centre.

Can you believe we got lost?   Bwahahahahaha!!!  We were looking for the ferry and could not find the road that led to it.  Tony was taking all these side roads that led us nowhere.  We could see the river on the GPS and at times it showed us crossing water but Tony assured me we weren't floating.


Finally we took the right road that led us down to the river and the ferry.  We went across the river only to find that there was nothing on the other side, a little way up was a T junction where you could either go left to Morgan or right to Waikerie.  What!!! Waikerie, I didn't know Cadell was so close, only 38kms up the road.

Cadell ferry only capable of carrying 6 cars

The cliffs were magnificent on the opposite side of the river

I'm afraid I'm a little bit on the government's side here.  I can see no point in having a ferry at Cadell, it's not like there are houses and people living on the other side of the river, well not that we saw any.  Plus there's a very good bitumen road that goes to Morgan or to Waikerie.  On the other hand if you want to help the people of Cadell save their ferry you can "like" them on Facebook.


We ended up going to Waikerie, still a strong growing citrus area with lots of orchards on the Cadell - Waikerie road.  Geez that place has changed over the years too.  When my parents were alive and still living in Renmark and we would either go up to bring them down to our place or take them home we used to stop at the Waikerie Hotel for lunch.

When we went out for lunch a couple of weeks ago I thought that this is the kind of paddle steamer we would have been going on

It turned out to be a pleasant afternoon drive.  We headed for home down the highway stopping at Blanchetown for some thing to eat.