And into 2009
THURSDAY 1 – SATURDAY 3 JANUARY
Set off for Tony and Heather’s, following Tony’s instructions not to follow our TomTom’s instructions once we had reached a certain distance from their address. Unfortunately we missed a vital turning anyway, and headed up this winding road into the Adelaide Hills and ended up going into town from the wrong direction and completely missing our turning. Anyway, we finally got ourselves sorted out and eventually arrived at their home in Inglewood. Heather was patiently waiting at the gate, having driven down (!!) the drive to let us in. Very nice house in a lovely setting – amid trees on about 5 acres of hillside, complete with visiting kangaroos who nicked all the fruit from the fruit trees.
We spent a most enjoyable time with this lovely couple and their 3 Basenjis and a dopey chocolate Doberman who’s just visiting. Heather has a beautifully kitted out workroom just up the hill behind the house where she designs and makes the most lovely quilts. However, I have introduced her to the delights of pyrography, and she made such a great job of a picture from Sue Walters’ Pyrography Workbook that I hope she carries on.
Tony had restored a Model S Ford and had made a great job of it.
SUNDAY 4 JANUARY
Today we reluctantly took our leave from these kindly folk who had made us so welcome, with the promise that if ever we’re in Adelaide in the future we’ll visit them again, and likewise, if they get back to the old country, we wanna see them.
Drove back into Adelaide hoping to have a look around, but in spite of it being a Sunday there was loadsa traffic and nowhere to park. So we gave up on that idea and headed for Port Adelaide. We visited the very interesting Maritime Museum and the Sunday Market – there was even a lady there who was selling woodburned items – her stall was called ‘Burnt Offerings’ – had quite a lengthy chat. We then carried on down the coast a little way to the Adelaide Shores Caravan and Camping Resort. Marion K had warned us that it was just like a holiday camp and boy was she right. Very well laid out, but pretty near full with loads of families with kids – it is their summer hols after all
MONDAY 5 JANUARY
On down the highway to a nice but rather touristy town called Robe and booked in at the Lakeside Caravan Park. Soon after we pulled into our site a guy came over and asked if we would mind swopping places with him – He wanted to stay another night or so and the site he was set up on was already booked for the following day. No problem – all we had to do was unplug the electricity and pick up our little door mat. His move was much more complicated. There was he and his wife’s big tent and their teenage son’s tent – plus their fridge, their freezer, their cooking set-up including BBQ. Then there were their clothes and personal stuff, diving gear and finally their boat on its trailer!!!!! It was a hysterical site to see 6 blokes pick up the big tent and carry it across the grass. Of course, no-one had a camera ready – typical. He and his family were members of a Melbourne diving club on holiday diving for crayfish. We stood around, drinking with them and one of the other divers walked around with a hoooge plateful of cooked crayfish for us all to sample – yummy!! A little while later when everything settled down, the original guy came over with a goodsized cooked crayfish in his hand and said would we accept this as a token of their appreciation. Flippin’ ‘eck we just moved about 10 yards and turned the bus around. We were now actully backing on the the little lake, so we’d got the better end of the deal. But no, he was insistent, so our starter for dinner that night was fresh crayfish. We then joined the whole lot of them for drinks later that evening. What a great day.
TUESDAY 6 JANUARY
We decided to have a quick look around the town before fuelling up and heading for Mount Gambier
So we strolled around for a bit and then went to find some diesel. The first gas station we came to seemed a bit expensive, so we headed a hundred yards or so along the road to the next one. Guess wot!!! “Out of Order” so we started pulling away to go back to the other one. As we pulled onto the road, the engine died. Oh No!!! Looked out the back – no smoke. Jeff tried to start the engine – nuffink. It would turn over but not catch. He managed to move Betty G into a safer part of the road and had a look at the engine. “It looks like fuel starvation, but the fuel gauge is showing a quarter full” He checked through various things but couldn’t trace anything wrong, so he decided to go back to the other garage to see if there was a diesel mechanic who could help. A short while later and angel in blue overalls arrived. Jeff again said that he thought it was fuel starvation. So the guy also fiddled about and said “I think you’re out of fuel” to which Jeff replied “Can’t be – I’ve got a quarter of a tank. His reply was “Lets put some fuel in” Lucvkily we had our reserve 40 litres in the boot – and lo and behold after bleeding the system, we had ignition and Betty G was in business again, but with a faulty fuel gauge.
Panic over, we paid the man his $25, filled up at his gas station and carried on our merry way.
We drove into Mt Gambier, did a bit of shopping and then found a nice little caravan park quite near the city centre. We set up and then went for a walk into town. Just by the entrance to the park was a Podiatrist, and I said to Jeff, who had been having a bit of a footpain problem, “Why don’t you see if you can get a early appoinment”. Well he did and got an appoiment for the following morning. We carried on into the town and found one of the sinkholes that the town is famous for – all beautifully laid out in rose gardens. The town is actually built on the side of an extinct volcano and these sinkholes are the result of cave-ins in a huge tunnel system below the town. The town itself is very pretty – the inhabitants all seem to be proud of the place and the gardens reflect this.
WEDNESDAY 7 JANUARY
Jeff had his Podiatrist appointment first thing. He was given some padding to stick in his shoe which seems to be working wonders – no more foot pain. Which was good as we did quite a lot of walking to various attractions – one of which was the Information Centre with it’s display of local items including a mock-up of a 2-masted sailing ship, the Lady Nelson. We then walked to the Engelbrecht Cave and had a guided tour into the top part of this cave system which offers cave-divers a great experience. By this time we wuz walked out and returned wearily to our campsite.
THURSDAY 8 JANUARY
On our way out of Mount Gamier we visited the Umpherston Sinkhole, another beautifully landscaped hole in the ground – chocca-block with huge hydrangeas Spectacular!! We then drove to another famous sight in this area – the Blue Lake. Apparently from October to March this lake within a volcanic crater (extinct, of course) is the most vivid blue, then it reverts to a rather boring grey colour. No one knows the reason for this, possibly something to do with chemicals in the water.
We thought about staying at the Blue Lake Caravan Park, but decided to press on to Narrawong. It’s just as well we did because on the way to the campsite I spotted an advertisment for a rodeo being held in the next town the following night. As neither of us had ever attended on, we just had to take full advantage of this opportunity.