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Published: October 26th 2009
After leaving the majestic Grampians we made our way back to the coast, our first port of call being Mount Gambier. After two beautiful sunny days in the Grampians NP, we were not expecting the nice weather to last and we were not disappointed! Driving through hail to get there it continued to rain for pretty much the next week with only a few brief sunny periods. Mount Gambier appears to be famous for its limestone caves, “blue” lakes and the youngest volcanoes in Australia. We camped next to Mount Schank (one of the volcano craters) and took a drive down to Port MacDonnell to see the southern end of the Limestone coast. Despite being absolutely freezing and then subsequently rained on (resulting in us retreating to the pub!), this little town offered an astounding rugged coast line against an amazing crystal blue ocean. This town also claims to have their own small colony of Little Penguins however, I am rather sceptical given the steep cliffs and the roaring, unrelenting waves. How any little penguin could survive those conditions is a mystery to me! I know they are thick skinned but you’d have to be the Superman of the penguin world
to live here!
After a night of camping next to Mt Schank we went for a short walk up to the top, had a very quick walk around it and returned back to the car just in time before another down pour. We then headed to a great little tourist attraction called the Umpherston Sinkhole which is a natural hole in the ground in which there are beautiful gardens (an inspiration of Mr Umpherston in the late 1800’s) and a lovely bbq area. After visiting this, we both agreed that it was too early to retreat to the pub (plus it was starting to turn into a bad habit just to avoid the rain!) and so we went for a walk down the main high street in Mount Gambier, which in the rain reminded me of a very wet and miserable Sunderland!!! Not really a top holiday destination!!! After about an hour we decided that to hide from yet another down pour we would go to the cinema so, giving Woody a nice bone and leaving him in the car, we said our goodbyes to him and headed into the cinema where peanut M&Ms and the movie “UP” awaited
us. A very nice way to spend the afternoon and hide from the rain!!! Great little animated movie!!!
Over the next few days we made our way up the Limestone coast through places like Southend and Beachport. Two lovely seaside towns which are famous for their Rock lobster and crayfish fisheries as well as having some lobster sanctuary areas. Again the Limestone in this area results in a fabulous colour of the sea, what I imagine the water in paradise would look like. A bit further up the coast I met my mate Larry the Lobster in Kingston S.E, another BIG thing in Australia and by far my favourite! Over the next few days the rain continued and we seriously started to think about getting flights back to Brisbane for the week instead of my mam and dad coming to meet us!!!
The night and morning before picking them up from Adelaide airport was wet (surprise surprise….) but almost as soon as we picked them up …..the sun came out and by some miracle, the good weather lasted the whole week!!!! As we pulled into the airport we spotted them, both in their fleeces looking like little coloured
sheep and accompanied by 3 bags, no doubt filled with jumpers, jeans and woolly hats (as we had instructed!). Woody was almost uncontrollable with excitement at seeing his “nanny” that we had to make a quick toilet stop as soon as the car door was opened! After piling all the luggage in, we headed to our little lodge in Currency Creek on the Fleurieu peninsula, obviously being polite enough to make a couple of winery stops, well we were driving through McLaren Vale afterall.
After making the turn off from the road for our lodge some 80kms from the airport, we arrived at a farm gate and before us stretched a long dirt track and the house hidden from view over the hill. Since I had booked it I could imagine what my mam, dad and Rich must have been thinking ….knowing me and my love of horses, stables and all things stinky, they were probably expecting to get over the hill and find a run down shack complete with a couple of Shires, one or two goats and an outside toilet! I think they were pleasantly surprised when we did eventually reach the top of the hill to
see the lovely Gum Tree lodge with some amazing views of the countryside and coastline in the distance. We had 11 hectares complete with kangaroos all to ourselves. The house was beautiful and came complete with a gas fire and a hot tub! Pure luxury for Rich and I. It was really nice to not have to climb a ladder to get into bed, have a hot shower everyday and the walls didn’t shake when it was windy!!! We very quickly unhitched the trailer and forgot about it for the week!!! Despite the sun coming out, the nights were still a little chilly, so after a late lunch and a few glasses on wine, on went the gas fire and we snuggled up for our first night.
On our first day, we sent the Woodster to kennels being careful not to leave him in an unfamiliar place with no company to keep him entertained, and headed for Goolwa. We arrived early to get our tickets for the cockle train (the old passenger train that runs from Goolwa along the coastline through Port Elliot to Victor Harbor) and mam was delighted to find that the Goolwa Sunday markets were on,
a slightly less excited dad and Richie got dragged around after us! A bag of oranges, a bag of lemons and a slight disagreement over a big padded ironing board cover later and we were on the train…
The cockle train is a nice touch of history to the area and is a great way to be introduced to the coast and countryside on the peninsula. Our first stop was at a little place called Port Elliot which is a quaint little town right on Horseshoe bay. After departing the train we walked down to the sea front and despite mam and dad being with us for less than 24 hours, right in front of us just off the beach was a mother southern right whale and its calf resting in the bay!!! Rich and I had travelled almost every bit of the Victorian coastline and hadn’t seen a single whale and here they were within 24 hours of mam and dad’s arrival!!! Typical!!! We watched them for a while in this gorgeous bay before heading back up to the main street where we left the men to sample the local brews while mam and I went for a
“mooch” around the local shops before joining them later. Back on the train, we headed for Victor Harbor where we had lunch and a walk along the beach although we had to share it with camels, whatever happened to the good old faithful donkey ride?!!
The next day, after a long leisurely lie in, we made our way to Hindmarsh Island to do the discovery cruise in the Coorong NP. This is where the Murray River finally reaches the sea but instead of having weirs to control water flowing down the river, here they have barrages preventing the sea water being pushed back up into the fresh water of the Murray which of course is needed for agriculture and farm stock. Due to the tides and the movement of the sand, the Murray Mouth has to be constantly dredged and they remove up to a million cubic metres each year costing 7 million dollars just to keep the mouth open! Because the area has been in drought for the past 10 years or so the water in the Coorong is now mainly seawater. It should be receiving freshwater and because of this they are loosing many of their freshwater
fish species and are gaining more tidal species and shorebirds.
It was a beautiful calm day out on the water and we saw many of these different shorebirds. On Phillip Island Rich and I had struggled to sea the Fur seal colonies through our binoculars but of course being with those who bring sunshine and luck (mam and dad) it wasn’t long before we spotted the NZ fur seals in the water. Not something that immediately springs to mind when you think of the Murray River. Not long after that, we spotted wild emus wondering through and taking baths in the water. Again Rich and I had travelled about 1000km before we saw emus!!! Then, dad spotted something ahead saying “what is that?” … mam’s reply … “It’s just a big rock” …. dad’s reply “it’s not a rock” …mam’s reply “it’s a rock”…dad’s reply… “it’s not a rock you daft bat” …(by now everyone on the boat is listening) … mam’s reply … “it is a rock darling” … a bit of commotion and confusion at the front of the boat and the skipper confirmed it was a dead, bloated stingray …. Dad’s reply (obviously feeling very pleased
with himself) … “see, it isn’t a rock!” the rest of the passengers reply …”uuurrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh”
After a very nice lunch on the boat, the guides thought that it was a good idea to kick everyone off the boat and tell them to go for a nice walk over the sand dunes to Ninety Mile Beach on the other side where you meet the Southern Ocean (sounds lovely eh?). It’s never a good sign when the guides (or the oldest one in particular) stays on the boat and waves you off telling you to have a nice walk. We had all just walked about 100 metres into dunes and the bushes, and the youngest guide huddled us into a group and said “I usually do a talk in the middle of the walk but I won’t today because the mozzies are particularly bad today”. As if on cue, mozzies starting appearing from every direction and not just in ones or twos or tens … then he said “you might also want to just be aware of where you are walking as we have 5 snakes here and they are all on Australia’s top 10 most venomous list and on a
warm day like today I’ll be surprised if we don’t see one” …. worried glances on everyones face … dad seriously considering going back and staying on the boat! “But don’t worry, I’ll go through first” says the young guide!
After deciding to take the risk, on we marched quickly, in order of who usually gets bitten the most … Richie first, then dad, then me and Mam at the back. We all looked liked those inflatable wavy arm men you usually find in car yards … squashing and flapping away the mozzies off the back of the person in front of you just hoping that the person behind you is doing the same for you! Unfortunately, Richie came off the worst but we all did really well to get only 18 bites (or thereabouts) between the 4 of us! Well done us. We finally made it to the beach, spent about 5 minutes there and about turned and marched back, again in a hurry. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any of the snakes and the “fizzy pop” on the boat on the way back worked a treat for bities! A day like this, we decided, called for a few
glasses of vino on the balcony watching the sun go down, accompanied by a few games!
The next day, leaving Woody yet again (he was starting to think we had abandoned him!), we headed up to Strathalbyn and Hahndorf for the day. In Strathalbyn we had a walk around the town finding a great “lolly shop” and browsing through the antique shops for which Strathalbyn is famous. We also had a nice time feeding bread to the ducks in the lovely Soldiers Memorial Gardens … sounds nice, quiet and peaceful doesn’t it??? Not if you’re with my family! There were a lot of ducks in the gardens by the Angus River and a few of them had ducklings, lovely little peaceful families. We started feeding the ducks, I went to lie down on the grass and they started taking the bread out of my hands. All of a sudden, after just a few minutes, my dad (what possessed him, I have no idea!) decided to pick up one of the little ducklings that he was feeding. The duckling itself didn’t seem to mind but mummy duck was non too pleased. Jumping immediately onto the table, she gave him a
“that’s my baby stare” and flapped her wings in such a commotion around dad’s face almost spilling our cups of tea that were on the table beside her! He immediately but down the duckling and after a minute to recover he sat there and sweetly said “I only wanted to show your mam the duckling!!!”
Historic Hahndorf was well worth the trip. A single street lined with lovely shops and yummy eateries. We first of all started with a rather expensive round of beers in the Hahndorf Historic hotel to celebrate Oktoberfest, then headed into the Taste of Hahndorf shop to sample some German Hahndorf sausage! After this we wondered down the street to Udder Delights cheese tasting and sales to stock up on more yummy cheese and on coming out of here, we spotted the chocolate shop over the road! We headed back to the historic hotel for lunch (all the previous delights not quite filling the holes!) before venturing into a leathershop and being handed a glass of port! Just as we were heading back to the car to go home, we spotted Otto’s bakery and of course could not leave Hahndorf without a strudel, a vanilla
slice, a “pigs ear”, a custard tart and a quiche!!! (Believe me, a week of eating like this will last me til Christmas!). A lovely lady recommended that I go to Hahndorf and said “eat everywhere, everything is yummy”, I think she would be proud of me!!!
One night, Rich and I took them to visit Granite Island where they also have fairy penguins, although currently they only have 166. This was rather a funny night too since I told dad I was taking him out somewhere on Wednesday night. Even though we had eaten an early dinner, he excitedly had a shower and a shave and got ready thinking we go going out for another meal, but instead I made him walk across the long bridge to Granite Island in the cold and further along to the kiosk where we met the guide to see the Fairy penguins! Although they were cute, I think dad was still a bit grumpy that we weren’t going for dinner or a drink! Mam told him (teasingly of course) that she thought the penguins would have appreciated him going to all this trouble!!!
During the rest of the week Rich and
I caddied for mam and dad at Victor Harbor golf course where we saw the biggest red kangaroos I have ever seen. Probably standing at about 7 ft tall … absolutely beautiful! I had a go at putting which I rather enjoyed, just a gentle tap that one, but I wouldn’t trust myself “teeing” off, I’m likely to end up in court if I did! They both played reasonably well although we only had to wait until the 2nd hole and mam was in the bunker (picture especially for you Wayne!). Mam and I went to support the local drama society and went to see Wild Goose Chase in Victor Harbor town hall (Circa 1905) which was very entertaining and of course, with the beautiful weather and the 11 hectares of space, we finally got to fly our kite!
As usual, after a beautiful sunrise, Saturday came round all too quickly and unfortunately we had to return them to the airport. I know I’m 30 and I should have grown up by now but I still had a huge lump in my throat when I saw their plane flying away! Such a suk!!!! Anyway, we had a great time
together and they’re now home safely and we have to move on. We’ve got a lot to cover before our next visitors arrive in 3 weeks ….
Thanks for all the messages, emails and comments. I hope you’re all still enjoying the blogs and hope you’re all well and happy…..
A special Happy Birthday to the twins today, love you both xxxxxxx
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Stars of Kites and Cockletrains
Well, what can we say, darling. Our claim to fame and all because of you! THANK-YOU XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Your blogs are truely amazing Hay and a joy to read. We are thrilled to be a part of these and to be able to give joy and pleasure to all your many fans out there, especially those who know us 'personally'. xxxxxxxx Our holiday at Gum Tree Lodge and Victor Harbor was unforgettable. Pity it was over all too soon. Our 'darling Woody' certainly made my holiday and I miss him so much----take good care of him and yourselves, and hugs and kisses to all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Photos fab, wish we were there now, you certainly picked the good ones, except, where's my 'woofy ones? Fur seals fantastic and 'the kids' on the cockle train a 'hoot' even after 4o yrs!!!!!!!!!!!! Love ya mommy/nanny xxxx pops xxxxx poorly harry boy xxxx