Stawell

We visited our friends at the Ballarat Presbyterian church on Sunday morning. Fiona has mentioned that we keep running into people who have come from Sydney. Well the minister here was from Sydney and his father was born in Malton St Beecroft. Pretty close to home.

It was then onto the Western highway to head north- west.  It was only a short journey. We had a late lunch in a pretty little town called Beaufort before arriving in Stawell, home of the Stawell Gift sprint race held every Easter.

We settled into our caravan park and headed for the town centre. Going through it, I started to think the town had misspelt its name. It should have been “Stall” because from what we could see all activity, movement and life were on stall. In fact I started to think the Stawell Gift was the fastest ticket out of the place. Perhaps when you see those guys tearing along the grass that is what they are trying to do, get out. To be fair, it was about 4pm on a Sunday afternoon in a country town, but there were no shops open on the main street nor any human lifeform to be found.We will give Stawell another chance during business hours on Monday when we head back into town.  In fact, the most interesting thing to happen was that we went up to the town lookout and out of nowhere, two girls drove up, one got out in a bikini, put some garbage in the garbage bin, gave me a big smile, got in the car and left. That beats me going for a jog in my speedos up Victoria Rd for sure.

Before the bikini girls arrived

Of course the next stop had to be the home of the Stawell Gift. We arrived at Central Park, where we held our own handicapped 110m dash on the Stawell Gift track (which is on a cricket oval but very well manicured). After a measured start I was able to come from the back marker, gain momentum and storm passed Georgia in a searing, withering, blistering finish. I am sure there was a puff or two of smoke from my lane.

The start of the Stawell Gift

The back marker ready to pounce

The back marker gaining momentum and a full head of steam

Daylight is second this is the race for third

The champion returns to the raw of thousands

We did find a Woolies open and after gathering some supplies, we headed home for a swim , dinner and game of cards before bed. We were right next to a lovely couple of grey nomads named Rodney and Viv (always nice meeting other Rodneys) who had caravanned all their lives. Viv was a real character too, a lovely lady but a real tough nut, I would not cross her. These guys are really interesting to talk to and a wealth of information. They had a puppy and of course the kids were all over her and for the next hour all I got was “ can we get a dog dad”.

About 8.30pm, dinner

 Because it does not get dark to after 9pm, the kids are going to bed late which does not leave Fiona and I much free time. This is another observation/comment.

Next stop – the Grampians

South Australia Podium rankings and comments stop press

Thinking about it, in terms of attractions, the Barossa Valley deserves a podium finish, it was very impressive. Sorry Stokes Hill Flinders Ranges, you have been knocked off the podium.

Further comments

1. SA is dry. Our skin as been drying out, cracking up and each limb has a host of cuts and  scraps. We are a physical mess

2. It was windy all through SA and the wind has followed us into Victoria. There are lots or stars out at night but it is too windy and cold to go out and revel in them

3. Speaking of cold, it has been cold, particularly at night. We have bought jumpers and worn them to bed each night and here we are 10 days before Christmas

Ballarat

We arrived in Ballarat late in the day. After dinner the kids headed for the games room and jumping pillow and immediately made 15 new best friends. We had had a long day so it was not a late night. The next morning we had a pancake breakfast put on by the park owners. At 9am sharp  Fiona and Georgia  raced out the door at mach2, salivating like a pair of St Bernards with plates and cutlery in hand. But it was very tasty.

Ballarat is a fair size with plenty to do, but as people started leaving for the day’s activities, we seemed to agree that we had been running around quite a bit over the last couple of weeks and it was time to relax, be still and spend a day at the Big 4 resort and sample their amenities. So we started with a game of tennis, a keenly contested set which the boys won 6-5. However, I confess that it was not the most inspiring set of tennis I have participated in. Alas, from my vantage point, as Andrew had another air swing and Georgia hit a ball over the fence on the full, my dream of fathering the next Australian born Australian Open male or female Champion is at long odds and blowing out fast. Still lots of fun.

Next it was swim time. So we headed to the indoor heated pool and spa, and there to my surprise was a wall size plasma tv with the last day of the Adelaide test cricket playing and there was no one in pool complex. Well, let me tell you, going on these trips is all about sacrifice, not doing what you want to do but doing what is best for the family as a whole. This again was such a time and I needed to step up. I was needed in the spa in front the tv watching over the kids as they swam. I did this without complaint or fanfare and would do it again gladly such is my servant spirit.

After lunch it into the games room for pool and the girls scored an upset victory over the boys. But by mid afternoon we started getting restless, so we headed off to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka or MADE to learn all about the Eureka stockade.  Very interesting.

Andrew showed his support for Peter Lalor and the Eureka minors by punching the government forces in the solar plexus

After dinner we headed down to Lake Wendouree, which reminds me a lot of Centennial Park. This is where all Ballarattans head to. It was really lovely and I reckon better than Centennial Park. Great scenery all around the lake. People were out running, walking, rowing, fishing, marrying, playing, etc. We drove around the lake about 5-6k in length and then stopped at a playground with a million other kids and parents to play and enjoy the ambiance. I reckon Lake Wendouree makes Ballarat a great place to live.

We then drove into the city for a quick look around before heading home to finish a very long and lovely day.

Next stop Stawell

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!!

Great Ocean Road

I have been impressed with South Australia. They are mad keen recyclers (do not expect a plastic bag at any shop – you bring your own or buy a re-useable one) and there are at least two bins for cans or bottles or other recycles next to the “landfill” bin.

We have made excellent use of their state parks and conservation areas with a combined entry/camping permit.  $80 covered all entry and camping fees at most of the parks for a two month period. And they really are very friendly - no rivalry between the Sydneysiders and any South Aussies.  Everyone says hello or nods or smiles or waves, no matter where you are.

So we were a little sad to cross the border into Victoria. Our first port of call was Port Fairy. The information centre again supplied maps, local knowledge and pointed us to the best pies in town for lunch. We also happened across an Op Shop.

 As you may recall, we have been caught out with how cold it is. Apart from a handful of high 30’s low 40’s, it has been on average 22c during the day and regularly dropping to 10c or so at night.  In our efforts to “pack light”, we all packed just one jumper each.  I have slept in mine for about two weeks straight and worn it every day in between.  Op shop to the rescue.

The Information centre also told us that Victoria has no National Park pass scheme similar to SA and that the  State Government  have eliminated just about all the free camping sites and increased the National Park fees. The staff at the centre were almost apologetic. It’s a shame, because we much prefer National Parks camping to Caravan Parks – and not just because of the prices.

Despite this, we pressed on to the Great Ocean Road. It was not in our original itinerary but we decided that the kids deserved to see it. 

Travelling from the west, one happens upon the Bay of Islands, the Grotto and London Bridge first - all breathtaking.  The Victorians put on some fine weather and we knew immediately it was the right decision to include this section in our travels. It had been a long drive and we decided to make camp and see the rest of the sights the following morning.

 The information office gave us some good advice regarding camping at the Recreation Reserve in a little place called Princetown.

The Rec Reserve proved very comfortable, although you had to chase out the birds nesting in the laundry before you could get hot water for the dishes, couldn’t drink the bore water and had to compete with several mobs of kangaroo to use the oval for a game of cricket.  The site wasn’t to level and we all had to sleep with our heads at the same end.  It was very windy and the temperature dropped to about 10 degrees that night. We felt right at home and I slept like a baby.

This morning dawned bright and clear. The wind had eased and it was almost warm.  Our first destination was the Gibson Steps, The Twelve Apostles and then my personal favourite, Loch Ard Gorge. They were every bit as spectacular as I remembered them.

The beach at the bottom of Gibson stairs was sunlight and the sand warm.  The Southern Ocean rolled in calm, even sets of waves and smelled fantastic.  I realised that, on a normal year we would be just about ready to head to the Sunshine Coast and I was missing Kings Beach already. You can take the girl out of Queensland……

It was almost midday before we headed inland on some minor roads towards Ballarat.  We have fallen into a bad habit of stopping at a bakery for lunch and did so again today at a delightful town called Camperdown. Rod does all the driving when we are under tow and he was tired when we finally hit the outskirts of Ballarat.  Our normal campsite research routine was a tad truncated today and we ended up in a Big 4 Park so we are making full use of all the amenities. I will wash ( hooray!) and iron and the kids will play tennis, basketball and swim in the heated indoor pool .

 It’s funny the things you miss. Of course the “pack light” mantra left no room for an iron so we have all been pretty wrinkly. I am truly excited about having clean and pressed cloths to go to church in on Sunday.  Our poor cloths.  For a while, I thought I was losing weight.  My denim shorts were feeling baggy and starting to fall down.  In fact, I think my denim shorts are so desperate to get into a washing machine that they are prepared to make their own way to a laundry.

Thanks for reading folks. I have told Rod that he can do the next few blogs as I do not want to be accused of being a blog hog.  I am sure he will have some fascinating insights on Ballart and surrounds.

Loving Mount Gambier!

According to plan, we packed up Tuesday morning and headed south east on the Southern Ports Highway.  It is about a two hour drive from Robe to Mount Gambier, but we had a few detours in mind.
The first was a little coastal village called Southend that had been recommended to us in a camp kitchen a week or so ago. It was very pretty and had a scenic drive to Cape Buffon, The water again was a bright aqua colour and was smashing itself against limestone cliffs. This region is called the Limestone Coast - it is obvious why.

The second detour was just past the timber town of Millicent. It is the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere. This came as no surprise to us - it has not stopped blowing since we hit the Eyre Peninsula 3 weeks ago.  We have seen dozens of these wind turbines in our travels but have never been able to get  up close.  These things are HUGE. And they do make a noise - a low whooshing sound which I found kind of creepy.

Mount Ganbier proved similar to many of the towns we have found across SA. It has plenty of well preserved stone buildings and a proud heritage ( there are plaques to just about everything, everywhere) To Rods delight, it also has an RSL with a bistro. SA is almost devoid of the RSL style clubs we NSWelshmen are familiar with.  I haven't missed them much.  And I have not missed having a TV at all.

We hit Mount Gambier at about noon and went to the information centre as usual and were told to head straight into town to see a free movie playing at the Main Corner. Its adjacent to the art gallery and old town hall and has been converted into a public space. Excellent displays, clean toilets and a theatre showing a 1 hour feature on the geology of the area. It proved to be the best advice, as we learned how the landscape has been formed and then went out to see it for ourselves that afternoon.
You can Google all the details (and even Rod and the children found it interesting) . Witnessing the topography with an informed eye made all the difference.
We were fortunate that the Blue lake was blue. It is grey during the winter and then, through the combined miracle of chemistry and biology, turns a vivid blue in a 24 hour period, usually in mid November. Those of you with some natural curiosity will also Google those details, but for those who won't - let me say it has everything to do with groundwater moving through limestone and algae.

After a circumnavigation of the Blue Lake, we explored Valley Lake, Devils Punchbowl, Leg Of Mutton Lake and Brown lake. And no, Brown lake is not brown, in fact it has no water in it and hasn't since the early part of last century due to a change in the ground water levels. After that it was off to some sinkholes. The first is literally in the centre of town and does a very pleasant light and sound show each evening. Its called The Caves. The second is named Umpherston, after some dude who owned the land at one point (never heard of deedpoll?). It did have water in the bottom of it but not anymore. It was dark by the time we got to Umpherston but the place was full of quite tame possums and the kids had a great time chasing the poor things.

The Caves Light and Sound Show.

Possums at Umperston sinkhole.

Our plan was to press on into Victoria today, but Mount Gambier impressed us. Rod was very  keen to do some of the walks, so we rebooked another night at the cheap and cheerful van park we had found. Thus today found us walking the crater edge around Valley Lake and then having lunch at the beautiful park inside the crater. If some of you have Googled earlier, you will by now be tch-tching at this post saying " Fiona, they are not Volcanic lakes, they are Maars".  Yeah, you are right. When the groundwater flooded into the space left by the erupted magma, it caused a dirty great lot of steam pressure and then the whole thing exploded. The volcano is no longer there, not because of erosion, but it just blew itself up. Would have liked to have seen that from a distance.

 We also headed back to Umpherston as we wanted to see it in daylight. Glad we did, there is a beautiful garden at the bottom, with trellising ivy spilling from nearly all sides. It is very peaceful - until the Burtons showed up and played a very boisterous game of hide and seek.

We had the afternoon free so I decide to vacuum out the car ( Rod still forbids me to wash it) and then catch up on some reading. I finished "Snow falling on Cedars" a few weeks back (found that abandoned in a Swan Hill laundry ) and have been forced to read the "Divergent" series that Georgia brought along with her.  Eventhough,it was nice to sit still for a bit. And I found a pretty decent coffe at the local bakery.

We haven't been very dilgent with the kids school work for the past two weeks.  Despite this, they have been learning. They can identify granite, limestone, sandstone and basalt. They can spot a Black Angus breed cow at a padocks length. They can also have an educated guess at a Pinus radiata and Pinus elliottii. The latter is due to my tutoring. I was, afterall, secretary of the forestry club in primary school. They have found two echidna in the wild in the last two days and both of them are showing a solid mechanical aptitude with all thing caravan-y. And of course, we are vastly improved at cricket.

We say goodbye to SA tomorrow, for real this time.




















We

Naracoorte - Robe

Greetings from Robe SA. It isn't famous for Robes but it is a very nice town by the sea.
Before I get started on Robe, better catch up on the past two days. We were planning to head to Robe directly from Coorong National Park but the weather closed in. Our thinking was that we could visit Naracoorte as its main attraction was underground and return to the coast a day or so later when the weather lifted. On the way we passed through Kingston. It has a big lobster - a bigger than expected lobster. When the lobster designer sent the plans to the artist/constructionist, the measurements were interpreted incorrectly. The original plans were in feet and the artist mistook them for metres. This crustacean is a whopper!

Naracoorte is a charming farming community on the main highway from Adelaide to Mt Gambier. It is only 20kms west of the Victorian border and a similar distance north of the Coonawarra wine region.  In the mid 1800's a fellow discovered these limestone caves while looking for bat guano. There wasn't too many bats, but the caves had interesting  limestone formations that he felt might attract visitors. In all honesty, Jenolan caves are far more spectacular but nevertheless, the caves were open to the public on and off for over 100 years and were gazetted as a national park in 1917. It wasn't until the early 1990's that a couple of cavers decided to explore a very small opening at the back of one of the caves. The opening was about 30cm by 15cm. Why anyone should decide to push through is beyond me, however they did. Beyond the opening was a further cave with one of the richest deposits of fauna fossils ever discovered in Australia. One of the cavers happened to be a Paleo and immediately recognised the significance of their find. Several species of extinct mega fauna have been identified and research continues to find more. Apparently a very long time ago the cave had a smallish opening on the ground above and animals would fall into the hole, not be able to get out and eventually die. This happened for a few thousand years and left a massive pile of bones for which Paleos are over the moon about. 
We visited three different caves but Victoria fossil cave was the best. It looked like something Indiana Jones would muck about in.

We also visited the bat caves. Or rather, we sat near the opening of the bat cave waiting for them to swirl out just like in the Indiana Jones movies. Unfortunately it was nowhere near as spectacular but one bat did nearly smack into Rod. The good news is that two geeky types turned up to record the bat numbers. They had a laptop, a camera (which they proudly told us NASA once used to track missiles?) and a program that counted the bat numbers. They kindly filled us in on lots of good information. Apparently an American fulbright scholar turned up a few years back and set up a monitoring program, published a few papers and then left the local to get on with it. Loving those geeky bat counting girls. 

We stayed at the Naracoorte showgrounds. When not being used for agricultural displays, the showgrounds are open for budget travellers to camp. At least there are flush toilets and hot showers.
It proved a very relaxing spot and instead of falling asleep to the sound of waves or wind, we drifted off to the lowing of cattle. The customary game of cricket was played out under a magnificent sunset.  That evening, Rod and I had a cup of tea sitting under a spectacular night sky. Full moon with clouds drifting by and dazzling stars. 

Sunday found us at the local Presbyterian church. They call Adelaide the city of churches, but the whole state is full of these huge, historic stone buildings. We were welcomed and stayed for a lovely cup of tea afterwards. Mercifully, we were not confused with a vagrant family. 

The weather cleared as expected and we turned west towards the coast once more. Robe is a quaint seaside place and its most significant feature is the local coffee roaster. Well, far as I am concerned. We found Mahalia coffee in a back street and enjoyed a fine brew. No long drop award today.

 Later we explored the coastline. It is rocky and hazardous but quite interesting - starting to look a bit Great Ocean Road-ish. The water is almost a fluorescent blue-green. The bay Robe is nestled on is quite shallow with a sandy/limestone floor giving the water a lovely translucence. I wish I had a filter on the camera lens to pick it up - the pictures do not do it justice. As with most of the SA coast, ships have dashed themselves to pieces here also. There is a memorial to ships and one for fisherman lost at sea with far too many names upon them. I was afraid to go near the water!

 We also needed to do a few running repairs. Six weeks on the road has seen some small equipment failures but a trip to the hardware and the local marine/camping workshop saw us shipshape once more. I must publicly thank the boys from Robe Auto Marine. Instead of selling me some lubricant for the towball and jockey wheel, the young apprentice simply came out with a gob of grease on his forefinger and smeared it over the towball. When I got back to the park, I wiped off the excess and smeared it on the jockey wheel. Done.
We have noticed a change in the clientele at the van parks. The nomads are starting to drift home for Christmas and a few more families getting an early start on the holidays are appearing. It will get very busy in Victoria in the next week or two and we will have to plan more carefully, staying clear of the popular beachside spots. 

Next stop is Mt Gambier and then we say goodbye to SA and tackle the Great Ocean Road before the Victorians break for school holidays.