The previous Blog – Part 4 ended when we left on the Ferry from Tasmania back to Melbourne.
This part covers the trip from Melbourne to Adelaide and then our adventures in South Australia up to the time we went to Snowtown.
It should have covered the whole of SA but for various reasons like driving licences and bike parts we will be in South Australia longer than expected. As we are being hounded by our readers for the next instalment it has been released a little earlier than planned while we are still in SA.
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Saturday 17th Feb – left on the 09:00 ferry and arrived back in Port Melbourne at 18:30. It was a totally un-eventful trip as we both spent most of the time sleeping.
Went into the city on the Saturday night – it was the White Night festival so the place was buzzy. On the Sunday met up with an old friend from Hong Kong aka Magic Paul due to his ability to do magic tricks or at least that’s what he said. Spent the afternoon with them in Fitzroy drinking and generally lapping up the atmosphere. It was good to catch up.
Monday 19th Feb – had some bits and pieces of shopping to do which included looking for an anti-flap device for Marge’s awning (partially successful) and visit to IKEA which included the mandatory Swedish Meat Balls for William and Veggie Balls for me. We were looking for 2 pillows to fit the pillow cases we had brought with us by mistake.
Spent most of the day in the City on errands before taking the road to Geelong and the Great Ocean Road.
We weren’t sure how far we would get so hadn’t booked anything. We ended up on an equestrian farm, in a paddock and were the only ones there. The difference in price between Victoria and Tasmania came as quite a shock, hopefully once we get off the GOR prices will become more sensible.
Left the paddock about 11 went back to Torquay and then started back along the GOR .
The scenery is splendid. For the most part it hugs the coastline with dense forests on one side and the Ocean and absolutely beautiful beaches on the other. We decided to stop the night (Tuesday 20th Feb) at Wye River. This is one of the numerous creeks that drain down to the sea along the length of the GOR. The campsite, unfortunately not free, was right on the beach.
We had heard many stories about the number of tourists on the GOR and horror stories of inexperienced overseas drivers. There certainly are wall to wall tourists from our Asian neighbours – they must be keeping this part of Australia afloat .
As for the driving, we had a couple of experiences with obviously very very nervous drivers travelling well below the speed limit also there was tendency to stop and look at sights and animals with little regard to the traffic conditions. Many of the road signs are in Chinese and frequent signs saying “In Australia drive on the left”
On Wednesday21st we decided to head back in-land into the Otway National Park. Willy had found a mountain bike track is Forrest – so off we went. We found a great free campsite at Stevenson’s Falls – it was quite superb and about 6Kms from the bike tracks. The campsite was down in a valley surrounded by dense, very lush forests, a steam and plenty of large sites each with their own fire pit. Building fires seems to be an obsession with most campers – we haven’t caught the bug yet but we nearly bought an axe in Aldi last time we went shopping. Apparently also useful for killing wild pigs and on a more serious note finishing off any thing that you might hit – (animals not people).
Unfortunately the river banks in the campsite were being taken over by blackberries – quite awful as it devastates the local flora (or is that fauna?).. The upside is great bird life. Groups of Blue Wrens hopping about, Woody Ducks and Yellow Robins…. together with some Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos and the inevitable Kookaburras…
I did ask William if I could go mountain bike riding with him but he said that he would be “dis-respected” by the brotherhood if he was seen with someone on a non-binary bike. Obviously falling off your bike and breaking you shoulder in Taylor Square Sydney is quite a different matter – nothing disrespectful about that!
Needless to say I didn’t go on the mountain bike trails but did the rail-trail which was really good. On the way came across the echidna in the video. The quietness and peace of the place was wonderful.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/39599514885/in/dateposted-public/
We enjoyed Forrest and the campsite so much we decided to stay another night and the next day William did some of the harder bike trails while I read my book and ate ice cream.
Friday – 23rd Feb – Even though the weather was rather bleak, raining and only about 19ยบ, we headed back to the coast making for the 12 Apostles (Sandstone Stacks). They are worth visiting but I think the only way to really appreciate them would be to do the walk along the coast and take in the whole spectacle, just going and looking at them in isolation doesn’t do them justice.
Today happens to be my birthday – but nothing happened. About 5 in the evening after a give away phone call from John R he suddenly realised – too late. Apparently he had worked out that Saturday was the 23rd.
We stayed the night in Port Campbell, went out to the local pub for dinner – no birthday cake though.
Saturday 24th Feb – Visited Loch Arg Gorge which was the site of a shipwreck in the 1800’s, more sandstone pillars which I think are more dramatic than the 12 Apostles.
Then headed back along the GOR and ended up in Portland. The weather was still bad so didn’t actually do anything. Our neighbours at the Portland campsite were friends of Dorothy’s from Newcastle (NSW) – you can always tell really cutting edge and fashionable – just like ourselves.
From Portland, on the Monday 26th Feb, we again headed inland to The Grampians – this is a mountain range/national park in the West of Victoria. Found a rather nice free camping site at Halls Gap. On the Tuesday did the Pinnacle walk which is about 6km round trip through an area strewn with huge boulders with sandstone peaks. Took about 60mins to reach “The Pinnacle” which is an outcrop that overhangs the valley below.
It was great until a bunch of tourists (Germans) decided to start flying drones. William, himself a drone enthusiast, soon put paid to that!. Actually flying drones is banned anywhere within national parks.
Late in the afternoon we moved to another campsite in Halls Gap – we were in urgent need of laundry facilities. Great site but judging by the droppings there must be wombats. Wombat’s poo is square so it doesn’t roll away – at least that’s what we have been told. If you’re wondering about non-rolling poo it a scent marking thing – or again that’s what we have been told – won’t look it up as I don’t want to be disillusioned.
Tuesday 27th Feb – had another late start and headed for Mount Gambier via a route less travelled. Ended up in a free camping site in Casterton which is the Kelpie capital of the world. Lovely camping site down by the Ess Lagoon which apparently is full of Trout and Red Fin – now if only one of us knew something about fishing we would be OK. Apparently fishing in the Southern Hemisphere is totally different from fishing in the Northern Hemisphere and there is no cross-hemisphere commonality!
Wednesday 28th Feb – Weather turned nasty again really windy and quite cold. Crossed the border into South Australia and stopped off in Mount Gambier for a coffee. The Lonely Traveller guide sums it up well by saying “Mount Gambier is much improved – you can now get a decent coffee” or words to that effect. Had a look at the Blue Lake which is an extinct volcano full of water of the most beautiful blue. It’s only blue for a couple of months in summer and then turns normal water colour. Nobody knows why – perhaps something to do with (saint) Mary Mckillop who came from near here. Needless to say we didn’t do the MMc tourist route for fear of being struck down.
Right in the centre of the town is a large cave caused through erosion of the under lying sandstone. You descend a set of steps look into the cave and see the pavement and shops above – a strange juxtaposition, there’s also a good set of information. and an evening son et luminere show. The biggest problem is someone has thrown two Woolworth’s super-maket trolleys into the middle of this – not a good look.
From Mt.Gambier we took the coast road towards Adelaide. No really good free camping parks so we stayed in a rather nice paying one in Robe which is a rather nice, obviously quite wealthy town.
Countyside- wise there not a lot to see on the road it’s very flat but just far enough away from the water to obscure any views. The weather was still cold and windy so not the greatest introduction to SA.
Thursday 1st March – went Free Camping at Pelican Point which is in the Coorong National Park. The Coorong National Park is a protected area located in South Australia about 150 kms southeast of Adelaide. It pre-dominantly covers a lagoon ecosystem officially known as the Coorong and the Younghusband Peninsula – watch the video below for more.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/40851031551/in/datetaken/
Being within the lagoon it’s not a great beach to swim from – most of the sand is covered in a thick layer of salt and the detritus from birds and the surrounding scrub. It is however totally deserted. We were there 3 days and saw only one other couple (Danish) so a great place to do nothing. – which we both succeeded in doing.
Saturday moved on to Adelaide to site near West Beach. Didn’t realise that it
was the motor racing weekend (was the Clipseal 500 but is now just the Adelaide 500) it was also Fringe weekend so went into the City (good biking city) in the evening. Wandered around for a couple of hours, some of the light shows were very similar to Sydney’s Vivid but in a much smaller areas so easier to see more.
In the The Garden of Unearthly Delights (Rundle Park) a mixture of comedians and vaudeville plus food and drink and stomach churning rides.
Sunday and Monday spent looking around the city. We are actually coming back the following weekend for the Womad Festival.
Monday evening we went for dinner with some old friends of Willy’s, only problem was Willy managed to get a puncture on the way there so had to ditch the bikes for the night and Uber it. The mountain bike, rather than my non-binary bike, seems to be very susceptible to breakdowns.
With all the activity in Adelaide (car racing, Fringe, Adelaide Festival and WOMAD) prices were a bit steep. We decided to go south for a few days free camping at Rapid Bay.
On the second day we manage to get a perfect site right on the beach. It’s so good we were watching dolphins while having morning coffee in the shade of the van. It really doesn’t get much better than that.
But as with most things in life there’s a downside. The place is so good and easy driving to the City it fills up at weekend with Adelaidians out to party so we left on Friday 9th March to go back to Adelaide.
On the way down to Rapid Bay we had stopped to get some post from a friend of Willy’s from his Adelaide days. We were hoping to pick up, amongst other things, his renewed driving licence. Yes, I know going away for a year you would check that your driving licence was valid for at least 12 months.
What we got was a letter plus all the submitted documentation – there was a signature missing and the licence actually expired today – I’m now the sole driver and we had to start the application process again.
He signed the form and rushed to the post office to express post it back to the licence centre in Parkes, NSW. About an hour later he went to get his wallet and found the photos for his licence in his pocket. Fortunately we managed to recover the package from the Post Office and include the photos.
Spent three nights at Rapid Bay before returning to the Big Smoke (Adelaide) on Friday morning in time to take Willy’s bike in for a service… Safely arrived in Adelaide dropped the bike off and then went shopping for a sunscreen for Marge which we found. Driving Marge around a city isn’t as daunting as it sounds except for parking which is an absolute nightmare!
No news of the licence at the processing centre so i looks like we won’t see it until mid-next week at the earliest. Poor William I think he feels somehow emasculated having to ride in the passenger seat.
Arrived back safely at the West Beach Caravan park in Adelaide where we had stayed the previous week.
Saturday 10th March – went into town to mooch around The Fringe – decided on a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, went for a beer and then back to the restaurant, Half way through the meal wondered why there was no Vietnamese food on the menu and then realised we were at the restaurant next door.
Tried to get into a couple of fringe shows but sold out so we decided to go and see John Hastings (we had been given a complimentary ticket so just had to buy one more). I thought he was really good and so pleased we weren’t in the front row.
One line I particularly liked was he considers riding a bike makes you superior to Vegans.
After the show sat around listening to the music until 2am – it was really good, very laid back, great temperature and not too many people.
Disaster – Willy’s bike has stopped working and the battery has to be sent back to Sydney for repair… so expect to be hanging around Adelaide for another week – there are worse place to be…
Sunday 11th March – last night was The Fringe this afternoon and this evening is Womad. (Wold of Music Adelaide)
WOMad was good, lots of ageing hippies so I felt quite at home. We watched a couple of sessions. An Australian Rapper who didn’t do much for me or Willy, an American Jazz group Kamasi Washington which was good, Avalanche who were really good and finished off with Peanut Butter Woolf who was actually a no show but nevertheless it was a great way to finish the day. For those who don’t know, PBW is a DJ and they substituted another DJ whom I am told was just as good – to me it’s just music and if you can hum along with it so much the better.
Monday 12th March – late start still in bed when I get a phone call that the Driving Licence has been approved and will be in the post tomorrow. Almost back to normal, bike battery is being couriered up to Sydney tomorrow and no mention of the broken toe…(happened when he stepped in his belt buckle and jumped the wrong way).
Looks like we will be spending the day tidying up, washing and doing odd and ends. We have decided to go North tomorrow to the Yorke Peninsula.
Tuesday 13th March – headed to the Yorke Peninsula which is to the North West of Adelaide – it’s shaped rather like Italy but that’s where the resemblance ends. It’s very flat, not very big and a big fishing area which is of no great interest to us. However as we need to hang around Adelaide for a while it’s in easy distance and has some good camping grounds. We end up in a nudist camping ground which was great. Very quiet, very relaxing, very dusty and very cheap with great hot showers.
Apart from fishing the area is farming, mainly wheat so acres and acres of flat yellow fields with a big sky – very relaxing except for the fact that the scrabble situation is dire. I have lost twice now – think i’ll remove the “z”, “x” and “q’s”. Being lucky he always gets them – “ark” spelt with a “q” is a new one though plus interchangeable “v”‘s and “w”‘s …….
Friday 16th March – We end up staying three nights at the nudist park so leave on the Friday to go further south to the Innes National Park. Tried Turton Point but that’s full of fishermen so move on to Marion Bay.
Stayed at Marion Bay camp site for 2 nights – it’s OK, go to the local hotel for dinner on Saturday night expecting it to be really quiet but the place is heaving. The local fish is King George Whiting and it is really delicious. Had diner and then retired back to the campsite.
Sunday 17th March – weather really funny incredibly hot sun but with a really cold wind and some rain. Move northwards and stay at Pondalowrie Campground. Quite deserted stay for 3 nights free camping.
Again it’s very quiet. The beaches are really beautiful but you wouldn’t want to go anywhere near the water unless you had some sort of death wish. The waves are relentless but really spectacular.
Went to an historic village built on the long gone gypsum industry which was sort of interesting. What was more interesting was I nearly became roadkill myself when a ostrich (or is that emu) and chick decided run across the road right in front of the bike. That would have been truely ironic… Nature strikes back!
Wednesday 21st March – We get a message that the bike shop in Sydney expects the part to be available tomorrow so that means it wont be in Adelaide until next week at the earliest.
So, having seen most of the Yorke Peninsula we decide to head north to the Flinders Ranges. Normally we would have done this on our way West to Western Australia but with time to kill we decide to do it now, then go back to Adelaide to collect the bike and licence etc etc before heading of to WA.
It’s about a 5 hour journey to the Flinders Ranges so William plans to break the trip. Of all places to stop he selects Snowtown.
For those of you who don’t know Snowtown was the location of some very gruesome murders in the late nineties. So gruesome that no one I know has managed to watch the film made about the incident from beginning to end,
So here in Snowtown ends this part of blog. We hope you enjoy it and if one or both of us disappears we are probably in a barrel in the bank!
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Books Started: Letters from the Trenches, Thatcher stole my trousers, The Little Paris Bookshop
Books Finished: Letters from the Trenches; Thatchers stole my trousers
PS – sorry about the lack of images towards the end of the blog but Facebook is not the only high tech organisation with problems. Our graphics department has become a bit bolshie – something about quality rather than quantity. All will be sorted out by the next edition.
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