After a long hot night
we packed up on what was now a hot morning and headed for Nelson, by the
beach. We parked the IzzyGator on top of the hill to try and catch as much sea
breeze as possible, the Boys and I hit the water while De spent the morning in
the van on the computer doing some work stuff. While it was another scorcher
being by the sea took about 10 degrees off the temp and we had a great time
swimming across the Glenelg river and walking the 3km to the mouth and back
finding all kinds of treasures along the way. Sambo has taken to collecting
bits of rope along the way and this was like an all you can eat buffet with
every colour, type and size of rope scattered with the flotsam of the sea. We
managed to pick up a full bag of garbage as well as a chair which was our way
of saying thank you to Victoria for what had been an awesome month long stay.
After lunch I took over the computer while De and the boys went cockling, or
digging for pipis. There wasn’t enough for a paella so we froze them for bait.
We packed up and De and soon the boys pushed the IzzyGator from
Victoria to South Australia (They have you to blame Travis Pinfold). It was quite exciting milestone in the trip as
none of us have ever been to South Australia!
While we were keen to go to a place called Piccaninny Ponds we found out it was $60 for a family AND you needed a
snorkelling license – really does such a thing exist – I was going to parallel
it to needing a license to walk but then thought I may have lost that a few
times if that was the case! Just up the road was Ewens Ponds, which apparently
is a little less spectacular but it was free and we didn’t need a license!
Before I tell you about the ponds I need to tell you why
they are there? This part of SA is called the limestone coast as there is a
massive chunk of limestone running just under the ground all the way from the
north into the sea. Any rain then ‘runs’ through this limestone layer creating
a water table that is very close to the surface. The ponds are natural
depressions where the water, after being filtered by the limestone, leaches out
in its purest, and coldest, form. With the water being around 10 oC De stayed
on the landing while the boys and I snorkelled around in our wetsuits for about 15 minutes. While the scenery wasn’t
spectacular, like the barrier reef, the clarity of the water was astounding. It was like
swimming in a massive bath tub!
Tomorrow we were going on a couple of religious pilgrimages
so we headed north (inland) and slept at the base of Mt Schank. The sunset was pretty spectacular and I attempted to be be a photographer catching the light on an old cart at the camping area.
While it wasn’t quite the sauna of the night before it was still pretty sultry and around 2am I did question the wisdom of heading away from the coast!
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