Tuesday, March 10, 2009

South Australia: Mount Gambier to Adelaide

Latest leg of trip:
So as talked about in the last post, we stayed at Mount Schank and when we awoke in the morning we realised it was a volcano, so we went for a bit of a walk to the top and around the rim of the crater....







In this photo you can see the walking track through to the bottom of the crater:




Then we headed into Mount Gambier which is also a volcanic region and we went to the Sunken Cave which was just an awesome sight!!








For Uncle Clem.....

Then we went for a drive and saw the Blue Lake which the town gets its water supply from....



This is what Moutn Schank looks like from afar....



We stopped at Penola which is where we last updated the blog. Then we drove on to Coonawarra for wine tastings!!




The Space Pig at a winery..
Then we drove on to the Bool Lagoon Rest Stop which was pretty basic but hey - free is always good!!! We splashed out and bought a bottle of Rose which we enjoyed with our dinner of brown rice and veges.


In the morning we drove up to the Fossil Caves just North of Coonawarra but didn't go into any caves as too poor :-( But did see a few Kangas....

.... and some big hairy thing!

We then drove across to Robe on the coast and managed to see some wild Emus on the drive.
Robe was a pretty seaside town and we stopped here for lunch. We also went in search of some CRAYFISH but they were pretty expensive so we refrained from buying any (man it sucks being on a budget!!!) They were $60 per kilo here and we saw a huge 4kg one!
We then drove to Kingston and went for a walk on the pier where we saw a couple of oldies going for a fish...



..and saw the giant Crayfish!




We drove on to Meningie where we decided to stay for the night. We saw a cool old school bus which we loved...

and had dinner as the sun went down over Lake Albert. We were so happy to have some sunshine at last!!!







We decided to hang around for a couple of hours and read in the sunshine and then head to our stopover which was just a dodgy lookout...
We went to bed at about 10pm but were woken a few times by cars heading up to the lookout. At about 1am another car full of w@nkers arrived who thought it would be fun to bang on our van.... Being scared buggers we decided it would be best to find somewhere else to sleep so we drove on 40km towards WELLINGTON (Yay!) where we ended up sleeping by the Marina.
We awoke in the morning very bleary eyed after our awful sleep the night before and headed for the Wellington Ferry which is a free ferry that crosses the Murray River - it takes about 4 - 6 cars at a time...



And in true Wellington spirit we even saw something that resembled a Pukeko!
We then continued on to Victor Harbour which is a lovely touristy seaside town - saw a horse tram.. (actually I felt a bit sorry for the poor horse!)

We also drove to Caper Jervis (where you can get the ferry to Kangaroo Island) but not much to see there. We then headed on to Rapid Bay - our camping spot for the next 2 nights. It was a long weekend for SA so it was pretty full but it was a beautiful spot (hence our reasons to stay around for a couple of nights). Upon arrival we found a game of cricket happening at the local oval... very amateur but they even had a bar happening (alas we couldn't partake - aren't we being good!!!! Especially since they were serving our favourite Coopers Pale!)
But a beautiful outlook - you would've loved it Dad Brown!

There was a HUGE cave at the end of the beach...



And Dave got very resourceful with the Tarp and rope - isn't he clever?! And here he is getting the fishing rods ready to do some salmnon fishing on the beach (thanks for the rods Albert!)




We ran out of pegs, so Dave got creative and used a screwdriver.


Living the dream....

I was very happy with Rapid Bay as I manged to find a replacement left Jandal to match the one I lost at Port Campbell - same size and everything!!
We also saw our first snake of the journey - on the road - but a snake nonetheless!!!
So after 2 nights there we moved on to Adelaide and stayed at West Beach Big 4 Motor Camp. Wow - I cannot describe the pleasure of a hot shower after 5 days without one....
We did lots of washing, had showers and went for a swim on the beach. In the morning we headed to Glenelg to catch the tram into Adelaide. We couldn't resist stopping at the outdoor weights machines (Donno and Lee - you'd be so proud!)




Once in Adelaide - first stop - Adelaide Oval!!!And the Bradman Museun (been here Dad Brown? You'd love it!) where Dave had a go at the old golf ball and stump trick....


Centre of the city...
The Markets in the city were HUGE - biggest covered markets in the Southern Hemisphere apparently. Lots of fresh fruit and vege, cheese and....
MEATS.....



...YUM!!!
Rundle Mall..
The Fringe Festival was on too - so lots of street performers around.
We both really loved Adelaide - definately recommend it to all who haven't been. For NZers its a bit like a big Welly in feel - Glenelg is beautiful too.
West beach at sunset:



So here-in ends our journey for the moment. As I write we are in the Barossa Valley - feeling a little relaxed after squishing in some wine tastings into the later part of the day.
Please feel free to leave comments or questions about our trip - we often wonder if anyone is actually reading the blog (apart from Foo, who we know is - we love you Foo!)
Miss you all and please await our next instalment....

5 comments:

  1. hello! we've been reading your blog! and really enjoying it - you look like you're having such a great time - I can't believe you've got so far around the country already! i'm also enjoying being mostly unemployed ;o) miss you guys too xox dan&sarah~* (touchins that is!)

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  2. Hi guys. David Collins here. Yes i am keeping watch. Ill sign off davcol in future. You are travelling over territory it has been so long since i have done so myself. Now thats bad grammar but hey its sunday night. Are you returning to Adelaide because my son James is living and working there and you might have been able to meet up although by the sound of it you arent having the odd drink much. Let me know.
    Are you going to WA or up through the middle? Keep enjoying yourself. DAVCOL

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  3. I'm reading! I'm a bit confused about the jandals though. Did you just buy one jandal or did you randomly find one that matched abandoned somewhere?

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  4. Sounds like you two are having an absolute blast!

    I'm jealous!


    Hannos

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  5. Thanks to all who have left a comment or emailed us - its great to hear from you and know that all is still running smoothly in your worlds!!

    David - we won't be making it back to Adelaide in this trip - but we really loved it and definately want to head back for a longer holiday there some time in the future! We are updating the blog and it should be up by tomorrow arvo but we headed up North as far as Coober Pedy and have now headed back down to the Eyre Peninsula and will head West and then up to the NT and hit Alice Springs from that direction. Very impressed with the road straight through from North to South though (Stuart Highway) and met a lot of people who were on 2 week holidays travelling from Adelaide to Alice Springs.

    As for the jandal Lorna - I just happened to find one lying on the side of the road at the camp in Rapid Bay - perhaps the previous owner may have stumbled across my other lone one I lost and been just as stoked!!!

    Stay tuned folks!
    xxx Ness and Dave.

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