South Australia Podium Places and comments

Well now that we have departed SA for good, I thought I would give you my top 3 places, attractions and caravan parks for South Australia

Places

1.      1.  Adelaide – after all the many places we have been through and experienced, to pick the capital city does not sound very adventurous or exotic but it is the truth. I was very impressed with the city centre layout, architecture of the buildings, the riverside precinct and festival areas, the parks, the beaches and coastal suburbs, the Adelaide Hills were impressive,  the Barossa was great and the caravan park we stayed in was tremendous. I could not fault the place

2.     2.    Victor Harbor – really enjoyed this place. A lot smaller but had a great feel about it, including the town centre and The Granite island. The tourist drive along Encounter Bay and the view from The Bluff over the town and bay was superb.

3.    3  .   Mt Gambier – unexpected podium finish. The town was large, surrounded by forest, accommodated natural sinkholes in the town centre and the walks and picnic areas and parks around the  volcanic crators of Blue Lake and its mates was impressive. Compelled me to stay an extra night to schedule.

Honourable mentions go to the coast towns of Tumby Bay, Moonta and Coffin Bay.

Attractions

This was hotly contested

1.     1.    Blue Lake  and Valley Lake volcanic crators Mt Gambier. These were magnificent, the fluorescent blue of Blue Lake is magical and the walk around Valley Lake is breathtaking

2.     2.    Inneston National Park – at the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula, the wildlife and coastal cliffs , beaches and islands were very impressive for wilderness seekers

3.     3.    Stokes Hill Flinders Ranges – the sunset at this point was magnificent, you felt like you were the only person on earth and you could see the whole world. The wildlife was also fantastic

Honourable mentions also go to Mt Wudinna near the town of Wudinna for its magnificent view similar to Stokes Hill and its enormous surrounding wheat farms and The Bluff at Victor Harbor and its view over the town and Encounter Bay.

Caravan Parks

1.      1.   Adelaide – West Beach, great location, great facilities, great family atmosphere and space to play cricket and watch the planes take off to Perth

2.    2.     Narracoorte Showground – had the opposite feel to Adelaide but I loved it. Very simple, about 6 caravans in the showground (think Wentworth Park) we had showers, toilets, power, water, we were close to town, it was quiet and we had lots of space. We had everything we needed without the bells and whistles and cost. I remember a magnificent sunset there as we played cricket and a lovely moonlit night under the stars with a chair and coffee with Fiona.

3.   3.    Renmark Big 4 because they had a great pool and a lovely position right on the Murray River.

Honouable mentions – Pandurra Cattle station, it had a similar simple feel with all you needed like Naracoorte. It was a massive active farming station with a small portion converted to a caravan park.

Further Observations

1.      1   We have not once put up our awning.  On a cost/benefit analysis, we have valued the ease of putting up and down our van over extra shade.

2.     2    Andrew Burton still has a love affair with his hair

3.      3   We are becoming grittier people in what we can put up with, who we are and what we wear

4.    4   The van has developed some niggly little problems through almost 2 months of constant use which we deal with

5.     5  Fiona and I have developed an affinity to the natural landscapes, attractions and camp sites.  We love to experience the mountains, rivers, cliffs , walks, wildlife and coastlines, the showground and bush camping etc. We feel these offer the deeper and memorable experiences.  We have developed a quiet distain for the packaged tours, man-made commercialised attractions and shows , the Big 4 like sites with the pools, jumping castles, tennis courts etc as nothing more than pricey fodder for the masses as Fiona would say. Now some might suggest that is the Scottish in me and others suggest that reinforces the view of the Scottish in me. 

I recently made the mistake of youtubing the Lost in Space and Batman television series of the 60s and 70s to Georgia and Andrew to show them what we watched after school as kids. Now all I get from them is” can we see Dr Smith v The Robot and Batman and Robin walking up and down buildings with cameo appearances from stars opening their windows”. Well in the words of Dr Smith,  I say Bah! to tacky overly commercialised, expensive attractions or caravan parks with amenities you end up paying for and not using. I see have just stayed at a bush site off the Great Ocean Rd where we were playing cricket on a field and at least 100 kangaroos surrounded the field waiting for us to vacate ( and to witness my spin bowling) so they could move onto it, yet I see a tacky wildlife park costing $100 for me to pat a koala. Please!! I say Bah to this!!