My Adventure – Back on the Road!

So, where was I?

Or maybe I should start with the stutter?

So after Tassie and my fly in fly out Bacchus Marsh Bowls Club experience the plan was to give my sister a hand to fix up her place a bit. But as soon as I get to Adelaide I’m crook for a few days! Thought it was f**king COVID, but several RATs proved differently. So after shaking what turned out to be a nasty head cold I started work on my sisters place. Cut down several large fruit trees and dug it the stumps, general tidy up of the yard. Then plastered some issues and painted most of the inside of the house (not the bedrooms). Hard work, but satisfying.

Whilst in Adelaide I went to the theatre to watch a show with my sister . We went to watch The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of my favourite books (Oscar Wilde’s only book). It was put on as part of the Adelaide festival. It was a one person show – Erin Jean Norvell playing all of the parts of the play. It was simply breathtaking. Erin was accompanied on stage by a dozen black clad supporters who changed her, added make up or shot live video of her. This video was beamed onto numerous screens on stage and were matched with pre recorded video that the live action interacted with. Not sure if this is going to a wider audience, but it was stunning and I would highly recommend it! Five Stars for sure!! To top the night off I shamed my sister by severely out drinking her – shame on you sis! Still love ya though!

Also went to the footy to watch Port Adelaide v Hawthorn. One of DPS’s ex students playing in his 50th game for Port. The Hawks belted them – thought some of the Melbourne clubs fans were feral, wow! Just glad I was wearing black and white!

The plan was to take mum back to Bacchus Marsh with me for a visit. But first my wife, then my daughter came down with COVID. Delayed my return by a few days. No trip for Mum!

Got back to Bacchus Marsh and then flew to Launceston to have the stent removed from my bile duct. Once again the folk at Launceston General Hospital were simply amazing – other hospitals would do well to follow their lead on efficiency, communication, patient care and wellbeing and all round decent humanity! You guys are superstars!

So now, on Monday 4th April, my journey proper recommences. First stop Mt Gambier.

Took a road I haven’t travelled before. Via Hamilton. Nice quiet drive. Amazing how some of us old owns have clearly seen better days and some are still thriving. Go figure – sure there are reasons, just seemed pretty random.

After a good four hour drive I did some grocery shopping and headed to the Blue Lake Big 4 Caravan Park. Wow – right next to the Blue Lake. Nice big powered site (lush grass – good for tents), great staff, awesome amenities. By the time I set up camp I was fairly tuckered out. Had a quick walk to the lake to have a look – as stunning as I remembered.

Next day I did the “Blue Lake Grand Circuit”. It’s about a 4 km walk around the edge of the old crater. The Blue Lake is a large crater lake located in a dormant volcano – one of four lakes of the like in the area around Mt Gambier (although only two now have water in them). The last eruption of the volcano was estimated at about 4500 years ago. The lake supplies the drinking water for the township of Mt Gambier. During the months of December to April the water in the lake turns an brilliant cobalt blue, caused by an increase in calcium carbonate in the water that is heated by the summer sun. The crystals of the carbonate cause the wavelength of sunlight to scatter in such a way as to reflect a vivid blue. During the colder months the lake takes on a grey hue.

From here I visited Engelbrecht Caves. These caves are right in the middle of Mt Gambier and are just beautiful. It’s a sink hole cave system and is available for cave diving (bugger that – nice to look at from above the surface thank you!).

Visited the cave garden next. A sink hole again that used to supply the water for the township. A once beautiful spot – now spoilt by f••king idiot who have thrown all sorts of stuff down there. Now littered with rubbish, sports equipment and even a shopping trolley – lift ya game City of Mt Gambier Council, keep this place pristine!

My next destination was Naracoorte Caves. Unfortunately, between Mt Gambier and Naracoorte lies the Coonawarra Wine District – better support the local industry. So I aimed to do a cellar door going up and one coming down. Only fair.

One thing I did discover was the vast forestry industry that is situated between Mt Gambier and Naracoorte. Centred around a massive timber mill in Tarpeena (building currently underway to make it even bigger). Got to drive through hectares of pine plantations of various ages – some fallow, some with trees only a metre high right the way up to trees that must just about be ready for harvest.

The winner of the cellar door was Leconfield. Spent a lovely time at the cellar door here, only customer for about 45 min. Some beautiful wine – would definitely recommend their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon. The host and I had a good old chinwag. Turns out her parents used to run The Alice Wanderer (a tour company in Alice Springs) during the late 80’s early 90’s and we shared a range of stories about the Red Centre. Bought some wine and she even chucked in a couple of “taster bottles” that were open for the cellar door- “but might be past there best” – top person.

Off to the Naracoorte caves these caves were formed millions of years ago as part of geological activity along the limestone coast. Visited three systems altogether – great fun! Got to see the following …..

Stick Tomato Cave

Alexandria Caves

And the really interesting Victoria Caves. Interesting because this cave is full of fossils of prehistoric megafauna. Really cool!

So, on the way back to Mt Gambier dropped into Wynns Winery cellar door. Nice range of wine, but managed by one of the big wine conglomerates. Hence not nearly as pleasant an experience as my morning one – Cab Sav stand out for me.didn’t buy any though!

Back to camp via a quick squiz at the Valley Lake. Another crater lake. It was getting a bit dark, so photos of this are pretty dodgy, not gonna share crap!

Next day (Wednesday) off to Kangaroo Island. Another loop of the lake before heading off on the nearly six hour drive to Cape Jervis to catch the ferry. Those who have done any driving between Melbourne and Adelaide know- it’s boring as anything. To reward myself for suffering such a crappy drive I did stop at Goolwa to visit the Fleurieu Whisky Distillery. Again I was the soul customer (mmmm is it me??) and had a lovely chat about the distillery, education (she’s an ex chalkie – packed it in 2016). Asked her about the naming of their three releases named after Police/Sting songs. Her husband and co-owner is a music buff and when their first release was bottled they named it “Message in a Bottle” to recognise that all that goes into producing a bottle of whisky has a story and each distillery has its own story that gets distilled into what is inside each bottle (kinda like that explanation – nice sentiment). The second release was a lot drier than the first, so it was named “Tea in the Sahara” ( makes sense). Their latest release is called “Englishman in New York” and is in recognition of where our world is at the moment and encourages individuals to “Be yourself no matter what they say” as the lyric from the song suggests!

Late ferry to KI saw me get in about 9:00 pm to caravan park. Pitched tent in the dark – still there in the morning. Go me!!

Awoke to find I was in an amazing caravan park (Kangaroo Island Seafront Holiday Park) Right next to the waterfront. HUGE sites, fantastic amenities. They even have family dome tents, massive clamping tents and cabins. Definitely coming back here for a longer “posher” stay.

So Thursday was going to be a big day of wining and dining! Before I took in a s••reload of calories thought I should burn some in the bank. Took a quick trip to Lashmer Conversation Area – just East if Penneshaw. An hour long walk along another pristine beach on Antechamber Bay.

So, some calories in the bank – off to Dudley Wines overlooking Cuttlefish Bay. This would have to be the most spectacular location for a cellar door of any winery I’ve visited (trust be I’ve been to a few in my time!). Photo may do it justice. Spent a good hour here chatting to a couple of blokes (who left their wives chatting at another table). One of them was an ex teacher who had worked in Lajamanu and Arnhem Land in the 80’s – reminiscing about “silver bullets” and remote community teaching! His mate was a mad Crows fan so after their win in the Showdown against his Port side, “footy talk” ensued for the rest of the chat. As a Geelong supporter I was “ok” by them – may have been different if I had followed a Melbourne based team. The selection of wines were delicious – looooooved the Dudley Bubbly (a sparkling Chardonnay/Pinot Gris blend), The Stud Shiraz and The Hog Bay Cabernet Sauvignon. Might have snuck a box of six wines out with me (sorry Minister of Finance!).

Then went to three nice spots. Clifford’s Honey Farm, Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil Distillery (just for you NS!!) and Kangaroo Island Lavendar Farm.

Final destination for the day – KI Brewery! Lovely spot, great tasting room. Had a paddle of pale ale, IPA, amber ale and sparkling ale. Liked them all, but ended up with a Pale Ale Chaser.

Back to the caravan park. Felt a bit guilty about my calories for the day – so a walk along the main beach at Pennehaw made me feel at least a bit better!

Friday saw me back to nature! Looooong drive to Flinders Chase National Park. Saw some amazing sights – just gonna show you.

Visited the old store room at Weir’s Cove.

Then went to Remarkable Rocks.

Finally wet to Seal Bay.

A late ferry trip back to the mainland, then a white knuckle drive through “Roo Country” for and hour and a bit, before camping at Mum and Dad’s for the night.

Being back on the road is good. Miss people I love, but need to do this! Gonna be better for it. Til next time. BYOD!