Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
Short but sweet
Firstly, I must apologise for my poor geography, and my even poorer editor, (we all know who you are Peter).
In my last post, I may not have been clear about which state (SA or Vic) Cobboboonee was in. I indicated SA, but it is in fact in Victoria. Peter apologises for that. 😉
Just a few kilometres across the SA border is the little town of Nelson. It’s a picturesque little fishing village, with a population of around 190 humans and lots and lots of birds. I think that the coastline of SA and Vic must be home for most of Australia’s population of black swans. They are everywhere, but you can never see too many black swans, they’re just so elegant and graceful.
So, our second port of call in Vic was Port Fairy. A very pretty name, and a very pretty town. This was the first caravan Park we had stayed in since leaving Adelaide over five weeks ago. We were hoping to bush camp the entire time, but there were no suitable spots in the area. Still, it was a good little caravan park called The Gardens, and we made it our base for four nights while we explored eastward as far as Warrnambool.
One of the things we love about travelling like this, is that we’re always learning something new and interesting. We were walking along the beach at Port Fairy Bay and noticed masses of tiny, little jelly-like creatures being washed up on the shore.
As we walked further it became clear that there were millions of the little things, just drying out where the tide left them. We couldn’t avoid them, in the water or on the sand. So, what are these tiny little creatures? They are called Salps.
Salps are gelatinous, cylindrically shaped, transparent, and a completely harmless sea creature. They can grow up to 10 millimetres in length so I think the one Peter is holding must be fully grown. They feed by sucking in seawater, and ingesting the phytoplankton which live in the water. When they have taken all of the phytoplankton, they then expel the water, and they do so with such force, that they propel themselves through the water. So, their feeding method also acts as one of the most efficient jet propultion systems in nature. Of course there is a lot more to them than that, so look them up if you want to know more.
Between Port Fairy and Warrnambool is an area called the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. This was a very interesting area. It’s basically an old volcanic crater, with a landmass in the centre, and water surrounding it. So, its like a little island in the centre of the crater, surrounded by a lava boundary. There’s a road that takes you onto the island, and once there, there are several walking tracks to explore. I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the more unique places we have visited.
Aerial shot of Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve.
Image courtesy of VisitVictoria.com
As well as the’ water ‘moat’ surrounding the island, there were a number of large lakes on the island itself. It really is a great place to walk. There are some easy, and some not so easy tracks so you can take your pick.
On one of the walks Peter spotted a cave in the distance, it was well off the walking track, and in a fenced off area, and you can clearly see why.
It was a huge bee hive. It was very dark inside the cave, but after “tweaking” my photo, I was able to lighten it enough for us to see the extent of the hive.
Leaving the coast we headed inland, due north, ready to start meandering back to SA. We saw a sign for a lookout and thought…why not. It was a tight, winding road, and we had to take it easy with the van on tow. Peter, as always did an excellent job. At the top there was ample space to park, and after an invigorating walk, we were rewarded with a wide, expansive view with the Grampians in the distance, and…a bird.
Continuing North, we made our way to Glendinning campground on the 16th of Feb and have been here ever since. A short drive from the camp, we visited Air Terjun Wannon Falls. Very impressive when in full flow. But when they’re not, you can do this.
We swam and kayaked most days, we went wood collecting, Peter made a date damper and I gave my camera a good workout. All the things we enjoy so much and in such a lovely place. So, when Peter said, and I quote.
“I don’t want to leave here.”
We didn’t. I mean, who am I to argue? Here we are camped a hundred meters from the water’s edge of the Rocklands Reservoir – who could ask for anything more?
View from under our awning 
The live trees in the water indicate the water levels are much higher than usual 
Returning home with wood 
Yup, it was cold enough for a fire 
Dam at the end of the reservoir 
Regular visitors 
What is it? 
Is it a people? 
Hmmm, could be a people 
Yup…it’s a people 
Crimson Rosella 
White Plumed Honeyeater 
Very shy Eastern Rosella 
Red-Rumped Parrot 
Female Red-Rumped Parrot 
Red-Wattle Bird 
Pacific Black Duck 
Map of the Rocklands Reservoir
As the days passed, we planned to leave on the 22nd, then the 23rd but we’ve stretched it to Friday 24th Feb. this means that we have a whopping 460klms to travel in just two days.
I think we can do it. 😉
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
After leaving Kingston we drove for about an hour twenty before pulling up at Tantanoola. Famous for (debatable) the Tantanoola Tiger. It was a good free camp, nothing there except a crab apple tree, full of fruit. And what do we do with a crab apple tree full of fruit? We harvest it of course. Then we spend a riveting two hours peeling coring, slicing & dicing, these tart little fruits. After stewing the apples, I ended up with 3 x 400gm serves, froze two of these and adapted my banana loaf recipe to an apple and date loaf. YUMMO!
And that’s what we do when there is nothing else to do. 😊
When we left Tantanoola, we called into the caves there. I’m not big on caves but these really were impressive. I’ve included a link below, in case you’d like to know more about them. There is also a walk around the hills above the caves which offers wide open views of the area.
https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/tantanoola-caves-conservation-park#about
Our next stop was Lake Leake, a short twenty-minute drive from Tantanoola, and that became our home for the next twelve days.
This is a great spot to camp, and it’s very popular too. It’s only a forty-minute drive to Mount Gambia, which we did a few times for supplies, including water for the caravan, and to empty the toilet cassette. We also visited the Blue lake, which is pretty much in the centre of town, very picturesque, and I sighted a bird I had not seen before; a Red-Browed Finch.
Back at Lake Leake, we really made ourselves at home. Kayaks on the edge of the lake and our hammocks hung in the trees. What more could we ask for? Oh yes, birds. There were a couple on land and lots on the water.
I wasn’t going to take my camera out on my first paddle, from where I was standing, I could only see a couple of seagulls and a pelican in the distance. But I am so pleased I did take it. It’s quite a large lake, and as I made my way towards the south end, I saw birds by the hundreds. There were huge flocks of Australian Shelducks, I counted 11 Spoonbills, I’ve never seen that many in one place before, and I do love my Spooners, and a variety of others, some of which were first sightings. I didn’t get them all of course, but I got a fair representation of the birds that were there.
Lake Edward was a short fifteen-minute drive from Lake Leake. You can’t camp there but it is an idyllic place to visit, or fish, and we spent quite a lot of time there.
Once we left Lake Leake, we hugged the coast and did a number of overnight stays; Cape Northumberland, (SA’s southernmost point) staying at Port MacDonnell, Captain Kirks Lookout, Piccaninnie Ponds, then back inland to Cobboboonee NP. (I swear I’m not making these names up) before we crossed the border into Victoria.
It is quite a beautiful coastline and I’m pleased we braved the wind for the scenery and the birds along the way.
Cobboboonee was a great forest camp, you’d think we were in the middle of nowhere. Truth is…the dirt track was only twenty meters behind the van.
As for the weather, well the locals say it’s cooler than normal, us Queenslanders say it is bloomin’ freezing (or words to that effect). And we’re loving it! On the 2nd of February, pretty close to mid-summer, we had a top of 16 degrees. I know, it’s crazy right? I mean, we’ve even had to put the heater on a couple of nights, and mornings come to think of it. And that’s not an anomaly, we’ve had many more days in the high teens, to low twenties, than we have in the mid to high twenties.
But for now, we’re just dipping our toes in Victoria before we head back to South Australia and Adelaide.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
…sort of
Is it good to be back on the move again? Yes, and no. I think we have been stationery for too long, and it will take us a breath to get back into the swing of being road dwellers once more.
In short, it’s good to be moving again. However, we don’t seem to be getting very far.
Four and a half hours driving in eleven days. Well…we are out here to see the country. 🙂
We said farewell to mum on the 10th of Jan, hitched our wagon and hit the road on the 11th. We drove for two hours five minutes, then came to an abrupt stop when we ran out of road. We had stopped at the narrow neck, pretty much where Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert meet. As it happened, there was a ferry there waiting for us and five minutes later, without time for thought, we had made our first ferry crossing. A short one minute drive from the ferry, is the Narrung Ferry Landing campground. We drove in and thought…this’ll do.
There were a lot of people coming and going; cars, trailers, caravans, and motorhomes, but there was a ton space, we stayed there for five nights and took the time to relax. The campground is on the banks of Lake Alexandrina and we were able to explore this huge lake with our kayaks. We even did a spot of fishing, and guess what? We actually caught a meal. six fish in total, but four went back home.
While on dry land, we had an interesting visitor. This little critter hung around for hours, long enough for him and Hugo to become well acquainted. If anyone know what he is, I’d love you to tell me. And before anyone says it, he’s not a rat, not that there’s anything wrong with that. He looks as though he has been through the wars. He’s blind in one eye, and his little ears look damaged, possibly fire damage? The good news is, is that he seems to be coping very well and he is super cute and super friendly.
From Lake Alexandrina, we followed the coastline through the Coorong National Park, and just to prove some things never change, we followed a “4 wheel drive only” track, to a “tents/trailers only” camp ground, where Peter managed to find a lovely spot for us to squeeze in. The trip from Narrung Ferry to our camp took a harrowing 1.5 hours.
The next leg of our journey was, I think, a record breaker for us. Fifty minutes. That’s right folks. A fifty minute drive to our next destination, The Granite’s. This is basically a large bitumen car park. Not the prettiest of camps, but let me strongly recommend it. From the car park, it is a short walk to a very impressive beach and large granite rocks, which succinctly explain the name. And yes, it was cold and it was windy. Come to think of it, that seems to be the norm for SA.
They say that records are meant to be broken, and who are we to prove them wrong. We left The Granites around midday, full of curiosity as to where we’d be spending the night. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Kingston SE, and called it a day.
While we were staying at Kingston, we did a couple of day trips, including a trip to Robe. Robe is picture perfect, very expensive and a bit of a tourist trap. $93 per night in the local caravan park. We paid $20 per 2 nights in the council owned camp area. No power, but toilets, a dump point, potable water and two minutes walk to the jetty and the beach. We also visited Beachport, another pretty town. It’s much smaller but well worth the trip and you must do the Beachport scenic drive, it is stunning. This was by far the most picturesque coast scenery we have seen to date.
Let’s see how far we get next time. Any bets?
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
May this year be better for everyone
I think it’s fair to say we haven’t done much exploring since my last post, though we have seen quite a lot of Adelaide city and its inner suburbs; enough to say, we really love Adelaide. It’s big enough to have everything you could need, but not so big to be busy or stressful. I mean, the afternoon peak hour runs from 5:30pm to 6pm, then that’s it. It’s done, and even then, it’s not that busy. Parking in the city is easy and cost effective. The whole area is filled with parklands, beautiful old stone houses, cottages, and mansions, and the Torrens River adds a touch of serenity as it flows through the suburbs and the city.
My mum (Jean) flew in from Port Macquarie to spend three weeks with us over Christmas and New Year. Because we couldn’t accommodate her in the caravan, and she refused to sleep on the roof rack (wuss) we all moved into the old farmhouse at Ryelands farm stay for two weeks. Ryelands Farm is nestled between the Barossa and the Clare Valleys. For those of you who don’t know, these are prime wine regions. So, you can image the country is filled with vineyards as far as the eye could see and is very pretty to drive through.
Apart from the vineyards, SA is prime agricultural country, grains, meats and dairy products, all farm fresh, delish and readily available to Mr. & Mrs. Joe public.
We had a good look around the area with mum and we were lucky enough to be able to visit the Shimmering Pines Sunflower Farm. It wasn’t as vast as we had expected, and the blooms were nearly spent, but it was still quite lovely walking through these happy flowers.
One of our country drives led us to Lake Bumbunga, at Lochiel. I had read that it was a pink salt lake, so I looked up some images on line and thought; “They have to be photo-shopped”. Guess what, they weren’t! The salt was such a vibrant pink in places, it truly was a memorable visit, as much for the wind as the scenery. To get to lake Bumbunga, we drove through Maclaren Vale, Mintaro, and Blyth. Blyth is famous because this is Mum’s and my hometown back in England.
After two weeks, we moved back to Levi Adelaide Holiday Park. Peter and I in the caravan which backed up to mum’s studio apartment. From there we were able to show mum a good time around the big smoke, a bit more of the countryside and a few of coastal trips.
And that about brings us up to date. We will be staying in SA for some months yet. I have to have regular check-ups back in Adelaide, but that gives us 6 week blocks to go and explore this beautiful state. When we leave Adelaide in a few days, we will be heading southeast, and that’s as far as our plan goes. It’ll be interesting to see how we settle back into nomadic life after being stationary for so long.
PS
In my post “Belair National Park” I mentioned that our coffee machine had broken. You’ll be relieved to know that we replaced back in November, and we can once again have real, freshly ground coffee every morning, every day, no matter where we are.
So, all is good with the world once more. 🙂
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Three Medical Crises
I wasn’t sure if I would write about this, but my blog is all about ‘life‘ on the road. And while most of our experiences have been of the fun, adventurous kind, we have also had some that have not been so. This is one of those.
I’m not a drama queen by nature, and I don’t wish to scare anyone who hasn’t heard of our latest ‘adventure’, so let me say right now, everything is fine. In fact, everything is great. But, over a crazy five-week period, I have been diagnosed with throat cancer, ran a gamut of tests, had major surgery, and have been proclaimed a ‘Cancer Survivor’. It’s a lot I know, and I’m still trying to come to terms with it.
I’d been aware of a lump on the right side of my neck for a few months, and made plans to get it checked out as soon as we arrived in Adelaide, which we did on the 26th September.
The following day I was told that I had cancer in my lymph gland. Additional tests revealed cancer in my tonsils, and tongue but, the cancer had not spread anywhere else in my body, and that was an enormous relief.
I was admitted into St Andrews Hospital 21st October, where my brilliant surgeon, Dr Suren Krishnan, used the Da Vinci Surgical System, (Transoral robotic surgery – TORS) to successfully remove both tonsils, some tongue, soft pallet, and a couple of other areas in the back of my mouth/throat that showed signs of cancer cells, all with sufficient margins to ensure he ‘got it all’. After that, Dr Krishnan picked up his scalpel and removed the lymph gland from my neck. Job done! Truth be told, he could have removed the lymph gland first then the other stuff, I mean how would I know? I was asleep.
A week after the operation, we got the results from the pathology, Dr Krishnan did indeed get it all! There is no need for any radiation or chemotherapy treatments. To quote my doctor, “This is the best possible outcome.”
I was released from hospital on the 1st November and am continuing to get better each day. I have some nerve damage, most likely temporary, to my face, neck and shoulder, and a magnificent scar down the side of my neck from that pesky little lump. But I am alive, I am cancer free, and I am eternally gratefully to all involved in achieving this for me.
I’m sure that the food in St Andrews was excellent, but I wasn’t able to make the most of that.
I’m hankering for a pizza but it would probably go off before I managed to suck my way through it and I doubt it would look very appetizing pureed. It will be a while before I can eat normally again, but I will.
I cannot speak highly enough of the healthcare system in SA. From my very first appointment with a local GP, to the ENT specialist, my surgeon, the nurses, and hospital staff at St Andrews, including a speech pathologist, and nutritionist. Couldn’t fault them, not one. the communication between all these services was open and clear, and everyone is just so darn friendly here.
Now of course I have written this from my perspective, me this, I that, but of course it wasn’t just me involved. I chose not to tell anyone about this until I had a better idea of what the situation was, but from the very beginning Peter has been there with me, every fearful step of the way. Supporting me, worrying about me, loving me. He has had to deal with getting the van in for repairs by himself, arranging accommodation for us, and running between home and the hospital a couple of times a day. In truth, I think there were times when he was more exhausted than I was.
I guess the only other thing to comment on is how Peter and I are coping with my recovery in the caravan. It has been perfectly fine. Let’s face it, we have everything in the van that we would have had at home. It’s just, everything is a lot closer. 😊 We’ve also been very lucky with the caravan park we are staying at, Levi Adelaide Holiday Park. They have been very obliging in extending our stay, it’s only fifteen minutes from the city, in a lovely quiet suburb and with an oval at our doorstep, we have a nice exercise space available to us.
So, Peter had his quadruple bypass in NSW, then my ruptured appendix in QLD, and now this, throat cancer in SA. Maybe we shouldn’t travel to any more states. 🙂
That begs the question, where do we go from here? Well, I need time to recover, and have some follow up appointments, so we will be at Levi until 22nd December, and while we are here, we can finally get out and explore more of Adelaide and its surrounds. And yes, next year we are going to go to WA. Let’s hope for an ingrown toenail. 🙂
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Adelaide
So, we finally made it to Adelaide, and what a lovely city it is. We booked into the Belair National Park Caravan Park, which is right next door to, you guessed it, Belair National Park. The drive up to the caravan park was interesting, with narrow winding roads (though nothing like Tom CAT Hill) offering glimpses of the city below us through the grey drizzly sky. I enjoyed it, Peter was too busy driving 😊
Its quite a small caravan park and after all the bush camping we’ve been doing it seems strange to have neighbours again. I’m sure we’ll get used to them, especially those little fluffy neighbours.
We were close to the city, twenty to thirty minutes to the CBD, depending on traffic, so this was a great spot for us to to begin to organise our admin, repairs, purchases (our coffee machine broke, and we simply cannot live without that) and our medical stuff. In amongst all that we did have time to explore and do a couple of walks through Belair National Park.
We were told to look out for Koalas in the national park, we’ve been told things like that before, pah! But this time. We saw not one, not two, but sixteen individuals. How great is that? I’ve only ever seen two in the wild before and to see this many in one area was a real treat.
Of course it wasn’t all about the Koalas. The park itself was quite pretty, with a couple of gentle waterfalls, the odd bird, and it was green with little bursts of yellow, white and mauve wildflowers.
Another little walk, just around the back of the caravan park, led us to a group of Kangaroos just lazing around enjoying the day. Perhaps five full grown males in the group, I’m not sure how many of the younger ones were male, but the fact that there were so many males surprised me. I didn’t think the blokes hung around together like this. Anyone have any ideas?
We had seven days at Belair before moving to the Levi Adelaide Holiday Park, which is only fifteen minutes from the city. Civilisation here we come. First stop…Woodfired Pizza!
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
