Fleurieu Peninsula

Granite Island

Only forty minutes from Adelaide and situated between the Mt Lofty Ranges and Gulf St. Vincent the picturesque McLaren Vale wine growing region was en route to Victor Harbor. The last time I travelled this area was 1985 and as I had talked Victor Harbor up to Ade, I was seriously hoping time had only increased the charm of this small town nestled in the wide arc of Encounter Bay. Causeway & Tram to Granite Island

Yes it has and as expected the town has grown but also retained that old world feel with its early colonial architecture and even a Clydesdale-drawn tram across the 600m causeway to Granite Island home to resident Little Penguins. The Caravan Park we stayed at was on Encounter Bay so named by Matthew Flinders of the Investigator after his encounter with French explorer Nicholas Baudin on board the Le Geographe in 1802. There were huge piles of seaweed washed up on the beach providing sniff delight for the woofs on our daily walks.

Cape Jervis

Our drive along the coast to Cape Jervis has to be the prettiest country we have seen on the whole trip. Cape Jervis is at the southern tip of the peninsula and the departure point for the passenger and car ferry service across Backstairs Passage to Kangaroo Island. Rural scenes of rolling hills, pine forests, vineyards, berry farms, fat Angus and Freesian cattle grazing on thick pastures (they probably never have to walk more than a metre in a day to feed), sheep, goats, alpacas as well, and superb views of the southern ocean and Gulf St. Vincent.

Australia's third largest island is best known for its spectacular wildlife and unspoilt natural habitat and has a growing reputation for producing fine wine and foods, including local marron (fresh water crayfish), cheese, honey, lamb, herbs, spices and sauces. Definitely a destination worthy of a few days to explore and devour gourmet delights - next time.

Kangaroo Island Ferry We headed back to Victor Harbor along the coast of the Gulf and stopped at Lady Bay to view the commemorative site of the ex-HMAS Hobart a guided missile destroyer which has been sunk 4 kilometres offshore and is now used as a dive wreck. We travelled up to Normanville, a seaside town known for beautiful white sandy beaches and inshore reefs and back across the country via Yankalilla - meaning place of falling bits! A farmer's town with tumbledown sheds, old stone farmhouses and stockyards located in the valley of the Bungala River. We never did find out the meaning of the falling bits!

We explored to the east of Victor Harbor travelling through Port Elliot to the town of Goolwa once a thriving river port and the last on the Murray River where paddle steamers and steam trains met to carry the inland produce. A bridge connects Goolwa to Hindmarsh Island and from Sugars Beach you can see where the mouth of the Mighty Murray empties into the Southern Ocean only impeded by a shifting mass of sand banks - very impressive. Ade reminded me of the infamous 'con' - secret women's business, aimed at halting housing and development on Hindmarsh Island . It was supposedly a sacred place to Aboriginal Women. From our observation the island is very barren with only a small number of new homes and more importantly a bird habitat and home to grazing black swans in winter and Cape Barren Geese in summer. I would guess it's a fisherman's paradise as well.

Murray River Mouth, Coorong National Park We travelled around Lake Alexandrina to Langhorne Creek, home to eight cellar doors and one of the oldest and fastest growing wine regions producing outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. The grape vines had the thickest gnarled trunks we have seen and the area also boasts olives groves, almond orchards and a horseradish farm within its food culture.

Kingsbrook Inn

Just down the road is Strathalbyn a small town with a history dating back to 1839 when it was settled by Scottish migrants. There is a strong Celtic influence in the old stone buildings with cast iron lacework, and the town is a well regarded centre for antiques with a dozen or so antique dealers and an annual antique fair. On our way back to Victor Harbour we passed the Kingsbrook Inn established in 1852, a little touch of Italy, quite a contrast and surrounded by vineyards. Are we really in Australia?

Another Vineyard

Next on the tour, the Limestone coast our last area to explore in South Australia before heading across the border to Victoria.

The Barossa, Adelaide and Surrounds

All Roads Lead to Wineries

It seems that all roads in South Australia lead to food and wine growing regions and none more noteworthy than that of the Barossa Valley. Our main reason to stay here was to touch base with a former co-worker of ours from Duracell days. Dean and his lovely lady Sabina who run a produce agency in nearby One Tree Hill, joined us for a meal and memory lane visit at our camp. The camp was on the edge of the local athletic field and we were entertained by the local junior cricket teams, pint size players taking their game very seriously and providing much entertainment.

Seppelts Family Mausoleum

The strong German influence here is easily confirmed by the number of Lutheran churches and like the vineyards and cellar doors, there seems to be one around every corner. The first grapes were planted in 1839 and some of the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world are found in the Barossa which is the largest wine producing area in Australia. The major town of Gawler was in close proximity as well as the pretty villages of Lyndoch, Tanunda, Nuriootpa and Angaston nestled between the rolling hills and acres of vineyards. The old stone cottages, antique shops, art galleries, restaurants, etc all just add that special appeal to enjoy the experience of the Barossa. Again I have to mention the beautiful roses that were just everywhere - so numerous in number, colour and form. I had a strong urge to become "the phantom rose thief" - if only I had a pair of secateurs!

A highlight for me was visiting Maggie Beer's produce farm and sampling her specialised produce from the farm door! Yummy sauces, pate's, pastes, jams etc. - very hard not to purchase a few. Ade discovered the pheasants in the garden which were most interesting with wonderful colourful plumage but really I didn't want to think of them ending up in the pate' I enjoy so much. One could say this region is a gourmet's delight with the bakeries producing traditional German yeasted cakes and breads, butchers with smoked mettwurst and bratwurst sausages, locally produced cheeses and beer from the boutique breweries as well as farmers' markets showcasing local produce.

Fine Plumage at the Pheasant Farm

As we both had been to Adelaide before we didn't spend a lot of time in the city preferring to travel further afield and spend our time exploring the coast south of Adelaide. It seemed the whole of Adelaide had headed for the suburb of Glenelg on the picture perfect Saturday morning we visited. The kids were still in primary school last time I was in Glenelg, just west of the city, and as happens there has been a transformation from a small seaside suburb to a very trendy thriving cosmopolitan village with its high rise apartment buildings, shopping and cafe society and to top it off, the beach which hasn't changed!

View from Wittons Bluff

We drove south to Port Noarlunga an old port township on the Onkaparinga River. We had wonderful views from Wittons Bluff over the jetty and the heritage listed reef which is fully exposed at low tide and the protected marine reserve, a popular local diving spot. The reef was the cause of shipwrecks in the early days of coastal schooners.

Next stop Victor Harbor, new territory for Ade, and once again I haven't visited since my big kids were little tackers!

Yorke Peninsular

Wallaroo Sunset

One could be forgiven for thinking we had landed in Europe as the shape of the Yorke Peninsular looks like the boot of Italy. Yorkes as the locals affectionately call it is easy to criss cross and explore, only a two and a half hour drive from top to bottom and thirty minutes across. Matthew Flinders named the region in the early 19th century and before European settlement the traditional owners were the Narungga people. There are wonderful bays and beaches, jetties, historic buildings, charming stone cottages with the most stunning rose gardens, wildlife, rolling farmland, grain terminals, lighthouses and all that goes with it.

Restored Stone Cottage

We stayed at Wallaroo on the northern end of the Spencer Gulf for a couple of nights where we had front row seats from the van to view the stunning sunsets over the water. We had long walks on the wide sandy beach with the dogs. Brie was in her element playing chasey with the bird life and took off at the rate of knots to catch them until her extending leash pulled her up short! Darn - missed again! Bere is a good paddler and unlike his sister doesn't mind being wet though we need to pay attention to him as he has disappeared in pools on a couple of occasions - the trials for our blind boy. Wallaroo has a modern marina where the Spencer Gulf prawn fleet is based and local boaties moor their toys.

An Original Cottage

Copper was discovered in 1850 in nearby Kadina and when skilled Cornish miners worked the Wallaroo and Moonta mines it was referred to as "Australia's Little Cornwall" and the three towns are commonly known as the Copper Triangle. Even though the mines closed in 1923 the cultural mix from these settlers lives on with all things Cornish from the hogs pudding, ginger pop and more importantly the home made Cornish Pasties! Oh yeah, food again and I have never tasted a Pasty like it - delicious!

The Before

Our next move was to Port Vincent on the eastern side to catch up once again with our travelling friends from Brisbane, Syd and Lorelle for a few days. Another delightful historic little town, this time on the Gulf of St. Vincent and once again our camp site was right on the water. Syd couldn't wait to take Ade gardening and with rake and rubbish bin in hand the two of them set off. This was gardening with a twist!
...and after - yummy!

The boys were like two little kids let loose in a lolly shop. The first day they came back with eight Blue Swimmer Crabs which required a special rake to extricate them from their sandy hideaways in waist deep water. In their enthusiasm they broke the rake (Ade reckons it was a giant crab that got away). We cooked the crabs in the camp pot and thought we were the bee's knees devouring our fresh crab meal. Day two, with new rake in hand they set off again returning with 42 of these delectable little crabs this time. Hours later after the cooking process we sat back and engorged ourselves all over again, and still had plenty left!

By the time we said goodbye to our friends and moved south to Edithburgh the weather had deteriorated. Wind and rain prevailed and the temperatures dropped considerably. In actual fact we had a howling gale for two days and by now we should know what to expect when there is a wind farm nearby! No taking advantage of the tidal swimming pool at our front door with this lousy weather so instead we went exploring. On an historic note here, I read that the Yorke Peninsular is the resting place of 85 shipwrecks and Edithburgh the site of at least six of them.

The Lime Kiln from above
The rich limestone soils produce bumper crops of barley and wheat and Yorkes is known as the Barley Capital of Australia. It's said you can find a little part of Yorke in every glass of Aussie Beer. We think you could be in England with the countryside dotted with stone ruins and dry stone walls, wheat and barley fields waving in the breeze and narrow roads my imagination lends me to believe could be country lanes - but no horse or hay carts on the horizon!
.....and below
We probably drove through all the towns and along all the coast roads. There are views across the treacherous waters of Investigator Strait to Kangaroo Island from Stenhouse Bay. We were fascinated by the historic Lime Kiln ruin dug into the cliffs at Wool Bay where lime was collected and burned from the late 19th century until the 1950's. It was then shipped to Adelaide to be used in mortar for the building industry. The town of Minlaton has a memorial to daredevil pioneer aviator, Captain Harry Buttler who flew across the Gulf from Adelaide in a WWI Bristol monoplane known as the Red Devil to deliver the Royal Mail in 1919. Our last stop in Yorkes was at Tiddy Widdy Beach to see how "tiddy widdy" it was. We had a good laugh but there was nothing to get excited about!

The Red Devil

Tiddy Widdy Beach

Lots to take in and we continue to be amazed at our wonderful country. More to see and particularly in the infamous wine country of the Barossa, our next port of call.

Eyre Peninsular

Early Evening Streaky Bay

The Eyre Peninsular looks remarkably like the continent of India; lays claim to fame as the seafood capital of Australia (as the brochures tell us), with an abundance of cold water fish, oysters, abalone, scallops, mussels, prawns, blue swimmer crabs, and rock lobster, etc. What a great place to visit!

The Foreshore Tourist Park located on the shore of Streaky Bay and the Great Australian Bight was a good base for us to explore this northern part of the Peninsular. This charming village has beautiful old stone buildings from the pioneering days and its history dates back to 1802 when Matthew Flinders named the bay for the bands of colour in the water from the seaweed oils. By the 1880's the area became an important port for the shipment of wheat and wool which remains as the major industry today.

Mommas and Poppas of Point Labatt

We all know how Adrian loves driving on corrugated dirt roads, but as he wanted to see the Sea-lion colony 51 kilometres south it didn't seem to be such a major concern this time! Point Labatt Conservation Park is home to the only permanent breeding Sea-lion Colony in Australia. We watched these puppy dogs from the sea riding the ocean waves and the youngsters frolicking about in the rock pools from the cliff top lookout 50 metres above the sandy cove. Most of the big mommas and poppas were 'hanging around' sunbathing on the rocks no doubt after a few days of fishing! Point Labatt is also a resting place for New Zealand Fur Seals. The bird life we spotted amongst the Sea Lions were Pied Cormorants and Crested Terns.

Point Labatt

The Westall Way Loop Drive and the Cape Bauer Loop Drive close to Streaky Bay provided another contrast of spectacular scenery with granite cliffs, white sandy beaches, huge sand dunes, and blowholes. Here Southern Osprey, White Bellied Sea Eagles and Peregrine Falcons inhabit the area and it is also a breeding ground for these feathered creatures.

Oyster Beds Coffin Bay

Our next stop for a couple of nights was further south at Coffin Bay where some of the finest oysters in the world are harvested. The bays, inlets and waterways provide ideal conditions for fishing and water sports as well. This was a good base to enable us to travel to Port Lincoln on the eastern side of the southern Eyre Peninsular. I should mention that views from the Winter Hill Lookout of the rolling green hills down to the blue waters of the natural harbour of Boston Bay are quite spectacular. Port Lincoln first settled in 1839, is a thriving modern community with a population of 15,000 supported mainly by the aquaculture industry and in particular Blue Fin Tuna. Southern Rock Lobsters, Western King prawns, oysters and King George Whiting are also on the menu - hard to take! One of the tourist opportunities we saw advertised is swimming (in a cage) with 'the exciting predators of the sea', Great White Sharks - shark bait, no thanks, it didn't really appeal to my sense of adventure.

Port Lincoln

A little more my speed was the Alex Stenross Maritime Museum on the site of the boat building workshop on Boston Bay. Alex Stenross, the descendent of two generations of Finnish boat builders, was born in 1895 and first went to sea at the age of 12. He came to Australia from Finland in 1927 as a ship's carpenter and set up his business in 1928 repairing and building boats and continued until a few days before his death in 1980. The museum has his original boat building tools and maintains the slipway for todays small craft.

Alex Stenross Museum
After our stay at Coffin Bay, we headed north on the Lincoln Highway on the eastern side with Spencer Gulf separating us from the York Peninsular. Quick side trips into the small seaside villages of Tumby and Arno Bays, Port Neill and Cowell before stopping for a couple of nights on the Whyalla foreshore. I should say the 'windy' Whyalla foreshore - Ade had to hold the door open so I could get in and out of the van and the poor little woofs almost turned inside out! The only bonus was the spectacular views of wind surfers rising way up out of the water and travelling at incredible speed. Whyalla is another one of those rusty red towns thanks to the iron ore industry. The ore from Iron Knob in the Middleback Ranges is railed to the site at the Whyalla Port 54 kilometres west where it is transformed into 90 different grades of steel before shipment.

Whyalla Wind Surfer

As those of you who are regular readers will know, I'm over red dirt in a big way so I was very happy to move on to what I hoped would be greener and less windy pastures!

Rusty Red Whyalla

The Nullabor Plain

The Straight Stretch, Eyre Highway

We returned to Norseman on Friday and at precisely 11am we started our journey across the Nullabor Plain; Australia's great road journey with the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean to the south and the Great Sandy Desert to the north.

Weather was cold and overcast as we travelled to our first camp at Baxters Rest between Balladonia and Caiguna on the longest straight stretch of road in the country, 146 kilometres. We aren't playing the Nullabor Links and for those who haven't heard of the latest tourist attraction, you can play 18 holes of golf from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna in South Australia; the longest golf course in the world at 1,365 kilometres. We couldn't help but wonder how the 'Tiger' would handle the distance!

Firstly we passed by Fraser Range, granite hills supporting a Eucalyptus hardwood forest of more than 20 species about 100 kilometres out and then the 90 mile or 146 kilometre straight stretch on this Eyre Highway. Next the town of Balladonia which made headlines around the world in 1979 when space debris from Skylab landed here. Small clumps of wildflowers, spindly trees, red dirt through to a clay looking landscape and no sheep, no cattle, an occasional dead emu on the side of the road and I almost forgot, no noisy crows! A nullaboring road according to the mere male sitting beside me!

Cliffs of The Great Australian Bight

An uneventful overnight stop and still no sun the next morning as we continued on our journey to South Australia with a two and a half hour time difference to deal with down the track. This is one big expanse of flat country as far as the eye can see. An amazing view after Madura which is midway between Perth and Adelaide. We descended at Madura pass from the Hampton Tablelands to a spectacular view of the grey green nothingness of the Roe Plains. The Moodini Bluff lies to the north and the ridge of the tablelands which would have once been the ocean cliffs continued in view and we realised we were driving on what was once the ocean floor.

Coming into Eucla twelve kilometres before the border we had amazing views of the Delisser Sandhills and for the first time, the Southern Ocean. We climbed to the tablelands and travelled along the ridge over the border crossing into South Australia (time change) and there was the Great Australian Bight in all its glory. Surf and majestic cliffs and the sun shining for the first time today - bloody marvellous said the other half! We saw a family of emus; mum and dad crossed the road in front of us and the youngsters numbering at least six had the good sense not to follow them.
Tried to grab a photo but we were travelling to fast.

Bunda Cliffs Vegetation

133klm (from the border) Rest Stop at Bunda Cliffs for our second overnight stay. We camped probably 100 metres from the cliffs of the Bight and a walk to near the edge was a creepy experience with strong winds and a sheer drop of up to 90 metres below. Definitely not an area where you would want to sleep walk! Lots of beautiful wildflowers and we saw 'brere rabbit' who was most unfriendly and took off down his burrow when he saw us. Sunday morning I did a big cook up of our left over fresh vegetables (no food for our unfriendly bunny) to avoid losing them at the fruit fly quarantine station at Ceduna. First town, if you could call it a town, was Nullabor, "nullus arbor" meaning treeless plain, an area of 200,000 square kilometres and up to 300 metres thickness of the worlds flattest piece of limestone. Passed by Yalata and the dog proof fence which goes for miles and miles to the north (dingos and wild dogs) and then the road took us up and on to another tableland and hills with thicker vegetation and small trees.

The landscape started to change before we reached Penong, meaning waterhole, with cultivated pasture and sheep stations and continued as we travelled on to Ceduna and the end of our journey on the Nullabor Plain. Ceduna, derived from the Aboriginal word Chedoona meaning resting place, sounded inviting, but we decided to push on to Streaky Bay another 100 kilometres south on the Eyre Peninsular of South Australia.