River Murray Houseboats

[kenfowler]

I lived there (Berri) for a decade as a teenager & again for another two decades after I left the army. I agree with all the comments above! The jobs that were there are gone since the cannery & juice factory & supporting industries were closed down. The jobs now are either on fruit blocks or with the vintage. On the fruit block is very hard work or it’s automated which is done by contractors. The wineries are mostly seasonal, so how do you pay your mortgage? My parents owned an apricot block in Renmark & my dad & mum worked second jobs (my dad drove buses for example) to support the block & it damn near killed them! It all sounds fantastic, but it can be tough! I got moved from the Riverland with work, sold my house at a loss & the only things I missed was my family & the river.
Cheers

[mrsrhardy]

OMG youve never lived or boated on the Murray then. Its usaly bloody hot or freezing cold. On the river, it can flood and Ive seen it as rough as a qld beach! Holiday, its fine but to live? That house will have whiteants and mice riddled through it and the only upside is youll rarley ever have a lawn to mow but the bindies (spinee weed) and thorns that can goe through the soles of your shoes like butter. And work, lets talk about that. The farmer dosent like or love you, its 45degC and if your like me and dad, your up to start work at 4AM so by 2-3 you can quit for the day and you only do this so you can get the savings for a bit of dirt in QLD! Weve owned a 'block' as they are called and its a lifestyle. My retired old man, made 30k cash a year out of it in retirement, maybe 15k after expenses but its damn hard work for $15k, thank god he had a pension to fall back on!