Russ Travelling Australia

Last night, we were treated to a wonderful display of fireworks.  A party close to the park made campers emerge from their vans to see a spectacular sight.

The weather today has been fantastic, although cold at night.  Woke to the sound of little lorikeets, corellas, kookaburras to name a few.  Also enjoyed the wonderful toot of the Emi Lou paddle steamer over breakfast.

One of Russ’s Christmas presents from me, was a book about Burke & Wills travelling across Victoria.  Today we followed their route to camp 11, at Mt Hope.  Very flat landscape, until their destination – a relatively small range of granite boulders.

The roads were interesting to say the least.  In the book, it reported how often Burke & Wills’ wagons were bogged on the road to Mt Hope and it was just as well for us that the recent days have been dry, or we would have had to find an alternate route, even with a 4WD.

We picnicked their, enjoying left overs from yesterday’s hamper.  Went for a walk later and found a wallaby caught in a barbed wire fence.  As we approached with wire cutters, the poor, beautiful thing panicked and did a flip and unwound the wire and he was free.  Unfortunately he had a very sore leg and was obviously in shock and couldn’t move.  Hopefully, with our quick retreat, he will calm down, recover and seek shelter.

Unfortunately we have to be in Melbourne on August 6th for Russ to have an operation, bloody prostate!  This means we will miss our usual winter sojourn to various places in Australia.  So, as we have a few days to fill in, we decided to head to Echuca.

We’ve been here many times before and love the place.  On our first night, we called in to the famous Bakery and bought a sliced sour dough loaf and a couple of raspberry pastries happened to slip into the bag!!   We are trying to watch our weight, believe it or not!

Woke up to a beautiful morning and decided to walk into town.  The walk from the caravan park is lovely, alongside the river, but with the temperature below 10 degrees, we chose to walk on the sunny side of the street.  Decided to have lunch at the Shamrock Hotel, which has the most extensive menu I’ve ever read, specialising in Parmas.   Order one, get one free, Mon to Thurs, although we both chose flathead, mine with salad, Russ’s with chips.

Tasted locally made cheese and liqueurs at nearby shops, then ambled home.

After zero degrees overnight, we decided we needed to snuggle up with a fire, so headed off to Barmah National Park.  Most of the park is inaccessible because of flooding, but near the (unopen) visitor’s centre is an area set up with tables, toilets and a fire pit.

Today, we ordered a platter from Bitemedeli.  For $33 we enjoyed pickled onions and pickled cucumber, roasted capsicums, slow roasted tomatoes, marinated mushrooms and eggplant, salami, roast beef, roast chicken, home made ciabatta bread, egg and bacon pie, as well as a wedge of brie and a wedge of very tasty cheese.  We have enough left, either for tea tonight or another yummy lunch tomorrow.  We had to eat it in the van, as it was very cold, with light rain.  With the soothing sound of paddle steamer whistles and the slap, slap of the water, views of the Murray and river red gums, it was a pretty good setting.

Russ has had the usual amount of repairs to do, but this time they are problems with fittings that have recently been added, so can’t blame anyone else this time.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

We spent 3 nights in Victor Harbour, through a heatwave that sounded as if it was across  the entire southern half of Australia.  Victor Harbour is a town with a great feel to it, many very characteristic old stone buildings and houses, a beautiful coastline, a main shopping strip, but a big Woolworth’s complex and Coles, as well as their industrial sector.

We had planned to take the steam train to Goolwa, a 17kms journey, to buy fish and chips, but we couldn’t find any information about leaving times or ticket prices, and seeing that the temperature was 39 degrees, we thought that it would not run as the brochure stated that there would be no service over 34 degrees.  We drove there instead, found a pub and had our fish and chips in the cool air conditioned pub for lunch.  Yeh, yeh – we’re getting soft.

The next day, we discovered Port Elliott, as did a million others!  No parking for about a Km around the beach.  A surf carnival was underway, situated on their beautiful beach and surrounding the Flying Fish Restaurant, where we had intended to dine.  After parking a long way from the venue, we arrived and were ushered to a great seat, overlooking all the action and enjoyed another delicious meal, with entertainment to boot!

We also visited Newland Head Conservation Park, really for an excuse to be in the car with airconditioning.  We had a picnic that lasted about 30 minutes, due to the strong, hot north wind.  The scenery was spectacular, but it was too hot for any degree of comfort.  Back home to an air-conditioned caravan.  Yeh, yeh we are definitely getting soft.

We have dined out more than usual this trip, as, after reading and seeing programs about Kangaroo Island, we decided to make it a foodie trip.  It hasn’t helped my waistline and I have a lot of work to do before Cam & Mel’s wedding.

We spent one night at Pembleton Farm Stay, just out of Keith SA.  It was a typical SA sheep station, but had a lot more trees than usual.  They are well set up for conferences as well as campers, but we found the messages about loving the Lord a little imposing!!  As you can see from the photo, we had the place to ourselves, which was great.

We are now in Stawell for 2 nights. The weather is much cooler, in fact, today jumpers were required.  We are staying at the Grampian’s Gateway Caravan Park, which has, what we think might be, a billabong of the Wimmera River.  There are ducks, water fowls, cormorants, plovers, which appear to be nesting, as well as lorikeets, cockatoos, egrets – the whole kit and caboodle.

Today we went to see the Grampians, firstly to Pomonal, where Russ’s paternal grandfather lived on a small farm after he retired, about 1940. The block was owned by his son Jim, who had left for NSW to start a dairy farm on better land.  The redeming feature of the block was wonderful views of the Grampians.  In his 70s he still rode approx. 30kms into Stawell for supplies, on his bike, and he must have been tough, as we found the going rough in a 4WD in one spot!  So tough that he once pulled a tooth with a pair of pliers and a 3″ nail.  Not sure what the nail was for!  There wasn’t a remnant of his past, but we took a photo just the same.

We are looking forward to going home and we are enjoying being back in Victoria, where the land isn’t as parched, or cleared.  It is great to see forests again and trees along the roads and in the paddocks.

Thanks for reading the blog – it hasn’t been diligently attended to since the bad news from the UK, regarding Russ’s brothers passing.

A couple of terrible days at American River, due to extreme winds.  Couldn’t keep the gas stove alight to boil a kettle, so took the cork out of a bottle or two.

The ferry ride back to the mainland was not as bad as the trip over, so we’d have to assume that Kangaroo Island and the water in between, are subject to strong winds more often than not.  Cape Jervis was just as windy, but as we proceeded towards Victor Harbour, the winds abated.

Approximately 20kms from docking, we came across Deep Creek Conservation Park and after checking out several campgrounds, drove to Trig campground and settled in for a couple of days.  (3G weak).  A very picturesque place with yaccas (similar to grass trees, but with a very thick trunk and extremely tall flower stalks).  Our view from the van, towards the valley, shows a red hue of shea oak flowers, the sea and Kangaroo Island in the distance.

On our second day, Russ went on a hike to the Deep Creek Waterfalls.  This time we had the satellite phone problem sorted out and he headed off, leaving me to make a carrot cake in the Cobb.  I’m unable to walk, because of my legs.

The walk was very enjoyable, with views to the coast at times.  The decline on the last 800 metres was very steep and he was certainly puffing by the time he made the return journey.  Today he is a little more bow legged than usual.

We are presently in Victor Harbour where we can replenish our much depleted stores and have better phone reception with the UK.

I have to say that I have a good feeling about being back on the mainland.  The scenery and trees are a pleasure to the eye and the absence of wind, except for a lovely breeze, are much appreciated.

Having a great time at Western KI Caravan Park which is very well managed.  It has lots of trees and a couple of bush walks to enjoy.  Our site has a garden of bushes and trees separating it from the next sites on each side.  Every day lots of wallabies and kangaroos appear and the numbers increase toward the end of the day, a number of koalas are also in the park together with lots of birds.   Yellow tailed cockatoos make a wonderful noise in the evenings as they roost in their favourite trees

I set off for a short bush walk in Flinders Chase NP (Snake Lagoon Walk) and I took our satellite phone so I could contact Marg if there were any problems, we are a bit more careful now after Eric went missing.  However the phone didn’t work when I tried to ring from the car-park at the start, as I had promised.  I later found out that Telstra had not reinstated the service after we had suspended the phone service for 3 months last March, so it didn’t work. We had been travelling the outback last year blissfully unaware that our emergency phone was useless!  Anyway I decided to walk the first third to Rocky River and then walked back and went home.

On the last day at Western KI (Friday) we went to Rustic Blue Gallery and Cafe for a light lunch, which was an excellent platter of Antipasta.  The gallery was excellent as well with lots of paintings, sculptures, jewellery, tribal instruments, etc.

We got some bad news from the UK learning that my brother was in hospital, critically ill, he has had prostate cancer for a few years.  So we left Western KI hoping to find a campground on the south coast that had 3G reception.   We had a breakfast BBQ at Kelly Hill Caves (bacon and eggs), which were excellent – steaky bacon and free range eggs, I forced myself to have two eggs!  On the way to Kelly Hill Caves, we called in at Hansen Bay for a look.

On to Vivionne bay but no 3G. The camping ground is quite formal in layout, but some nice trees in the centre plus showers, toilets and a gas BBQ.  We had planned to re-visit the beach, but missed seeing the west end of the beach that Rob Youdan had told us had some beautiful rock formations and small pools that are apparently used in advertising shoots.  The road looked very narrow and rough and maybe we would not be able to turn around at the end.

So on to Murray Lagoon, again no 3G, but the lagoon was only visible in the distance from the campground, and the camping area was basic with few trees, boring says Marg.

Moved on again to Flour Cask Bay Sanctuary, which has accommodation and also allows camping, again no 3G.  So on to American River, at last 3G.  So we paid for 3 nights and set up camp ($10 for a power site!).  It is a council park and has absolute water frontage plus septic toilets, hot showers, electric BBQ and a number of tables and shelters.  It’s very relaxing here and well worth a visit, but only a good, but limited, General Store. It is also quiet with only two other camps here today.  There is a cafe, but it was closed for the weekend as the owners went to Kingscote for the racing carnival.  Also an oyster bar, but it doesn’t open at weekends!  Maybe we will check them out tomorrow.

It is great to be able to eat our meals outside or in a shelter looking over the inlet.  Today (Sunday) has been a quiet day, but we enjoyd fresh Calamarie that a fellow camper gave us yesterday.  Marg breadcrumbed them and they were delicious with salad, full of flavour and not chewy.

We have booked our return ferry trip for Tuesday, so sadly tomorrow will be our last day on Kangaroo Island.  It has been a wonderful 3 weeks.  We enjoyed staying at the west end of Kangaroo Island and travelling along the south coast, as these ares have been much less cleared with lots of bush and lovely trees along the roads and in the paddocks.  Also much taller gum trees in places.  In contrast, the north and east have been cleared with bush only in reserves and conservation parks.

We travelled from Stokes Bay via the North Coast Road (dirt).  We were going to call in at Western River Cove but the road was very steep and windy and not suitable for caravans, so we gave it a miss.  Instead we headed to Western KI Caravan Park and booked in for a week.  We felt a need for power, water and some easy days.  We feel very relaxed and it is a bit of a struggle to fit in a shower and breakfast before lunch, which tends to get pushed out to 2 or 3.

Western KI has a rather unusual public phone box.  It started life as a motorised van, and, after the motor died, it became a horse drawn van, both on the mainland.  It was then brought across to Kangaroo Island and finished up at Western KI as a phone box.  You can see the two shafts for the horse sticking up above the front of the van.

On Sunday we went to the Marron Cafe and had a wonderful meal, expensive but worth it.  Marg had the Marron Platter, which had a scallop, prawns, hot Marron and 3 small cold Marron served with Garlic Pita bread, a delicious salad, chips, and three dipping sauces.  The sauces were Lemon Mytle and Caper Tartare Sauce, Honey Sweet Chilli and Soy Sauce, and a home made seafood dressing.  I had two tails of grilled marron (about 350 gm) with a Verjuice and Sav Blanc cream sauce with a Spinach, capsicum and Potato stack.  It was all so good.  When it was served, we thought we would need a doggy bag, but, all too quickly, the platters were empty (I did help Marg a bit though, it was the gentlemanly thing to do!!).

On the way back home, we called in at Vivionne Bay to check out the camping area, which was OK but not brilliant and well back from the spectacular beach.  We may stay there a couple of nights after we leave here.

Yesterday we stayed in for the day and Marg cooked a Pork Loin on the Cobb, with perfectly cooked roast spuds, parsnip, home grown carrots and onion.  The coals were still hot when lunch was over, so Marg made some rolls, some of which we had today for lunch.  Excellent and much better than the stale ones we have been freshening up for lunch previously.

Today we headed for 75,000 Ha Flinders Chase National Park.  The Park had been extensively burnt in 2007, and while the regrowth is well established, the  views are spoiled somewhat by the grey haze of the tops of burnt Mallees.

First stop was to Cape du Croeudic to the south where there are hundreds of NZ Fur Seals and a lighthouse.  Also walked down an excellent boardwalk and stairs, to view Admirals Arch, which is a tunnel eroded though the cliffs by the sea.  The seals weren’t doing much, just sleeping.

We then went to the east side of Cape du Couedic to the site of the old storehouse that was used to house the supplies for the lighthouse staff in the years 1907 to 1936.  It is now a ruin but you can see the haul-way cut into the 150 foot cliff and the jetty in  the photo below.  Supplies were delivered every three month, and the stone storehouse kept them cool.  The winch raising the supplies was driven by a stationary engine.

From here it was off to Snake lagoon for lunch, not surprisingly we nearly ran over a 1.5 m black snake on  the way back after lunch.  We were thinking of camping here, but the camping area was not very good with lots of small regrowth that blocked out the rest of the bush beyond the camping area.  There was a walk to the coast from the campground, but Marg’s legs were too sore to tackle the walk, after walking down the boardwalk and stairs to view the seals at Cape du Couedic.  We went back to the visitor centre for a refreshing glass of wine and checked out the Rocky River campground.  The three caravan sites are just gravel between two rows of small bushes, all in a line, not good.  Some of the camping sites there are OK but we can’t use them.  The adjacent picnic area is excellent with large trees and plenty of covered picnic tables and gas BBQs.

We went for a short walk near the visitors centre through some fairly clear bush with lots of big trees.  On this walk we spotted an echidna, see photo below.  On Kangaroo island the echidnas are a lovely honey yellow colour, we saw two others walking on the side of the road to Cape Couedic.

Although we enjoyed our time at Brownlow, Kingscote, it was good to get out of the main town and head for Stokes Bay, on the North Coast.  The fees at Brownlow were $32 and the park was extremely old.

Firstly, we called in at Emu Bay, thinking that we may stay a night there, but maybe in 20 years time, when all the trees have grown around the newly erected camp ground, now it is just a bare piece of gravel.

When they build something here, they really build it to last and the shelters  are roomy, usually with two large tables and a BBQ (free) and sides on the shelters to give protection from the wind.

Continued to Stokes Bay, where the campground is privately owned.  $5 per person (Council parks $5 per vehicle).  Found a lovely site, snuggled amongst a stand of casuarinas, with a Koala in a nearby eucalypt, a tiny Tammar wallaby, (who followed us everywhere) and we are looking forward to our two nights here.

We had a couple of kangaroos sleeping under our caravan on the first night, giving Russ a fright as he went to have a pee, and a bandicoot under it the second night, sipping water from a drip from a leak in the back of the van.

The weather has been cool, to say the least, with a cold wind, and rain, fortunately mostly at night.  A few showers during the day, but not enough to stop activities.

There is a small walk to the BBQ shelter and the bay, but it is one of the best areas we have seen so far.  We followed the signs to the beach, through limestone cliffs, winding our way through the narrow path and at times, having to crouch down to enable us to get our heads through.  There was plenty of light and it was quite exciting.  On the other end through the cliffs was the beautiful beach of Stokes Bay.

A very excited Asian visitor came rushing through the cliffs, shouting out for his wife, so he could show her that he was holding a good sized cray.  Someone had given it to him – I guess we were in the wrong place at the wrong time!

We lunched at the Rockpool!  No not that Rockpool, but the Rockpool Cafe.  A tiny cafe at the camp ground and had delicious fish, chips and salad.

The second day we sat around and did cryptic crosswords for most of the morning, but the weather was freezing.  Decided at about 5pm to go to the shelter by the beach and have a BBQ and stayed there for at least 3 hours, enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful view.

Arrived in the Western End of KI today and have booked into Western KI Park for 7 days.  $25 Conc. per night (last night free if you book in for a week).

We have another couple of koalas opposite our camp and went on “A Koala Walk”, but didn’t see any.  That doesn’t mean that they weren’t there though!

More information as the week goes on.  It is a surprise to have reception over here, so we’ll be able to give you our impressions of Flinders Chase National Park, The Marron Cafe, Kelly Hill Caves and Vivionne Bay.

We are still in Kingscote, which was the site of the first settlement in SA.  The Duke of York (a ship called a Barque), from a UK based South Australian Company, arrived at Reeves Point on July 27th 1836. Today we visited the point, which is a very picturesque area, today housing picnic tables, a BBQ, toilets, a bird hide and a wonderful view of The Bay of Shoals.  There is something very peaceful about Kangaroo Island; everywhere we have been has a relaxing feel and the people are very friendly.  The only exception is at Brown Beach, which is on the main road to the ferry. At the point, we wandered around the area and saw where the first post office once existed on the waterfront.  It was demolished in 1954, but serviced the town from 1883 until 1938.  A cairn has been constructed on the site, using “Kangaroo” brand bricks, made at Penneshaw in 1880, in addition to some of the original English bricks. Water was monopolised by the South Australian Company, but the company failed to gain title to the land.  The settlement lasted less than 4 years.  Most settlers relocated to Adelaide, but a few brave pioneers remained and formed the nucleus of the community that exists today.  One of these pioneers, Mrs Watts, found the well in 1890, containing fresh spring water, which ended up to be their constant supply of  water, apart from rain water collected from their roofs.

Yesterday we went to Duck Lagoon, another well designed and lovely area, with all the same facilities and water in the lagoon!  Loads of birds, but the land is incredibly dry, wherever we go.  All the ground is brown and sandy, no grass to speak of.

From the lagoon we visited Clifford’s Bee Farm.  Their Ligurian bees are from thoroughbred stock, brought over from Liguria, in Italy, in 1885.  Now, Kangaroo Island is the only place in the world where Ligurian bees can be found.

Clifford’s had a glass hive on display, full of bees, which was very interesting to watch, 100s on the move in and out every minute.  Usually, up to 60,000 bees are in each hive, the drones feed the Queen Bee royal jelly.   The female bees collect the pollen and in their short lives they travel thousands of kilometres to collect pollen.  They have to feed the male drones and it is the drone’s job to fertilise the queen, who lays 2000 eggs a day!  She only lives approximately 5 years.  When she dies the bees collect 5-6 larvae and feed them royal jelly.  This changes the larvae from normal bees to Queen bees.  However the first one to hatch uses their straight sting to kill the other larvae before they hatch, to secure her position as the only Queen.

We also visited  the Bay of Shoals Winery – fabulous setting, overlooking Reeves Point and wonderful wines.  We ordered so much that we had to arrange freight to Mt Eliza!  A great lightly wooded chardonnay to a delicious sparkling red!  We couldn’t help ourselves!

The next day, after rain overnight and forecast of showers throughout the day, we decided it was time for a gourmet platter from nearby Chapman River winery.  We had a platter in the van, so asked if we could have a take-away platter made up and they said that we were the first people to ask such a thing, but they’d oblige.  We took it back to our van and it was absolutely fantastic.

Home made sesame biscuits, to have with a creamy dip, local tasty cheese, smoked lamb, turkey, tomato chutney, ham, salami, grilled local halloumi cheese, savoury jam tarts, sun dried tomatoes, olives, eggplant, lettuce, 2 small pieces of quiche and pickled cucumber – yum.  There was enough for tea and some meat left for tomorrow’s lunch.

Drove out to Cape Willoughby’s lighthouse, while waiting for the platter to be prepared.  A Californian ship “Konos” was caught in a record low tide and hit rocks.  Its cargo was Redwood and timber.  Its life boats were damaged, but the Captain and crew repaired them with canvas.  The Captain wanted to retrieve his log books, but the mast crushed his cabin, just as he was about to enter.  All survived.

Packed up this morning and are presently at a caravan park in Kingscote, with power and full water tanks again.

Found a magnificent fish shop and I had a piece of crumbed flathead and Russ had a whiting meal, consisting of 2 pieces of whiting, chips and coleslaw.  We braved the cold wind and sat overlooking the Bay of Shoals and the docks.  Delicious!!

Drove to Island Bee Hive on the edge of Kingscote which had Honey for a honey tasting, all different flavours, but delicious.

One thing we have noticed is that there are no flies, blow flies, or mosquitoes.  We haven’t had to bother about flywire screens so far!!  Hope I haven’t jinxed us!!

We are finally on a powered site at Kingscote, so I can keep you up-to-date on the events of the last few days.

On the last day at Brown Beach, we drove to Penneshaw and had a BBQ on the seafront, near Frenchman’s Rock.  (This is where the ferry terminal is.)  There is a rock there with an engraving by Nicholas Baudin and his crew, from the French corvett, Le Geographe.  Baudin had sighted another ship, captained by Matthew Flinders!  Despite Britain and France being at war, both exchanged information about their explorations, with Flinders advising him of the large island nearby where he could replenish his meat and water provisions.

There was a wonderful sunset over Brown Beach on our last night.

The next day, we moved to Lashmar Conservation Park on the eastern side of the Dudley Peninsula.  We found a great spot, (in the West campground), which was elevated, giving us a view of the beautiful Antechamber Bay and a short walk to the Chapman River.  We were spoiled with very clean septic toilets.  There are no cooking facilities, apart from those on the other side of the river, about a 3 Km round trip by road!  The National Parks Authority took down the bridge for OH&S reasons, a local told us.

Small mallees, melaleucas, native pines, shee oaks and wattles are abundant, with the melaleucas giving shade all day beside the river, where I fished and Russ did cryptic crosswords for hours.  I only caught 2 small bream and Russ caught 1 small one also, but not big enough to keep.  It was fun though, they put up quite a fight.

We had a great view from our campsite of the bay.  Walked down to a lovely beach on Antechamber Bay, but it was too cold for a swim.