We left Berri heading west. We did the shopping in Waikerie and then set out for Lock 2. The signposts on the road misled us a little and we ended up on a gravel road heading for a town called Qualco. Back in Waikerie, we tried to find a road signposted to Taylorville without success. The only road going in anything like the right direction is Rowe St which leads to a ferry which leads to Taylorville Rd. Ha!.
Lock 2 is much like the other locks on the Murray but being only a couple of hundred kilometres (about 120 miles) from the river mouth it is 6 metres (20 feet) above sea level above the weir and about 800 millimetres (32 inches) less on the downstream side. The flow is presently 30,000 megalitres/day (11,000 million US gallons per day) and this will rise significantly in the coming weeks though it seems that the high flows through Bourke three weeks ago will be much reduced by time it reaches here due partly to evaporation, partly to storage in the Menindee lakes and partly to extraction for drinking and irrigation.
We moved on to Morgan which was an important paddle steamer port a hundred years ago where the river takes its last turn to the south and passengers and cargo used to transfer to the railway for the last part of the journey to Adelaide.
Lay day for laundry.
There are lots of birds here. I watched two Whistling Kites hunting as I hung out the washing and I spotted a pair of beautiful, yellow Regent Parrots feeding with a flock of Wood Ducks.