Day 138: Hall's Gap

Today we went for a drive to:-

# Ararat (no, we could not find the ark),
# Moyston (some of you older types may remember Moyston Claret),
# Great Western (it's actually a town and the home of Seppelt's Victorian operations and where the 'champagne' comes from),
# Stawell (those athletes amongst you will have heard of the 'Stawell Gift', the professional footrace which occurs there every year).

It was a pleasant drive in rich countryside (oh to be a sheep). Speaking of sheep, we found Ararat an interesting and pretty town. It was a town founded in the Victorian gold rush times and one of the few towns where the Chinese actually staked their own claims as against fossicking through the mullock heaps.
There is a Chinese Museum in the town and we found it an interesting visit - before we left we purchased a set of Chinese (made in China) tea cups with lids.
Anyway, 'sheep' - I was born in the year of the sheep and Lorelle was the year of the monkey.
Back to the trip - Moyston used to be known to us through the Moyston Claret wine, but it is also apparently the town where AFL began.  Being Rugby League fans, we didn't stop......

Next was Ararat which i have already mentioned.

On to the small town of Great Western - we dropped into the Seppelts Winery where I bought a bottle of port and we had lunch.

Next it was on to Stawell which I have also mentioned. We had afternoon tea here and annoyed the ducks and swans at the local park.

All up an enjoyable day.

Chinese Museum

Stawell

Hall's Gap

Days 136 - 137: Mount Gambier to Hall's Gap (Grampians)

DAY 136
Twenty minutes out of Mount Gambier we crossed the border into Victoria - we took photographs but it was not as exciting as when we had entered NT, WA or SA.  We drove for three hours to get from Mt Gambier to the small town of Hall's Gap. We stopped at Hamilton on the way for morning tea and to visit the Information Centre to find out about Hall's Gap.  Hamilton is a big sheep area and is graced by the giant wool bales in the town - we didn't stop to tour the town but it looks like an interesting area, but we are out of time!

The road from Dunkeld in the south to Hall's Gap in the north was only reopend last week-end - it has been closed due to severe road damage in the January floods of this year and people wanting to get to the Grampians have had to enter from ther north.  It is a small "village" but quite picturesque.  The van park (a Big 4) is nice but deserted (like most we have been to) except for a big array of animal life - kangaroos, emu, deer, birds, etc.  You have to watch where you walk due to the occasional 'piles'.

Tonight, the temperature is expected to get down to 1 degree - Brad, you would feel at home!!!


DAY 137
Last night it was cold (not in our van) - got down to at least zero - when we got up just after 8 it was still 3 degrees outside.

We left at 9:45am and went for a loop drive from Hall's Gap up into the mountains - we climbed over 850 metres and it was very cold up there - saw McKenzie Waterfall from a few different lookouts and also some great views over the valleys.

When we got home at 4pm I decided to feed an emu wandering through the van park some left-over cake - he was 20 metres from me when I threw the cake - well he came running towards us faster than Usain Bolt!!  I ducked into the van and left Lorelle outside to fight it off - lucky it was friendly!  Lorelle ran into the toilet - no more feeding emus......

They let us in!

Tea break on the Halls creek cricket pitch! I counted 40....

Mackenzie Falls

Halls Creek & Lake Bellfield from the Boroka Lookout

Our van park from Boroka Lookout - only four vans in park. Ours is on the left.

Boroka Lookout

Day 135: Mount Gambier

We slept in until after 9am this morning and then after breakfast we drove to Bunnings to pick up a few items I really didn't need, but hey, who needs an excuse to visit Bunnings?

We then drove 25 kilometres south to Port MacDonnell on the coast. It has a sign saying that it is the rock lobster capital of South Australia but we didn't get to taste any. It is a sleepy little village with quite a few houses but not much in the way of shops. I would say it comes alive during holidays - there are niced beaches both calm and also for surfing. There is also an excellent protected bay for boats.

Just a couple of kilometres west of the town is the most southerly point in South Australia. We drove out and took a few photos on the way of the various bays. It was blowing an absolute gale!

We drove back into the town and had pizza for lunch overlooking the bay. On the way home, just out of Port MacDonnell we turned left, drove for two kilometres and ended up at Dingle Cottage which was the holiday home of 19 century poet Adam Lindsay Gordon - he is a famous figure in the Mount Gambier area.  It cost $7.50 each for us to be given a guided tour of the cottage which was a mistake because the tour guide was obviously a mad, keen ALG fan, knew everything about him and had me thinking about how we could get out of what took 90 minutes - we were expecting 5 minutes and a few photos!!  I now know a lot more about ALG than I ever wanted or expected to know.........

Tomorrow we head for Hall's Gap in the Grampians where we will probably stay for a few days before heading to Canberra to see Brad & Simone.

PS - If you are sick of photos of bays and beaches, I think that today was our last coast visit until we get home!!!

Day 134: Mount Gambier

Today we visited numerous lookouts overlooking the crater lakes in Mount Gambier.  The amazing thing is that the lakes were all formed through volcanic activity  three to four thousand years ago - that's not very long ago......

We also visited the local Visitor Information Centre and two of the sinkholes in the city - one is 20 metres from the main street and is called "The Cave". You can walk into these sink holes and both of them have gardens either in or around them.  The other sink hole is called the Umpherston Sink Hole.

Sink holes are formed by the action of water flowing through the limestone and gradually eroding large deep holes.
Doug & Sue are having new tyres put on their van on Monday so we will stay in Mount Gambier for an extra day and leave for the Grampians (Hall's Gap) in Victoria on Monday - it's only a two - three hour drive.

Farmland to the south of Mount Gambier

Blue Lake

The Cave sinkhole

Historical display

Possum at the Umpherston sinkhole at night

Umpherston sinkhole

Day 133: Naracoorte to Mount Gambier

Today we only had 100km to drive to Mount gambier. Along the way, we stopped at Bool Lagoon which is a wildlife sanctuary well-known for its bird life, however due to the incredible rain they have this year, the birds have spread their wings and their were very few at 'home'.

Next place of interest was Penola in the heart of the Coonawarra wine growing area - there were wineries everywhere but we had our fill in the Barossa so we didn't stop.  Just north of Penola, we came across a series of wood carvings done with a chainsaw in the trunks of gum trees. The carvings were about Mary MacKillop and other religious figures connected with Penola's past. We have seen similar carvings in the past when we were on holidays in Tasmania a couple of years ago. They were very good.

Penola is also famous because it is known as the central location in the life of Mary MacKillop (St Mary of the Cross), the first Australian to gain Roman Catholic sainthood. In 1866 she established the first free Catholic school in Australia and also established her order of nuns.  We didn't stop in the town but it was quite pretty and had some historical buildings.

We arrived at the Blue Lake Caravan Park, right next to Mount Gambier's Blue Lake, at about 10:30am. After setting up and the mandatory cuppa, we set to fixing Doug's caravan awning damaged in the wind yesterday.  It took 2 1/2 hrs but the end result is pretty good and it should see them home to Brisbane.

This afternoon, we did a bit of shopping. Tomorrow we will go sight-seeing.

Another funny SA road safety sign

Bool Lagoon Game Reserve

Our van site

Fixing Doug's awning

Day 132: Naracoorte

Today we visited the World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves. We went through three caves - two were guided tours and the third was a self-guided. We also went through the Wollambi Visitors Centre at the cave site - it was very well done.

The caves are Heritage listed due to the fossil finds within the caves. There are however also some spectacular formations.

Unforetunately, this afternoon, after viewing the caves, we got back to the vans and Doug's awning had blown to the ground in some strong gusty wind, bending some of the supports.

He will get it fixed at Mount Gambier where we head to tomorrow.

Bones of prehistoric animals

The top is the ceiling, the bottom is the reflection of the ceiling in water....