Life is a Highway post #1 13 March 2011

Leaving the farm.....



We left the farm in Little River at abt 10.15 on Feb 24th. Travelled along the Hamilton H'way via Inverleigh and Coleraine. Spent a little time in Hamilton before heading to our first camp for the night at Wannon Falls abt 18km past Hamiltom. A lovely and quiet spot and it's free to stay.



Camp spot at Wannon Falls


Wannon Falls


The next day we left Victoria and won't return now until Dec 2011. We arrived in the quaint town of Penola SA late morning. The town is very significant to the life and teachings of Australia's 1st Saint, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. There is a fantastic Interpretive Centre there in honour of her. The School she taught at and also the church she worshiped in. By all accounts St Mary was an inspirational person and a teacher who's techniques were well before her time. A must stop for anyone travelling in the area.

Inside the St Joseph's school where St Mary taught.

Later in the afternoon we continued onto Naracoorte for the next two days.

Whilst there we went to the caves in the area and took a tour of the Alexandra & Wet Caves. We were the only people on the tour so it was very personal and our tour guide "Yarrow" was great.

Inside Alexandra cave

Greig's grandfather Jim Tucker was born in Narracoorte in 1900 & as I'm a family tree buff we went visiting the local cemetery. We did find the listings for a few of his ancestors however they were all in unmarked graves but at least we made the visit. The weather turned cool and Mish ended up with a head cold. (grrrrrr)

Back on the road again this time heading to Langhorne Creek just over the Murray River at Wellington. Took the ferry across, so we had abt 30 mins wait our turn to be loaded. Lots of cars, vans, etc in front of us.

Arrived at the Frank Potts Reserve camp spot for the night. Great spot. under the gum trees and the vineyards across the roadway. Very quiet & it's FREE !!

Camp spot at Frank Potts Reserve

Next little spot we visited was Milang on the banks of Lake Alexandrina & a part of the Coorong NP. There are quite a few huts along the lake and during the busy times would be a hive of activity. We spoke to an old timer in town who told us that it was once a busy inland port area in days gone by. From Milang you can see Narrung Island in the lake. It is now an aboriginal community island.

some of the huts at Milang.

From here we continued on to Port Elliot via Currency Ck and Goolwa. Quite a few vineyards there we stopped and took a few photos of the Kingsbrook Inn (est 1852). It is now used for functions and weddings and is a B&B.

Kingsbrook Inn (est 1852)

Next stop was Pt Elliot where we stayed for 4 nights. it's only 7km from Victor Harbour and a little quieter. The weather was cool but we still took a day out to visit the nearby Newland Conservation Park. The coastline was spectacular and the beaches were wild & beautiful to look at but very dangerous for swimming in. Two of the beaches are Waitpinga (aboriginal for Windy Place) and Parson's Beach. We took a few dirt tracks in the area great country side to drive through. We went as far Tunkalilla Lookout whilst we were there 3 hang gliders were preparing to take off, just waiting for the right time with the wind.

We also went to Goolwa where the Murray River meets the sea. Heaps of birdlife around there. Port Eliot has the gorgeous Horseshoe Bay the beach is great but it was way too cold to swim.

Parsons Beach, Newland CP

Tunkalilla Lookout.
We were experiencing some problems with our TV reception whilst in Pt Elliot so a visit to Dick Smith soon fixed the problem with a new antenna lead. Must have good reception for the FOOTBALL !!!

Next port of call was over the other side of the Fleurieu Peninsula, Second Valley. On the way we travelled through Yankalilla and Normanville. What a beautiful beautiful beach. It was a pity it was too cool for swimming and also Mish had the head cold and Greig was getting it as well. Saw some stingrays swimming around gracefully through the very clear water. The next time we passed through Normanville there were a couple of racehorses down on the beach.
Normanville Beach.

Checked into the Second Valley Caravan Park for 4 nights. We had a great spot there and the managers were lovely. They had been there since just before Xmas and plan to leave after this easter. They are travelling aound Oz as well, but are picking up work on the way. Originally from Newcastle. We went for a look at Wirrina Cove Resort (a big wank) then onto Rapid Bay. Great spot along the beach there but the drive into the Bay is very steep so not too good towing the van down that. Saw a pod of dolphins swimming a short way from shore. Just great.

Second Valley coast line from the Jetty.

Second Valley was a very quiet little village not that far from Cape Jervis the gateway to catching the ferry across to Kangaroo Island. So we just had to visit.

We went over to KI on the SeaLink Ferry took the 9am across where we hooked up with the local tour of the highlights on KI. We went to Seal Bay a beautiful beach with quite a large colony of Sea Lions. Some old and some quite young. Real cute. We were about 20 metres from them. Couldn't get closer as they can turn nasty. The drive around the Island is fantastic, heaps of grazing and farm land on the Island.

Seals at Seal Bay KI

We then went to Vivonne Bay and had lunch at a bistro. Plenty to eat and great food. After lunch we went to a birds of prey show and were intorduced to a Hawk, a Barn Owl, 2 Kookaburra's which Mish had on her arm (WOW) and a 3yo Bald Tail Eagle. The bird handler was really good and encouraged the birds except the eagle to go to people watching for photos etc. Very enjoyable.

Barn Owl Bald Tailed Eagle

We then travelled onto the south west corner of the Island to the Flinders Chase NP and went to the Remarkable Rocks. The coastline was spectacular and the rocks were great for photos. After there we went to Admirals Arch where there is a large colony of New Zealand fur seals.

Remarkable Rocks KI

Remarkable Rocks Admirals Arch

We then took the long drice back to Penneshaw to catch the 7.30pm ferry back to the mainland. What a beaut spot KI is. Well worth a much longer visit next time we are in the area. It is not a cheap excercise to get there especially with your vehicle and a caravan so it would have to be a visit for abt 2-3 weeks to make it worth while going. The day was a long one looking around and we are very pleased we decided to go over.

Our last day at Second Valley we spent a little time down at the beach (ankle deep only) the beach is not that big but is a lovely little cove. Warm day of 32'.... Sun at last but not for long :(

The Fleurieu Peninsula is a great South Australian area and we enjoyed our stay there but it was time to move on. Next stop well that turned out to be a little bit of a challenge.. we thought we would get to Mt Barker and Adelaide for a day or two but the weather turned nasty and we were battling the heavy rain in quite a winding, hilly area not good for towing our home so we headed for flatter ground. Ended up at Maslin's beach, south of Adelaide, Great beach but couldn't enjoy it beacause of the weather so we decided to press on to the beach areas of adelaide for a night or two. Easier said than done.......... we couldn't get into a caravan park anywhere as the Australian Rowing Championships were on and all spots were taken. Should hve done our homework... so we pressed on northward in the %@&*$#! rain.. We ended up abt 20km south of Port Wakefield where we bush camped in a roadside stop just off the highway. Trucks flying past all night kept the noise up so not a great sleep. Next morning we took off for the lovely town of Clare stopping at the quaint towns of Balaklava and Blyth on the way. Heaps of old sandstone buildings and ruins in the area. A few more hills to tackle but most of the rain had gone by this time. Checked into the caravan park in Clare for 2 nights. We decided the next day we would head out to a sheep station not far from Clare for a visit.

The Bungaree Sheep Station was established in 1841 by George Charles Hawker. He and his wife had 16 children in all and the Station is still owned and run but his descendants today. The Sth Aust town of Hawker was named after "GC".

It was a self guided tour and it took a little over 3 hours. The Station in it's day was more like a village as it had a general store, a church (St Michaels), a council chamber, woolshed, shearers's quarters, a swaggies hut and kitchen house and of course the Homestead, 25 rooms with 12 bedrooms. The house was built over three different stages as the family grew and grew. The old woodshed smells of sheep just great and the old kitchen has definately had the odd roast lamb cooked there as well !!! Mark the fiance of the owner's daughter gave us a cuppa and cake at the end of the tour and all this for just $11 each. If you are ever in the Clare Valley area "Bungaree" is a must visit. We saw the dogs in action with the sheep and one of them "Kofy" was a tag along friend for a while before he went off to work.

Outside general store Bungaree SS

Bungaree SS Homestead

Bungaree SS Woolshed

Kofy chasing the sheep. He did great job.

We also went for a feed at the Tingara Pub in Clare for dinner $16.50 ph a great choice of mains with an all you can eat, soups, salad, vegies and desert included. I lost $5 on the pokies.

We also gave the caravan a bit of a clean up after all the rain whilst we were in Clare. We took a look at the racecourse as well. It's in a lovely setting over looking a valley of Vineyards. Great spot the Clare Valley.

Yorke Peninsula here we come for the next 3-4 weeks. We've never been there before so it's all new to us. We left Clare and took the drive to Mintaro where most of the buildings in the town are National Trust listed. Lots of history in these parts of Sth Aust dating back to the 1840's just after the state was pioneered. The whole area is beautiful, undulating farm land and of course Wineries and Vineyards everywhere. We went through the old town of Auburn and back through Balaklava and on to Pt Wakefield the top of the Yorke Pen.

Old Mill at Mintaro

Old sandstone ruin near Auburn

Arrived at Ardrossan on Friday afternoon set up camp in the caravan park before the masses arrived for the long weekend.

Believe us we have "RAY'S tent city set up opposite us. What a crack up watching this family set up. 1 x pop up van and 2 tents. The amount of stuff that came out of the Pajero and the pop up was amazing. I lost is when the bench seat came out of the van, it was like watching the Clampetts moving into Beverley Hills. (I've got tears running down my face now just thinking about it...) so, so, so, funny, especially when on Saturday another 2 car loads and 4 more tents went up on the 2 sites they are occupying. Must say though they have been pretty quiet considering the amount of people there.

Had a little look around town before we settled in for the night and watched the "GOPIES" win the NAB Cup.

Yesterday was quite warm, we took a drive to a beach near by called Tiddy Widdy Bch, heaps of people out crabbing but not getting much. The clouds in the sky were fantastic so we took a few pics (as you do).

We took a drive out the back of Ardrossan lots of farming in the area, grain and sheep mainly. Ardrossan has a very long jetty where the grains and also salt are shipped away. BHP has a small mine here ONE STEELE so a lot of ships come to the jetty for that as well.

Today is Sunday 13 March. Not much happened today as the weather has turned again cold and wet at times. We managed to visit the local museum. It is in the former power house of the C H Smith Plough Factory built in 1907. The Smith brothers were pioneers in the area and also in the invention & development of the Stump Jump Plough which revolutionised the opening up of the Malley lands from 1876 onwards. Heaps of old machinery and ploughs on display as well as some old wares and tons of photos depicting the area and some of the notable pioneers from days gone by.

Ardrossan will be home until Tuesday when we will probably head down to Pt Vincent for a few days a whole 40km away. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather picks up.

SUN........ where are you ???

Take care all........... LIFE IS A HIGHWAY !!

Mish & Greig