Day 54 - 29/1/14 – Port Noarlunga -> Clarendon SA

If we were at home the De would be making lunches, I would be heading back to work and the boys would be heading to school today, but we aren’t at home...we are on holidays! Instead we packed up and headed for the McLaren Vale and some wine tasting, with the reasoning that today’s lesson is viticulture 101.

We have tried out a lot of Visitor Information Centres since we left with the majority of them being, errr how can I say this without seeming a touch ungrateful, completely useless! However the quality had really increased since we have been in SA and McLaren Vale really had their stuff sorted! Maps and lists that had opening times and what wine varieties could be sampled BUT they also had a listing of child friendly wineries!!! Is there an award out there for the best visitor centre as I want to nominate these guys!! After a half hour planning session we hit the road.

First stop was Pirramimma. After all of our effort to include our children interests in our wine tour I was pretty worried as we walked in the first cellar door. A massive shed, surrounded by a gravel road and inside was very bare with not a thing to interest kids in site.....hmmm...had I put that nomination in I would have found a way to retract it....until after our 2^nd tasting the lovely lady offered the boys some cordial tasting. It was the old style stuff she used to have when her Grandparents (as she was old enough to be the boys grandparents) took her to the pub on the way back from the races! They were stoked!

Second stop was Fox Creek Wines which was in a cute little cottage and around it they had set up a treasure hunt. 15 minutes later the boys came back with the required code to get their treasure while we had sipped our way through half a dozen samples!

Next stop was Wirra Wirra and it is a must visit if you ever make it down here. It is a massive cellar door that has been set up with more than just wine tasting in mind! The owner is obviously a touch eccentric having built a set cricket stump and bat two stories tall and a massive catapult that launches watermelons 100m. They had a ‘minature’ catapult inside that worked as the kids entertainment and I was amazed that De didn’t walk out with half a barrel as the young fella behind the bar was doing a great job in smoozing her while I tried to ensure the boys didn’t put anything other than a cork in the catapult!

After lunch we moved onto Gem Tree which was interesting if for nothing more than the story of how they fertilise their vines. Each year they stuff cow manure into the shell of the horn that has been removed from a lactating cow. They then burry it underground for six months in a hessian lined hole and then it is emulsified and spread after 3pm on a certain lunar cycle as that is when the earth is breathing in. All the time I was waiting for the punch line....but there was none....they were deadly serious! The funniest part was that apparently the lactating cow isn’t hurt when their horn is removed!!!! I am guessing that the lass telling the story hasn’t de-horned to many calves let-a-lone yearlings in her life!

We moved onto Hugo’s winery where Pam was such an awesome host. She took the boys under her wing and they really did viticulture 101! Why nets are used, how many grapes to a bottle, different berry and bunch sizes as well as leaf shapes and vine methodologies...I learnt more about plants in the 30 minutes we spent there than I did in a whole semester of Horticulture at Gatton waaay back when I was there!

After a  very tough day on the road we rolled onto Clarendon, which is about 30 minutes out of Adelaide, and set up for the night by the Onkaparinga River.

Day 53 - 28/1/14 – Deep Creek Conservation -> Port Noarlunga SA

When we went to bed it was about 32oC with not a breeze to be found, by 3am the van was rocking like a schoolies onsite van with the wind howling through the trees....ah so this is what the ranger was worried about!

We headed to Cape Jervis to see where the ferry leaves to go across Kangaroo Island and then headed back along the Western side of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Normanville.

Sam's long locks blowing in the breeze at Cape Jervis

It is a spectacular part of the coast as the ocean in met by towering cliffs with small beaches dotted every 10 or 15 kms. We contemplated having a swim at Normanville but with the wind blowing around 30+ knots the sting of the sand blowing across the beach convinced us out of it. Instead we had an early lunch and all put our heads down for big nana nap. About an hour later I woke up in a pool of sweat as while it had been warm the wind had kept it quite cool but by some miracle it was now still again, and bloody hot!

I had done some research and there was a beach about 20kms up the road that had a good snorkeling area with a massive drop off at the edge of it. Off we went and were pleased to find that Aldinga Beach was one of the South Australia beaches where you can just drive down and park on the beach. It is a hell of a lot easier than dragging all of the kid’s boards, flippers, snorkels, bats, balls, remote control cars and towels down from the car park, all across scorching hot sand! 

We snorkeled out looking for this drop off and gave up after about 100m of clean sandy bottom. I asked a couple of tradies that were parked beside us and found out it was a mere 1.2kms of shore....maybe the tourism brochure should have been a little more explicit! 

Aldinga Beach

Regardless the water was cool and refreshing and the boys had a great time building a monster truck track for Jack's remote control track that we attempted to video.....with (a) little success!

Sorry - it is sideways as the camera would only fit into the truck that way!

As the tide rose we packed up and headed for Port Noralunga our destination for the evening. One of the problems with being within 50kms of a city (this time being Adelaide) is that while there are plenty of free camps almost all of them are ‘not authorised’. We found one on the edge of a river but decided to have a look at one on the beach hoping that it would be a little cooler. Well, caravans and no through roads normally don’t get along, but when the car park at the end of it is completely full due to the local AFL club doing their preseason training, then they really don’t like each other! With nowhere in particular to be at no particular time we had dinner on the footpath and sat around waiting for everybody to go home. However due to the sun not going down until around 9pm people are still coming to the beach for a swim at 8:30...PM! Around 9:30 we managed to get enough space to do the worlds tightest U turn and headed for our river bank site...that would again be easily cool enough as it was blowing about 20 knots again.

Day 52 - 27/1/14 – Victor Harbour -> Deep Creek Conservation Park SA

Usually packing up and getting on the road after a one night stop takes between 5 and 15 minutes. When we stop for longer than one night the pack up time seems to expand exponentially! This morning it was about 2 hours because it seems that everything that we had tucked in a nook or cranny in the truck had made its way out and was liberally strewn around our site! Just before 10 we rolled out and as it was a spectacular day we headed back to Horseshoe Bay for a morning on the beach.

 I love this little nook in the SA coast and am positive I will return here again soon. Warnie and Nia headed into Port Elliot (about 3 blocks away) to get some breakfast while we lazed on the beach as well as swam out to the pontoon that was moored 70 or so meters off shore.

Just before lunch we packed up and farewelled our guests, a little more sunburnt than when they arrived, stocked up in Victor Harbour and headed to Deep Creek Conservation Park, which is right at the end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, another tiring 45 minute drive away! We set up camp with Kangaroo Island visible through the tree line and the boys and I decided to go for a quick drive down to Blow Hole Beach while De got the van organised. The beach was only 1.5km away so we thought we would just check it out and come back, until we found that the track down there was something that resembled a ski slope and needed to be driven in Low 4WD. The whole beach is only about 200m wide, white sand framed by rocky cliffs with crystal clear water and a clean right hand 2ft break. It looked to bloody good to miss so we grabbed the boogie boards, caught some great waves and headed back  after about half an hour thinking we would come back for a big swim tomorrow.

Not long after we returned to camp the park ranger turned up and informed us that the whole park would be closed from 9am tomorrow morning due to extreme fire danger and that we had to be packed up and gone by then.....bugger...the worst part was that we couldn’t go back to the beach in the morning...and I didn’t have my camera, so I have had to borrow some pictures of this cracking place.

We had a quite night reading and enjoyed the quite solace of bush camping after having a big weekend of being the noisy neighbours! It was a pretty warm night...but not for to long!

Day 51 - 26/1/14 – Victor Harbour SA

Australia Day (Astrya Daay)

Well based on the way my head was feeling and he way everybody else was looking (I was doing my best to stay away from mirrors) the lady who politely suggested it might have been time to finish up was completely bloody wrong! I think she was at least an hour to late in giving us the wind up! Never the less it was Astraya Daay so we sparked up the Barbie and had bacon and egg sangas to get things rolling, and the grease went some way to doing the trick.

After the requisite amount of stuffing around we packed a few beers and wines into a makeshift esky and walked the 1.5km into town looking for a couple of shady trees to pull up under hoping there would be some entertainment or the like going on. I think Victor Harbour City Council must have spent its events budget on the Tour Down Under a couple of days earlier as nothing was to be found. The effects of the night before were evident in the fact that I was the only one who was able to consume a beverage with our lunch of chip sangas (there not butties, especially on Astrya Daay).

 After finding a dumping place for our untouched esky we headed for the horse drawn tram to take us over the bridge on an adventure to Granite Island. All the upper deck seats on the tram were taken so we sauntered across the jetty to the cafe where there were 4 dolphins having  wrestle close to the shore. Warnie thought it might have been something other than wrestling but I was dubious about dolphins swinging characteristics! The boys were shouted an ice cream by Nia and Warnie and we headed for the tram station to make sure we got a top deck seat. Our guests decided to walk back the 1.5k to the mainland but we were staying put, there was no way the boys were going to miss out on this one!

The tram arrived and we took up our seats fully exposed to what was a sun sitting high in the sky and burning down on us with all of its effort. The 15 yr old tram driver said it would be a 20 minute wait...... after about 30 minutes I started to understand why they had written NO REFUNDS on their sign in the biggest and boldest print they could find! I think it was about 35 minutes later we finally left, but I can’t be 100% sure as was in a state of heat stroke induced delirium by that point. After the ten minute ride disembarked at the other end and I made mental note that if I ever do get a skin cancer I will be getting my solicitor to fire of a letter to the tram operators looking for restitution!

I am pretty sure it was my delirium that then made me suggest that I should ride Jack’s BMX bike back to the van park and come back and pick everyone up in the truck...sorry no pictures so you will have to imagine a 6’ tall, slightly overweight gent riding a 18” kids BMX bike. I am sure must amused at least a few people along the way, especially as I was riding along the last 1km of the Tour Down Under track!

Once the troops all regathered at the park a cricket match was hastily convened as the one between the Aussies and the Poms that was on the TV wasn’t worth watching! Nia clearly exhibited why Wales doesn’t have a cricket team and Warnie showed his class standing up to some ferocious bowling from “Damo” another young fella from Melbourne who is travelling around Australia with his family. 

To keep the lambassador happy, De cooked an awesome dinner of lamb shanks (that was far better than the previous night at the restaurant) matched with a nice Coonawarra red. 

We had the TV set up outside and settled in to watch the finish of a very dour game of cricket on the TV. Hang on, surely they can’t defend that total, naa, another wicket, and another....there was 3 overs left and while we were being pretty quite and it was only 9ish the same lady who had politely asked us to shut up (at midnight) the night before came back over..........I felt like I was back in front of Charlie Fisher, my high school principal, again asking if we could please just watch the next three overs then we promise, I promise, we will turn it off and go to bed....but she just wanted to watch it with us! Nice.

The boys eventually got them all out and it was a great end to a cricket season that started sitting beside Warnie at the 1^st day of the 1^st test at the Gabba and finished on Astraya Daay drinking rum with Warnie in Victor Harbor SA!

I had to include this photo of Nia in her resplendent camping attire!

Day 50 - 2/1/14 – Newland Head Conservation Park -> Victor Harbour SA

We were up and at em early in order to get a few things done before our guests, Warnie and Nia, arrived. On the way back into Victor Harbour The Invstigator finally got a full look at Encounter Bay. We kept looking for Mr Boudin but with no success!

The nice man at the van park allowed us to check in really early so we could get our weekly washing done as well as get the tent set up for the guests.

Pretty much as soon as they arrived De and Nia were sent into town for a girly lunch while Warnie and I saved the world, again, as we blew the top of a few frosty ones.

Around 4 we wondered down town and hand balled the children to two happy smiling ladies while we went to the pub across the road for a few punts and a few more brews. Two hours later I was pretty happy as I managed to come out in front of where I went in, including expenses.

We then went on the search for a decent restaurant to celebrate our guests arrival as well as our 50 days on the road. Most places were pretty full but we got a table at The Anchorage which was pretty flash looking. While by all accounts the food was Ok the company was great and we retired to the guests lounge, that I am pretty sure was for the guests use..

The festivities continues once we were back at the camp with beer, wine, rum and scotch all being enjoyed as the night wore one. Around midnight our nice neighbour came to inform us that, in fact it was midnight, and that we should probably be thinking about winding it up, which we promptly did. 

Day 49 - 24/1/14 – Port Elliot – Newland Head Conservation Park SA

The idea was to be up nice and early to get into Horseshoe bay for a swim....but as I lay there in the salubrious surroundings of the show grounds I sensed that the clouds were out and the wind was blowing, so I rolled over and went back to sleep!

A while later we managed to get to the beach for a short swim out to the jetty. We were looking forward to diving of it as it was pretty high but as it was low tide it was declared unsafe and after watching a couple boys fishing for bait fish using Gents (aka live maggots) we headed for Victor Harbour.

The Tour Down Under was finishing in town around 3ish so we thought we would get in their early to have a look around. What we didn’t realise was that Michael Arvanitagis and 6,500 of his lyrca wearing mates were riding in front of them which bought the whole town to a complete stand still. It took about 45 minutes to drive about a kilometre to the other side of town, the problem being I couldn’t just pull over or find a park as I had a 18’ van attached to the back of the truck!

We found a place to park the IzzyGator and wondered down to where the race finish was. As you do at these events we wondered around for about 2 hours looking and being entertained and then found a nice little nook about 75m from the finish line and waited for an hour and a half for them to pass us. While the build up was great and the whole thing was very exciting I can’t say that it will go down on my list of memorable sporting moments, seeing 20 people flash past you at 70+km/hr and.....well that was pretty much it. We saw that some bloke in a team that wears white was at the front and...hmmm....we walked back to the van. Sorry to all the cycling supporters out there, but I suspect TV might be a better way to watch it.

We after all the excitement we headed off to Newland Head Conservation Park to set up camp. 

Throughout the previous afternoon and today we had been ‘purging’ our cockles, which while it may sound very exciting, is trying to get the sand out of your pipis so you can eat them.  In the end they were served in a burnt butter sauce with garlic and white wine, and truthfully they were pretty nice!

We discussed with the boys as they went to bed that tomorrow was fifty days on the road and Sam replied “I’m really looking forward to cracking the half century tomorrow!”

 We were also quite excited Warnie and Nia were coming for a sleep over, all the way from Brisbane, for the next two nights! Yeaaah!

Day 48 - 23/1/14 – Coorong National Park – Port Elliot SA

After three weeks of mostly 30 minutes hops from one town to the next we were going to drive for 1 ½ hours today...so we were up with the sparrows and rolled out about 9.....which is sometimes when we are rolling out of bed!

We followed the highway northwards, yep in this part of SA the sun sets over the sea, running along the edge of the Coorong. We visited Chinamen’s well which was an engineering masterpiece made in the 1840’s made by the Chinese to help those who were walking to the Victorian gold fields....I found it amazing that there was a 150+ yr old well just sitting there.

There are also some great saltpans... I tried to convince the boys to have a race to the otherside and back but they wouldn't be in on it!

We also went to Jack’s Point to look across to pelican islands where pretty much every pelican in Australia and some of PNG was born, except when lake Ayre is flooded as apparently it is better. Needless to say it was just a touch on the nose!

Yes I know I need a wide angle lense!

A statue of an Ostrich that a Bushranger called "Mr P" used to ride when he robbed people around Meningie 

Lake Alexandrina goes as far as the eye can see

We headed northwards and scooted around the edge of Lake Alexandria which is the absolutely huge lake that Murray River runs into before it goes out into the ocean.

Crossing the Murray River in Wellington just before it heads into Lake Alexandrina

We crossed the Murray by ferry at Wellington and then headed through the Langhorne Creek wine district, Strathalbyn to Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island where we off loaded Rufus for a trip to the mouth of the Murray River. Way back on day 6 or 7 we swam at Towong, NSW at the head of the Murray River, now some 40 days later we were where it meets the sea, I am not sure why, but it seemed pretty cool to me. We parked Rufus a safe distance from the mouth and walked the last couple of hundred meters.

The Mouth of The Murray River

We mucked around a bit and then decided to go further around to the surf beach to do a bit of cockling. I managed to get the first then De and Jack followed but it took Sambo about 15 minutes to find his first one, but he never gave up! It took a while but we eventually managed to get around 40, enough for an entree’ I figured!

One of the more unusual signs we have seen on our trip!

We headed back and drove through to Port Elliot where we had dinner overlooking Horseshoe Bay, an absolutely spectacular spot. If you make the journey to SA make sure you visit this little gem. There is a van park right on the beach but we ended up at the showgrounds...as it was a ¼ of the cost!

 

Each night De and I have been taking turns to read the boys a story book since the day they were born. Recently we changed the process a little from them taking it in turn to choose a random book to getting one ‘book’ and reading a chapter or two a night. The first one was Charlotte’s Web and tonight I read the boys the last two chapters......and after about half an hour of consoling them and trying to help them understand the real meaning of the story they eventually fell asleep....Damn you Kerry Bayfield, if only I had paid attention in English I may have been able to tell them the real meaning behind that bloody book!

Day 47 - 22/1/14 – 42 Mile Crossing, Coorong National Park SA

First things first. All of my avid readers will have no doubt already noticed that today is day 47 where as yesterday was day 45. Well 46 was never a really lucky number for me, unlike 56 that won me a massive cake at the Mt Carmel Fete in 1979, so I decided to skip it.....and the fact that there were two day 32s back at the beginning of the month. Special thanks to my sister-in-law Alison for picking that one up!

Now back to the action...I had been planning to have a sleep over with myself on the beachside of the Coorong but the 50k/h winds made me change my plans, so I instead set the alarm for 6am and headed over. It was pretty bloody cold and as I was driving along the beach looking for something that looked like a gutter I slipped out of one of the ruts that had formed from everybody driving in the same place and discovered why everybody drive in the same place.....wrrrr wrrr wrrr...Bugger I was bogged...on a 100km long beach...never mind it looks like a pretty good place to fish!

Well I should have stayed in bed! A MASSIVE pile of weed had moved into this part of the beach over night and every time I pulled my line in I had a basketball sized pile of weed attached to it. I tried everything to overcome it all to no avail! To keep myself entertained I let my tyres down to 20 PSI and drove it out pretty easily. Before you all start, yes I know that’s where they should have been in the first place, but I only had a small air compressor with me and I didn’t want to go gray waiting for my tires to inflate. And yes before the rest of you start yes I do sell heavy duty air compressors that would have been perfect for this application, but I only had one in stock when we left so I had to leave it as a sample...needless to say I have one on the way now.....but back to my day.

After helping one other guy out on the way back to camp...bloody landcruiser heh heh heh....I had a quick bite to eat and then a game of cricket that De & the boys were well into when I returned. We soon decided to head back over to the beach side for a bit of a look with De as she hasn’t seen it yet. This time we went south instead of north and after about 2kms the beach started to get a touch narrow so we quickly parked up. We put the lines out and I was somewhat happy to find there was no weed here, only somewhat as I wish I had spent my 4 hours here this morning as it may have been a touch more fruitful! To keep ourselves busy while we ‘fished’ the second innings of the cricket game ensued as well as a bit of shell collecting.

We headed back, had lunch, a good rest and sleep in the afternoon and then started to get things together for to roll out early tomorrow. One of the jobs was to reinflate the tires to 40PSI. Well the 1^st tire was fine, I gave the compressor a bit of a break and then by the end of the 2^nd tire the compressor was giving a bit of a break.....yep broken. So it managed to put 2 x 20PSI = 40 in so my initial calculation of only letting the tires down to 30 would have been just right 4 x 10PSI = 40..but..oh well! Thankfully Fred in the next caravan had one I could loan! I also managed to clean out some of the sand from the front of the truck. I only say some as that is all that is ever going to be possible!

After dinner the 4^th innings of the cricket game ensued with even Frank and Maree from the van next door getting involved! With pretty hopeless internet coverage and no TV coverage (for the Fev v Murray game) the night was called to an early end.