Caravan Capers

Bit of a driving day today, although by the time we packed up, stopped off in Port Augusta for groceries and fuel and got going, it was midday! Quite flat countryside heading down into the Eyre Peninsula and lots of red dust. Looked like a dust storm had come through as we left, as there was a dusty red haze over the hills. Whyalla for lunch and a glimpse of kite surfers off the foreshore. Amazing turquoise coloured water – obviously quite shallow for quite a long way out and very few waves despite the strong winds – and kite surfers zipping rapidly up and down.
Passed through a few small coastal towns on the way south but decided to make for Port Lincoln for the night. Not really sure where to go from there, or how long to spend doing it. Holed up for the night at Port Lincoln Tourist Park. Nice enough caravan park and good clean amenities, but small sites that would put you right on top of your neighbours in peak times. Not sure how long we’ll stay here.

Another 6.30 am awakening! Was keen to do the 18 km Hidden Gorge walk (at least I was keen before yesterday’s walk, unlike himself), but we erred on the side of sanity and walked up to Mount Sugargum lookout (8 km easy grade along Mambray Creek with last 800m or so being quite a steep uphill – bit of an understatement really!). Toiling up the last steep slopes, were ever hopeful of a fantastic vista to greet us and make it all worth while. Unfortunately the vista was pretty ordinary and the bugs were keenly in attendance so not sure it was worth that last effort. Nice walk along the creek though and ran into some emus on the way back. One of them was wandering straight down the track towards us and only detoured off briefly (accompanied by much deep rumbling and grunting) when we vacated our section of track. Back in camp by ~2.30, ready for a good going laze around. Really restful sitting in the sun (yes the weather seems finally to have turned in our favour) reading a novel, occasionally taking in the changing light on the hills. Finally got around to the Davey’s Gully walk ~ 6 pm. Fantastic walk! Gentle stroll through gullies and up around open hillsides, wildlife and wildflowers galore, particularly euros and their babies, and the sun setting over Spencer Gulf in the distance. A fitting end to our time in this great place. Just a taste of the Flinders Ranges. Would love to see more of them, particularly further north. Maybe next time!

Unfortunately had new neighbours move in on Friday. Probably quite pleasant but the kids had the loudest voices I have ever heard, especially one little girl for whom the descriptor “stentorian” is remarkably appropriate, especially when used to good effect at 6.30 am. Forced out of bed eventually and set off to the northern end of the park to walk the Alligator Gorge Ring Route trail. Ended up combining several walks into the day, including the Alligator Gorge loop (takes you through “The Narrows”, a fantastic narrow gorge lined by red rock cliffs and with Alligator creek running along the bottom), the ring route round the rest of Alligator Gorge, bit of an add-on of 3 km up to the Battery for views (and bonus kangaroos) over Spencer Gulf. Total of about 14 km. We sound very fit, but in fact could barely walk and were groaning quite a lot long before we reached the home stretch! Certainly giving the new boots a work out! Couldn’t quite get up the energy to do Davey’s Gully (2.4 km loop from our campsite recommended as as evening or early morning walk) so had a nice hot shower, opened a bottle of vino and vegged out.

Set off for Port Augusta after breakfast for new tyres for the prado. Robbie and his offsider Reuben at Tyrepower were more than helpful. Had 5 left of the BF-Goodrich all terrain tyres on special so we will have a useful spare as well, instead of the current spare with an intransigent slow leak. Also gave directions for the bike route over the river into town. Port Augusta is really well set up from an infrastructure perspective. Great bike and pedestrian trail running along the river into town and out beyond, green areas, playgrounds for kids, swimming beaches onto Spencer Gulf. Really nice, yet you could easily just pass through and not realise what was on offer. We found the post office and picked up our first consignment of mail forwarded on by our trusty housesitters. Then on to the Wadlata Outback and visitor information centre for some local info, a coffee and a taste of quandongs (native peach) in the shape of a small pie – really quite good! Back to pick up the car and got a bit of local insider info from Robbie, who also used to be the mayor. Drove out to the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens – bit peckish by then as had been at least an hour since coffee and pie so had to have lunch before considering any other activity. Wandered around the various trails through different arid land displays, including display gardens as examples of what could be done at home. By then we were a bit hot and weary (temperatures had climbed up to the high 20s!!) and Chris had already retreated to the air conditioned car to do some work, so we headed out through Port Augusta and back to camp via Quorn, Wilmington and Horrocks Pass (very scenic coming down through the pass – rolling green hills, eucalypts, glimpses of Spencer Gulf and then the vista of the Gulf opening up before you as you descend back down onto the flat plains. The rocks of the Flinders glow a russet red in the setting sun with the lines of strata clearly visible against the green of the hills. Interesting the play of light at different times of day – the rock strata blend in to the rest of the hill in the morning light. Aiming for a proper walk in Mount Remarkable tomorrow.

Huge load of washing his morning plus many phone calls to tyre and caravan places in search of the right tyres for the car and the appropriate bits of plumbing stuff. Would you believe that because our Prado is the base model GX it comes with steel rims. Not the usual size rims that all other prados have! Oh no, ours are “unusual”. After being told apprpriate tyres would have to be ordered from Melbourne, we tried a place in Port Augusta – not only do they have the right size in stock, but they frequently fit his size tyre to various government vehicles passing through, so will be able to drive there from our (hopefully wild NP) camp site tomorrow. Also finally found a caravan spares place. When we got there Chris’s comment was “this is an Aladdin’s cave for caravans”. Everything you could possibly need available, including the push-pull plumbing fittings and check valve required for our little problem. Suddenly everything seems to be going right again. Still have feeling of impending doom about finding a free camp site though…….
Crawled out of Adelaide (traffic horrendous in the middle of the day) and then belted up the A1. Picnic lunch in Port Wakeleigh then onward. Arrive Mambry Creek campground ~3.45pm. Looked pretty crowded…… Ran into a “camp host” who told us to have a look around but it was looking pretty full…… Found a free site!! Whoo hoo! Set up camp, had a quick look around then cracked a bottle of Pinot Gris and set the fresh flathead fillets to BBQing (started off with 1/2 doz fresh oysters – yum!). Life’s pretty tough when you’re roughing it!

Packed up and left by 9.30 am. Amazing for us! Aim today is to get some plumbing supplies for Chris to fix our pump / water system problem. Distilled down to valve problem in pump rather than pump itself (too much pressure from mains with way pump had been originally inserted). Also to source new tyres for car and get my hair done (a vitally important task!!). Managed to get some supplies for the van and (surprise surprise!) get my hair organised, but the tyres are so far proving more challenging. Plan B is now to try some local dealers in the morning to see (a) do they have something appropriate in stock and (b) can they fit them asap, or alternatively, Plan C, which is to try some dealers in Port Augusta which is the closest major centre to our next port of call, Mount Remakable NP in the southern Flinders ranges (pray there are available camp sites!!). Also have to try to pick up our mail in Port Augusta – here’s hoping!
Managed to fit in one cellar door stop in the McLaren Vale at Dog Ridge Estate on the way . Friendly and accommodating host, good wine, fine artwork and two very amenable curly coated retrievers made the experience most enjoyable.
Later, in the van…… ^$#%@!@ (edit, edit) – “leaking *&^$^@#!” Guess we need more bits……? Or some araldite??

Off for a longer walk today….. Maybe?? Weather having trouble making up its mind what to do. Sunny one minute, raining the next, so am writing interim blog entry while awaiting resolution. Kangaroo hopped through camp while sitting contemplating nature (as they do). Need to head out to somewhere civilized today so himself can get his internet fix. Zero mobile coverage here, even with the you beaut yagi aerial. May have to move on a bit more quickly from now on and select carefully where we really want to go, as 3 months is not really that long in the greater scheme of things. Can understand why people might take 12 months or more to do this type of trip. We won’t get up into the more northern Flinders Ranges this trip as the distances and time involved will be just too great. Will try for Mt Remarkable NP though. It’s in the southern Flinders range on the way to Port Augusta (where hopefully we’ll pick uo some mail) and the campground there is also highly recommended – more hot showers! Hopefully if we get there during the week, rather than at a weekend, we’ll find a free site! It is s long weekend in SA this weekend though…..
Found mobile coverage within 2 km of our campsite (&*&%&%#$!!).. Typical! Cape Jervis has ferry terminal and not much else. Could see Kangaroo Island from there though. Nice, even though we’re not going there this trip! Did I mention the cost?? Back towards Yankalilla in search of a bakery and coffee. Found great coffee and lunch in a little coastal town called Normanville – the “Courthouse Cafe”. Very good cauliflower and blue cheese soup with crusty bread…..
Back to Deep /creek in the hopes of getting a walk in. Intermittent sun and rain today and not looking hopeful for coming out of it dry…. but decided to give the Cobbler Hill – Blowhole Beach  circuit a go – only 6.7 km and graded hard (track notes reckoned would take 3.5 hrs). Amazing views out over the ocean towards Kangaroo Island, lots of western grey kangaroos lazing around…… and stayed sunny with the first drops of rain falling only when we were back in the car (1 hr 50 min later – not sure if their estimates of walk duration is way off, or if we’re actually getting fitter – seems unlikely but one can live in hope!). Continued to rain intermittently all night and into the next morning…..

Stopped off at the Bluff (just outside VH) on the way. Steep climb up to some great coastal views. Spotted some dolphins as well.
Success at Stringybark campground! Huge choice of camp sites. Settled ourselves at site #8, which required some leveling of van using rocks and wheel chocks but all good in the end. Tootled off on the 5 km Spring wildflower walk. Lots of delicate pink, yellow, red and orange flowers (can’t you can tell I’m a horticulturist and botanist extraordinaire?). Felt very virtuous for completing it in 1.25 hr instead of the 2.5 hrs stated in the walk notes (but maybe you’re supposed to look more closely at the flowers on the way??). Made a camp fire and toasted marshmallows! Lucky the previous campers had left some wood in the fire pit! Bit chilly but overall not too bad.

Woke up to rain but turned into a glorious day. No one in office still (manager was unwell yesterday) to pay. Cycled ~ 20 km of the Encounter Cycleway from near our park up to Middleton via the Mitre 10 in Port Elliot (for plumbing fittings – no luck, and other necessaries). Looks like a great place for surfing, judging by the number of surfers out and the size of the waves. Stopped for lunch in Port Elliot (Ricardo’s – superb pizza, altho’ 9″ would have been better than 12″ for the purposes of being able to continue to function on a bike!). No photos unfortunately, as left camera back at camp! Little penguin guided walk on Granite Island 6.30 pm. Penguins were great although too few in number (apparently numbers have declined from 2000 in 2001 to ~140 now). Beef madras curry for dinner (beef from the butcher in Penola unbelievably tender despite my cooking!) and a very good bottle of Majella merlot to go with it.

Great morning. Breakfast in the sun admiring the lake. Good day for windsurfing but considered the water might be too cold to risk (and himself from the icy wastes of the UK!). Out of the park before 10 am. A first!! Took the ferry across to Wellington (hadn’t realised this was required going this way but very nice interlude) with the aim of getting down to Deep Creek CP for the night. Looking forward to camping in the Conservation Park and utilising some of the benefits of the park pass we had. Also the Stringybark campground had been highly recommended by the parks officer in Naracoorte (hot showers and everything!). Stopped for late morning tea in Strathalbyn. Lots of historic stone houses and buildings, some galleries and good coffee. On to Goolwa and brief stop to admire some very good wildlife (mostly birdlife) paintings at the Porter St Wildlife Gallery. Through Victor Harbour and down to Deep Creek CP. Great anticipation for this, as the parks officer in Naracoorte had highly recommended Stringybark campground. All sites taken when we arrived! Disaster!  Had to turn around and head back to a regular van park in Victor Harbour. Perhaps try again Monday in hopes that mainly weekend campers (although also first weekend of school holidays so perhaps only faint hope of free site!). Further disaster (about time we had a few more disasters on this trip as blog becoming downright boring)! Water tank on van overflowing when system connected up for mains water plus 12V water pump non-functional! Fortunately still have hand pump so not really that much of a disaster – oh well!

After fiddling around for a while Chris decided he could probably pull it all apart and fix things if he could get parts (good luck with it being Sunday tomorrow). Only slightly worrying, with ever so faint visions of huge puddles of water forming in the cupboards and bits of piping leaking in all directions. But I have faith (really).