We spent this morning exploring the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens in Port Augusta. The number of Australian plants that have adapted to survive in Australia’s harsh arid interior is astonishing. Although I was very concerned about the number of warning signs asking us to stay on the paths to avoid snakes it proved to be the ants that were more of a problem. They were everywhere! Big black ones that inevitably made it into my sandals and delivered a bite or two. Fortunately their bites do not seem to be as bad as those delivered by their smaller ant cousins. After completing the ‘Regional Walk’ circuit we took a break for some morning tea. A highlight was sitting beside a small pond which seemed to attract quite a few birds including a wattlebird, who took ... read more

This morning we woke with the birds! There were magpies caroling and willie wagtails calling very close by, with kookaburras and cockatoos (or maybe corellas) in the background. Fortunately the magpies flew off somewhere else after they sang for a bit and we managed to doze off for another hour. For Christmas our friend Steve received the lonely planet book Best Day Walks Australia. We were all quite enthusiastic about the entry outlining the hike to the summit of Mount Remarkable so included a couple of nights in Melrose in our itinerary. With the day forecast to be very hot, we decided to scale back our plans a bit and this morning we ventured into Alligator Gorge rather than attempting the summit. As we drove towards Wilmington on our way to the gorge, we passed a ... read more

We have spent today exploring the ‘Copper Triangle’ made up of the towns of Wallaroo, Kadina and Moonta. We started in Wallaroo with a photo of the old town hall while we waited for Cathy and Steve to have their tyre fixed. Punctured tyres are becoming a bit of a theme? On our last joint road trip to NSW it was our car that had a slow leak and needed a repair in Coffs Harbour. With both vehicles good to go we made our way to Kadina looking for some more water tower art. We were approaching the Aldi and I joked to Bernie about whether we should pop in to see if there were any good specials left from Wednesday. Next thing I know he is turning into the Aldi car park and I’m saying ... read more

Today we explored the Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park. We purchased ingredients in Yorketown to make our own dinner tonight, but for some reason we failed to buy bread and sandwich fillings, despite discussing that we would take lunch into the park with us. That meant a quick trip to the Marion Bay General Store to buy sandwich fixings at marked up prices before we drove into the park!! D’Oh. We had already purchased our National Park Passes online so we were ready to start exploring. Our first stop was at Stenhouse Bay which features the old jetty and a lookout walk. When we arrived in the parking area there was a van/motor home practicing some freestyle parking, parked right in the middle of the parking area which was a bit bewildering as parking bays were, ... read more

We had read about the sunrise on the red cliffs at Ardrossan being spectacular so we were up before the sun and off to the Ardrossan jetty to take photos. While waiting for the sun to rise we met a Golden Retriever puppy named Gus and chatted to the locals fishing for squid and blue swimmer crabs. At 7.10am the sun rose behind a bank of clouds so we had to wait a little longer before the sun rose above the clouds and was shining onto the red sandstone cliffs. After the sunrise we went ‘home’ for breakfast and showers before driving down to Port Vincent looking for all the Photo Opportunities shown on the tourist map! Our first stop was at Billy Goat Flat/Pine Point. Funnily enough Billy Goat Flat was down at sea level ... read more