So, How Far Did We Travel?

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 2^nd 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!