Monday 22 August 2011

Port Broughton and Cowell


Port Broughton was our next port of call. I forgot to tighten a knob on the awning and the washer fell off on the road somewhere. We had to go to Port Pirie for the part and of course we found a couple of other things at the camping shop that we ‘had to have’. The camp kitchen was the place to meet. We had interesting nights sitting around ‘spinning yarns’ with Graham and Kerry from Unley in South Australia and Ray and Cherylle from Duncraig in Western Australia. We had to leave as the nights were getting later and later. Ray thought we may get told off for making too much noise after the curfew time. We hope to see them on the road sometime or knock on their door. Port Broughton has been put on our list to go back too. It was a great place to be even though the famous pier was closed for maintenance.

Sunset taken outside our caravan



Beemer being cute


Full moon




Having fun in the water


Low tide at Port Broughton


Beemer resting, Jane at work


Cowell is a slow little town this time of year. Our camp site was right on the end of the main street. The pub was on the corner. They had a pig on the spit cooking at the front of the Pub right on the footpath. We could smell it from a block away. The oysters were HUGE. I had trouble eating a dozen and they tasted great. The pier was quite long and Beemer had fun walking along and smelling all the new scents. Unfortunately all the fish were on holiday and even the professional fishermen were complaining.




Wednesday 10 August 2011

Mount Gambier to the Barossa Valley


We found Mount Gambier interesting. The Sunken Garden and the Blue Lake were different. There are lots of limestone caves in the area including the middle of town. There is plenty to do including caving, walking and fishing.  On the way to Port Macdonald is an extinct volcano which you can walk right into. It looks spectacular from the Blue Lake lookout. We stayed for a couple of days longer than we first intended as the weather turned nasty and as we have plenty of time decided that we didn’t need to be on the road in bad weather. The camp kitchen with the fire pits was great. We had good times around the fire at night with Kym, Jenny, Michelle and Kel. We exchanged phone numbers when we left and hope to be able to catch up with them again ‘on the road somewhere’ 


Port McDonald south of Mt Gambier


Port McDonald


Port McDonald with Jane and Beemer and shags on a rock in the background


Sunken Garden Mt Gambier


Sunken Garden Mt Gambier
Beemer at the top of the sunken garden


The Blue Lake

Kingston was great although we did have a bit of wind when we first arrived.  We put up the annex for the first time and had to pull it down again because of the wind.  We drove down to Cape Jaffa one day and went on walks along the beach.  It was covered with seaweed and kelp. It wasn’t too bad although it did smell a bit one night.  I wouldn’t like to be there in the summer. We did hear a rumour that it got a bit smelly.

Larry the Lobster at Kingston SE





 The old Cape Jaffa light house


Murray Bridge was not very good.  The campsite was ordinary and we were about 3 kilometers from the river.  We decided to leave earlier and travel down to Victor Harbour. We arrived at Victor on Monday 18th July. The campsite here is very good and a nice walk of about 1 ½ kilometers to the town along the beach. Mark has tried his hand at fishing again but the resident seals get first go. The locals have told us that the water is too cold for fish at the moment. We have had great weather here although today is a bit windy. It was supposed to get up to 20 today but you would have to get out of the wind. It has been so good here that we have stayed another week.


The ferry to Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island is in the background


Andrew and Emily

 Emily, Asha, Andrew and Jane. we went on a bush walk when we visited them in Adelaide

Beemer went too

The horsedrawn tram on the causeway at Victor Harbour to Granite Island




At Trevor and Charmane’s the weather was not too good. It rained most of the time and we thought we may have had trouble getting off their block. It was great to catch up with them and share a couple of bottles of good wine and food. You can’t go to the Barossa without eating and drinking quality. We did our usual and went to Nuriootpa to Linke’s Butchers for his smoked streaky bacon and German Sausage. Yum! We also found Ross Winery and got a dozen of nice red.

Trevor and Charmain's at Tanunda
The view from Mengler's Hill Lookout



The monument at Mengler's Hill













Old Vines at Bethany