Adelaide to Mt Gambier

 DAY 10 (4th May):  Adventures out into the Adelaide Hills!  We did a whirlwind tour of the Hills, stopping at all the important stops, most importantly the Chocolate Factory  :)  Unfortunately ran out of time to make any winery stops, although many weren't open on weekdays.
So, first stop, the BIG Rocking Horse at Gumeracha - tick Big Thing number 7 (I think) off the list.  The rocking horse itself is pretty awesome, the toy factory attached to it wasn't so much so, as over 50% of their stock was made elsewhere

 

 This is the big horse itself - its 18m high.

 

 There was also an animal farm there to walk through - we fed them.  The Kangaroo kept pawing for more food.  Kangaroos have quite sharp paws.  I didn't really know that.

 Another shot of the big ol' horse.  If you look closely, the kids are down the bottom, and yours truly is WAAAYY up the top of the head.  I even got me a certificate to say I did the climb - Woot!

 Second stop was the National Motor Museum in Birdswood.  This was a highlight of M's day!  I have to admit to finding it really interesting as well.  This car, for instance, had a steering column on a pivot, so if the road was bad, the driver could jump out, swing the steering wheel out, and run alongside the car so it wouldn't get bogged.  Not surprisingly, it was a one-of-a-kind.

 This one is in here for Mic.  Shiny..... fast.......vroooooommmmmmm

 Third Stop - Gorge Wildlife Park.  Lots of animals that you could get really close to.  AND we got to hold a koala.  And it didn't pee.  I've heard they do that.

It also had lovely eucalyptus-sy breath, and I had heard they didn't smell very nice at all.  Don't believe what you are told, i guess.

Some Animal shots - i had to put them in.  They had a really large population of albino wallabies.  And J wanted to take the kangaroo home - or at least get one of her very own.
Next stop was Melba's Chocolate Factory - nom-nom-nom-nom.  Could have spent LOTS more than what we did in THIS shop!

It also had some interestingly named chocolates.....

That was about enough for one day - we drove home through Hahndorf, which was really pretty, but had run out of time to do anything there.  Next time  :)

DAY 11 (5th May):  We were pooped.  We mostly stayed home.  And ate some chocolate......nom-nom-nom.......  Mid afternoon, after the kids nagging ever since we'd arrived, we decided to go to the pool and let them "go for a swim".  This was M's face:

 We had been in jeans and jumpers for the last few days, but it had to be done! 

 Pete putting in the hard yards.......

Did some laundry too.  This method of drying jeans doesn't work either.  Unless the wall of the tent is facing the sun.  Lesson learned......

DAY 12 (6th May):  Left the sunny days of Adelaide, and set off again on the trek.  We passed through Murray Bridge, which we had heard has a bunyip - wooooooo!  We found it.  Hmmm....... slight let down!  Luckily, a tour bus had stopped, and someone had put in a dollar already - this thing rose out of the water a few times, and roared at you....... we were OBVIOUSLY terrified.

 A better vista of Murray Bridge.....

Murray Bridge was also the place that we caved in and purchased a small fan heater so we could survive the nights.  Wussy West Coasters we are!
After the heater purchase, we continued on and stopped for the night in the Coorong, which is a beautiful place - all you can hear is the distant surf and birdlife.  Wonderful.  Would have liked to stay longer, except the sites weren't powered, so we froze our butts off.

 Th late afternoon drive in...

 Our campsite - how's the serenity?  There WERE a couple of other people there, but you would have never known.

Almost sunset........

DAY 13 (7th May):  Left the Coorong, and headed south-east down to Kingston SE.  Meant to find out what the SE stood for, and forgot - does anyone know?  Tell me, and I'll send you a postcard!  :)

 

 The highlight of any visit to Kingston, and of course the sole reason for our visit  :)  Although, we did walk out the jetty.

They also had an analemmatic sundial, where you stand on the month and see where your shadow goes - quite accurate.  Oh, and I take no ownership of the family in this photo.  Daddy said to do a "cool" pose.  The result speaks for itself.

We then headed out to Noracoorte, and the Noracoorte Caves, which were fascinating - they've found lots of fossils of the mega-fauna that used to live in Australia.  Amazing stuff.

 Some formations.......

 They can't explain how this thing got on top of this stalagmite - I suspect human involvement......

 Another formation - pwetty....

A recreated mega-fauna - get this - its a DROP BEAR!!!!  The Australian marsupial lion, which aboriginal folklore indicated would lie in wait up a tree and then drop down on its prey - the drop-bear was REAL!  :-D

 The fam heading down the tunnels.....

Above and below: the largest of the megfauna.  It was pretty big!

 After Naracoorte, we head off........through wine country......

 A sight for sore eyes!

DAY 14 (8th May): On to Mt Gambier, and a day of rain to boot.  Yay!

 

The Blue Lake.  A little disappointing, as it was too late in the year for it to be the brilliant blue (only happens between November and March).  And it was raining, so it was really just grey (hope you're reading this, Serena, and appreciate my rain wear........ and now, what song is in your head?)

The above and the following three were the Umpherston Sinkhole Gardens, and would have to be one of my favourite places that I been to so far.  When this guy (Umpherstone, I presume) found this sinkhole, which happened after the roof of a cave fell in, he decided to make it into a garden, and it's gorgeous.

The following ones are of the sunken garden in the middle of town.  Again, a sinkhole.

Then it was on to Portland, and thats it until next time folks!
Stay safe, P, K, M + J xx

From Streaky Bay to Adelaide.

Well thank goodness we've had had periods of sunshine and now we're in Adelaide, its blue skies all around - woohoo!  So to continue our damp tale......

DAY 7 (Sunday 1st May):  Arose to find that it had stopped raining enough for us to get up and get breakfast and remain dry, then started to drizzle again during pack-up, so yet again, down went the wet camper.  We discovered that the caravan park in Streaky Bay had a bit of a mouse problem (perhaps that pest control van I'd seen when we arrived should have given us a clue!?) and found two deceased mice under the tent, and then saw a few had moved into both the trailer AND the back of the ute!  Too wet to get them out at the time, so they all got forcibly transferred to Port Augusta, our next stop.  Where they were then found in a bag of washing, and quickly tipped into the wheelie bin!  Anyway, to photos...

 

This was a day for ROCKS!  Yeah!  This first lot were taken at Murphy's Haystacks.  Quite impressive - our own natural Stone Henge?? The above was at the main grouping, the next two were a little distance away, and the last one was the main grouping again from the other side.  Its always good to get different perspectives.... :)

  

And on to our next rock - Pildappa Rock, where we stopped for lunch.  It kindly rained on us for the whole visit, making the granite really slippery, so there was no climbing to the top.  Would've been a great view.  This rock has been likened to Wave Rock, which we've never been to, but I think the pictures I've seen of OUR rock (Wave Rock, that is!) make it FAR superior to THEIR rock.

I would have gone on to visit many other rocks in the area, but the rest of the fam just really wasn't that into their rocks, so on we went....

Pete was amused greatly by this town......... I'll leave it to your imagination what kind of photo he would have liked to have taken.....

 

 

Then it was a slight detour to Minnipa to check of the next on our list of Big Things - the Australian Farmer.  I don't think they embraced the right amount of cheese for it to be technically included in the Big Things list, but it is big.  There's just a bit too much meaning in it.  :-P

So, then on to Kimba, who had the cheese factor just about right with their Big Galah.  Thats the big pink bird, not the one standing between its legs......... (oooh, I'll be in trouble for that one, but really..... who could miss an opportunity like that?)

Kimba is also......

........ which is good to know.  Doing some maths, we could be back in less than a fortnight!

Or not.
Then onto Port Augusta, where we ended Day 7's Adventures.

DAY 8 (Mon 2nd May):  The PLAN was to go out to Quorn, travel on the Pichi Richi Railway.  The reality was that I didn't check the timetable, and so didn't find out it only ran on the weekends.  Bad Mummy.  Made badder because I had told them about it the day before.  Oops.  So instead we headed for Adelaide, where the plan is to stop for three or so nights.  Magically, on arrival, it was clear blue skies, so the trailer dried out properly.  Yay!
To the pics........

Our next "Big Thing" - the Big Tree Lizard in Crystal Brook

 Street decoration in Crystal Brook.  They had a bit of an ocean-faring motif going on, which seemed strange, as they appeared to be a more agricultural type town.  I guess we could have stayed around to find out, but it was raining.......

Of course we had to see what THIS was all about.

Not so much as it turned out.  I was expecting a farm run by gnomes.  Disappointed.

This was where we stopped for lunch in Snowtown, where they have recently installed a 47 turbine strong windfarm.  This is a blade from one of the windmills.  It also qualifies as a Big Thing.  Although again, lacks the cheese factor to be a true one.

Dinner on our first night at a nice, civilised, mousefree, rainfree campsite in northern Adelaide.  Bliss.  :)  Not sure what J was doing though.

DAY 9 (Tues 3rd May):  We set up camp proper, and unloaded all the damp stuff to dry.  Then went out to hit Adelaide for some adventures!  First stop - an Adelaide Crows training session for M to see.

Home, sweet home for the next four nights.....

Footy training............ amused me........

Buff boys, in harnesses, holding heavy things...... to show how buff they are......

Buff boys...... skipping....... with knees high, and sticks.  With harness boys in the background.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't mock.

M & J kind of over it all by now, but still making an effort to smile for the camera when they are told to.

Next stop was Port Adelaide, where I had the navigators day from hell.  Wanted to go to the Seahorse Farm,  found it had closed six months before.  No worries, we'll go to the Maritime Museum, and the lighthouse.  Then thought we'd go to Haigh's Chocolate Factory for a tour, found it they weren't running that day.  Pfft.  So went to the old Adelaide Gaol instead.

Lighthouse at Port Adelaide.  Pete is up the top, M down the bottom.

Port Adelaide was full of lovely old buildings.  I think I have a bit of a thing for lovely old buildings.  I want to photograph them all.

Adelaide Gaol.  The kids kept asking what the gallows were.  I avoided the question.  Really interesting though, worth a visit.

To finish the day we went to the most awesome adventure playground just up the road from us in a place called St Kilda.  Just fantastic for kids, and I may have had fun too  :)

 M is right up the top looking through the..... ramparts?  I don't really know what ramparts are, but they are castley...

 Kids on the Pirate ship.......

 .....which was crying out for a Titanic moment

 WWWHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

J at the top of the wiggly slide.

The next day, today, we had a big day, so that can be saved for the next update!
Ciao, and take care!
P,K,M+J  xxx

We're at Streaky Bay, SA

Streaky Bay is a lovely place, so they say.  So, for that matter, are many of the places that we drive through.  Unfortunately, somehow we hooked up a rain cloud in Kal, and have dragged it behind us for the last 5 days!  The farmers should be thanking us....... supposedly it hasn't rained this much in 5 years in this neck of the woods!  Still, we have seen some great stuff, and so I'll summarize our travels in pictures.
So DAY ONE (Monday 25th April):  We leave..... nothing much happens, we drive for a long way and get to Kalgoorlie.  We did see a sign that amused me at least - an advertisement for a book - "A man, a Dog, and a Dead Kangaroo".  A history of Kellerberrin (I think?  I may have to correct).   Jenna asks before we hit Northam whether we are across Australia yet.  Mitchell is hungry. Get to Kal and meet up with the crew who have been touring the Goldfields, and go out to the pub for dinner.  It's Kal.  Its what one does.  We did all go to try check out the Super Pit, but it was closed due to electrical storms.  This was our warning....

This is us about to leave.  See the blue sky?  Nice isn't it?  Jenna thinks we are going to the moon.

DAY TWO (Tuesday 26th April):  We get out to the SuperPit, which was super, and then pfaffed about for a bit.  Waved goodbye to the Goldfields tour group who were heading back to Perth, pfaffed a bit more, then went to check out the super pit at night.

DAY THREE (Weds 27th April):  The rain........ it starts....... we did manage to pack up camp before it really set in.  Went and looked around the mining Museum, then off we set.  Next stop Kambalda!  Pete played the Nullarbor Links course (the longest golf course in the world, FYI, holes at all the servos across the plain to Ceduna).  So, Kambalda, then Norseman, then Fraser's Range, then Balladonia, where we stop, and its raining, so we go soft and spend the night in the hotel.  What wusses.

Jenna at the "lake" nr Norseman Golf Club

Having trouble captioning, so to explain below left - golf club at Norseman - included for the improper use of classic 70's party ware - ie the ice bucket!  Below right - Norseman the horse.  Below below right - camels at Norseman, and left, Sunset and Mitchell at Fraser's Range station. It was really pretty at Fraser's.

Sunset at Fraser's Range

DAY FOUR (Thurs 28th April):  Can be summed up with Balladonia -> Caiguna -> Cocklebiddy -> Madura (expensive fuel - $2/L!!) -> Mundrabilla -> Eucla.  Mundrabilla was weird - felt like I was in Radiator Springs from the Cars movie - days gone by kind of feel.  Anyway, the photos....

At the start of the .......

Adding our rock to the cairn!  :)