Through SA to Geelong
April 8 – We left Penong after a two day stay, the second day being almost total rain throughout. The locals are loving it; we are over it. Our route took us through Ceduna and the quarantine inspection. We had done all the right things, par-boiling veges, leaving fruit at the fruit exchange in Penong Caravan Park and eliminating leafy greens. The man was happy with out efforts and we proceeded into Ceduna to replace the things we had disposed of at the Foodlands. A second stop was made at Baldies Fish Outlet out on the fishing boat harbour for a dozen fresh Ceduna oysters. We bought them unshucked so we could eat them at our leisure as we travelled. They were so big that sharing 6 at a time made more than good enough entrée.
We stopped for lunch in the tiny town of Poochera, where there was an interesting historical display set up in a park. There was a little shanty dating from 1920 and made largely out of flattened kerosene tins. It must have been unbearably hot in summer and a leaky sieve in winter.
Then we pushed on to Kimba, in the heartland of the Eyre Peninsula. Kimba is far more prosperous looking than our last visit in 2018, with most shops full, lots of cars in the streets, and an upscaled RV free camp at the rec ground that many say is the best in Australia. Last time, it consisted of one area for around 10 vans and access to some sports ground toilets. Now there are three separate areas of vans and a new dedicated set of toilets, as well as a large open camp kitchen. A donation is encouraged and we were happy to pay. By evening, the place was full. Our oysters were delicious.
April 9 – From Kimba, we drove east to Port Augusta. Love this drive, passing Iron Knob and then watching the Flinders Ranges grow as we approach Port Augusta. We have been to Port Augusta many times so didn’t stop, moving on to the little town of Port Germein for lunch.
We have not been to Port Germein since 1990 and then it was very close to being dead. There was a tiny general store and an attached caravan park. The boys spent most of their time in the store playing pool on the coin fed machine, having figured out how to jam something in the coin slot and get free games. The general store is derelict, but the rest of the town has had a re-growth, with a couple of restaurants, a pub that looked like it had received a make-over, and a few curio and art shops. We stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant that had a road-side stall and ordered a delicious Pork Bahn Mi each for lunch.
Port Germein was Australia’s busiest grain port in the 1870s and there is a 1.6km long jetty that serviced the ships. There was a claim that it was the longest timber built jetty in the Southern Hemisphere but the Busselton jetty at 1.68km is actually longer.
After lunch we left Highway 1 and climbed the ranges to the town of Gladstone, somewhat smaller than its namesake in Qld. A series of small towns followed before stopping for the night in Yacka, on the banks of the Broughton River. They have a delightful little community-run stay for eight vans for only $20 a night, with power and hot showers. What a bargain.
The town had very little in the way of open shops but had some delightful old stone buildings and a historical walk guide available in the main street. I loved the old mechanics store that still advertised itself as a Holden dealer. There were a couple of old FJ Holdens inside.
10 April – We had a really beautiful drive today, despite the generally overcast and sometimes rainy weather. With all the late summer and autumn rain, the Clare Valley was picturesque with rolling green hills, freshly seeded pastures and the amazing vineyards. Our drive took us through Clare, Auburn and then to Kapunda. The small towns in the Clare and Barossa Valleys were so pretty, with their lovely old stone buildings and the tree lined streets all showing autumn colours of every hue. We drove through Nuriootpa and Angaston before descending down a steep pass out of the Gawler Ranges to the Murray River Port of Mannum.
We had lunch in Mannum, admiring a couple of paddle wheel river boats and watching the car ferry ply its trade across the river. We have stayed in Mannum before and it is a great spot to spend some time, either on the river or exploring the amazing 19th Century streetscape.
From Mannum we headed on the Murray Bridge and crossed the river, before moving on to Tailem Bend and on to the Dukes Highway. Here the traffic was insane, mostly heading towards Adelaide. Being a Friday, and the AFL Gather Round hosted by SA, many thousands of people were driving from Victoria to Adelaide or the Barossa for football. The Dukes Hwy is largely composed of passing lanes, spaced every 5km or so either side. The traffic coming towards us was bumper to bumper in places.
We stopped at Coonalpyn, the Hotel offering free van park-ups behind the building in return for a meal or drink purchase. We enjoyed both in the company of Wayne and Lou, a couple from Geelong, who had parked their van next to ours en-route to Adelaide for the Hawthorn-Bulldogs game. It was a case of good prices, good food and good company with secure accommodation thrown in. A win all round.
11 April – The traffic on the Dukes Hwy had lessened significantly in the morning and we drove south through Tintinara and Keith. We left the Dukes Hwy at Keith and took the road towards Mt Gambier, through Naracoorte and on to Penola. We drove through the beautiful Coonawarra wine district, which dates back to the 1890s. We had earmarked a free recreation reserve just out of Penola as a place to stay for a couple of days. It had excellent reviews and proved to be a lovely spot, with an attached arboretum. However, after setting up, we found that all the rain had soaked into the local black soil, which turned into a clinging mud, caking shoes and even thongs. I had been into the van once before I noticed and there were big clumps of black mud inside. It was going to make life unbearable. We packed up again and headed back into Penola and booked into the caravan park, happy to pay for a mud free existence. The afternoon was spent inside with the heater on as the temperature fell, the rain continued and the winds reached near gale force. The weather is not treating us well.
12 April – Today was a rare day, exploring without the caravan behind us, giving us a lot more freedom. Hopefully, after our trip to New Zealand, we won’t be travelling to a timeline and we can do a lot more exploration of places we visit.
We drove back north to Naracoorte. The area is famous for its extensive cave system, over 200 in total in the National Park. Many present as little more than a hole in the ground, opening up once below the surface. As such, they have acted as animal traps over hundreds of thousands of years, providing palaeontologists with a perfect cross section of South Australian fauna back to the days of the mega fauna. Fossils of large marsupial lions, giant echidnas, large wombat type creatures and giant kangaroos have been uncovered. There is a walk through display showing these animals in a forest environment. We took a tour down into the Alexandra Cave, an extensive system that has yielded a treasure trove of fossils. The walls and roof are made from the limestone of an ancient seabed and many shells could be seen in embedded in the roof dating back 5 million years. The cave had some beautiful displays of stalactites and stalagmites.
After the cave exploring, we drove into Naracoorte itself, finding a very pretty town with lots of shopping and eateries lining the three main streets. It looked to have everything one could ask of a small rural town. A special feature was a swimming lake, a large pool up to two metres deep with an artificial beach, floating platforms and picnic areas. It was created in the 1960s and was a wonderful variation on the usual Olympic sized swimming pool for a town situated away from the coast.
Returning towards Penola, we pulled into the tiny hamlet of Coonawarra and visited the Wynns Winery for a tasting session. Wynns is one of Australia’s best-known labels and sells all over the World. We had a tasting of six excellent wines along with a platter of cheeses, dried muscatel grapes and an amazing cabernet paste, like a wine gelatine. We pretended to understand all the things we were told about the tannins and soft palate of the wine but just enjoyed quaffing them down and eating cheese. We bought four bottles of wine to carry with us and went home to watch the Eagles lose again and have an afternoon kip.
13 April – Another day of travel, another day of rain and cold winds. We just never get any sunshine. Our trip took us across a C grade road from Penola to Casterton, which meant crossing the border into Victoria. The road was winding, narrow and very bumpy until we crossed into Victoria, when it widened and the surface improved. Unfortunately, that was last decent Victorian road for the day. The problem lies with the surface. They tend to be nice and wide and they cut out as many hills and valleys as can reasonably be expected, but the only solution to a bumpy surface or huge potholes is to erect a sign saying “Rough Surface” There are a great many of these signs. This applies to A, B and C grade highways.
Casterton was a very pretty town with some delightful old buildings. Coleraine was similar, set amongst rolling hills with large numbers of grazing sheep and cattle. The roads carried a lot of livestock trucks, which came roaring up behind us at speed.
By Hamilton, a regional centre, we were in need of fuel. We drove the length of the town and every fuel outlet was on the wrong side of the road, mostly guarded by a median strip. By the time we had got through the town we hadn’t managed to get fuel. We had enough to get by, it was just frustrating.
On the eastern edge of Hamilton is the Sir Reg Ansett Museum, dedicated to the Ansett Airways company. Reg Ansett began the story when he bought a Studebaker car in the 1930s to run a taxi service. This soon turned into a bus service. However, the Federal Government of the day decreed that no service would be licenced where it competed with a rail service. So Reg sold oranges to the passengers and provided the trip free, getting around the law. This turned to an air service, using a Fokker he imported. He later relocated to Essendon Airport and the rest is history, leading up to the eventual collapse of the over-expanded company in the early 2000s.
We watched a terrific video of the history, made after Reg Ansett’s death in 1981 when the company was moving into international flights. The museum had a great collection of flight attendant’s uniforms, models of the planes that Ansett flew, Reg’s original Studebaker and a Fokker of the same model that he started the airline with. The original was destroyed in a fire at Essendon. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and it evoked many memories for us.
We finally found fuel in the next sizeable town of Mortlake. The Victorian regional towns don’t seem to have the roadhouses on the outskirts like many other places. Fuel stations are often in the middle of town and difficult to get into with a van. There is also a severe lack of rest areas along the highways, especially noticeable after the abundance of facilities in South Australia. Sorry Victoria, do better.
We stopped for the night at a tiny town called Derrinallum which allows donation based camping around its rec ground. We like rec grounds. There is usually someone else staying, have some facilities and flat ground. It was very pretty, overlooked by the nearby Elephant Rock, a 150,000 year old volcanic core. The volcanic rocks that scatter the area have been used to create a beautiful network of drystone walls in the surrounding farmlands.
14 April – We woke to yet another sight of fog and drizzle, par for the course around here. The awful roads were still the norm as well and we bumped and bounced our way 100km south to Geelong. Geelong is a city with a road system based on square grids which means long straight roads and traffic lights every coupe of hundred metres. The locals seemed used to it and showed a patience that you would never see in Perth.
Our caravan park was the Geelong Caravan Park on the banks of the Barwon River, a few kilometres down one straight road to the CBD and waterfront. We set up the van and hit the laundry, to clear the backlog prior to packing for New Zealand. Alas, the park was upgrading and although there were washing machines available, there were no dryers. It would take a week to dry anything in the weather we were experiencing so we headed out and tracked down a laundromat. We also had an appointment at a pharmacy to get the latest flu jab in preparation for sharing an aircraft with a couple of hundred other people.
15 April – We had planned to go into the central city today but the weather was dismal, regular light showers and cold winds. Instead, we drove to some shops to ensure that supplies of non cold goods were right for our return from NZ in a month and to seek out a few other bits and pieces. It was a strange day, changing into shorts one minute, then back to long pants the next. The weather just can’t make up its mind.
16 April – We awoke to the news that the oil refinery at Corio Bay, just a short distance away, had a serious fire over night, placing a large area, including us, on a “watch and act”. We knew nothing and slept on, although Christine did hear sirens during the night. By morning, the fire was still burning but the danger reduced. It will further affect the supply of fuel,
First stop of the day was a local skin clinic to check out a small “thing” on Christine’s back. The doctor was fairly certain it was harmless but because it had appeared so suddenly he nipped it off and sent it for analysis.
We drove to Queenscliff to catch the car ferry to Sorrento and drive to see Azba, Mike and Everly in Mt Eliza. In hindsight, it was a similar cost to driving, given the tolls, but a train might have been better. The ferry is very efficient and comfortable but at $200 the round trip a tad expensive. The morning was a rare blue sky day and warm enough that we sat beachside at Sorrento and had lunch. By three o’clock, the rain was back, along with lightning and some heavy falls.
We loved catching up with Az, Mike and Everly again. Their house is largely finished now and the landscaping is really starting to take effect, with trees maturing and the overall effect coming out.
17 April – Much of the day was spent preparing our back-packs for New Zealand and finishing up last minute chores to ready the car and van for a month’s storage.
18 April – We hooked up and drove 100km north to put the car and van in storage at a place in Diggers Rest. We got a DiDi service to take us to the Diggers Rest Station and then trained to Melbourne, where we had booked a “Luxury Escape” at the Stamford Plaza in Little Collins St. It certainly wasn’t our usual type of accommodation. Outside, was Giogio Armani, Yves St Laurant, Chanel, Rolex and lots of other places we couldn’t afford to even look at. We even got our room upgraded to a suite like room, with kitchen, spa bath and two huge TVs. The kitchen was good because it meant we could bring food in.
Christine had forgotten her hiking poles so we set off on a tram journey to Richmond where the K-Mart was listed as having some at an amazing $14. They proved more than adequate, just as good as our much more expensive set left behind. We returned, bought some heat up meals at the local IGA and had a couple of beers at the place next door called 7 Alfred. Despite its swank appearance, it did happy hour $7 beers.
19 April – We had a hankering for a Singaporean style Kopi and half-boiled egg with Kaya toast breakfast, and figured Melbourne’s cosmopolitan population would supply one easily. It proved difficult, with one nearby that didn’t open on a Sunday and another a reasonable walk from Victoria Markets. A couple of tram trips and a walk later we were seated outside Myth Café in near freezing conditions enjoying “Set A” with Kopi. We were in Asian heaven. A sign apologised for being out of pandan for the kaya but whatever the substitute was it was still excellent. Some people would baulk at the thought of eating half cooked eggs but with a touch of soy sauce, running kaya toast with its thick sweet kaya filling through the egg is divine.
We walked back through Victoria Markets, marvelling at the sight of a forty metre line for the doughnut van. Inside the van, six workers hand twisted and moulded doughnuts while others filled the cooked ones. It was fortunate the line was so long because it made avoiding the temptation easier.
We found a Chemist Warehouse and a Jaycar for some things on our “needed” list and trammed back to the hotel.
After a rest up, we set off once again on the tram, catching the vintage circle line #35 to rattle out way around to Marvel Stadium in Docklands for the North Melbourne vs Richmond AFL game. We did a walk up ticket buy. We sometimes suspect that the online ticketing tries to sell you seats they can’t otherwise get rid of. Instead, we asked for General Admission tickets to Tier 3 for $18 concession. The lady said we could have front row on Tier 2 for the same price and we scored great seats at a saving of $98 compared to online. Go figure!
The match was not a high standard, but very enjoyable, as was the plain Four and Twenty pie that we had to have. The least enjoyable thing was all the American style music and light shows when goals were kicked. AFL doesn’t need that crap.
To get home we took the easy way, a tram straight up Bourke St, along with many, many others. We got out and settled in to the Udon Izakaya Maedaya, a Japanese eatery that advertised a $12 Beer and Karaag special. The Karaag is beautifully coated and fried chicken and the beer was a pint of excellent Kirin beer. What a bargain. We also tried a curry bread, a deep fried dough ball filled with sweet curry. We headed home with some bags of take-away as well.
22 April – Up early for a flight to Aukland, we tried an interesting looking restaurant just down the road for breakfast, but we arrived before the owner, so we resorted to the Hotel breakfast, at least opting for a continental instead of the big buffet. Then we donned the back packs again and trammed down to Southern Cross to catch the Sky Bus out to Tullamarine. All went smoothly and the new automatic immigration machines and improved security scanning helped things enormously.
The flight even proved a good one, as we flew Air New Zealand (we booked Virgin but they partnered us to Air NZ), scored exit seats with endless leg room, got the full meal and wine service when we thought we had to pay for snacks. One of our better flights.
Auckland here we come.
Leave A Comment?