WINDY WARRNAMBOOL

Coastal Reefs Warrnambool

Windy, wintery, wet, ......................all of the above. We are not sure if this is typical Victorian summer or if we have just struck a spot of odd weather. Please understand we are not complaining. Considering the drenching some of the country is getting right now, we have been blessed. Fire and Flood certainly are the predominant problems within this wonderful country of ours right now. That and of course, the glasses our Prime Minister has suddenly taken to wearing – perhaps to stare down Tim with?!! After his last little outburst about prostate cancer, can’t say that I blame her really (that has to be a first)!

Anyway, Warrnambool – gateway to The Great Ocean Road according to the brochures! OK, we can’t comment on that one as we have gone no further east than our comfortable Caravan Park at Hopkins River, some 5 ks east of the main city of Warrnambool. Warrnambool is quite a big place and the bloke has done nothing but Complain Loudly ever since we arrived here. We are no longer accustomed to finding our way amongst traffic lights and lots of cars and trucks. Unfortunately you cannot go anywhere here without at least driving thru’ the town once. If I was to try to identify Warrnambool with a WA town I would most likely come up with perhaps a Bunbury for size. It is difficult to say why the town has grown here, most likely simply as a service point for the surrounding rural areas. Of course there are some good beaches here and a little bit of ocean scenery. I think we must be more than a bit spoiled tho’ as we can’t seem to find much enthusiasm for the local scenery. It is nice enough but doesn’t sing to us.

Good Surfing

In fairness to Warrnambool and its fair inhabitants, (Warrnamboolians?) the weather has been ‘upta’ pretty much since we arrived. I have quite enjoyed the wet and cool change but I think our lad would have preferred a little more sun. Added to the wet and the cool, there has been a wee bit of wind. I must say, since losing our awning last year we are now both a little paranoid. DD has very kindly just jumped up off the bed (oh around 2.45pm) to go and take a photo of the van and its accompanying ropes and drops. See what I mean, paranoid!! The wet weather has given us the prime opportunity to test out our new ‘drops’. Don’t know what else to call them, but the things that you attach to the sides of the awning to form a pseudo annex. We bought new ones just before leaving Perth, these being more substantial than our old ones. We figured that in Tassie we might be happy to have a little more protection from the elements. We are very pleased with these new additions – they definitely do protect our various bits and pieces and also give us a protected and fairly private little area outside the van. The bonus as far as I am concerned is that they also hide a bit of the general detritus that DD always seems to accumulate outside the van.

Paranoi Strikes - The Awning Goes - Zed Goes!!

What is Warrnambool like? Its a nice enough town/city but as you probably have guessed by now, we are not into towns at all. The place is big and almost bustling. The local beaches are quite good and I’m sure the locals find them beautiful. I would say that the surfing here would be excellent as there are a couple of long surf beaches. There is also a stretch of rough and picturesque coastline featuring some small islets and reefs just alongside the town. The Hopkins River runs through the town and out to the surrounding countryside.

We took a drive westwards to visit the little holiday town of Port Fairy – very much a tourist town, although pretty and historically minded. We found it to be quite picturesque with homes clambering down the banks of the local river. We found tho’ that there really wasn’t a great deal to see at Port Fairy. What we are discovering however, is that these little tourist books each town puts out must be read with the proverbial ‘pinch of salt’. They really do exaggerate the finer points, making mileage out of very basic stuff indeed. We understand their need to promote their areas and regions of course, but now take a slightly sceptical viewpoint when reading the promotional blurbs.

Pretty Port Fairy

On the way back from Port Fairy we took a side trip to the Tower Hill Reserve. This really is the wrong time of the year to see this ancient volcanic area. The reserve, rich in wild-life, generally is also rich in water, but at the moment much of the lakes and lagoons have virtually dried up. The park was still beautiful and I really enjoyed our drive thru’ the steep & winding roads of the park.

Not So Wet Wet-Lands Tower Hill

Speaking of Steep and Winding, our very good mate Steve, has indicated (why now Steve?) that the Great Ocean Road is dangerous and he is in awe of us dragging our big heavy van along the way. We were a bit perturbed by this news as we had not heard before that the road was anything out of the ordinary safety - wise. We have since spoken to a couple of locals who have advised us that as long as we are sensible we should be OK. It seems that the really tough section is towards Lorne at the eastern end of the route. Looking at all the maps and reading the aforementioned blurbs, there are numerous caravan parks along the way indicating that it is safe for vans. I guess we will see when we get to that stage. I don’t really want our lad to be stressed about the driving. If anyone other than Steve had mentioned it, we would have most likely dismissed it as foolish, but we have for quite some time now, been in awe of Steve’s prowess at driving thru’ all sorts of dangerous situations. Steve & his wonderful wife Sylvia are tough and adventurous off-road types who will generally pull their van or camper trailer thru’ anything, including croc invested rivers. In our estimation if Steve thinks a road is dangerous, it is probably suicidal.

River trips, we really have a passion for these gems and found yet another cruise here in Warrnambool. This time the cost was only $16 ph and the boat trip was a one hour cruise up the Hopkins River. It was very pleasant and well worth the money with good commentary along the way. We were mind blown to be told that the new suburban sprawl along the riverside was inundated with water not many years ago. Why on earth the powers that be have allowed this development is beyond us, especially considering the dramas in Queensland at the moment.

From the boat - Hopkins River

So............as you will have guessed by now, I really don’t have a great deal to tell you about Warrnambool. Our lad has been a little on the quiet side this week and not inclined to explore so we have had a quiet five days. We were to head out today but have delayed our departure until tomorrow when the weather promises to be a little better. We have had a little foretaste of Tassie weather I think, so much that DD scurried off to buy himself some thermal underwear. That will be interesting, seeing our lanky lad compress himself into those long-johns!! Oh well, who am I to laugh, seeing as how my natural insulation is so great as to not need the added warmth of thermals.

Tomorrow we hitch up and head to Port Campbell where we will be in Great Ocean Road territory well and truly. Lookin’ towards it!

Until next time spare a thought and prayer for all those caught up in the floods and fires around our country. Smile at each other from time to time won’t you! Steph.

Stormy Seas

PURPOSEFUL PORTLAND

Early Morning at Henty Bay Beach

Well here we are in Victoria! Before I tell you about Portland tho’ let me just touch briefly on our boat trip. On our last Saturday in Mt Gambier we took a drive down to Nelson and jumped on a boat to take a cruise up the Glenelg River. The river meanders in and out of both SA and Victoria and takes in quite a pretty scenic run. The cruise takes you to the Princess Rose Margaret Caves and then returns to Nelson. As far as cruises go it was OK. The cost was app $30 per head with a small seniors discount of a couple of dollars. The couple who ran the tour were a little pedantic; stressing the discount could only be obtained with a Seniors Card and not a Pension Card???!!! Oh well – they had been running the cruise for some 15 years and I think they were ‘over it’.

A Little on the Tired Side!

The boat was OK, I think it was called the Glenelg Endeavour or some such and like the owners had seen better days. The river was quite pretty however and the limestone walls along the way were spectacular in parts. The owners fed the ducks and swans along the way with slices of bread, much to our amazement – they would not be able to do that at home! Needless to say, the process was quite successful as we were eagerly followed along the way by a plethora of water birds. We didn’t go on the cave tour at the end as neither of us are cave enthusiasts and the thought of delving deep into the bowels of Mother Earth doesn’t thrill us. We enjoyed instead an ice-cream at the pretty park alongside the caves, and the antics of the variegated Fairy Wrens which live there. We are rather fond of these sorts of cruises and so weren’t disappointed but I would hesitate to recommend the trip to others.

Limestone Rock Face Along the Glenelg

So, Portland, well...........this is not what we would call a pretty place, although it does have its beauty spots. The town is purported to be “Victoria’s birthplace by the sea” as it saw the first established European settlement in 1834. Not an awful lot of that first settlement is left to see but a few notable remnants do survive today. Essentially however, Portland is a working port and fairly heavily industrialised; Portland Aluminium is a big part of that industrialisation, occupying 500 odd hectares of land with a further 100 hectares occupied by associated buildings and roads. The plant employs over 600 souls and is ostensibly one of Australia’s largest export earners.

Some Vestige of The Past Remain

We were interested also to see enormous piles of woodchips waiting at the port – the logs are trucked in here and chipped up before being shipped out.

I must say in support of the town and the powers that be here, they have done the whole thing quite well and the place abounds with parks and open spaces capitalising on the scenery of the bay and surrounds.

Accross the Bay to The Industrialised Port Area

Fishing is also huge here, and it includes trawling, abalone, crayfish and squid sectors. They say that Portland supplies up to 40% of Victoria’s fishing haul.

Portland also ‘boasts’ a large wind-farm which they say, when completed, will be the largest in the Southern hemisphere. I must say winds-farming appears to be eminently suited to this rather windy area.

We are staying (for 1 week) at the Family Park out at Henty Bay, some 6 ks North East of the town of Portland. There is a story attached to the park which is very run down. It seems it was owned and run by a couple and the gentleman passed away some 3 years ago. The woman, poor soul was compelled to keep running the park pending the sale. It took her 3 years to get her price and the sale has just taken place. Of course all of this is hearsay! Anyway, Family Parks has just taken over, only days before we arrived. As a result of this the park is a little topsy-turvy at the moment, but, we have absolute beach-front and now that the crowds have abated somewhat, we have a very private little piece of paradise. When we arrived the park was awash with loudly active family groups, all of whom had descended on the place for a fishing comp held last week-end. I must say watching their antics did make me miss our own mob, who I’m sure would have given this lot a run for their money in noisy antics. Most of the families were from the country and the kids were wholesomely ‘normal’ – skidding around the park on their bikes and driving most of us nuts with their screaming and carrying on. I must confess to being a crabby old woman just once and directing a loud “Oy” at one young miscreant who was intent on breaking down most of the lovely windbreak protecting us from the worst of the ocean ‘breeze’ that gusts in here most afternoons. The young man in question gave me such a poisonous and resentful glare when he next rode his bike past the van we were nervously expecting to find a rotten fish or something similar secreted in the exhaust pipe or some such.

The beach here provides a lovely little walk if you are prepared to dodge the tides that block the sand in places. All the beachfront here has been reinforced with large rocks, evidencing we assume, some serious erosion of the sand banks in times past. Early morning walks provided us with a couple of sensational shots – the morning light being exceptional here.

The town boasts an historic Cable Tram – founded in 1996 the restored and modified 1885-1940 tram, now operating on diesel runs a short but scenic tour of the bay, foreshore and historic sites. The whole thing is operated and run by elderly volunteers. The trip we took had a venerable lady doing the ‘talk-over’ and we were amazed to see her (not quite nimbly) jump out of the tram to ‘trot’ into the middle of a fairly busy road to flash her red flag at oncoming traffic.

Refurbished Cable Tram

Our Venerable Tram Girl

We visited the Railway museum/ come tram depot during our tram trip and once again I was sorry we didn’t have our grandsons with us, as the working model trains included a very busy Thomas bustling along the tracks.

Thomas and Friends Model Railway

One of the recommended day trips from Portland took us out to Cape Bridgewater, a pretty little seaside village some 20 odd ks west of Portland. We enjoyed the drive and the oceanic views along the way. I think tho’ that after the beauty of Port MacDonnell this paled a little in comparison.

Tiny Beachside hamlet of Cape Bridgewater

All in all we have enjoyed our stay here. One week was an overkill, but we booked longer than necessary simply to ensure a bay somewhere over the Australia Day long weekend. As the kids go back to school here next Tuesday, we should now have an easier time finding ourselves good spots to stay.

We leave here on Sunday and head to Warrnambool where we will start our exploration of the Great Ocean Road and surrounds. I am really looking forward to The Great Ocean Road.

DD has booked our passage on the Spirit of Tasmania for a day trip on the 17th Feb. I have to admit to really wanting a night voyage, however, due to the size of our combined van and vehicle they had a little trouble finding room for us, so we had to take what was on offer. We have only booked one way at this stage and are very pleased with the price of $810 for ourselves and our rig.

Now we have a date for our departure, we will have to be a little more structured with our times. I was a little worried we had not left ourselves sufficient time to really see the Great Ocean Road until DD pointed out we have 3 weeks to cover only 300 odd ks and it has taken us only 4 weeks to get here! I guess we will cope.

Fresh & Blustery Morning Henty Bay

All in all, everything is going fine and pretty much to plan. We are finding now that we have the odd day in which to do very little at all, and I think that is essential to our continuing enjoyment of our sightseeing. If you are seeing outstanding sights every single day I think your enjoyment palls somewhat after a while. Every so often we need to stop and have a day just for correspondence, maintenance, reading, sleeping, chatting, sleeping, ..........................what, oh sorry – yes I was being a pratt, but you know someone has to do this stuff just to give the younger ones something to look forward to.

Don’t forget to surprise each other from time to time and until we talk again, look after yourselves. Steph

Stunning Roses at The Portland Botanical Gardens

Sorry about the layout above - the draft shows it completely differently and I have no idea how to fix.

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.
<

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.