From Robe to the magnificent Great Ocean Rd

We really enjoyed our 3 days in Robe, walking on the beach after dinner, lunching out (me) painting (Marnie) and loving the cooler weather.We left for Mount Gambier and enroute, stopped at Beachport which boasts a healing pool called the pool of Siloam. Of course we  had to take a look. It is a natural spring fed pool, close to the ocean, but 7 times saltier. Even though it was a cool day, Marnie couldnt resist taking a dip. She did appear to be floating and declared her whole body to be stinging when she emerged 5 minutes later.On arrival in Mount Gambier, we went straight to the Blue Lake, which is the city's water resevoir, grey in winter and blue in summer. It was once a volcano and has the most incredible colour, almost as if the water has been dyed, even when the weather is overcast.
Our van park was close to the city, but being Sat arvo, everything was closed. That of course, applied to Sunday as well. We walked a long way down the main street to find the markets that were advertised. Need'nt have bothered as they were not the best! The day was cold and wet, so we hunkered down for most of the remainder of the day, reading.
A slight improvement in the weather the next day, spurred us on to visit Umpherston sink hole, which is a facinating sunken garden, again thanks to a volcano.(see pics)
Nelson was our next destination. Enroute,We had slipped quietly back into Victoria and had to change our clocks back by 1/2 hour.Nelson is a tiny town, with  pub, general store and boat hire (as it is on the Glenelg river) and a national park. The van park we stayed in was out of town, but really delightful, bushy and close to the river. On our walk to the river, we spotted a Kangaroo and found a small river beach and decided to hire a boat the next day to see more of the river. There are many little houses/boatsheds, fishing verandahs, built out over the river which we though might warrant  closer inspection . A few more Kangaroos visited us in the park that night. The next morning it was overcast but not windy, so good for hirering a boat. Not wanting one of those tiny putt putts, we opted for a half cabin cruiser, not quite as grand as it sounds, but bigger that the former. All went well as we cruised down the river, turning after 1/2 hour to come back. Things went a little pear shaped as we approached the spot that we were to steer to boat into.As you know, boats dont have brakes, or power steering so what are you to do, when the thing doesnt go where it is meant to. Thankfully, as we were about to crash into the next door boat's motor, superman came to our rescue. He was  from the boat hire place, and came out of nowhere. He leapt onto the front of the boat we were about to collide with and stopped us in our tracks, putting his hands out and shoving us into the desired position. Oops, catastrophy averted! Phew, no wonder they ask for a large deposit!
Driving further into Victoria, things began to green up a little. We passed vast tracts of pine forrests, almost all the way to Portland, where drove on through as it held little appeal , then on to Port Fairy for the night.The park was huge and almost full to capacity, sitting nicely between the beach and river, with a delightful town just 15 minutes walk away. We checked out the shops and stayed in town for dinner.
We were finally heading for the Great Ocean Road, and on our way, stopped at Tower Hill, to inspect the extinct volcano, which is now a wild life game park with many bush walks and easy to spot, kangaroos, emus and koalas, picnic areas and an excellent souvenir shop.From the floor of the crator, you can see the rim all around. Facinating stuff. Woornabool was really big, but we stopped briefly, for lunch and a visit to the regional art gallery. We have been mostly in small towns so cities seem almost overwhelming now and we pass through quickly. Just out of town, it was hard to resist stopping at  Cheeseland and as luck would have it, just in time for some cheese tasting. Twenty minutes later, and armed with a bag of cheeses, we headed for the much anticipated drive along the Great Ocean Road. The first iconic lookout was The Bay of Islands and then the Bay of Maryters, both very spectacular. We were nearly lifted off our feet as it was blowing a howling gale and we even had difficulty  holding the camera steady to take pictures. Hoping for better weather the next day, we stayed overnight at Peterborough, ready to view the best of the Great Ocean Rd.  So, how blessed were we, when we rose to a glorious sunny day. And what a difference the sun makes to this incredible scenery. The water is aqua blue and the limestone cliffs look wonderful bathed in sunlight.We ooed and ahhed our way along the coast, stopping at every lookout and viewing platform, camera snapping madly at The Arch, The Lock Ard Gorge, Mutton Bird Island and finally the piece de resistance, the 12 (more like 5 now) Apostles. Let me tell you, this is hard work on the legs, with an amazing amount of walking to view these icons. We were utterly exhausted after 4 hours of viewing, but remarkably satisified that we had seen something truly special.
We spent the night in Princetown and drove all the next day (today) most of the remainder of the Great Ocean Rd, trying to find somewhere to stay. We had forgotton it was the eve of a long weekend and every van park was full to overflowing. Finally had success at Anglesea, where we will stay for the next 2 nights.
Then we are off to Melbourne.
Vicki

The beach at Robe

The old customs house, Robe

Marnie getting healed in the Pool of Sialom

The (very) Blue Lake at Mount Gambier

The sunken gardens (Umpherston sink hole) at Mount Gambier

Marnie on a lovely little beach on the Glenelg river in Nelson

Marnie looking pretty cocky before the near disaster.

Little house/boat sheds on the river in Nelson

The London Bridge (which did fall down in 1990) The Great Ocean Rd

The Beach by the Lock Ard Gorge

Port Campbell

The 12 Apostles

So many international travellers come to see the Great Ocean Rd that they need to be reminded which side of the road to travel on.

Waves of heat in Victor Harbour

Our arrival in Victor Harbour was a little disappointing as the heat had followed us and the hoped for sea breezes had completely died .Also our spot in the caravan park was totally devoid of trees and in order to create some of our own shade, we had to park facing the central social gathering tent of 12 or so youthful campers whose tents almost surrounded us. We unhooked our bikes after dinner and had a long ride around the waterfront on one of the many bike tracks.  The frivolities  of our neighbours, continued well into the night and as we had planned 3 nights here, we requested a move to another spot which we were allowed to have later in the afternoon. We decided to leave the park till then and plonk ourselves down by the water, where the breeze had finally materialised and we were much cooler.Victor Harbour is a delightful town with water everywhere, but not really suitable for swimming. It is very shallow for a long way out, but lovely and clean. Our new site was excellent and even had a tree for some shade, which we badly need for the next 2 days when the heat really cranked up to 42C making it dificult to do anything. We did manage a few short ventures into town. The farmers market was on Sat morning. It was fairly small, but had an abundance of local produce. Marnie did a late night penguin tour on granite island, which is connected to the Harbour by a 650 meter causeway. I didnt feel confident enough to cycle in the dark, so stayed in the RV with the air conditioning on full blast. By 9am the next day, the temp was already 40C so decided to get going to our next destination.Marnie did something to her back while we were packing up, so we headed to Mount Barker where she was able to see a chiropractor later in the afternoon . The main expressway to the Limestone coast, started from there, so it seemed to be the best place to go. By 10.30pm the temp was still 34C, but the next morning it was wet and cold! It was great to see the badly needed rain and it helped enormously, to reduce the catostrophic fire danger for the region we were in. We had a good look around Mount Barker before leaving for the Limestone coast to a place called Hacks point, 25km south of Meningie in the area known as The Coorong.We planned to stay at an Aboriginal cultural wildernss center which had powered sites, a restaurant and offered a cultural experience. However, our arrival was greeted with a closed restaurant, an empty caravan park and not a soul to be seen anywhere. We poked our heads in a few of the buildings, to find that every tap in the place was leaking buckets of water, the laundry was overflowing with wet washing , and we wondered what we were doing there, when we finally found a man and his dog. I think everyone else had gone walkabout. Anyway, we decided to stay after we were offered the use of the ensuites in the bunkhouse, where the taps only dripped a little. It was potentially a wonderful place in which an enourmous amout of money has been invested, but sadly lacking in maitenance. We were unable to have any of the cultural experiences (one ,was the hoped for bush tucker dinner) as the only gentleman there, had just come out of hospital after suffering from heat stroke the day before, and the other 6 staff members were nowhere to be seen. Another caravan joined us just before dark and we chatted to them and watched the fantastic sunset over the Coorong. We saw a few emus disappear down towards the waters edge.
We drove to Robe the next day, a monotonous 170km drive along an almost unbending road with great scenery of pink lakes, salt lakes and endless sand dunes. We are having 3 nights in this lovely small seaside village.The caravan park is on the magnificent beach and just a few minutes walk to the town. The sun is shining brightly and it is a cool 22C and everything in the garden is rosey!
Vicki

The waterfront away from the main drag at Victor Harbour

They have a horse drawn tram to take you over to Granite Island.

The causeway to Granite island. Victor Harbour

This part of Victor Harbour looks a little like The Entrance

Marnie at the Farmers Market

More waterfront

The causeway at dusk

The restaurant at the Coorong Wilderness center

Emus

Sunset over The Coorong at Hicks Point

Down by the water at the Wilderness center

more of The Coorong

The big Lobster at Kingston

The beach at Robe in front of the caravan park

More of the beach

Adelaide to McLaren Vale

Greetings for 2010, not 2101 as the last blog had it. I am a bit dyslectic with numbers at times. All the numbers were there, just in the wrong place!! and while I am at it, my spelling goes awry at time also.
Adelaide turned on it's best weather for us, mild and sunny and perfect for cycling. SA has the most incredible number of cycle tracks. They seem to criss cross the entire state,making cycling a very popular passtime. SA is also doing a great job in banning the plastic bag. Most supermarkets no longer supply you with them and other shops encourage you to bring your own bags. And while I am singing the states praises, Adelaide has free public transport for seniors,excluding peak times, and the whole city is surrounded by parklands.
Back to cycling....We used the cycle path that goes just behind the caravan park, into the CBD and got there in no time. North Terrace has the Art gallery, Museum, War memorial etc all lined up in a row for easy viewing. We inspected the Art Gallery and were a little disappointed that there were currently no Hans Heyson paintings on display. Their collection is on exhibition around the country at present.We will be able to view it in Newcastle in November.They did, however, have a rather large display of other Australian artists. We left our bikes at the gallery and caught a tram to Glenelg, the beachside suburb which was surprisingly like Manly with a corso, lots of eateries, Norfolk pines and of course, a beach (dare I say, not a patch on Manly)
The next day we took in another movie that has been on our must see list, "Julie and Julia" (really good) then did some post Christmas sales shopping in the Rundle Mall,which was packed with bargain hunters.
While I was on a tour of Africa and Asia 2 years ago, I met a couple from Adelaide whose address I just happened to have with me, so I contacted them the next day and spent the afternoon at their house (just 2 kms from our van park) catching up on their last 2 years.Marnie took the opportunity to have another shopping frenzy in Runlde Mall. We have been bereft of shopping for quite some time. It does'nt take long to get back in the swing of it though!
Adelaide has a bus system called the O'Bahn which has its own dedicated track, allowing some specific buses to travel along this special track at reasonalbly high speeds.They just look like any bus accept they have a horizontal wheel on each side of the vehicle that guides the bus along the track. We were curious to try it out, so we took one of the buses to Tea Tree Gully, about 12km away. It feels a little like being on a train and it only took about 12 minutes to get there. The bus seamlessly leaves the track and back on to the road without you even noticing. Very clever system. I'm not sure why other states dont follow suit. Adelaide has been running these buses since the eighties.
Our last day in Adelaide was spent trying to organise the replacement of our bent awning. After going from one place to another, we were directed to a caravan business in St Marys and eventually we were able to get a quote, have them send the awning  to Melbourne and we will have it installed there. Most factories are closed until 11th Jan so it was out of the question, getting it done quickly.
Thankfully, St Marys was in the south of Adelaide, so we were heading in the right direction for our next destination, McLaren Vale in the Fleurieu Peninsula, just 40 km from Adelaide. I know it gets really boring talking about the weather, so I wont mention the fact that we are heading into a 4 day heat wave of 41C and rumour has it that Victor Harbour is generally 8 degrees cooler than elsewhere, so we have booked into a van park there for the next 3 days in the hope that the rumour is true. Meanwhile, this van park in McLaren Vale that we are in for 2 nights, is really delightful. It has a super abundance of shade trees and sits between 2 vineyards. The sites are large and the layout ambles rather than having rigid lines.And best of all, given the heat today, it seems fairly cool. I dont think we have seen one drop of rain for at least 6 weeks, but we no complain!
Vicki

Me, cycling through the Botanical gardens Adelaide.

The Art Gallery Adelaide.

Balls in Rundle Mall (Marnie is in the reflection)

Glenelg beach.

Glenelg Corso

Marnie at Glenelg.

Glenelg

Torrens river, behind the caravan park

The O'Bahn bus on its track.

Bush Christmas t'Adelaide

Happy New year everyone and hello 2010!

We enjoyed a very quiet Christmas at the Nuttbush retreat. The lamb was delicious . We had to eat in the camp kitchen as is was too windy outside, unfortunately, as there was a very nice courtyard we could have sat in. Our neighbour Clint was very happy to join us and came over the next day before departing, to give us both a little gift. We slept most of the afternoon, as you do after eating and drinking a bit too much.
We left for Burra  the next day, over 200 km away. We had been told we would most likely get into any park away from the water. So, there we stayed for 3 nights. It is a lovely historic copper mining town. Lots of old buildings and antique shops. The info center told us everything would be closed till Tuesday, Monday being Proclamation day and a public holiday. Not quite right. Several shops were open as well as the art gallery. The van park was only 2 minutes walk to the shops and, as it was fairly flat around the back streets, I decided it was time to get back on my bike. Thankfully, I managed, with a little practice and we cycled around for a few kms (without falling off!)
Our neighbours Rose and John, gave us some advice on what to see in the Barossa Valley, The Clare Valley and The Adelaide Hills.
As we  drove through the Clare Valley we popped into an art gallery in an old church at Blythe,then stopped in  Clare for an over due haircut and on to Seven Hill where there is an old Monastry/vineyard.  They still make the alter wine for the Catholic church. We did a little wine tasting here but didnt like anything on offer. Finally pulled into Watervale to see another art gallery before stopping overnight in Auburn. While here, I managed to book us 5 days in the Adelaide caravan park, which is only a 20 minute walk through the botanic gardens, to the CBD.
The town where Mcloud's daughters was filmed (Freeling) was almost on our route and I thought it would be fun to go to the Gungellan Hotel where they filmed some of the scenes. There is not much else there, apart from the, also featured Truck stop, so we had a coffee and chatted to the barmaid. Angaston was another really cute town in the Barossa valley that we stopped at to have lunch, a platter of local produce.....very tasty. We ended up in Williamstown for the night. It has been realy hot for the last 4 days, but  on new years eve was over 40C by 10am as we headed for Hahndorf.
Hans Heyson, the famous SA painter, lived in Hahndorf for most of his life. His studio and house are just before you get into the town. We arrived there (at The Cedars)  in time for the 11am guided tour, which showed us through his studio and beautiful house and we heard all about his facinating life as an artist. It was a real highlight for us both. His garden is full of heavily scented roses which feature in many of his still life paintings.
We wilted fairly quickly in the heat of 41C and  after looking around the georgeous German town of Hahndorf and having lunch, we collapsed in the RV (with the air conditioning on) at the local van park. We had picked up a good bottle of local wine to celebrate the new year in, but were tucked in and asleep well before the old year had finished.
We hit Adelaide before lunch and thankfully it was a much cooler day. Being new years day, most shops were closed but there were plenty of people milling around. The walk into the CBD from here, was an easy 20 minute stroll through the stunning botanical gardens. After looking through the famous Rundle Mall, we went to the movies and saw "Sherlock Holmes".
I am sure we will enjoy our 5 nights in Adelaide. It is a very attractive city and much greener than the rest of SA.
Vicki

Our Christmas day camp kitchen. I forgot to take a pic of us and our lunch.

 The scenary at the Nuttbush retreat

The courtyard at Nuttbush.

The Burra Town Hall.

The Gungellen hotel of Mcleod's daughters fame.

The Barossa Valley vineyards

Hans Heyson's family home, "The Cedars" at Hahnsdorf in the Adelaide Hills

In the Botanical gardens Adelaide.

Lotus flower in the gardens.

Rundle St Adelaide.

In the Rundle St Mall.

Lovely arcade in the mall