The Barossa, Clare and Beyond

So we spent Sunday lazing around Port Parham. We went for a walk around town, it didn’t take very long, then we played with a few new gizmo’s we’d gotten for the camper. Asides from our banquet breakfast of pancakes, food was fairly average because of our lack of it, but we made it work. When Monday called around, it was time to leave Parham in search of food and wine! We headed towards the Barossa with a quick stop off at Gawler to resupply. The next stop and potentially my favourite of the Barossa, was Jacob’s Creek. We were treated to a range of different wines and some lovely breadsticks and found ourselves quite content. The grounds here were quite nice as well. Next stop was Tanunda for some lunch, along the way we passed field after field of wine grapes and of course several wineries. They have 80 odd in the Barossa. After Tanunda, we went to Maggie Beer’s shop, where we sampled almost everything we could find, and then we sampled some more! We then headed over to Angaston, a cute little town. We bought (and tasted) some cheese, checked out Angas Park Fruits Shop – which if you’re in town and have a lot of money it’s well worth a stop – then went to Yalumba Wines. We warmed ourselves by the fire, tasted a fair amount of their range- their tawny is to die for- and then we said goodbye. We chose not to overextend ourselves or our wallets that day so decided to head north. We went through Nuriootpa and some beautiful countryside and settled at a rest area in Tarlee. A town quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

The next morning it was time for the Clare Valley – more wine! After driving again through some beautiful countryside we ended up in Seven Hills, where we visited Seven Hills Jesuit Wines. Here we explored a very old church, a crypt and the winery cellar. There was also a range of displays showing numerous items that had been used in the winery over many years. After such an adventure we were keen to wet our whistles, so headed on over to Knappstein winery and brewery. An absolutely superb choice as we could taste and buy wine and beer – the best of both worlds. So after being well stocked up in the liquor department, we left the Clare before lunch in the hope of settling down somewhere a bit nicer than a rest area for the evening.  For lunch we stopped at a park in Yacke with potentially the coolest picnic tables ever, we also took this opportunity to stretch our legs and play in the park. Then we were off!

Sure enough we found some where quite remarkable to stay, in fact we found Mount Remarkable National Park. The park had flushing loos, hot showers, fire pits and plenty of shady gums. We settled in, spotted some roo’s and emus and had a rather lovely happy hour with all of our goodies from the previous days adventures. The next morning we enjoyed some sunshine, for a nice change! I even got some washing done. After that we went for a lovely bush walk through some hills. Mount Remarkable is actually the southern end of the Flinders Ranges, so there’s no shortage of hills and mountains around. When we finished our walk we decided to start  a fire early and subsequently had the most delicious camp-oven-cooked lamb stew, followed by some perfectly cooked damper – all in all a really good feed!

The next morning we had to go to Port Augusta, as our Hulkie was booked in for a service. Sure enough it was raining again, so we packed up in the wet and headed north. After the Hulkie was dropped off we had some time to kill in town. So we checked out the info centre, some shops and ended up hiding in the library most of the day. The weather was miserable. That afternoon we picked up our baby and stayed in a nearby van park. With the wind howling and the rain pelting down, we decided it was an indoors afternoon and night and as a result watched a ridiculous amount of Underbelly. The next morning we had our Hulkie booked in for some new tyres (which by the way look very suave). We spent the morning walking around Port Augusta, got our baby back and headed South. I needed to stay in reception for a phone interview that afternoon, so we headed towards Whyalla. We were going to stay at Lowly Point, but the place was about as dreary as its name, so we continued on to Fitzgerald Bay, via a very muddy coastal road that was more of a 4wd track at the time. Fitzgerald Bay was a lot nicer. There was ocean views, lots of bush scrub and some very weird toilets (the doors were latticed so if someone was at the right angle outside they could see you on the loo!), most importantly there was no gusty winds and it was flat. So we set up camp. Oh, I should mention it was right near a military base. We spent that afternoon listening to gun shots a plenty.

That night we decided we’d been rushing around too much and the weather was once again getting us down. We noted we had several things to do before we were prepared to go “up” the middle, so we made a radical decision to drive back to Mount Remarkable – to hot showers, flushing loos that had proper doors, fire places and generally a nice view. And that’s where we are now. We’re slowly ticking off our things to do list and just taking a couple of days to relax. I think the weather agreed with us because since we arrived back here it has been sunny. And we’re loving it.

Lesson of the week: sometimes it’s good to relax

The Limestone Coast, Adelaide Hills and Adelaide itself!

We began this week in Little Dip National Park – The Gums campsite. We vegged, played on the bush swing and had showers. Feeling cleaner and more relaxed, we headed to Robe. First we drove to The Obelisk (which can only be described as a poor man’s lighthouse or potentially where “Where’s Wally” would live) but is actually a warning sign for passing ships. Whilst there we managed to spot a seal and we watched as it played just off the shore.

Where's Waldo's House - The red looks a lot brighter  in person!

We headed into town, once again restocked and drove north onto Kingston SE. Kingston is a sweet little town, it has a lovely info centre, a historic lighthouse, a few shops, oh and a giant lobster! So we said hey to Larry the Lobster and then promptly exeunted the town with its giant crustacean in search of better things – The Coorong National Park.

Larry the Lobster!

The park was definitely not well signed, but somehow we found a track in,  and after a couple of skippies had passed we saw several small lakes and a path leading to a campground called 28 Mile Crossing. Initially we weren’t sure where we’d end up that night but after spying this ground we were quite happy to stay as:

There was no one else around,

Nature was in abundance,

It was getting late, and

There were magnificent giant sand dunes to explore!

It was just on dusk so we spent the last light of the day exploring the dunes and viewing the ocean and the Coorong in all its splendour, leaving cooking as a chore to complete in the dark.

Me in the vast sand duney landscape

Our Hulkie parked next to a Dune

The next morning we were eager to explore more of this wondrous park so we headed north. Not long had passed before we found another campground (42 Mile Crossing). It was grassy, had picnic tables, nice facilities and seemed like a great place to stop…but seeing as though it wasn’t even 9am yet we decided to explore a bit more first. We went to a historic site called “Chinaman’s Well”. This well was built in early gold mining days and was constructed purely from limestone. Interesting fact- The well was built in a circular shape as apparently demons like to hide in corners. Obviously these guys had never seen the ring. Eek. Anyway we also checked out Loop Road, where there was a few other campsites and a bit more of the parks natural beauty. We then headed back to 42 Mile – all before noon. It was a glorious sunny day so we decided to do some washing, well a couple of weeks worth due to the weather we’ve been having. Anyone who walked by remarked on it, including a ranger who said to Michael, “Where’s the washing machine and how did you manage to fit it in?” ….Michael promptly replied by pointing at me and said “There she is” – good times! Luckily we put the washing away that night, because it reached -2^oc and in the morning everything that was out was covered in frost and ice!

Loads of washing!

The sun did eventually peek out and we had heard of another nice campground further north, so we packed up and went exploring. Along the way we went to Jacks Point (a pelican breeding area) and then Meningie (township). At this point I should probably mention somehow in the last week or so I decided to go for a rural social work job. So when we hit reception in Meningie my phone went mental. Apparently I’m a prime candidate for a job in Alice Springs. So I spent that afternoon reading, typing up notes for the agency and prewarning and chatting to my referees (which meant a good yak on the phone). I’d been scheduled for a final interview on Saturday. All that accomplished we headed back into the park to Long Point. Where the camp ground was, well it was alright (read gravel car park), but I’m glad we stayed because the sunset was spectacular!

That night we had to make some decisions on where we were heading and how to get good reception in South Australia. So we decided we’d head to the capital – because surely they’d have reception. So the next morning we drove a few hours and eventually ended up in the Hills region. I think the Hulk disliked the Hills region because before I knew  it, I was doing 40 on the freeway! Anyway, we ended up in Hahndorf, a lovely little German village. The town was full of amazing bakeries, beer, weird sounding food and everything German. We explored the shops, tasted a few delights and ate in a café that was most likely decorated by a two year old (a colour scheme of green, yellow, purple and pink, stickers on the wall and figurines anywhere they fit. We decided to try and find a place to stay quickly to avoid “city” traffic (NB – Adelaide is not your typical city and does not have your typical city traffic, it is more life a large regional town…). We ended up at Levi Tourist Park, which had BBQ’s, a nice camp kitchen, grass, ducks, a possum, lovely showers and a bath! And all within 5 km of the CBD. To put this into some perspective, Newtown is about 15 km from Sydney CBD.

In the morning we bussed it into the city. We explored Rundle Mall, Central Markets, shops, a local Maccas, the Botanic Gardens and also caught a magic show. I was eager to study-up for my interview so we headed “home” and spent the night relatively relaxed. I even allowed myself some procrastination time on skype. The next day the interview wasn’t until one, so we had some time to fill. Naturally I found a chocolate shop (Haighs) to visit and even managed to book us into a free tour of the factory. The tour was great and involved several tastings – I would advise anyone in Adelaide to do it! Just before the tour started I found out the interview was to be postponed for a week due to an emergency, so being located within a chocolate factory definitely helped. To try and keep the day positive, Michael and I decided we’d follow up the factory with a movie. Though we ended up missing it by 10 minutes or so. I believe this was an act of fate, as we managed to stumble upon a fashion show with that guy off “how to look good naked” (Gok), then left to get lunch on the Glenelg foreshore. The sun was out, so we had fish and chips on the top balcony of the Dublin Pub with a lovely cider, then headed to a different cinema to catch the next session of “The Avengers” – considering our car made an appearance we had to see it!

...We were told when you work there you're allowed to eat as much chocolate as you want for free! ....
Am totally getting a job there!

We decided we’d do our shopping after the film as we were also out of essentials – however we forgot that South Australia is from the past, and although we were out of the movies by 5:30, Coles was shut by 5. We were pretty hyped up from all the explosions and CGI stuff in the film, so drove on anyway. An hour north of the city and you are well and truly in the sticks. Port Parham has a free campsite, one tar road and a Sports Club that offers takeaway meals two nights of the week and dine in another two. However in saying that, it is still open longer than Coles in the city. There are also the coolest tractors that have seats and engines about 2 metres high, which means a much better water crossing capability than the Hulk.

Saturday night’s dinner consisted of a hearty meal of cup ‘a’ soup with 2 minute noodles mixed through (don’t judge us we we’re on rations!) and a dessert consisting of fudge, oreos and chocolate. Entertainment involved listening to a guy play a ukulele and sing camp songs (yes we’ve bumped into the CMCA again…) and a generator being started up because of an issue on one of the nearby buses (imagine “oh no my central heating/ TV/ microwave/ electric blanket/ kettle/ toaster isn’t working”…get real and get out of fakeville buddy, you’re camping).

Hopefully we will shop soon, but if not we’re heading to the Barossa soon enough so we’ll have wine and all will be well!

Lesson of the week: Expect the unexpected cos it sure as heck can happen        

The Limestone Coast

When last we left off, we were at Mount Gambier Showgrounds. A lovely little stop over, mainly because of the hot showers! Anyway we spent Sunday in town stocking up and then went to the well known sunken garden (Umpherston Sinkhole). It was spectacular and you could really see why everyone says you must visit it. Originally it was created as an oasis away from Aussie heat, but now it’s a public garden that descends deep into the ground, with cave walls, cascading vines and flowers of all sorts, it was beautiful!

 A view of the sunken gardens

The next day we had The Hulk (our car) booked in at a mechanic to beef it up a bit. We were told it would be finished by 5 and we’d be back on the road again, so we thought we’d adventure the town a little more and check out the Cave Gardens (Mt Gambier is actually built around a cave/sinkhole…it’s not huge but it’s at the centre of town and has roses all around it – very random). When it was nearing 5 Michael and I were beginning to wonder what was going on, and upon calling the mechanic we found out that everything was not finished. With our house being stored in the garage on stocks, it somehow seemed only logical that we were to sleep in the garage that night. Initially this idea seemed foreign and unpleasant, but having access to a coffee machine, heater, tv and a computer meant we ended up being quite happy…we did however have to wake up relatively early so when the first mechanic rolled up we weren’t still asleep.

It doesnt look great, but it was actually a pretty good stay!

So we had another several hours that day in town to kill, somehow during this time we managed to find another way to spend a grand and ended up with a new you-beaut fridge. We eventually got our beefed-up Hulky back, picked up the fridge and did some serious re-arranging of the camper. Then we set off – in search of more adventure. However it was rather late in the day so that adventure really just meant find somewhere to sleep! After taking the wrong road yet again, attempting to read the longitude and latitude of our location and then finding a lovely fellow who pointed us in the right direction, we ended up at Bool Lagoon – a bit dry on the water so more like Bool almost swamp but it still had lots of birds. We set up, annex up and began cooking tea. I thought it had begun to rain because I could hear little taps on the annex, I looked up and saw hundreds of mozzies and subsequently had a little freak-out. Asides from the mozzies Bool “Lagoon” was rather lovely. We spent the next day having showers, wandering around and swapping fridges over. Good times!

Stalactites in Naracoorte caves

The next morning we set off towards Naracoorte – Caving time! I’d been looking forward to going to the world heritage fossil caves since just after the concept of our trip took form. We descended 20 odd metres below the ground into picturesque caves, where beautifully lit stalactites, scarfs and really cool rock formations were in abundance. After walking through several caves we ended up at the fossil sites, where we saw fossils from a long long long time ago! Because we were a small tour (6) we were able to see another chamber and climb some rather scary slanty steps to overlook some more fossil sites. Very cool. We slowly ascended and had a picnic in the grounds before heading to Naracoorte town…not long after arriving in town, we had seen the town. So we grabbed a few naughty foods (cheese and choccy biscuits) from the grocery shop then we were away – back to Bool “Lagoon”. We decided to take the 4WD track around the lagoon because the local ranger had recommended it – saying there was still some water on that side and brolgas had been sighted. We found water by half way, but by about three quarters through we felt lost. We reached a gate that was locked even though this was clearly the way to go – so I called the national parks office. Apparently a lovely local fellow had locked the gate because he had nothing better to do, despite police and court efforts the gate keeps being locked. We were directed through other gates and sort of found the track again. Feeling reassured we continued on, by now it was late in the afternoon, making for a lovely sight when looking at the lagoons and birds, but also a tad worrying when the mozzies were potentially looming! Again we found a gate, this time not locked, so we went through it – only to be greeted by a full herd of sheep. By now we were very close to the end of the track and turning back meant over an hour’s adventure – so we ploughed on, well herded on? The sheep were following us, surrounding us and coming at us. Seriously bizarre. At one stage I had to hop out to scare then away. Eventually we reached another gate, got out before the sheep and headed back to camp.

"Kangaroo" from many years ago

 The next morning we decided we’d had enough of the “lagoon”, so we went to Penola, stopping off at several wineries along the way. We drank a bit and purchased a couple of bottles and headed west towards Robe. Along the way we stumbled upon a nudist beach/colony, an emu, a giant kangaroo and several tracks that led the wrong way! Eventually we found Little Dip National Park and settled at a place called “Old Man Lake” – we’ve decided this is either because:

aa)     This is a place an old man would like to sit and ponder

bb)      The sand smelt like old man

Regardless, it was a nice stay in amongst trees all alone. The next morning, feeling the need to get back to nature we went 4WDing along a rather long and at times rugged track. It was superb. We saw a baby wombat, a fresh water lake, several really weirdly placed picnic areas, beaches and rocks. We settled at a campsite called The Gums – confusing because there wasn’t really many gums around. The one Gum I did manage to find had a homemade swing attached so good times ensued.

With wine and cheese to follow we had a lovely evening (despite the weather still doing its best to dampen our spirits) and that my friends is the end of that chapter!

Lesson of the week: Don’t be afraid to Ask – Ask for help, ask for directions, ask for advice – in the long run it pays off!

The Discovery Coast and The Limestone Coast

After a rather wet night at the Grampians we said our goodbyes on Sunday to mountain country and headed back towards the coast. Along the way we thought we’d stop off in “Volcano Country”. Our first destination was just outside Byaduk, at the Byaduk caves. Here we explored Herman 1 Cave – despite difficult climb down into the cave the adventure was quite fun. We got to a stage where our head lamps were not bright enough for navigating damp volcanic rock and turned back. Once safely (or so we thought- hours later I discovered I had been bitten by a leech resulting in the grossest sight and a need for washing clothes!) out of the cave we adventured around looking at other caves and a historic stone wall.

What we had to scramble down!

We then headed to Mt Eccles National Park – where hot showers were available! The park was lovely and the amenities quite nice, there was quite a lot of wildlife around, including roos, koalas and possums. We decided to stay two nights, as the weather had been fairly average and we wanted to do a few of the walks in the park. The next day we wandered around Lake Surprise! And explored a lava tunnel (this time it had steps in so we were much happier to enter the cave plus we took the dolphin torch with us!), we also had some much needed RNR. Before leaving the park we also checked out “The Natural Bridge” – a bridge formed by lava tunnels. It was rather cool. Then we headed towards Portland and the coast – potentially a big mistake; as we drove into town clouds amassed in front of us and then the rain was upon us! I think it’s important to note that since we departed the Grampians we’ve barely seen the sun, most days have been cloudy and we had small spits of rain. After a day in Portland we were beginning to think of the sun as a mythical being. We stocked up and hid in the library and eventually gained the courage to head to a local state park – Cobboboonee. The weather was fierce so we settled down to watch a movie, ate butter chicken and decided to leave the dishes until the morning – except a possum had other plans. Now it is not widely know that possums are great lovers of Indian food, so anyone could be forgiven for leaving their butter chicken dishes out on a picnic table in the rain and proceeding to watch Mission Impossible, but if you wanted to watch the movie in peace and not wonder what the heck all the banging is and where you’re dinner utensils have gone then it’s probably not a good idea.

On the plus side poss basically scraped the pot clean so less washing up in the morning!

A typical look at what caving involves - I'll give you a clue, darkness!

Anyway, we left in search of the sun. Although we didn’t actually find it, we did find some interesting things along the way. We stopped in at Cape Bridgewater to look at the blowholes and petrified forest.  We were going to attempt a walk to the local seal colony until icy cold winds (strong enough to blow Toto out of Kansas) and rain appeared. Instead we headed west. We ended up camping by the Glenelg River at a wonderful little camp ground called Pritchards. And magically the rain held off for an hour or so. In this time we explored the area and the river, which was overflowing. Then we had happy hour with a skippy called bob and fed possums (about 10)  some of our old veggies (we were soon to cross the border and no fruit and veg is allowed). In the morning it was once again raining. We put it down to being in Victoria so decided it was almost time for a tree change!

The Petrified Forest

We explored the little town of Nelson, the river so high that several sheds were surrounded by it, and then headed to the Princess Margaret Rose Caves, which meant briefly driving into SA to come back to Vic. This time Michael took the honours of driving across the borders. Weirdly enough we didn’t actually explore the caves, as the sun was coming out sporadically, we set up camp and tried to enjoy the patches of nice weather, separated by bouts of rain. The campsite was ok – Michael and I decided there were too many rules PLUS the showers were timed to 4 minutes, not so fun.

Bob the Skippie - Helping us figure out where to go next!

The next morning we set off to South Australia, but this time to stay. I drove across the border, past several mobs of skippies, landing in Mt Gambier by 10am. We stocked up and checked out the town, but found out there was a festival on and there were a lot of tourists around – so we got out of town fairly quickly and went to the Piccaninnie Ponds – a place where the water is so clear that in some parts you can see 40. The campsite was alright and again the weather slipped back to average so we watched another movie and hid out in The Hulk. We also devised a wicked way of hanging the tablet so we have a suspended flat screen telly ;p

Our big screen telly with surround sound!

And that brings us to today. This morning we slept in again since the rain was around before we eventually headed off. Heading to Mt Gambier again (where we are going to stay for a couple of days to upgrade our car), we went via Port Macdonald, which was small and kind of sweet except for a strong smell of seaweed. We briefly looked at Mt Schank – not attempting the walk because of the rain. And then stumbled upon a lovely look out of the Blue Lake at Mt Gambier. The lake was actually still blue, which we were told we wouldn’t see because of the seasons. So we checked out a few lookouts, marvelled at the lake and the surrounding sinkholes and went to Valley Lake for lunch. A black swan decided it wanted some lunch too – although they look really majestic on the water, their pretty scary when there trying to steal your spag bowl! Valley Lake has a free nature walk and wildlife zoo, full of Aussie animals, so we quickly went in to see some more skippies. After that we headed to Dan Murphies to resupply and we’re currently at the town’s showground. We plan to explore the area over the next couple of days and restock as were going to do a big stretch of wilderness soon. Oh if you haven’t guessed by now, the theme of this week has been rain…we seriously cannot wait til we’re at Alice where the temperatures are still in the 30’s! Anyway that’s it for now, hooroo!

The scary black swan

Lesson of the week: Don’t let the weather dampen your spirits (get it? It’s punny!)