Mesmerizing Mt Gambier

The Blue Lake

How many of you know about Mt Gambier? I have to admit I didn’t. I had heard the name of course and always knew it existed, but I didn’t know it was special, and special it certainly is!

The town itself, for the West Australians, reminds me quite a bit of Albany. It is well ordered, pretty, neat & tidy and rather up-market. It would seem a great deal of money has been spent to attract the tourist dollar to this town. As Mt Gambier is pretty much a must do for those travelling between SA and Victoria I assume it sees a great many interstate travellers. There is just so much to see here. So much in fact we decided to stay for a whole week.

First and foremost, this area is volcanic. I must confess I had no idea we had any volcanic areas in Australia. The last eruption here was only some 4500 years ago – quite recent in geological terms. A very tall conical hill overlooks the town and as we pulled Jezzy up the tall hill, we spied on our left an amazing sight. The peak of the hill is missing and the centre is concave. In the middle of the inverted cone is a large peacock blue lake. I kid you not! The lake is a deep, bright peacock blue.

Glimpses of The Blue Lake on the Approach to the CP

We were not entirely surprised by the appearance of the Blue Lake as we were heading towards the Blue Lake Caravan Park (Big 4) and I guess the name is a bit of a give away, but really, peacock blue!! It seems that the lake is a greyish colour during the winter months, but miraculously in the month of November, it suddenly turns this amazing colour. Apparently the colour change is controlled by a process called scattering and absorption, more than that I won’t tell you as a) I don’t understand it b) it would take too long, even for me and c) it is very Complex and Confusing. I prefer to think of it as beautiful and leave it at that.

There are a couple of other largish lakes nearby but none of them has the amazing blue hues. The area is a tumble of steep volcanic hills containing lakes. The countryside surrounding the town flows away into the usual undulating paddocks we are more accustomed to seeing. It seems that this particular volcanic trail ends in the ocean just south of Port MacDonnell some 30ks south of the town. Other associated fault lines wander across into Victoria. The Victorian line however is quite a bit older than the fault line of which Mt Gambier and it’s mate Mt Schank form a part.

The Mount's Other Big Lake

The town provides some breathtaking drives and look-outs from which to view the various lakes and volcanic landmarks. For the physically inclined there is a rather steep walk/run/ride around the Blue Lake – we thought it a bit pointless as views of the lake are rare from this walk.

Part of the volcanic activities created numerous sink holes throughout the area, one of these, the Umphertson Sink Hole and Gardens are within the town boundries as are the beautiful Cave Gardens right in the centre of town. Both these gardens are quite spectacular and well worth a visit. I have to say the Umphertson Sink Hole really tested my crook knee, but I refused to be defeated and clambered down into its damp depths. We were surprised to spot a couple of possums wandering around under the rock overhangs that surround the sink hole. The place was also busy with bees which had made hives also under those overhangs.

Bee Hives Set in the Rocks of the Sink Hole

Speaking of bees and knees and things, our tummy upset disappeared after a couple of days at The Mount as the locals call this place. In fact, mine was very minor indeed and really caused me no inconvenience so to speak, DD’s however did linger for a couple of days and we had to be a little careful about travelling too far from ‘conveniences’. Just as he had finally recovered from his indisposition, guess what, our barefoot boy stepped on a bee! This was just after we had seen the little boy from the van next door do just that. Not only had we witnessed this mishap, but we (me) had gone out of our way to warn all surrounding parents about the bees. The lawns here have a little white flower growing in them and it is these flowers to which the bees are attracted. What can I say? Boys will be boys. I must also say that I had in the past considered my lad to be a little whimpish on occasion, but this time I was most impressed. The sting was in the arch of his foot, and it was very red and inflamed for a couple of days, but the boy carried on regardless without so much as a whimper. Well, just one whimper really and it was a very quiet one!

Umphertson Sink Hole Gardens

Amongst the attractions in the town is the Library. According to the literature the Mt Gambier Library is hailed as “the best smaller city library in the world”, and Sue you will be proud of us, we did visit the library, albeit briefly, and it did appear to be pretty special.

Also in the centre of town is an interactive centre, called The Main Corner. The centre contains quite a good Art Gallery along with various other attractions. Currently they are showing a movie, locally produced, called Volcano. The movie, along with everything else in the centre is free viewing. We went along to have a squiz and were quite impressed. Although the movie, we felt, went on a little too long, it was well produced and informative. The young man who narrated the whole thing was a bit of a dish but had a bad habit of jumping around like the proverbial jack-rabbit. We felt quite exhausted and not a little diminished after viewing the movie.I
I hope that Victoria is a generous with food prices as SA. The price of a meal here is exceptionally good. Before going to view Volcano we nipped next door to Jens Hotel and had a ‘lunch special’. We chose a chilli prawn pasta dish which unbeknown to us included 2 large portions of deliciously light garlic bread. The meal included a really good salad bar and cost all of $10 per head – at home we would be looking at spending at least $30 each for this meal. Of course the low prices don’t encourage ‘being good’, but at least the food was good.

Jens Hotel - Great Counter Lunches

Port MacDonnell is a pretty little seaside town some 30 odd kilometres from Mt Gambier and we took a drive out to have a look. It appears to be a lovely little spot and would most likely be a great place to stay, although I’m not sure they have a van park there. As in many of these towns, there is a coastal drive which must have cost a pretty penny to construct. We enjoyed the drive and have some lovely photos as a result. The Limestone Coast, of which Port MacDonnell is a part, is notorious for ship wrecks. It is easy to see why when you spot all the reefs surrounding the coast.

Amazing Coastal Scenes Port MacDonnell

While we were driving to Port MacDonnell I spotted a little sign indicating the home of Adam Lindsay Gordon – we saw the same sign when we were returning from the ocean drive. I knew the name from mum and granny. From memory he was a favourite of my granny and I think also of mum. I felt obliged to go and have a look, well........what an experience; only I think for the literary and dramatically minded! We had stumbled on Dingley Dell, the once home of our very own poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon. If you don’t know who he was, I leave you to do your own research. We wandered around the old cottage and tentatively rang the bell as prescribed by the sign. Within a couple of moments we were joined by an energetic gentleman who launched immediately into his ‘performance’. I say performance because really he was extremely flamboyant and dramatic. In the very small confines of that old cottage, he was to say the least, a little overwhelming. The ‘presentation’ was fascinating however and very educational. If you are game to experience this one, allow at least an hour. As we do not wear watches on our travels (it’s a kind of a self-imposed rule) we don’t really know how long we were there, but we estimate between 1 to 1 ½ hours. The gentleman, Allen Childs by name demanded our attention (I tried to wander off at one stage only to be reprimanded stoutly) entirely and at the end of the experience we were quite exhausted.

At Dingley Dell - Once home of Adam Lindsay Gordon

We stopped in Port MacDonnell (known incidentally as the cray-fish capital of Australia) for a bite to eat. $6.80 bought us a good size serving of flat-head and chips – excellent value if not excellent nutrition! After lunch we drove over to the little seaside ‘town’ of Nelson. We had planned on staying at Nelson after Mt Gambier and wanted to check out the van parks there. Sadly we were not particularly impressed with either of the parks or the place itself. We decided to pass on staying there, but will return on Saturday as we have booked the local boat trip on the Glenelg River. There are a couple of other things we want to check out in the area and will probably take a day trip from Portland (our next stop) to see these points of interest.

Crystal Clear Waters

All in all, we are really enjoying Mt Gambier. The Big 4 CP where we are staying is spacious and well set out. The park is full of magnificent old trees and we are very close to the lakes. The air here is fresh and clean and except for yesterday when we were subjected to a testing 41 degrees, the temps have been pleasant and the nights refreshingly cool. There are quite a large number of families here, but due to the spacious nature of the park, they all have their own space. As with many Big 4 parks there is a huge jumping pillow here and it is a pleasure to watch the children happily playing outdoors. The sound of their laughter echoes around the park and makes one wish to be young again. It’s marvellous to see how well and quickly kids make new friends.

Big Spacious Park with Loads of Space

Ah well, I will let you go now. We leave here on Sunday, in fact we leave SA on Sunday and head across the border into Victoria and Portland. We will gain another 30 minutes when we cross the border, so up half an hour earlier and it will be dark somewhere around midnight no doubt. Only kidding, it will be dark somewhere around 9pm. Oh joy! We have made the unusual (for us) move of booking in advance for 1 week in Portland. We only did this to make sure we had a home over the Australia Day Long Weekend. Hopefully the park there will good – it is supposed to be right on the ocean, so here’s hoping.
Until next time, watch where you step, and bee happy (sorry!) Steph & Doug



More Coastal Scenes



PENOLA PLEASE

G’day! I did say we were heading to Penola didn’t I? Yes, well, we did indeed go to Penola, for one whole day – actually that is not quite true – I don’t think technically you could even say we stayed a day as it wasn’t quite 24 hours. You know when this bloke of mine makes his mind up, it’s pretty hard to shake him from his course.

I really liked what I saw of Penola and it is firmly on my list of ‘do agains’ when we come back this way again. I guess part of the charm of Penola, for me at least, is due to my love of the Swan Valley back home where I feel my roots to be. Mind you the Swan Valley is tiny in comparison to the acres upon acres of vines in the Penola & Coonawarra Region.

The town of Penola is small, quaint and pretty. The buildings generally epitomise the beautiful old stone buildings that are so prominent in SA and everything is predictably neat and tidy. Picturesque and old world are the words that come to mind where Penola is concerned. I had not realised this part of the country is Sister Mary MacKillop territory and I would have dearly loved to visit some of the historic sites involved in that wonderful story, but.........................oh well, he is a good boy as my mum often said, but he can be a little stubborn from time to time! We were in a hurry it seems!

In DD’s defence, he did have some good reasons for leaving Penola is such an unseemly rush. One of the reasons we went to Penola was to visit a very good mate, the mate in fact who sold us Jezabelle. Now this mate, who for his own sake shall remain nameless, used to be married to the sister of DD’s ex wife. At that stage I suppose the two gents would have been deemed in laws. Now neither of them is married to either sister and I like to think they are now out-laws instead. This erstwhile mate of ours, loves a drink and sadly, my lad can be all too easily lead astray. The good thing is that he knows his own weaknesses and we both agree that more than one night spent in the company of our mate would not be good for DD’s health. He will try to keep up and quite frankly his capacities are nowhere near the legendary levels of our friend.

Our mate has had a palatial home built for himself in the township of Penola, needless to say within strolling distance of both the pubs there. The house was something else, replicating an old SA homestead with all the fixtures and fittings belonging to a bygone era. Quite special! We met at his home, had a guided tour of the house and then wandered down-town to one of the locals where we had a pleasant counter lunch. We ate, our mate had a liquid lunch. After lunch we meandered back to the CP had an LLD (little lie down) and then drove back to the house for a cuppa. True to form, our friend treated us royally and took us out to dinner at a very nice little restaurant in town – quite up-market in fact. The meal was low on quantity but very high on quality, or so it seemed. After the meal we strolled back to the house and DD and our host partook of several more luscious reds before I drove my hero home to the CP. We had a lovely day and evening but I guess the decision to leave was a good one, as too much of a good thing, as they say and all of that.

Incidentally the luscious red we were quaffing was called The Tax Collector and it was absolutely delectable. Stupid here did not find out which winery produced the stuff tho, and perhaps that is just as well.

In the morning we both woke feeling a little odd. DD more than me, and no, it wasn’t an overdose of The Tax Collector, but rather some strange tummy bug that lasted a couple of days. We cannot help but think it was something we had either for lunch or dinner as we both came down with the same symptoms simultaneously. Perhaps the evening meal was not as good as we had thought!

Our host had mentioned some ‘chain saw’ carvings worth seeing so in the morning before hitching up the van we drove around 20ks out of town to see the carvings of a famous priest, Father Woods. The stories surrounding the priest were impressive and interwoven with stories of Sister Mary MacKillop. Father Woods wrote a book which I really wanted to get hold of but sadly as we whizzed past the local information centre where I’m sure they would have been available DD assured me I would be able to obtain them also from the Mt Gambier Information Centre. As his tummy was rumbling loudly at us at the time, I didn’t feel I was in a position to argue.

We did deliberate about staying a further day so that I could explore more of the fascinating region, but the state of our tummies and the potential danger to DD’s liver won out in the end and we hitched up the van and headed off towards Mt Gambier.

As it is only around 50ks down the road, we will see you there very soon.....in the meantime, appreciate your mates and watch what you eat......Steph.

Incidentally the CP at Penola was quite good and surprisingly had a number of ensuite sites.

Robe........Really?!!

Family Friendly Beach at Robe

SO................off we went to Robe, through the little town of Tailem Bend, albeit not as small as Doug remembered it. It is funny how many things his memory of in SA are totally off the mark – he does seem to forget that it is quite a few years since he lived here, and even then, he generally traversed the land while working and paid very little attention to the countryside itself.

As we travelled through Kingston SE and eastward towards Robe, we were kept company by The Coorong; The Coorong, DD tells me, is a body of fresh water running parallel to the ocean for some hundred ks. The Coorong is fed by the Murray River and runs into Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert. I have to own up to a certain amount of scepticism here, as the water did look like salt to me, but DD is adamant, so I will have to bow to his superior knowledge. For those literary buffs amongst you, DD tells me that the Australian novel Storm Boy was written around and about The Coorong.
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Glimpses of the Coorong from the Car

The countryside along the way was generally flat and uninspiring. Fairly typical coastal stuff really – low lying and very scrubby! This was the first time I was unimpressed with the scenery. It is hard to express the difference between WA and SA countryside. Generally both have undulating golden wheat and stock paddocks, reaching away into the far distance. The WA colours tho’ tend to be vivid and often stark, whereas in SA the colours tend to be muted in comparison. The sky here is a softer blue and the wheat fields are a more gentle gold. The trees around the Flinders are majestic and huge, whereas most farming country in WA has smaller more scrubby trees such as Mallee. In WA the fields drift away into nothingness, in SA there is almost always a line of blue and purple ranges in the distance. If I had to categorise, I would say that in WA the countryside is vibrantly striking whereas in SA it is softly beautiful. Bit like the difference between an oil colour and a water colour I would say!

Watercolour Hues of The Coorong

In due course, the countryside greened up and started looking a little more interesting and we lumbered into the seaside township of Robe some 340 ks south east of Adelaide. Typically hilly and windy roads wound past a strangely ‘soapy’ lake and a couple of other small ponds, and into bedlam! They say in the Tourist Guide that the population of Robe is around 1200, what they don’t say in that same publication is that population must expand to somewhere around 10,000 during school holidays. The main street was a manic mix of cafes, eateries, clothes shops, souvenir shops, curiosity shops, general yuppyish style establishments and shock horror, people!!! What had we managed to get ourselves into? We avoid these tourist traps like the plague. Oh well, for some reason our brains left at that point and we continued on searching for our planned destination at the Family Park Caravan Park. It was not particularly easy to find but eventually we did track it down, overshooting the mark somewhat. We pulled the rig over to the side of the road and I phoned the erstwhile establishment to see what our chances would be. You see, the park had been recommended to us and so....., well - a very cheerful and pleasant young woman answered the phone and when I enquired if we could have a really nice bay with ocean views – one that would suit a largish rig, she went to have a look. My request for 1 week met with considerable mirth, but she did say she had a lovely bay for us (due to a sudden unexpected departure) and we could have it for 4 days. Great!! With some difficulty DD managed to turn the van around in the rather narrow road and back we went. The same lovely young woman served us and with beautiful smiles and wonderful customer service gave us our pass numbers and directions to our new bay. Hmmmm, the roads inside the park were narrow, windy and steep. Vans and cars were crammed in to every little crevice and cars were parked largely on the already conjested roads. Oh well, we had told her our van was 23ft so she understood we needed a little room, so on we went; well we entered our road which was a dead end of some 40 metres. In this short road there must have been somewhere around 20 bays. Our particular bay had a steep ramp to one side, complete with hand rails and rock face sides etc. On the other side was a van which was encroaching a couple of feet onto ‘our’ site. Immediately across from our bay were two large camps which due to the multiple tents, canoes, boats, cars, bikes, kids, rabbits and goats taking up every spare inch right up to the curb. Oh alright, there were no rabbits and goats, but there could have been in amongst all that chaos. The story with Robe, we had already been told by the lovely young woman at the counter, was a regular group of Victorian families flock there every Christmas and they all consider it their home away from home. These families are exactly that, young upwardly mobile parents of multitudes of exuberant children and hormonally disturbed adolescents, all of whom transfer everything from their upwardly mobile homes to their seaside campsites.

Zed & Jezabelle crammed in to our site

Now, I know there are multitudes of very competent couples out there who would probably not have turned a hair at the prospect of getting Jezabelle into that tiny tight bay, and you know we have travelled a little now and are not too bad at manoeuvring Jezzy. We were however,to put it mildly, somewhat nervous. Did I mention how shallow these bays are? The bays could only have been 26ft deep – we take 25ft from one end to the other! There was a very high rock wall behind each bay as the whole park is steeply terraced. Due to the shallow and narrow nature of all the bays, everyone is compelled to park their car in front of their van. This meant that the road was littered with large 4wds. There was not even room to drive the van down the road in order to back up and into the bay. Oh well, we employed our wonderful fail safe van parking method and with a surprisingly small effort we were safely in the bay. Admittedly two of our neighbours were kind enough to move their cars so that we could move but it wasn’t a bad effort. Have I told you what our magic fail safe method is? No.............ah......it is a male female thing folks. Up until fairly recently we would do it the traditional way with DD behind the wheel and yours truly with 2 way in hand giving succinct and intelligent suggestions and directions. Of course a fair bit of wild gesticulating would be in order as well. I have to say, the wild gesticulating happened when DD inevitably completely ignored my clever instructions and tried to out-think me and Do It His Way. This meant that it did (just sometimes you understand) take a little while to get the van in place. The longer it took, the wilder my gesticulating would become and the louder and louder my under-breath muttering would become and the more DD would ignore my instructions. I can’t understand how he could misinterpret that particular hand signal dears!!



Picturesque Coastline at Beachport

 Anyway, one fine day after one of these enlivening sessions, I had a bright idea – yes, once in a blue moon I have one of those – I would jump behind the wheel and DD would do the wild gesticulating. We do this when we hitch up and we have that down to a fine art. Why does this work so well? Because I actually follow DD’s instructions! I don’t profess to know the first thing about backing a van and so rely 100% on DD ‘s instructions. I do not try to second guess his instructions, I do not look at the back of the van and think that he is wrong, I don’t believe in my deepest phsyche that I am way more intelligent than him (not that I would admit to anyway), I don’t think I can do it better - I just simply do what I am told. I do, before we begin, point out any odds and sods that I think are important, just in case DD’s eagle eye misses them, and then I just obey, obey, obey. Essentially, aside from my blind obedience, Doug is far more patient than me and is prepared to run around the van looking at it from all sides. Me, I tend to position myself in one visible position and then direct. Doug’s way is far better than mine and being a woman, I obey far better than he. This way we capitalise on our individual capacities and it is a winner.

Once in, we could not be complacent, as we knew that in 4 days time we could have to extricate ourselves, and as we had a rock wall and railing on our right side and our exit was on the right, we knew it was going to be a tall order. Anyway, we decided to take it all in our stride and enjoy Robe while we were there. Sadly that didn’t happen. DD became morose and gloomy and that mood stayed with us the whole 4 days we were in Robe. A caravan can be a very small place when one of the occupants is not happy. I tried to overcome DD’s mood, but the obvious antagonism wafting in from the van on our left side (you know the one encroaching onto our bay) combined with DD’s poor mood and the whole thing just was not a good scene.



Placid Scenes at Southend

 Speaking of good scenes, we had none. Due to the chronic over-crowding at the park all we had were small glimpses of sparkling turquoise ocean between all the canvas and car top canoes. Our unhappy neighbours were peed off with us because Zed was parked in front and off to one side of our van as we had literally nowhere else to put him. They had a far smaller van and had managed to squeeze their vehicle down the side of the van (probably due to pinching some of our space) and had set up a table across the A Frame at the front of their van. Our vehicle really made it far less pleasant for them to sit out the front of their van and sunbake. Yes, they were pom- sorry English middle aged sunworshippers who should have known better. They were the sort who would stop any unsuspecting passers by and regale them with tales tall and true of their various worldwide travels, in very loud and extravagant voices. Not us tho’ – all we received from our hostile neighbours were wounded and poisonous looks. The woman was the main offender, although she did eventually bend a little and ask me about our washing machine. The gentleman seemed a little more innocuous as he was just mainly interested in bronzing his tall lanky middle aged bod – all of it except the very small part covered by his budgie-smugglers...........I kid you not ladies, he wore budgie smugglers and looked a great deal like our national treasure, muso come polly, Peter Garrett. Something like a big bronze pretzel with a bandanna wrapped tightly around its middle. The lady was a good match for Jeanie Little in her better days. Oh well, not everyone can be wonderful I suppose, least of all me.



Stunning Rock Pools at Southend



Coastal Scenes at Beachport

Robe just turned DD off completely and he pretty much refused to have anything to do with the place. We did however, take a nice drive along the coast to visit both Southend and Beachport, both of which we thought were lovely. There is a coastal tourist drive along the coast at Beachport which provides some stunning perspectives of the Limestone Coast. We wondered why two allegedly intelligent folk like ourselves had even contemplated staying at such a busy and packed park when these two delightful alternatives had been ‘just down the road’.

I must say a few words in defence of poor old Robe before we leave there. We believe that off peak it is probably delightful, and without all the hordes a pleasant place to stay. We can see what the attraction is for families as the beach is child friendly and the town has everything you could possibly wish for including a little cinema.

I suspect the spectre of removing ourselves from that tight spot coloured DD’s enjoyment and mood. Finally the big day came and we had to extricate ourselves. It was somewhat of a relief to find that our unfriendly neighbours were also leaving that day as were the young couple directly opposite.

Our neighbours left first (she did let on that they generally had the park ‘man’ get them out), with DD’s guidance. The bloke across the road came down with a bad case of flat battery and it took quite a while for DD to get his car started for him. Once it was going he moved it to one side and as he had cleared a large part of his site, we were able to simply drive out to our left and then back into our neighbours site and drive out. It was a huge relief, as had our neighbours not left, I was going to have to back the van out (up hill) quite some distance between all the cars parked alongside the road. I am just so glad I didn’t have to do that. I might add, DD did all the backing and filling required to get us out of that predicament and he did it without any help from me or any wild gesticulating. He is a very clever boy sometimes. Don’t tell him I said so tho’ will you.

Beachport Jetty

We often boast that we have never stayed at a Caravan Park we did not enjoy, Robe has spoiled that record now, as we definitely did not enjoy our stay there. We worry now that most of the coastal towns will be this way until the school holidays are over. Fortunately that is now only a couple of weeks away.

From Robe we moved upwards and onwards to the lovely SA town of Penola, but more about that next time.

For now, be patient with each other and generous with the praise. Stephanie.

MANNIC MANNUM

Magestic Murray Princess

Whew, were we ever glad to move away from those bushfires! From the beautiful but very warm Clare Valley we headed in a generally South Easterly direction, driving through some lovely and at times quite spectacular countryside. The drive took us thru’ the town of Gawler. Just south east of Gawler, around the area of Tungkilla we drove thru’ some extremely hilly country which I think may have been the tail end of the Mt Lofty Ranges. The road climbed to some considerable heights and wound around some fairly tight bends. I have to say, at times like that, I am just so pleased that it is DD at the wheel and not yours truly. The scenery was outstanding, albeit very dry. I can only imagine how different it must be in the winter and spring. Just now however the hills and paddocks glow mellow gold under soft blue skies. The effects are spell-binding.

Past Tungkilla we went, thru’ Birdwood and finally into a sleepy little town called Mannum on the banks of the mighty Murray River. We drove all unaware through this small and sleepy town, into the caravan park there only to find where the rest of the world had been hiding! You have to realise here that since we left home on the 22nd December, we had stayed at very quiet caravan parks and had only really seen a hand-full of people; Even the Clare CP, which had quite a few folk there when we first arrived, was not a patch on this one for sheer ‘busyness’!

Purple Swamphens Striding Out

It seems that a great many folk flock to this spot for water skiing and jet boating. Every camp (and there were lots of them) had either a ski boat or a jet ski. The camp just hummed (or more accurately roared) from early in the morning until sun-down. Remember that with @#@#$%$$$*** day-light saving, sun-down is pretty late here. Mannum also seems to have an enormous bird population, most of which are either galahs or white cockatoos. Now, we both love the birds, but do you have any idea of the clamouring several large flocks of these garrulous birds makes, particularly just now with all their very noisy and demanding chicks in tow? It was amazing! Added to the cockatoos and galahs were magpies, crows, mudlarks, large families of Purple Swamphens, Coots, Black ducks, swans, shags and squadrons upon squadron of majestic pelicans. Combine all of this with the shrieking and laughter of children and the odd grown-up argument, and I have to say, it was not an entirely restful experience. We arrived there on Saturday and stayed three days. By the third day, a great many of the campers had packed up and gone home and it did calm down somewhat.

Added to all the other noises at the riverside CP was the loud albeit musical tones of the riverboats as they announced their presence to all and sundry on and about the river. We had planned on a short trip on one of these river queens, but as often happens, leaving managed to get in the way. The sight of these majestic boats paddling up the river was quite something. I was entranced too, by the wavelets ever diminishing in the wake of the paddles. The river is also the popular highway for an absolute abundance of houseboats. DD has experienced travelling the Murray in one of these usually luxurious craft, and I have to say, looking at them, it did look like a terrible way to see the river. The hardships some of us have to endure I suppose!

Barren & Dry Countryside Surrounds the River

We were camped right on the banks of the Murray River. I am used to the Swan River and found the Murray to be very odd in comparison. I just cannot get my head around the way very barren country butts right up to the river. Where we were situated, and all around the surrounding countryside, the river just seemed to ‘be there’ as if someone had just slipped it into an otherwise dry and sere landscape. Nowhere to be seen were the belts of greenery and trees that in my limited experience cosy up to rivers and creeks. Quite often, due to the slight undulations in the country, the river could be just a 50meters or so away and you wouldn’t even be aware of it. Just Bizarre! We took a lovely drive out to Purnong – this was mainly thru’ grazing and cropping country, often flat as a tack. The Murray almost negligently lazes its way thru’ this farming country. From time to time, the river flats deepen into green valleys where small holiday villages cling to the river banks.

Something I didn’t know was that quite some time back the South Australian government decided it was too expensive to build a plethora of bridges across the Murray River and so instead has a series of punts or perhaps you may like to call them barges. The punts are operated by wires that stretch across the river. Operators simply guide the vehicles on and off and pull the various levers required for the wires to operate and drag the punts across the water. I was just a little nervous of these punts, but as the first couple of times we crossed the river we didn’t have the van hooked up, I had time to become sort of accustomed to the experience. We crossed the river, via punt, at Purnong and drove back to Mannum on the other side of the river, stopping to buy an ice-cream at Bowhill. Once back in Mannum we drove Zed onto the punt and crossed back to the CP.

Zed & Jezabelle safely aboard the punt.

As the crowd abated at Mannum our views of the water improved and we tossed up staying a little while longer than our planned 3 days. Once again, I would have loved to linger and perhaps get the paints out but DD seems to get anxious after a couple of days. We met another lovely couple at Mannum, yet another Peter would you believe and his wife Heather. They had driven up from Tailem Bend to celebrate a friend’s birthday and regaled DD with stories of Kingston SE and the seaside town of Robe. DD only needs a mention of the ocean to become keen to move on. We had pretty much decided to stay away from the coast until after the school holidays, expecting the coastal CPs to be absolutely booked out, not to say full of noisy families. Somehow, somewhere, that good intention went by the wayside (as do many good intentions) and we headed off to Robe. Not having spent a great deal of time in SA myself, I have to be guided by the lad who of course lived here for quite a few years.



Galahs Acting The Galah under the Sprinklers

 Leaving Mannum meant towing the caravan onto the river punt. Despite having been across twice with just the car, I was still a tad nervous. I just know how much stuff we carry and dread to think how heavy the combined weight of the car and van would be. That punt just didn’t look that big to me and I could easily envisage the punt, car and van all toppling slowly into the green and fast flowing waters of the Murray. DD can only remember one time in antiquity where a truck did topple a barge, needless to say, I was not entirely comforted by his memories, but despite my nerves, we traversed the river quite safely and headed away from the riverside town of Mannum.

So until we meet again at Robe, I wish you all a good-night. Look after each other...Stephanie.


Glorious Sunrise over The Murray



HOT, HOT, HOT

More Fabulous Flinders

Well guess what, the hot weather finally caught up with us.

I absolutely loved Melrose and the beautiful little caravan park there. It was just the sort of spot that really appeals to me. The van park was immaculate, the trees were enormous, the bird and wild life was plentiful and the peace was replenishing. Mind you, DD was not too replenished when a local possum piddled all over our van two nights in a row. We couldn’t spot the little rascal, even with the barrage of Very Large Powerful torches that the bloke carries with us (no less than 3 enormous torches!) but the little fella managed to find us alright.

I would have been happy to spend a week in Melrose and was all prepared to break out the easel and settle right in, but someone (who?) managed to get ants in his pants and so we moved on. Our next stop was the picturesque town of Clare, nestled in the vine growing Clare Valley some 135 ks north of Adelaide. Coincidentally, our new mates, Peter and Zan who we met at Melrose, live in this beautiful area and I think it was their praise of the place that convinced DD to move on down to Clare.

I have to admit that I too agreed that it was better to keep moving and heading towards Tasmania and the cool. Well, I know I’m rarely wrong, but hey, sometimes a girl has to make a mistake, right? We could see that the mainland was going to heat up some and that the super high temperatures from WA were slowly catching up with us. Well, we arrived in Clare, the CP there was a Top Tourist park and not too bad. Lots of big tall sugar gums and heaps of open space back in the camping area, which is where we were placed. As we had been aware of the impending high temperatures, we had specified a shady site. We had only been there for an hour or so when I opened my emails to find an email from Peter and Zan, advising us not to come as there were severe fire warnings out for Clare due to an out of control bush fire burning in the Seven Hills area. Oh goodie, now sat under some highly flammable gums, adjacent to bushland with expected 40 plus temperatures. Good move!!


Burnished Hills Lazing Behind Golden Fields


Peter & Zan realising from my email that we had arrived, paid us a surprise visit that evening and filled us in on all the fire news. It didn’t sound very promising. We visited their beautiful home the following afternoon and as Peter is still involved with the Volunteer Bush Fire Fighters we were brought up to date once again. Peter and Zan’s home is lovely as are their 3 miniature poodles. They are excellent hosts and we wiled away a pleasant couple of hours drinking their very nice white (thanks very much). They sit on the side of a hill, on 30 odd acres of beautiful bush – all wonderful, but also risky in bush fire season. While we were there Peter received a call asking him to do an ‘all-nighter’ manning the radio for the volunteer fire fighters. In deference to his well being we took our leave in order that he could have a bit of a rest before logging on to the radio.

When we arrived back at the camp, we found a note attached to the van advising us a meeting would be held at the BBQ area regarding the fires. Hmmm, it was really starting to sound serious. Doug went down to the meeting while I prepared our meal and he came back with the scary news that we were advised to stay put as it would be too dangerous to drive thru’ the region. Temperatures were expected to peak at around 44 degrees the following day (Friday). The township had opened up the central oval in order that visitors and others in need could drive in and sit there in safety. The oval was deemed to be a safe/green area. We were paid up until the Saturday, but travelling then, we were told, would still be unsafe. We were advised that sprinklers would be operating all thru’ the day in the bushy area surrounding our van. It appeared that during the day we would be relatively safe due to northerly winds pushing the fire away from Clare. The big risk was to come at night when it was anticipated the winds would swing around to the south thus pushing the fire towards us. Oh great, nothing like worrying about flying embers landing on the van in the middle of the night! Oh well – we made all the plans we needed to make, to up and leave the van should we be compelled to, and we had the heads around the prospect of being homeless but alive!

We packed up after tea and Doug hitched up the van. As the park had almost emptied out, he figured that providing we were all hitched up and ready to go, we would be able to tow the van out very quickly and head to the oval if the need arose. We carry fuel in jerry cans on the back of the van and DD very wisely emptied the fuel into the Cruiser. Well, most of the fuel went in the Cruiser, but one of the things we left behind this time was the implement with which to transfer said fuel – guess where the balance of the fuel went – yup, all over the patsy holding the patched together funnel and hose! Really good when one has just come out of the shower and the temps are rising past the mid 30s.

Friday night was a restless night let me tell you. Neither of us slept very well and next morning saw us awake with the manifold birds that inhabit the park. As we were already hitched up and as we could sense no smoke in the close vicinity, we decided to leave town. We were out of that park in record time and heading south. As these things go, we saw no hint of the fires as we travelled through the vineyards and out towards Seven Hills. We believe the fires were in the National Park and so out of view from the roads. We comforted ourselves declaring that we couldn’t have been in much danger as the fire would have had to come through all the vines and cleared land before it reached us. We were of the opinion that fire would not burn through the vines. Hmmm, goes to show you doesn’t it – two relatively sensible adults can be very very wrong. That evening, watching the news, we saw rows upon rows of cindered vines that had been totally incinerated by yet another bush fire! Perhaps not so safe after all!

Dreams of Yesteryear

At the same time as we were being menaced by the Seven Hills fire, the rest of the country also seemed to be going up in smoke. The most surprising development was the hideously frightening and ferocious fires down in Tassie. We ( and remember we have a bad habit of being wrong lately) feel that where most of the mainland is geared up for hot weather and fire fighting, perhaps the Apple Isle, being of more moderate climate is not quite so well prepared. This morning (now Monday) it is shocking to hear that there are still 20 people unaccounted for in the Tasmanian fires. I worry for the South -West of WA where they have similar potentially catastrophic fire risks.

Anyway, I digress, (how very unusual), we are still going to Tasmania, however, we have currently decided to slow our trip down a little, smell the roses so to speak and be content to head over to Tassie sometime in mid to late February when the temperatures have dropped somewhat. After our little scare at Clare, we have decided we would much rather suffer from the cold than be incinerated. Actually the whole exercise has been a bit of a learning curve for us. We currently feel that perhaps summer-time is best spent in the cool of one’s own lounge room, clutching a frosty glass of something nice, watching the world slowly pass by one’s windows. Mind you, that pretty much describes what we do when caravanning too, except at home we are not usually expecting to be toasted.

From Clare we headed on down to Mannum on the banks of the mighty Murray, but more about that next time. For now, stay cool and stay safe. Steph and Doug.

Incidentally, we were so distracted at Clare we forgot to take any photos - sorry, we will just have to make up for it when we return.  In the meantime, please enjoy some of the pics taken of the stunning countryside either side of Clare.

THE SECOND TIME ACROSS



First Stop - Southern Cross

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day and are feeling hale and hearty after all that festive cheer. Looking forward to New Year’s Eve are we? Hmmm. Well, we had a most unusual Christmas and I have to say not at all as I expected. We finally left the metropolitan area of Perth on Saturday the 22nd and headed east along the Great Eastern Highway. Our first destination was Southern Cross, a small and historical mining town. Without consulting our maps and relying on my less than wonderful memory, I think Southern Cross is around 400ks east of Perth. Anyway we arrived there mid afternoon. Aside from the fact that the temps were probably in the low 30s and the flies plentiful, the caravan park was quite pleasant with good size drive- thru’ bays, reasonable ablution blocks and an attempt at some gardening and beautification.



No Spiders this time at Caiguna!




Telegraph Station Ruins - Eucla

 We had planned on staying the night at Southern Cross and as it turned out we would have had no choice in the matter. When we rolled into the main street there, we were confronted with a mild sort of chaos and a harried looking young cop stopping all east-bound traffic. It seems there had been a ‘semi’ roll over somewhere between Southern Cross and Coolgardie some 150ks further on, and the road was closed. The roll-over had occurred around 2am and they were not planning on opening up the road again until around 8.30pm. We were fortunate in our choice of staying and at 8.30 enjoyed the spectacle of all the waiting traffic taking off. The police, in their considerable wisdom, allowed all the cars to go first and then we were treated to the spectacle of somewhere around 30 semi’s all lit up with their myriad lights starting up and roaring off down the highway. It was quite thrilling in its own way. Ok, ok, we are a little starved for entertainment, but what the heck, it was ‘cool’! It was amusing (for us) to note that one harried truckie, having waited all day to get going, managed only around 50 meters before realising he had a flat tyre somewhere and he had to stop once again and change the tyre. You would have thought he would have noticed the flat whilst standing around chatting to all his mates. As we sat there watching the spectacle, we mused over all the new mates made that day, either in the one of the local pubs or over a pie and chips at the local cafe.
We still have not really heard the full story of the roll over. The best we can determine, there were two trucks involved one of which was allegedly carrying cyanide! We believe there were no fatalities, just major injuries. We did see the remains of two trucks as we traversed that section of road the following day, and certainly one of the loads was spectacularly mangled. Amazingly we could find no television news relating to the incident. Strange as so close to Christmas, one would have thought a road closure of that magnitude would have hit the press. Imagine all the people who were adversely affected by that one incident. As usual, luck was with us. Had we left on the Friday as anticipated, we would have been obliged to stay in Southern Cross for two nights and would have been no further ahead on our journey.

Happy Christmas from me

and Happy Christmas from him!

Oh yes, last you heard we were leaving on the Friday weren’t we? Hmmm, well just one of those last minute hiccups – we were having solar panels installed at the house and I needed to be there to sign all the relevant paperwork for Government rebates etc (as home – owner). The panels were supposed to be installed on the Thursday, but alas alack, there was an inevitable last minute delay and they weren’t installed until Friday. As I said, tho’, it turned out to be a positive as we had a lovely quiet day on Friday, resting up, then started out refreshed Saturday morning.
For the more technically minded of you (the blokes) we had a minor problem as we headed out. We have two Waeco fridges in the car, one turned down to freeze and the other simply at a refrigerator level. The car (Zed) carries two batteries so that as we are travelling, one feeds the fridges keeping them functioning as we drive. As luck would have it, neither fridge seemed to be operating while we were driving. This posed a major problem as we were carrying our Christmas lunch in the form of several very delectable and luscious crayfish, not to mention some succulent dhufish. DD was concerned as the battery concerned is somewhere around 3 years old and possibly just about due for replacement. He had the presence of mind however, to find a mechanically minded bloke at a tyre mob in Merredin who checked the relevant fuses. Yep, it was a fuse – we were very fortunate indeed to find that the local Covs was open and we were able to buy a replacement fuse. As luck would have it, we used to travel with a multi- meter and spare fuses, but in our manic endeavours (generally unsuccessful I might add) at downsizing our ‘stuff’ this time around, we (read DD) had left these very ‘unnecessary ‘items behind. One more little annoyance was that Zed had for whatever reason activated the child proof lock on his back door. This meant that in order to do anything at all, poor old DD had to climb in through the rear side door, remove a high percentage of our ‘stuff’ – and then access the rear locking device from inside Zed – in order to unlock the back door. Just a little thing to remember if like us you have a 100 series Land Cruiser! It seems this has happened to our lad once before – probably caused by ‘stuff’ in the back pressing up against the inside of the lock.

Looking out to the Southern Ocean from the CP Eucla

Sunday morning we hit the road bright and early, planning to stop the night at Fraser Range – we realised fairly quickly however that we were making such good time, we would arrive there far too early to be sensible. We continued on, planning to strike Cockle Biddy. We had for years been relating the story of how we stopped there on the way to Bree’s graduation and had been amazed at the spectacle of all the big black spiders wandering around on the ground outside the motel units. Imagine our amazement when we discovered that the place we had been talking about all those years had in fact not been Cocklebiddy, but Caiguna! We had been telling great big porky pies! Anyway, Caiguna is where we stopped on Sunday night and fortunately we spied no spiders this time around. The caravan park behind the units was pretty basic, just a flat cleared area with powered sites. No water of course. We had been unable to connect to water since leaving Southern Cross. At least this time, I was a little more realistic with water consumption and we managed very well.
We awoke each morning at an obscenely early hour! I would guestimate, somewhere around 4.30 am! This habit was acquired whilst staying in the Caversham CP and I guess we generally are early risers anyway. While we are actually travelling, it is a huge plus, as we hit the road somewhere around 7ish and make really good time. With this in mind, you won’t be surprised to learn we were on the road on Monday (Christmas Eve) well before 7am. We were (surprised that is) – as we had not bothered to look at any clocks it wasn’t until we had been on the road awhile while when we realised it was not yet 7am! Excellent!!


Nutbush Retreat - Pandurra Station

Our objective was Eucla around midday Monday – we managed this easily and by just after 12 noon we were comfortably ensconced at the Eucla CP. We were surprised by the quantities of water we spotted puddling alongside the road, and at the general lack of ‘road-kill’ . Predictably we did see more carcasses as we approached Eucla, this stretch being notorious for roos. The big bonus to seeing the sad remains of the roos, is the sighting of so many majestic Wedgetails. They are just magnificent of course, enormous birds, sitting proudly and sadly all too stubbornly on the victims of the huge trucks. Their ponderous flight as they eventually take off make them all too easy for the next truck to hit. I won’t do into how they are monogamous etc. as it is all too sad.

Amazing Desert Moon Coming up over the Flinders

Eucla was a complete surprise! Firstly it was truly cool. So cool in fact that the sleeveless top I bought to wear on Christmas day was too cool and I had to find something to throw over the top to keep me warm. We did not have to turn our air-con on once! DD kept saying we would have 40 plus temps here (along with snow apparently) and I kept thinking it would be relatively cool being so close to the ocean. No need to ask who was right!! The wind was the big problem (and bonus) as it comes in hard and strong straight off the ocean. This kept the temps and the flies down, but meant that it was very uncomfortable outdoors after around 3pm. It is easy to see why most of the low growing vegetation that thrives there, has a strange landward list.

Stunning Flinders Ranges

The big surprise was the view. I did realise there were ocean view from the roadhouse, but neither of us understood just how extensive those sea-views would be. From our high vantage spot on the edge of the escarpment we looked down across the flats and out to the Southern Ocean. The view was at least 180 degrees and spectacular. We estimate we were some 6 ks from the ocean if that. On Christmas morning we drove down to the old telegraph station ruins and clambered thru’ the sand dunes to explore the old buildings. As they are being slowly consumed by sand dunes, there is not a great deal left to see. It was however, very interesting and of course, thought provoking.
I guess, due to the season, we didn’t see many other travellers, at least very few Aussies. There seemed to be a fair number of overseas travellers on the road over the Christmas period, obviously making the best of their time here. Most Australians however, it would seem were home with family. This dearth of fellow travellers meant that for a good part of our time there, we were blissfully alone. The CP was quite separate and the servo and motel units were completely out of sight as was the owner’s home. We did hear their horses from time to time, chatting to each other and nickering for attention. Their dogs also made their presence known occasionally and access to the house was thru’ the CP so we did get just the odd vehicle charging thru’ the park on the way down to the house. Our solitude was only disturbed by the multitude of crows that live here. Unlike many others we didn’t mind the crows, there are heaps of young ones at this time of the year and their clumsy antics were entertaining. As usual we put water out for the birds and the crows thought it was Christmas!!!! Sorry!

Resting beneath a huge Red Gum at Melrose CP

Christmas Day 2012 has to have been our most unusual Christmas ever. We awoke early to find we shared the park with about 3 other couples. We filled our coffee cups and wandered around to chat to those few who were here. Most were busy getting ready to resume their travels, but we did find one couple who were happy to have a quick chat and exchange Christmas greetings. After that we jumped in the car and drove down to check out the telegraph ruins, then down the road to Bordertown to see what was happening there. Nothing much as it turned out! We did have an interesting chat to the bloke at the quarantine station there. This fella looked just like Father Christmas and he advised that the border crossing was only his ‘day job’. He was a nice man and gave us some good advice and reading material for when we make the crossing to Tasmania. We also bumped into a couple of the local constabulary. A lovely young couple with their rambunctious young dog; they told us they had been stationed here in Eucla for 3 months and were absolutely loving the lifestyle. The young woman had originally hailed from the west Yorkshire area – somewhat of a culture shock one would imagine. This was not their first country posting, but it was their most remote.
We were a bit disappointed that the roadhouses out here do not do anything for patrons for Christmas. They look after their own however, mostly closing for lunch on Christmas day and throwing parties for their staff. As far as we were concerned, we were quite fine with our own set up anyway, but we did feel for the truckies who still had to work on the day. It is nice to know tho’ the roadhouses generally look after their staff on the big day.
Of course you all know that we are at least mildly bonkers. You would have laughed had you seen us accosting one unfortunate couple who had pulled up in their van out the front of the roadhouse. We were heading out to Bordertown when we spotted them. We (as caravanners do) approached them, quickly engaged them in a conversation and then proceeded to try to convince them to spend the day here. At that stage we were looking for someone to celebrate with. Sadly they eventually declined. We rather suspect that they were put off by the strange antics of the odd old couple who tried to talk them into staying. Doubtless they thought we were deranged. We suspect more to the point, the bloke in the other van was reluctant to spend the money to stay in a CP – I guess he thought his $20 would be better spent elsewhere.
By the time we realised we had frightened them off we had decided we would rather spend the day alone anyway. Just to be contrary, we were then quite peeved when two vans and a couple of campers pulled in later in the day. No pleasing us I guess!
I managed to stop DD from eating much before we sat down to our sumptuous spread, but despite the fact that we were both very good during the day, we still felt stuffed with food after enjoying our meal of crayfish, ham, turkey and salad ; so stuffed in fact that neither of us could bring ourselves to try desert. Oh well – the hardship! We will just have to finish off the sweets today. Sad!! After stuffing ourselves, we filled our glasses and wandered out to chat. We are finding incidentally, that most of the overseas visitors currently seem to come from Germany. We chatted to the two caravan couples who had pulled in. They were a rum bunch as the saying goes – most of them were heavy smokers and we had to cut our visit short or be smoked out. It is now more than 10 years since I had a cigarette and I have to say, I really find it difficult to be anywhere around cigarette smoke – I seem to develop a bad headache in a remarkably short period of time.


Sheepish!

We wandered back to our van and sat inside watching rather poor telly (yes we do get some reception there thanks to the ‘dish’) and keeping our own company. I feel we rather let ourselves down not socialising more, but two things really prevented that. One was the super strong winds and the other was just a lack of like- minded nutters to spend time with. Oh well – I did remark to DD as we retired for the evening – I rather suspect we have both become super boring in our dotage. Weird, but boring!
I really missed my boys and their families on Christmas day. We were able to speak with both the boys and Bree and Doug ‘skyped’. Sadly we missed Trent, not quite being able to get our phone calls to correlate. Being away is great of course, but there is always a ‘cost’. This too, was my first Christmas since mum passed – I choose not to miss her however as I believe she is with us whenever she chooses. I’m sure she would have dropped in to share a drink and a view of the Southern Ocean!
We departed from Eucla on Thursday morning and spent that night at Penong just west of Ceduna. At Penong we had to use all our remaining fresh produce as we crossed the border quarantine station at Ceduna on Friday morning. Penong was quite a nice little park and we had our pick of the bays as we were the first to arrive there on the day. As that strong wind was still gusting in from the ocean, we were quite glad not to have to stay any longer in the very exposed CP. The surface there was crushed shell-grit, very white and dusty!
Friday morning saw us on the road again, passing without incident thru’ the Ceduna Quarantine Station early in the day. We missed out on our oysters there – we were told the oysters were busy spawning and so not available for our consumption. Bugger!! With our oyster yearnings unsatisfied, we continued on our trek finishing the day at a sheep and cattle station called Pandurra. This it seems is a very large establishment. As a side-line they have created a Caravan Park there. We had good reports from other travellers, but perhaps they had stayed there when the weather was a little kinder. It was OK and certainly the surrounding country-side is sensational. Enormous expanses of flat red earth studded with blue saltbush set the stage for sculptured blue and purple ranges rising straight up from the plains.
The Caravan Park is called Nutbush, the proprietors being named Nutte. The owners really let themselves down with an unfriendly attitude. I know that their lot is not always wonderful and to have to deal with scatty sheep, cagey foxes and the public in a dry and singed environment would not always be ‘fun’ and certainly lots of very hard work, BUT................ As another ‘camper’ mentioned, they spent the first 5 minutes telling us what we couldn’t do and where we couldn’t go ...........it would seem they could have made both their lot and our own more enjoyable with a pleasant greeting, a smile and simple explanation of how things worked. Ah well..... We stayed there two days as I wanted to get some washing done and then we moved on. It was an interesting albeit very small insight into life out there. We saw how difficult it seemed to be to keep their stock confined behind fences and we spotted one of the many foxes that apparently plague them there. We were treated to the spectacle of a beautifully trained and highly intelligent kelpie working the sheep.
We were at Nutbush at the rising of the full moon (DD did very well this time) and we were very spoiled watching Luna rise above the rugged and fantastically shaped ranges. The sky there, much like the Territory skies was shades of soft blues and lavenders as the full moon rose at sundown. Unfortunately DD’s wonderful camera was unable to capture the first night as the battery was flat. We did get some good shots the following night but sadly as the moon came up a little later we missed those wonderful colours.
Nutbush was some 40ks west of Pt Augusta. We left there around 8.30 Sunday morning and drove through the Flinders Ranges to a little tiny town called Melrose. That is where you find us now. Melrose is an historical town being the first town to be established in the Flinders Ranges. We are right at the foot of Mt Remarkable in a very pretty and shady Caravan Park. We arrived here at around 10am Monday morning intending to stay some 3 days.
The park is great, the trees are amazing, the tiny town is quaint and hot weather is coming. We have Telstra connectivity on both phone and computer, we are staying put! WA has had extreme hot weather over the Christmas period (as most of you know and experienced) and that weather is about to catch up with us. There is no pool here, but the air-con in the van will keep us cool. We see no point in travelling, hitching and un-hitching the van in the extreme heat. We are in no rush.
We met a lovely, inspiring and somewhat mad couple here last night, and a couple of sundowners turned into a couple of hours. Sadly our new-found friends had to leave this morning, but as they live down the road in Clare, we may catch up with them as we pass thru’ that region next week some time.
Today is New Year’s Eve and we celebrated by having lunch at one of the two local hotels. The food was not fantastic, but reasonable and well priced. It is wonderful now to have SA hospitality prices as opposed to the very pricey ones in WA. I know we are a boring old couple but DD is not into celebrating New Year and I am not enthusiastic enough to argue about it, so we will doubtless be in bed well before the clock strikes midnight.
An early night is quite worthwhile here as the dawn chorus here is exceptional and very hard to sleep thru’. An early morning cuppa with the birds will be a nice way to start the first day of 2013.
Well, there is so much more I could share with you, but as usual I seem to have written far more than is sensible. I will mention quickly tho’ that our plans to go almost straight to Tasmania may now change. We are slowly realising we are free agents and not compelled to follow any particular plan. Anything can happen now. Oh the freedom...................!!!!
Doug and I wish you all a wonderful, happy, healthy, prosperous and spiritually rich 2013. Until next time, Steph.

Golden fields stretch away to the Flinders Ranges

 

THE JOURNEY - STAGE TWO

Christmas time again!!! It is coming around quicker and quicker these days.

Doug and I wish you and yours a joyous and blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013.

This sure was one doozy of a year, don’t you think? For us it held some momentous events. Firstly we finally tied the proverbial knot and secondly we lost my Mum to cancer. Just to finish the whole thing off, my eldest son Brett has parted company from his wife Naomi. Certainly from our point of view there have been some dramas. Having said that tho’, I don’t wish to give the impression that the year was a bad one. After all, getting married was lovely and something we had been trying to ‘get around to’ for quite some time. Mum’s passing was ultimately a blessing for her and although I will always miss her, we are now free to continue our journey. As far as Brett’s marriage is concerned, I am terribly sad for him and the boys, but it is life altering certainly, but not life ending and many of us have moved on to much better lives after parting from ‘the wrong partner’.

In amongst all the major events, we did manage to get away to Denmark, Kalbarri and GreenHead for short breaks, and they are all beautiful destinations. We had some happy times spent with friends and family and our health has been good.

I inherited mum’s home and we have been super busy getting it in order for Brett to live in with his boys. That has been quite challenging. Now we have handed that particular baton on to Brett to carry on the good work. Brett will live in the house looking after it while we travel.

We have ,of latter weeks, also been trying to get the van and car ready for a long trip. A major storm which passed thru’ Perth a couple of weeks ago caused us a small delay when a random gust of wind picked up our awning and tossed it up onto the roof of the van. Fortunately there was no damage done to the roof, air-con or sky-lights, but the awning itself was wrecked. We have in short time claimed on our insurance and had the necessary repairs effected. I have to pay full homage to both our insurer (SGIO) and the repairer, Daniel at Applied RV Services for their speedy and diligent service.

I had vowed to lighten the load in the van considerably, but have to say I have been unsuccessful in this regard. Because of our destination, we are compelled to carry all weather clothing and that does take up quite a bit of space. Other than that, we keep finding ‘things’ that we simply cannot travel without. I think it is part and parcel of living in caravan parks. Everyone we meet seems to have one particular device which they just cannot live without and we get sucked into their enthusiasm and end up buying one for ourselves. Good examples of this would be the soda siphon which now lives with us, the little gas cooker which comes with its own tiny little gas bottle, just for quick stops and off road stuff and of course my new toy, the circulation boosting thingie that I put my feet on each evening! All these things are good things, but they each need their own little corner of the van, and quite frankly, we are running out of corners.

Do you realise, that we have now been living in our van for just over 3 years! It seems impossible, but we started off here in this caravan park in Forrestfield in November 2009. It seems appropriate that we leave from here once again.

We were supposed to hit the road today, but as these things go, there was a last minute hiccup. We are in the throes of having solar panels installed at the house and they were supposed to be done yesterday. Alas, a too busy schedule caused a log-jam for the installers and the panels are going on as we speak, today. We couldn’t leave before installation as I need to sign paperwork on completion of the work. Oh well, I guess it will be for the best – there must have been a good reason why we shouldn’t leave today. DD tells me there is an old sailing rule stipulating never to start a journey on a Friday.............well, perhaps we are just adhering to that rule. Now we will be striking out for Great Easter Highway tomorrow, Saturday.

The plan is to spend night one at Southern Cross, night two ad Fraser Range and night three (Christmas Eve) at Eucla. We will spend a couple of days in Eucla and then continue on our merry way thru’ South Australia, heading slowly down to the Spirit of Tasmania dock where we intend to board the ferry (van and all) and travel to the Apple Isle. We hope to spend somewhere around 6 months in Tassie. It will all depend, I think, on how the bloke handles the cold. Me, I think I will love it, but he does suffer from the cold. I know the cold will hurt all the joints, but at least I will feel like doing something. I find it difficult to get motivated when it is hot.

As before, we will blog our way around the country sharing the experience. For now however, have a wonderful and safe Christmas.

Steph & Doug