The Tour

Saturday 15 - Tuesday 19 January 2010

On the way to our next camp spot we stopped off at the town of Keith to restock on supplies. We couldn't find out who Keith was...but his town park has a great playground with a monorail. The kids loved it.

We arrived at Pendelton Farm Stay just up the road from Keith at lunch time. This place usually hosts school camps but school is out at the moment so we had the place to ourselves. There is heaps of room and lots of animals to feed.

 

 

One of the funniest moments that unfortunately we didn't get on film was when one of the emus was accidently cornered by chatting people. With nowhere to go it jumped over Luke's head. The look on Luke's face (& the Emu's face) had us all in stitches.

 

 

There were lots of games for the kids to play and most importantly there was room to ripstick.

 

 

On Monday we left the farm and made our way to Long Point on the Coorong - where the Murray River forms an inland lake, separated from the ocean by a thin peninsula. The Coorong is an important fish and bird breeding area. Unfortunately with the reduced Murray River flow the area is not what it once was but is still impressive. We saw lots of pelicans and swans. We also drove through lots of dry salt lake areas.

 

 

Tuesday 19 - Sunday 24 January 2010

We caught one of the many ferries across the Murray River, this one at Tailem Bend and drove on to a shady camp spot at Langhorne Creek (we were very relieved to find it was shadey because the rest of the countryside is not - very barren and dry). This area is an award winning wine region - the camp spot was surrounded by vineyards so it was great to see the grapes growing up close.

 

The kids decorated the picnic tables beautifully for lunch.

 

 We spent Wednesday chilling out at nearby Strathalbyn while the car had some wiring work done...nice town.

 

We were all really excited about the next few days though. We timed our arrival at this part of the country very well in that the Tour Down Under (for the uneducated this is a cycling race - the only pro event outside of Europe) was on in and around Adelaide and Mick, Nik, Loz and Tom were also in town to see it so we were all really looking forward to catching up with them.

 

 On Thursday we had a quick look around the little German themed village of Hahndorf (in the Adelaide Hills)...

 

 

...and sampled some of the locals wares...

 

...before basing ourselves at Stirling for the finish of the third stage of the tour. It was great to see M, N, L &T.

 

We watched the tour parade go past and gladly accepted some of the give aways.

 

And what an awesome atmosphere!

 

 

 

Surely they can spare one of these.

 

After the cycling action we all headed up to the Mt Lofty summit to take in the views of the city.

 

For the kids, climbing the foot of the summit tower was more interesting than the views.

 

 

 Back to camp for the evening cricket match on the LCG (Langhorne Cricket Ground).

 

On Friday we didn't have to go anywhere to see the tour - Langhorne Creek was hosting one of the sprints on the main street.

 

 

After the sprint rolled through town we drove in and met M, N, L&T at Glenelg for an afternoon of swimming, fish and chips by the beach and more cricket.

 

 

Glenelg is a great spot - some beautiful buildings and jetty area right by the beach....and some smooth, flat ripsticking areas.

 

 

Time to say goodbye to Mick, Nik, Tom & Loz - it was great to catch up.

 

On Saturday we were excited to be catching the second last stage of the tour at Willunga - what a great little town.

 

The tour was passing through town five times throughout the stage including climbing the well known Willunga Hill. Quite a climb for an average cyclist but probably just a small rise for these guys. At least the hill had them slowing down so we could have a better look. The atmosphere on the hill was unreal, with the crowd closing in on either side of the road just like you see at the Tour de France. We could have reached out and touched them.

 

The exciting finish to the stage was also in Willunga. The kids were all yelling and cheering for Cadel Evans who was right up the front and came in fourth. They had quickly turned into cycling groupies (the next day we were planning to go to the beach for the day but they were begging us to go into Adelaide to watch the final stage).

 

After the race we were able to get up close and grab a few autographs. We got Lance Armstrong's...

 

And Ashley forced her way to the front of a crowd and shoved her hat in front of Cadel Evans to get his (not quite as shy as when we left Brisbane).

 

Following the race we had a look down the west side of the Fleurieu Peninsula and went down to Cape Jervis.

 

We decided to stick to our plan for Sunday and had a stop at Horseshoe Bay at Port Elliot...

 

...before spending the rest of the day at Victor Harbor. We really liked it here - great parks, playgrounds, pubs and picnic areas. Of course we had a walk around Granite Island before catching the horse drawn tram back.

 

 

Across the border (SA)

Friday 8 - Monday 11 January 2010

Moving on from Dimboola we headed back down the Western Highway towards Ararat, not sure where we would end up for the night. After stocking up the supplies in Ararat we had everything shaken to bits along the most corrugated dirt road we have driven on the way to check out a camp spot just out of town at Green Hill Lake. Yuk! The water level was well down and what was left was covered in green stuff. We headed off and decided on a stop at Dunkeld at the southern end of the Grampians. Nice view of the mountains...

 

Saturday was a hot, hot day (that's why Luke is leaning above) with predictions of hotter weather coming. We walked around town and had a squiz at the Royal Mail Hotel which has won food and wine awards all over the place. The restaurant almost looked out of place compared to the rest of the town (not that the town was bad). The native garden was great and provided our first chance to check out the Sturt Desert Pea - haven't seen these in Brisbane.

 

 

With the hot weather coming we wanted a pool and some shade. Just down the road at Penshurst had what we wanted...a cheap ($18/night) caravan site located in the botanical gardens which is also where the local pool is.

 

After setting up camp we were in.

 

 

On a later walk around town we thought this looked like a stereotypical country scene. 

 

Sunday 10 January 2010 - Happy birthday Ashley!

After convincing Ashley that we hadn't been in any big towns with shopping centres for a while so hadn't been able to find any presents, there was lots of excitement (& maybe relief) when she opened this...

 

 

The new clothes went on as well and it was a happy day.

In the morning Ashley, Mum (Tarnia) and Grammy went off to Madigans Tea House for a special birthday morning tea.

 

And what a great spread they put on. The milkshakes, cakes and scones were fantastic! A stop here is highly recommended if you are in the area.

 

The afternoon was again spent in the pool before a picnic of pizzas and birthday cake in the gardens near the van.

 

Monday was a sad day as it was time to say goodbye to Poppy and Grammy who were heading back east in preparation for their trip to Tassie, while we continue our journey west. Thanks Poppy and Grammy - we had an awesome time travelling with you!

 

Monday 11 January 2010

We restocked supplies in Hamilton and then headed for Nelson on another stinking hot day - 42 degrees. The drive in the air conditioning was probably the best place to be. There have been lots of warnings to get out of the Grampians area with code red fire alerts for all of that area and up into the Wimmera (where Dimboola is) so we timed that part of the trip really well.

 

Nelson had a bit less than we had expected so we had a quick look around and then headed to the Princess Margaret Rose Caves for a look. These caves had been highly recommended by a few people and the tour was not as expensive as other caves we had come across ($28 for the family).

 

The cave features were spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour...

We were going to stay at the camp area next to the caves but found that about a hundred million blow flies had moved into the shower and amenities so we went back down the road to Nelson and checked into the caravan park. The Glenelg River winds its way from the Grampians and down through the limestone cliffs into the ocean here. It is a beautiful river. Little boat sheds line either side through town.

 

We enjoyed dessert on a little jetty and had an evening swim to cool off.

 

Tuesday 12 - Wednesday 13 January 2010

Across the border today - this is the sixth state/territory we have been in so far...how many to go?

 

 

Not far into SA we arrived at Mt Gambier and set up camp at Mt Schank which is about 14kms out of town. Mt Schank is a dormant volcano and in the afternoon we all walked to the top. It looks just like we imagined a volcano would look...thin rim around a very large and deep crater. It was not hard to imagine red hot lava bubbling away in the middle.

 

 

Another beautiful sunset that evening...

 

 

On Wednesday we toured around Mt Gambier and surrounds. Very nice town. First stop was Blue Lake which is in the crater of another volcano and is also the town's water supply.

 

Check out the colour of the water! An unbelievably deep sapphire blue. No filter was used in this photo. The water turns this colour blue over the course of a few days each November and lasts until March when it turns back to a steely grey colour for the winter.

Next stop was Cave Gardens in one of the many sinkholes in the area. This is right in the middle of town.

 

Beautiful rose gardens surround the area...

 

Umpherston sinkhole just up the road is like as enchanted garden where you would expect to see fairies flying around. The area was first set up for public recreation in the 1800's by the property owner (Mr Umpherston) - what a great bloke.

   

Then it was down towards the coast to Port MacDonnell for a picnic lunch and a play. The kids love the 'old style' play equipment like see-saws and long slides that are not seen so much anymore. 

 

 

At Cape Northumberland where we were lucky enough to spot a penguin and baby in their burrow.

 

Along the road a bit further was Ewen Ponds, a spring fed water hole. The water is so clear that it looks like you can touch the bottom from the jetty but it is actually a few metres deep.

 

For anyone interested in stats, so far we have been away for 111 nights, we have spent $963 on accommodation and have done 11,831 kms, spending $2045 on fuel at an average cost of 124.9 cents/litre. Food and other miscellaneous expenses such as clothes and maintenance work out at an average of $41.81 per day. Entertainment costs eg tours, attraction entry fees etc have cost $1200 so far.

 

Thursday 14 - Friday 15 January 2010

Time to leave Mt Schank. We drove on to Millicent & had lunch at another awesome adventure playground.

 

We also stopped in at Beachport and had a look at the Pool of Siloam which is seven times saltier than the ocean. Apparently it is really easy to float because of the high salt content - we took their word for it as it was a bit cool and very windy for swimming.

 

 

We arrived in Robe in the late afternoon. This is a very popular beachside town. The caravan parks were all full (& very expensive being peak season) so after fish and chips on the beach we drove just out of town to a free camp and then drove back in first thing in the morning for a swim and hung out at the beach for the morning.

 

After lunch we continued on to Kingston SE and played in the park until late evening. One of the best features of Kingston SE was that it has the longest and smoothest ripsticking path in Australia (that we have come across so far).

 

After tea in the park we left (far later than we should have) to head up towards our next stop, a farmstay near Keith. The light was fading rapidly as we drove through the kangaroo infested countryside. Needless to say we drove a lot slower than we would have during the day and beeped the horn continuously for about 50kms. We saw quite a few roos but they were kind enough to stay off the middle of the road.