$50

A day trip from Meningie we took was to circumnavigate Lake Albert. By doing so we were able to explore more of The Corrong National Park, visit an Aboriginal community, cross a ferry and see Australia’s only inland lighthouse…

Heading out of Meningie on the Narrung Road, our first port of call was at Long Point.  Here we met a few more pelicans and enjoyed terrific views across the waters to the sand dunes. 

We’d heard that there was a couple of resident seals that had adopted the local jetty. We were also warned to stay clear of them if they were there as they are quite aggressive. A fisherman told us they aren’t just aggressive, they are malicious – they deliberately destroy things, well, because they can. Sounds like a gang of teenagers with nothing better to do! Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately the seals were not around when we visited.

Continuing our journey, we stopped at Pelican Point where there were plenty of other birds. After a snack we continued on, stopping to admire some ruins along the way.

We next visited the Aboriginal community of Raukkan. It is a welcoming place – in fact the self-appointed Prime Minister of Raukkan (Russell) wandered over and introduced himself and took us on a bit of a tour which ended at the local café for a coffee! Raukkan is ‘famous’ as the birthplace of David Unaipon (1872-1967). He was an Aboriginal preacher, author and inventor. He adorns our $50 note. Also on the note is the little church in Raukkan. This is what brought us here, to see this church.

Russell told us all about the new murals on the community centre and the artist who painted them. He even showed us photos on his mobile phone of the artist at work. The faces of an Aboriginal Elder and the staff of the community centre were absolutely brilliant!

Russell suggested a nice place by the lake (Lake Alexandrina which joins Lake Albert), so we drove there for our picnic lunch. By the lake we spotted countless birds, and several different species.

After lunch we continue our circumnavigation and came to the Narrung Ferry which crosses the narrow body of water where the two lakes join. The mighty Murray River enters Lake Alexandrina before it flows into the Southern Ocean.

Across the (free) ferry and we did the short walk up to the Point Malcolm Lighthouse – Australia’s only inland lighthouse. Paddle steamers used to ply these lakes and had to navigate the narrow gap between the two lakes.

We found some tiny baby turtles on this walk which was very cool!

Continuing clockwise, we found our way back to Meningie.