It has been cold and chilly in Renmark. In Broken Hill we were using the air-conditioner to cool the van down and in Renmark it was needed to warm it up!  Very cold in the mornings and a cold wind all day. It is the 'Rose Festival' in Renmark next weekend, so they don't need these cold chilly winds. The roses around the town are really looking beautiful and today we found 'Ruston's Rose Garden', on the west side of town.  It is down near the river. It is the largest rose garden in Australia and the 'National Rose Garden'.  We were lucky enough to have a chat with Mr Ruston himself. He was cutting yellow roses for the display in the Town Hall. And he was cursing the horrible winds they have had this week.  He has 32,000 roses and they are growing on 27 acres.  He said "He does lose one or two rose bushes a week.  When these guys take one out with a tractor"!  He did add that on the whole his staff are very good. We felt that he could probably do with a couple more staff or there may even be some travelling volunteers that wouldn't mind spending a few hours a day tidying up, whilst enjoying Renmark weather. The town does enjoy lovely weather for much of the year.Mr Ruston is 84 and he told us "He has lived here with his garden since he was 18". 'His Garden' surrounds his house. In fact you can hardly see his house! We paid $5.00 each to walk through the roses and the original 'Ruston Garden'. Each year the new release roses are planted in gardens alongside the retail area and restaurant. Just a pity the quality of the plaques on each garden was very poor and unreadable. The lady in the shop told me the name of the beautiful apricot rose, in full bloom at the entrance was 'Bandstand'.  I have just tried to find it on the internet and I don't think she was right.  I can't find any roses by that name!  We went for a walk along the riverfront of Renmark, something we didn't do last time. The rose gardens around the town were lovely.  One of the gardens in the 'Jarratt Gardens' on the 'Renmark Riverfont' has become a memorial garden for the inaugural chairperson of the Rose Festival whose brainchild it was to hold such and event.    With collaboration from David Ruston the first event was held.I took a photo of the two historical river vessels, moored near the Information Centre.  The 'PS Industry' and the 'Argo' barge are tourist attractions for Renmark.  Both are behind the fence and entry is via the Information Centre. The 'PS Industry' has been restored by volunteers and volunteers take it on a cruise down the river on the first Sunday of the month and on special occasions. The sign says it only operates about 20 times a year. It is doing 3 cruises next weekend, during the first days of the Rose Festival.  It was built in Goolwa in1910 and it played a major role in keeping the river open for traffic, by removing snags.  It was also used in the construction of the weirs and locks.  It was decommissioned in October 1969.  The story of the 'Argo' barge is:  Barges were known to freight up to 1700 bales of wool or 200 tonnes in weight.  The 'Argo' was different to the normal barges as it was built in Mannum in 1915 for the SA Government to be a floating pump station.   Originally it was used to help dig irrigation channels and during the 1920's it helped with the construction of the locks, weirs and barrages along the Murray River.  The 'Argo' and the 'PS Industry' were common sights along the Murray over the years, as they performed many and varied chores.  The 'Argo' was one of the largest barges built on the River Murray.  In 1993 the 'Argo' was purchased by the Renmark Council for $2000.00 and in 1998 it was restored by the 'Argo Restoration Committee'.  It took 10,000 hours of volunteer work and there was a core group of  six to eight workers, with an average age of 72 years, who became known as 'Dad's Army'.  It was refloated again in August 2001.  We also went for another visit to 'Almondco' and the 'Berri Cellar Door'. In Pete's words "We are stocked up on booze and nuts for the trip home"!   The girl in reception at 'Almondco' hasn't improved her 'Public Relation' skills since our last visit!  Finally I went for a walk up to the Paringa Bridge.  It is quite a special bridge.  It was built in 1927, for the railway extension over the river Murray to Renmark.  It is one of South Australia's significant engineering monuments.  It was designed so one of the six steel spans could be raised to allow the river boats to pass through.  It carried a single-track railway and also catered for road traffic with cantilevered roadways on both sides of the central spans.The 'Paringa Bridge' is a 'State Heritage Place'. 

Renmark, we once again enjoyed, apart from the cold wind!  Now it is time to head a little further west.  12 photos