April 6 - 14

Day 5 – April 6 – Princetown -> Narrawong

Saw all the great sights of the GOR today – walked down the Gibson steps to the beach at the bottom of a large cliff. The entire coast is limestone formed from ancient marine sediment, which is eroded away by the sea to form the various formations. We saw huge boulders that have fallen away from the cliff – thankfully none while we were there!

The drive was sensational, with sheer tall cliffs above rough seas on one side with lush green pastures and dark rainforest on the other. We stopped at all the fixtures – the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard gorge, the Arch, London Bridge – the first part of which collapsed in 1990 (Bruce remembers seeing this as a boy when it was still connected to the mainland), Thunder Cave and the Blowhole (a 100m tunnel carved through the cliffs by the ocean) – lots of walking…

Also stopped at Tower Hill – near Warrnambool – a massive volcano caldera (now extinct – we think) formed when it erupted thousands of years ago. We walked to the top of the largest hill in the middle of the crater – and saw a great view. Now getting our first rain for the trip – so far it’s been great weather. Lots of walking the last two days – the kids are sleeping well!

Stayed at a great caravan park in Narrawong, although it’s quite cold.. We got the TV and antenna working and watched Survivor on TV! Luxury..

Day 6 – April 7 – Narrawong (VIC) -> Beachport (SA)

Entered our 3rd state as we crossed the border into SA. Three states in one week – pretty good!

Near Nelson, we detoured to Princess Margaret Rose Cave – just back on the Victorian side of the border. An amazing cave discovered in the 30’s by a local who decided to check out a hole which went 25 meters down – with a rope, a candle and a box of matches! A small but excellent cave, with great stalactites, stalagmites and helictites – and the obligatory tour, which was very good. Much less tourists than the Jenolan caves! A short walk away we saw a great view over the Glenelg River.

We stopped at Mount Gambier and saw the Blue Lake in a huge crater left after another volcanic eruption. The lake was still very blue, apparently over the winter months it turns a dull grey. Michelle did our first big grocery shop for the trip – we’re trying to minimise our shopping to only every few days.

Today’s driving saw us drive past 100’s of kms of pine tree plantations, with some areas just harvested looking like a wasteland. We stopped in at Beachport and went to the Pool of Silome, whose water is seven times saltier than the sea. We tasted it but it didn’t seem that salty – mind you we had just eaten a bag of salt and vinegar chips in the car…

Stayed at a caravan park in town – very nice and quiet. Had a huge grassy area to ourselves, and Erin taught Ben how to ride his bike without training wheels – another milestone!

Day 7 – April 8 – Beachport -> Long Point (Coorong)

We drove through the quaint towns of Robe and Kingston SE (which has a BIG lobster, anatomically correct according to Lonely Planet). Robe in particular looked lovely, the kind of place you would go to for a quiet weekend for two. When you have five like us all you look for is the nearest playground and a bakery for morning tea..

We then drove into the Coorong national park, with over 100 kms of salt flats, brushy scrubland, lakes and long beaches with no-one in sight. We stopped in at 42 mile beach, which was 3km by dirt road off the highway, and another half hour walk to the beach. Worth it though! On the beach there were piles and piles of shells, feet thick – never seen that before.. We drove on and decided to camp earlier than usual at a remote national park camp site called Long Point, right in the heart of the Coorong. Beautiful – and we saw our first Pelicans, which is fitting because this is where Storm Boy was filmed in the 70’s (we’re watching it on DVD tonight). This is where the Winnebago comes into it’s own – we don’t need to be connected to power or water and we can watch a DVD, have a shower, and keep the fridge going..

Day 8 – April 9 – Long Point (Coorong) -> Brown Bay (Kangaroo Island)

Michelle got up early so she could she watch the sunrise (missed the sunset last night), but the weather was overcast. We set off early and drove through some heavy rain – the Winnebago stayed dry! Drove around the Coorong and through the Fleurieu Peninsula to Goolwa, where we visited the mouth of Murray (on Hindmarsh island – remember the secret women’s business controversy over the bridge to the island?) – very sad, as dredging started in 2002 to keep the river mouth open to the ocean, and continues today. Real evidence of climate change – or is it over-irrigation of the Murray river? At least the kids had fun with an impromptu sea sponge fight… Also visited a barrage (a big weir) to ensure the salt water stays out of the river system.

We then drove on to Victor Harbor (correct spelling – go figure), a nice little seaside town with a very noisy fair (yes, we had to let the boys have a go on the clowns with the ping pong balls). The highlight here was a horse-drawn tram over a long pier to Granite Island – Erin drove the tram!

We had booked ferry tickets next morning over to Kangaroo Island (KI), but on the spur of the moment we decided to catch the last ferry tonight – leaving at 6pm. Good choice! Bruce had fun backing the Winnebago onto the ferry, but otherwise all good. Had a late dinner at FISH, a small fish and chippery at Penneshaw on KI – best fish and chips we have ever eaten. Then drove through the dark (another first) to Brown Bay campground. Camped next to what sounded like the ocean..

Day 9 – April 10 – Brown Bay (KI) -> Flinders Chase (KI)

And it was! Lovely walk on the beach before breakfast, and then set off to see the sights of KI. Great day! First stop was Seal Bay, where we took a guided tour down to the beach and saw heaps of sea lions. Excellent tour – saw a whole microcosm of sea lion society – cheeky pups, maternal mums, young males practising their fighting skills for the upcoming mating season, and large males generally being lazy and sleeping in the sun. Nothing like our family!

Then we hotfooted down to Vivonne Bay to hire some sandboards and then went back to a place called Little Sahara (2km of very interesting dirt road off the main road) with huge sandhills – great for sandboarding and tobogganing. Had a ball! Erin and Luke were natural boarders (can’t wait to see how they go on snowboards), Ben was the fastest tobogganer on the hill, Bruce had the biggest stack of the day and Michelle took loads of great photos. Of course after each run we had to drag the board back up the hill… where’s the chairlift?

Then kept driving over towards the west coast of KI, into Flinders Chase national park. The park contains loads of forest and interesting walks, whereas the rest of the island seems to consist mainly of brush land. Stayed at a great campground called Rocky River – very quiet, except for the Cape Barren geese.

Day 10 – April 11 – Flinders Chase (KI) -> Brown Bay (KI)

Drove down to a rock feature called Remarkable Rocks, right down the south west corner of KI. Truly were remarkable! Unbelievable granite rocks of various shapes/sizes/angles/colours – lots of fun photo opportunities. Then drove on to Admirals Arch, another rock feature but more interesting were the hundreds of New Zealand fur seals, lazing about on precarious rocks only metres from the pounding ocean. And it smelled….

We asked about the quality of the dirt road up to the north coast of KI while we stopped briefly at the Flinders Chase national park visitor’s centre – and received some very bad advice… We were told it was OK, and we then proceeded to drive for about 50k on badly corrugated dirt road. A normal car would have been OK, but a four ton motorhome struggled. We averaged about 25k per hour and took a lot more time than we had hoped. We finally arrived at Paul’s Place, a wildlife sanctuary in the middle of nowhere. Very quirky farm run by Paul (weird guy) and his offsiders where you could feed and hold virtually every Australian wild animal you could think of. The animals were very tame and the kids had a ball. A crazy place that was actually a lot of fun.

Drove back to Brown Bay via Kingscote where we had another fill of fish and chips (good but not as great as Day 8). After we had set camp and put the kids into bed we found two penguins near the beach!

Day 11 – April 12 – Brown Bay (KI) -> Gawler

Before we broke camp Bruce checked the beach and found one of the penguins had fallen down a small crevasse. He told a ranger that was in the campsite and he promised to tell the Parks and Wildlife people, who could rescue it. Phew.. We then caught the ferry back to the mainland and drove up to McLaren Vale, where we went for a lovely bike ride around a few of the wineries – stopped at Primo (very good) and Serafino (average).

Then drove through Adelaide via Port Noarlunga (great kids’ playground). Tried out the GPS for the first time to make sure we picked the right roads to get out of Adelaide as quickly as possible. Worked well but took us down some terrible shopping mall strip and housing estate roads. Stayed at a caravan park in Gawler for the night.

Day 12 – April 13 – Gawler -> Melrose

More wine tasting today! This time the Clare Valley – we decided to give the Barossa a miss – some may say sacrilege but when you have three kids in a motorhome it doesn’t make visiting cellar doors very relaxing! On the way to Clare we visited a maze at Mintaro and a grand old mansion (now a guesthouse open to tourists) called Martindale Hall. The house was used in the movie ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ as the girls school. Absolutely amazing place – the rooms have been restored to how they would have looked in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, including a grand billiard room and a men’s smoking room (complete with trophies brought home from Papua New Guinea and South East Asia). Have to come back and stay here one day without the kids!

Stopped in at Skillogalee and Knapstein wineries – v. nice. Then hotfooted it up towards the Flinders Ranges. Quick stop at tiny Stone Hut (pop. 290) to visit an amazing bakery, where we bought some nice treats for dinner. Then stayed in a caravan park in Melrose at the foot of Mount Remarkable, a lovely bush setting where we started our first camp fire. Had dinner around the fire and watched hundreds of squawking cockatoos fly overhead.

Day 13 – April 14 – Melrose -> Wilpena Pound

Erin and Luke took in some BMX practice at the track behind the caravan park first thing, and we then drove up to Alligator Gorge for our first real Flinders Ranges experience. We did a 2 hour hike through Alligator Gorge in Mt Remarkable National Park. An interesting walk through the gorge with some narrow spots, and interesting red layered ancient rocks. The kids did well on the walk, starting out with heaps of energy and then (predictably) flagging later in the walk. Couple of great quotes during the walk:
Bruce: “Ben, put that poo down now!” (Ben was picking up dried kangaroo poo)
Ben: “I’m a fully charged iPod!” (when we were talking about the kids having lots of energy)

After a quick lunch we then drove up to Wilpena Pound National Park, up in the middle of the Finders Ranges. Stayed in a campground at Wilpena Pound Resort, and the kids had fun riding their bikes around the campground.