Our Travels Across and Destinations in South
Australia
Table of Contents
Vic./S.A. Border, Mount Gambier, Mount
Schank, and Port MacDonnell.
Beachport, Robe, McLaren Vale & Fleurieu
Peninsula.
Adelaide, Hahndorf, Glenelg Etc
then off to Clint & Tamara's Wedding
Back to Adelaide then Port Augusta and
Cowell.
Port Lincoln, Elliston, Ceduna &
off to Western Australia
Vic./S.A. Border, Mount Gambier, Mount Schank and Port MacDonnell.
We left Port Fairy, Victoria, at
8:30AM bound for Mount Gambier in South Australia. It is not a long way away
but nobody had warned us that we would have to dispose of all of our fruit and
vegetables when we were entering into South Australia so unfortunately we were
not able to give them away before leaving Victoria which is what we have always
been able to do in the past. It was amusing to be sitting on the side of the
road near a disposal point with another car full of people eating as much as we
could before throwing away the rest. The other somewhat amusing thing when
passing into South Australia is the line drawn across the road marking the
border. We arrived into Mount Gambier at around 10:40AM (S.A. time) and were
quite surprised at what this city had to offer. Instead of an overnight stay
Mary and I extended our visit to 3 nights whilst David & Merrilyn who are
now getting into “homeward bound for Christmas” mode are pressing on. The first
thing we (Mary & I) had to do was to shop for more vegetables as Mary had
decided to do a farewell dinner in case we do not meet up again in “Adelaide”.
After the shop we had enough time to take the “Engelbrecht Mine” tour which
costs only $7.50 per person and that was great value as we had never been in a
cave where scuba divers go under water underground. You can dive there if you
are qualified and if you get permission from the people who run the tours with
no charge for the experience but permission is not automatic. Monday after
enjoying a sleep in we went on a “Drive to the South of the City” taken from a
booklet supplied by the “Mount Gambier information 
center”. Our first stop was the
“Little 
Blue Lake” in “Mount Schank” which 
is a sinkhole that always has water
in it 
at a constant 14°C. It has
stairs leading down to a pontoon that is used for swimming by locals and
tourists alike. Next it was off to the “Mount Schank” which is an extinct
volcano where a walk to the summit brings you to views into the crater that can
then be walked all the way around and even to the bottom inside it. After this
it was off to Port MacDonnell but on the way the highway suddenly splits in two
halves as you enter “Allendale East”. It was done in order to avoid and go
around another sinkhole that resisted all attempts to fill it during the road
construction. On arrival in Port MacDonnell we headed out to the “Cape
Northumberland Heritage & Nature Park” where Mary is photographed at the
southern most point in South Australia. Needless to say the views from here
were spectacular as we looked up and down the coastline. It was now about
3:00PM in the afternoon so we drove back towards “Mount Gambier” with one more
stop being planned in the “Haig Vineyards”. It was here that we met “Sandy” who
was great for a tale and a laugh whilst showing us through his range of wines.
We very much enjoyed our time with him and couldn’t resist buying a couple of
his wines after which we headed back to our caravan for dinner before finally
heading out after dark for the “Mount Gambier Night Lights Drive”. The
highlight of the night drive is the “Umpherston Sinkhole” where at night it is
well lit to display these fabulous gardens with the added benefit that all
there are able to feed the very tame, many possums that live there. Tuesday is
a cool, overcast day so very suitable for walking which is what we did. As the
caravan park (big 4) we chose is at the top of Mount Gambier between the two
lakes it is eminently suitable as a base for walks and in fact it is a park
worth recommendation. There is a wildlife park at “Valley Lake” and entrance to
this is free (we made a donation at the donations box). A tour of the “Blue
Lake” water supply is value at $7.00 per person. In fact Mary & I agree
that “Mount Gambier” is an extraordinary place, a credit to it’s people who
have done so much voluntary work along with a very active local government,
that together have built many tourist friendly facilities at numerous
attractions. So much to see without having to travel far between places of
interest.
Beachport, Robe McLaren Vale & the Fleurieu
Peninsula.
Waking up
on Wednesday morning we left for “Robe” via “Beachport” by 9:00AM. We arrived
at “Beachport” at around 10:45AM and decided to have brunch at “Bompas” (a
restaurant looking onto the beach 
and part of what I think was a
hotel). After a fairly lengthy wait our $29.90 gourmet breakfast arrived. It
was mostly consumed and after leaving the restaurant I turned to Mary to
explain that I was disappointed with my fare. Too late she was already on her
way to buy some mints to clear her taste buds of the attack they had suffered.
Not happy as we think that $30 buys a very decent breakfast – should have gone
to Macca’s prior to leaving “Mount Gambier”. We took a quick look around
“Beachport” whilst munching on mints before proceeding on to “Robe”. “Robe” is
a beautiful seaside resort that is very much geared to tourists. The 
information center armed us with
brochures 
before we (after setting up in the
“Sea Vu Caravan Park” – site pictured) familiarised ourselves with the town
history in the display area then walked the town with all it’s art galleries
etc. We spent another day in “Robe” where “Mary” decided to enjoy the beach (I
had some “me” time where I could catch up with a little business) and in the
afternoon we did the suggested “Robe Drive”. Friday we left early (9:15AM) to
head north for “Strathalbyne”. On arrival there “Mary” decided we should
proceed to “Goolwa”. On arrival there “Mary” decided we should proceed to
“McLaren Vale” via “Victor Harbour” but before leaving we drove over the
“Hindmarsh Bridge” and back again. No secret There? When we did eventually
arrive at “McLaren Vale” (after I had a short race with a “Classic Adelaide
Rally Car” (he got me at the “overtaking lane”) we were pleased with the
caravan park we found. Sadly they did not tell us that they had sighted us next
to an unmarked dump point so I nearly hooked our water supply to a very nasty
spot. Yuk! Yuk! Yuk! Luckily a gentleman called out as I was thinking that
someone had used our site to dump some sewerage and the nasty incident was
avoided. Saturday was spent exploring the local area doing a suggested 
scenic route through the vineyards
with a small deviation to “Moana” where we were able to drive our car on the
beach. Curiosity got the better of “Mary” when we saw people dragging fish
carcasses across the sand at the oceans edge – The gentleman asked, explained
that the practice brings the worms up and they are apparently the best bait to
catch fish. We then drove back to “Willunga” to walk through this village like
community before returning to our caravan to see how the election was going.
Whoops we now had a new neighbour and yes you guessed it they had hooked their
water supply up to the unmarked “Dump Point”. As they were out we couldn’t tell
them of their problem until they arrived back some time later. When they did
find out they were not happy campers!
Adelaide, Hahndorf, Glenelg Etc then back to Perth for Clint &
Tamara’s Wedding.
Sunday
morning we awoke quite early and proceeded to Adelaide. The “TomTom“ G.P.S.
tried to take us on the “Express Way” but she didn’t know that it only goes one
way at a time so we had to override her to stay alive and we came into Adelaide
on the “Main South Road”. When we 
did arrive at our chosen caravan
park (Levi Caravan Park) we were pleased to find that it appeared to be quite
pleasant and GUESS WHAT – We saw our first other “Adria Caravan” there (we have
not seen another one other than ours and David & Merrilyn Pecks since we
left Perth) and it had occupants that had done a very similar trip to ours.
They (Kevin & Jacky Howard) were sited only a few caravans away from us and
were as keen to exchange tales of adventures as we were. They had left W.A. in March, only shortly
before us and had apparently had several enquiries en-route as to whether they
were writing this site. We agreed to meet in the late afternoon and after Mary
and I drove back into Adelaide city for a look around, we enjoyed spending much
of the evening with them. Monday we drove to “Hahndorf” which is a unique
village in the Adelaide hills that was originally settled in the main by German
immigrants. It is a pretty place and probably best visited on a weekday because
on weekends it is very crowded. After walking up one side and down the other of
the main street with Mary checking every shop for the elusive bargain we drove
back to Adelaide in time to visit with David & Merrilyn who were staying at
a beachside caravan park on the opposite side of Adelaide to us. Merrilyn had
cooked one of her fine roast dinners and even parted with some of her personal
flagon of Port as an after dinner drink. A great time was had by all and we
once again said our goodbyes as they are leaving on Wednesday for home and a
Perth Christmas. Tuesday Mary drove us into “Glenelg” which is a seaside suburb
much like “St Kilda” back in Melbourne which of course means nothing if you
haven’t been there either. 
It is very popular and trendy in an
up-market sense. On the way back to our caravan we tracked down a recommended
service center for the cars 90,000Km service (I still haven’t heard back from
Nissan with my previous complaint and all I have had is “we will reply in due
course” or something to that effect so I am boycotting them) and booked the car
in for next week. 6:00PM and we met Kevin & Jacky for a barbecue in the
caravan park at the BBQ facilities. Wednesday saw Mary going on a shopping
spree with Jacky, which in turn gave me a day off at the caravan to take care
of some business on the internet. Kevin also took advantage of the situation,
using the day to do some household chores and is pictured standing on the roof
of his caravan cleaning the roof of his awning (don’t try this on a locally
made caravan). For the record access is easily gained by placing a small ladder
on the dining table (with protective slabs placed under the ladder feet as the
table top is hollow) and walking up through the main skylight. Mary & I
have been doing this since we originally purchased our caravan as we were
advised that the roof is OK to be used as a platform for viewing sports etc by
our dealer. Thursday is “Pack up and get ready for the trip back to Perth for
Clint & Tamara’s Wedding day”. First we packed our new suitcase purchased
from a local Op Shop (we buy them for a few dollars whenever we need one and
re-donate them when we are finished with them which avoids the need to carry
one in the car or caravan). Once packed it was off to do some last minute
Christmas shopping before we moved the caravan into it’s storage location as
the caravan park had organised a site for us to leave it in that would not be
required in this “quiet time”. At 9:30AM on Friday the 30th of
November we leave for the airport by taxi in order to catch our flight back to
Perth to join the family in celebration of Clint & Tamara’s wedding. This
time it will be a short visit before returning to our caravan in Adelaide to
complete our trip.
Clint & Tamara’s Wedding
Saturday is
the big day and after the mandatory haircuts at Sandy’s in Darlington it was
all shoulders to the wheel to prepare for the wedding that we have returned
for. Our preparation was, for the record, to dress ourselves but 
even that is an unusual experience
after our months of travel. I 
was honoured with a small speaking
part in the ceremony doing a prepared and supplied reading that it turned out
is actually harder than giving a speech as it is pointed out by the celebrant
that an error is forever in the video. The wedding and reception went without a
hitch and was a credit to all who were involved in the organisation of them.
Below and at left are a series of photographs from the day.
The rest of our time in Perth is
spent sorting out a few matters with accountants etc and catching up with
family before we returned to Adelaide on the 6th of December to
continue our trip.
Back to Adelaide then Port Augusta
and Cowell.
Thursday
the 6th of December and we arrived back in Adelaide at 6:30PM to
discover that they had had some bushfires that day which had given the entire
sky a cover made of ash and dust. We caught a taxi back from the airport to the
caravan park 
to discover that the car had in our 
absence been under constant attack
from birds and possums. It was so bad that I decided to immediately wash it as
I had booked it in for a service on the Friday morning and I would be too
embarrassed to take it in as it was. Of course whilst washing it I was attacked
by insects including a tick so was not a happy camper when finished. Friday
morning we took the car in for service and after waiting for it we went into
Adelaide to do they’re promoted 3 hour city walk. Adelaide is known as the city
of churches but it is also full of monuments and sculptures all of which are
worthy of a good look. Adelaide also has many of the most beautiful buildings
you will see in Australia and is using them so you get to go through them
whilst enjoying another form of entertainment. A great example is the art
gallery where we as usual spent a lot more time than originally planned. Our
walk took 4 hours and we could not have completed it if we hadn’t omitted some
places that we had been to on previous visits. On arriving back at the caravan
park I had to clean the front of the caravan which was looking sad because it
too had been attacked like the car even though to a lesser extent. It was
whilst doing this that we met Rob & Helga Henning who are Adelaide based prospectors
who live in a caravan which was custom made to carry Rob’s ultra light aircraft
in it’s rear storage compartment. His aircraft was one of the type that uses a
parachute for a wing so it could be stored with part of the fuselage extending
under their bed. Of course he also carried a motor bike but he no longer
bothered with his tinny (small dinghy). They were a fascinating couple and Mary
really hit it off with Helga who was of 
Ukrainian/Polish heritage like her.
Lots of ski’s and dobra’s all night! Saturday morning we awoke to the 
sounds of a cricket game on the oval
behind us, which told us that we were running late. We packed up and saying our
goodbyes headed off for Port Augusta with a view to stopping anywhere we
thought was nice if it was encountered prior to our reaching our planned
destination. On the way and in the very outskirts of the Adelaide area we came
across a series of protest sculptures that were so good that we stopped to
photograph some of them (some pictured). They should probably be protected as
tourist attractions! On traveling on for a couple of hours I noticed in the
mirror that it appeared we had caught a long blue ribbon on our caravan.
Stopping immediately, it turned out to be the blue plastic stripping that
covers the screws on the aluminum extrusion on the edge of our caravan that was
coming off. We found a place to park and then with Mary on the roof and myself
on the ladder we 
managed to reinsert it back to where
it belonged. We now feeling quite pleased with ourselves and our on the road
repair abilities traveled on to eventually arrived at Port Augusta where
unfortunately they had just shut the doors (It was 4:04PM) at the information
center. The town didn’t look like it had too much to offer so we after a quick
drive around decided to head off to Cowell in The Eyre Peninsular. On arriving
at 7:00PM pretend time (actually 6:00PM) we stopped at the foreshore caravan
park which suited us both so we booked a couple of days. The owner of the park
presented us with some free 
passes for the local pub so being
quite tired we went there for dinner. Whoops! The locals are very friendly so
that turned into quite a late night, which was probably the last thing we
needed after such a long day. Sunday, after a late sleep in, was spent walking
and looking around Cowell. On the jetty people were pulling in as many crabs as
they wanted – The bag limit was 40 per person which wouldn’t have taken too
long to fill with the rate of catch there. We stopped to have our picture in
front of the “Black Stump” which is in the main street. The evening meal was
made on the caravan park barbecue where Mary had me cook some of her marinated
pork – yum. Monday we decided to book a couple of extra days so we could catch
some of the local crabs and do some four wheel driving down and around the
nearby beaches. We spent the rest of the day on the jetty catching crabs and on
eventually returning to the caravan park, cooking them. For dinner we had crab
sandwiches and we froze the rest for future use. Tuesday we drove to historic
“Port Gibbon” and thereabouts. There are the usual desolate beaches and some
history to keep one amused. It is not easy to move on from a place like Cowell,
as it is such a welcoming town. After preparing the evening bbq it is off to the
local for happy hour, the prize draw and the big turkey raffle (the last of
which we don’t qualify for because I don’t have a chook tie).
Port Lincoln, Elliston, Ceduna & off to Western Australia.
Wednesday the 12th of
December and we are off for Port Lincoln. It is only 160km so a quick and
pleasant drive. On arrival we set up and were very pleased with our new
location (caravan outlook pictured). Port Lincoln is a larger holiday resort /
fishing town with lots to do so first it was off to the information center
followed by a lengthy walk around the main foreshore shopping precinct. If you
want to visit some of the nicer picnic spots the Information Centre issues keys
so it is very important to do your homework here (sometimes it will work
against you so beware – see below). 
Thursday’s temperature reached 33°C (hot
considering the average for December-February is Min.16°C - Max. 25°C). We had decided to drive to
“Whalers Way” as the brochure and write up represented it as a must see. On
arrival at the Information Centre to pick up the key we were informed that
there was a $25.00 admission charge but we were assured that it 
was worth every cent. Against our
better judgment we paid it and set off for our exhilarating experience. Sadly
it turned out to be a total waste of money as we had seen many sites to makes
these pale into insignificance and with roads that were so poorly maintained we
could not see any 
value other than that we saw South
Australia’s oldest rock (a claim that would probably be hard to substantiate).
The trip was not without reward as, if when arriving at the entrance to Whalers
Way one passes it, in about 100 metres the stairway down the Fishery Bay cliff
(provided free by the S.A. government) is a nice distraction. Also in the same
area is an access way onto the beach at Fishery Bay where Mary enjoyed a swim.
Friday was a lazy day so after getting up at around 10:00AM we eventually
walked into Port Lincoln at around midday on the “Parnkalla Walking Trail” that
tracks along the coast for about 2km from our caravan park to town. Lunch in
the hotel where much of the Port Power AFL team were staying was pleasant and
followed up with further walking around town before eventually returning to the
caravan at around 5:45PM. Saturday all of the wineries were open so it was a
great opportunity to try the local wines. There are three wineries in the area
and we were particularly taken with the Boston Bay Riesling and Riesling
Mistelle both of which we purchased. On the way back we stopped for lunch in
Port Lincoln before returning to our caravan to prepare everything ready for us
to move on up the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula on Sunday. We departed
Port Lincoln at around 10:30AM bound for the first place that tickled our
fancy. On the way we stopped at vast salt lakes and were amazed to find a
restored eating house from the 1800’s left unlocked for anyone passing to have
a look through. We did and we left a small donation in the donations box as
these things are often done by volunteers who should be supported in their
efforts. Elliston with its caravan park in the center of town near the beach
had been recommended by June back in 
Adelaide so we stopped there for a
look. It seemed very inviting so after a quick look around we decided to have
two 
nights there. With still having most
of the afternoon left we went on the “Elliston Great Ocean Tourist Drive” which
was featured on the town brochure that was given to us when we booked into the
caravan park. This is spectacular in its sights and the “Cliff Top Art” which
is featured along the way is something that surprised and delighted us. Monday
it was decided was to be a slow one until someone told Mary that Abalone was
sitting around Anxious Bay for anyone who cared to pick it up. Oh well – Off we
went with Mary fully decked out in her wet suit, knife strapped to her arm and
looking very much the part. I took a chair so I could sit and watch her in
something of a security blanket function. Some hours later we left with a cold
and somewhat disappointed 
Mary. Tuesday 18th of
December and we are off again heading towards Ceduna with a possible stop at
Streaky Bay. 18 kilometres out of Elliston we came across a sign inviting us to
buy bread from a wood fired oven. All of the stock was in a cupboard along with
a money box with instructions to take what we wanted and leave the money 
in the box. We did and the bread was
great. Closer to Streaky Bay we came across an invitation to drive 2km off the
main road to see Murphys Haystacks (rocks). These are large, interesting and
very worth the stop. Next it was on to Streaky Bay but on arrival we decided to
continue through to Ceduna. Shelly Beach Caravan Park in Ceduna is 3km out of
town but well worth the diversion as it is we think the best located in Ceduna.
After booking in for two nights we were tempted by the manager who told us
where we could find some oysters for the picking with just a little four wheel
driving involved. We didn’t find them but enjoyed our afternoon nevertheless.
Wednesday was spent checking everything ready for the Nullarbor experience that
is planned to happen on Thursday. After all for this was done we went to the
fine new hotel on the foreshore in Ceduna where a very nice meal can be purchased
for under $40.00 including a bottle of bubbly. Mary won a kings ransom ($3.00 –
tripled her money) on the pokies before we went back to our caravan via some
sightseeing and shopping to end the day.
Thursday and it is up early to leave
at 8:50AM for Eucla in W.A. through the Nullarbor National Park on the Eyre
Highway. This turns out to be one of the easiest drives we have done, as it is
flat and straight with the only distraction being hoping to see a wild camel.
On the way there are several short detours to the “Great Australian Bight”
where the views are unforgettable. At one of these we took the opportunity to
give away our vegetables to some students who were traveling away from W.A. and
happy to have to consume them before arriving at the S.A. quarantine point in
Ceduna. Towards the end of the day, which is extended by the time zone change,
we arrived at the W.A./S.A. border.
Last
revised: Date Friday, June 26, 2009