Portland to Adelaide via Kingston SE, Victor Harbor and Kangaroo Island
Day 13 - Monday, 12 April 2010
Well, we found another good motel in Portland (Admella Motel) at a very reasonable price, so decided to stay a couple of nights and take it easy. B. hasn't been able to sleep in because we have to be out by 10am, and he has become used to a sleep-in. I think also one becomes tired driving. Anyway, we spent Monday in our room, reading up on where to go next, B. fixed up the program that was causing a few problems sending things to you all, so he was happy. I ducked out to pick up a few things and get us a good old Sub for lunch.
Next day, we set off again, determined to stop a bit more and see things, and not to travel so far.
- J
Day 14 - Tuesday, 13 April 2010
This morning we visited the Portland Battery:
It was built in 1889, because of pervasive fears of a Russian invasion!
We've reached the end of the Great Ocean Road, and reached the Vic-SA border. Really beaut countryside, the little towns one drives through are very pretty with lots of lovely roses out, and all their deciduous trees turning beautifully gold and red. The roses down here are absolutely stunning. Some of them are SO big and the colours seem to be more dense than we seem to get. Even the weeds are pretty - the other day, outside the Garden of St Erth, growing on the footpath, there was the biggest scotch thistle flower I have ever seen. B. took a photo of it with my hand behind it to show how big it was.
We had decided to only go as far as Kingston SE (don't know what the SE stands for) in South Australia. The countryside on the drive was incredibly flat, grazing land covered in cattle and sheep. Saw lots of dead kangaroos on the side of the road. It must be awful to hit one.
We arrived in a little place called Millicent and drove around looking for somewhere to have lunch, had decided to try the local pub, parked opposite it and on the footpath was a sign for the little cafe we were parked in front of, saying 'Bacon and egg sandwich and coffee for only $6.95', so we changed our minds and went in. Had the best bacon and egg sandwich ever, and the coffee was fantastic. When I asked B. how much he had paid, he told me he still hadn't paid for it, the bloke who served him as dashing in and out between the cafe we were in, and the one next door. I think it must have been the most popular cafe in the place. B. went to pay, said 'I think I owe you some money' and the bloke said, 'Oh yeah, I often have to chase people down the street.' Talk about laid back!
Anyway, after Millicent, we were driving past lots of signs advertising cave trips and a local wind farm. Decided to visit one of the caves, Tantanoola, which turned out to be very interesting. To start with, they were advertising that it was the first wheelchair friendly cave in Oz, which made it easy to get to, and you could see the whole thing from just inside the door, which is where I stayed - don't really enjoy going into caves. Apparently, the cave was discovered by a kid in the 1930s when he was rabbiting and he put his ferret down what he thought was a hole in the ground and the ferret didn't come back, so he enlarged the hole and pushed himself down and fell into this incredible cave. If it was today, I imagine the kid would have sat up, looked around and said "Coooool!"
We got on the road and were about 45 kms out from Kingston SE, and our low fuel indicator began to blink, which reminded us we had been going to get petrol before we left Millicent and forgot to. Not knowing exactly how much further we could go after the blinking light came on, we phoned the good old RACQ who put us through to the RAASA. We told them approx. where we were, dropped our speed down to 70km/h and held our breath when the RAASA told us the nearest servo was actually in Kingston SE.So, thanks to our lovely Prius we actually made it to Kingston SE, topped our tank as full as possible and it turned out we still had 2 litres of petrol in the tank!
Anyway, we ended up at the very civilized hour of 4pm, arriving in Kingston SE, where we have spent the night at the Econo Lodge Motel. Now 8.10am, Bernard is still snoring, we haven't yet packed or decided where to go next, and have to be out of here by 10am, so I am stopping now.
- J
One of Kingston SE's main claims to fame is its Big Lobster:
I still haven't had a good lobster meal. First, we left Tasmania the day before the lobster season opened. This time again, it was timing to blame. We had had our bacon and egg sandwich for lunch, and I could not cope with a lobster meal for dinner. One day...
PS: Kingston SE means Kingston South East, There is another one, called Kingston-on-the-Murray. Causes occasional confusion for those not in the know.
- B
Day 17 - Friday, 16 April 2010
We had a lovely lunch at a KI bistro that I think must be used by the 4,500 odd islanders for big occasions, then went to a wild bird park, which is run by a relation of Steve Irwin, where they gave us all a talk about wild birds. The chap walked around us all with firstly a kestrel sitting on his arm, who kept flying off to a nearby tree and swooping back to him. He took the kestrel back to it's cage, and brought out a beautiful barn owl, who hopped from one person's knee to the next and let one pat it. Next where two very friendly kookaburras, and finally, an absolutely beautiful wedge-tailed eagle. Altogether, it was fun and a very interesting visit.
At 6.30pm, we arrived back at the ferry, after stopping at a few interesting sites, like one of the lighthouses and some fantastic rock formations (called Remarkable Rocks) on the way back.
Day 15 - Wednesday, 14 April 2010 (Happy Birthday, Gai!)
Today we drove to Victor Harbor (yes, there is no U in that name), and booked into our motel there, in readiness for our visit to Kangaroo Island tomorrow. we booked in early, for two days, because this place is beautiful, and we plan to spend time looking around before we leave. Meanwhile, I have spent this afternoon bringing this diary entry up to date.
- B
Day 16 - Thursday, 15 April 2010
We have booked in for a day trip to Kangaroo Island (the locals call it KI) tomorrow, starts at 07:30 in the morning, and returns at 09:30 in the evening. More about that after the trip, but the late return means we have also booked a third night at the Wintersun Motel in Victor Harbor. Meanwhile, we spent today having a look around Victor Harbor. It is a very pretty place. We started off with lunch at the Grosvenor Hotel, which was built in the early 1890s. I think the dining room still has its original solid wooden tables! Then we just drove around sight-seeing and taking pictures.
- B
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Causeway from the Victor Harbor mainland to Granite Island, with horse-drawn tram
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Horse-drawn tram on the causeway from Granite Island to the mainland at Victor Harbor
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View from the lookout at Victor Harbor
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Lookout at Victor Harbor, with aboriginal illustrations
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Day 17 - Friday, 16 April 2010
Today we were picked up at our motel by a little bus, which continued on to pick up one other couple, who turned out to be Germans out here visiting their back-packing daughter. Got to the car ferry at Cape Jervis, an hour later where there were about 150 people waiting to be taken to KI, where we were picked up by a large bus full of people of all nationalities. We had a family of Belgians, two Scottish girls, a group of Chinese people (three of whom lived in Sydney!), the two Germans and finally, the man in front of me turned out to be from Brisbane - and that's just the ones we talked to.
We had a lovely day, bouncing all over a huge island, saw a bay of seals - well, B. saw a bay of seals, I only saw one little one playing in the surf. The walk to the beach was too far for me to walk to, so I only went to the viewing platform and looked down.
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The little seal is suckling from its mother while the seagull looks on
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We had a lovely lunch at a KI bistro that I think must be used by the 4,500 odd islanders for big occasions, then went to a wild bird park, which is run by a relation of Steve Irwin, where they gave us all a talk about wild birds. The chap walked around us all with firstly a kestrel sitting on his arm, who kept flying off to a nearby tree and swooping back to him. He took the kestrel back to it's cage, and brought out a beautiful barn owl, who hopped from one person's knee to the next and let one pat it. Next where two very friendly kookaburras, and finally, an absolutely beautiful wedge-tailed eagle. Altogether, it was fun and a very interesting visit.
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The barn owl
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Rex, the wedge-tailed eagle
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At 6.30pm, we arrived back at the ferry, after stopping at a few interesting sites, like one of the lighthouses and some fantastic rock formations (called Remarkable Rocks) on the way back.
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Remarkable Rocks - that's what they are called!
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After another 45 minute trip on the ferry, we were picked up by the same driver and delivered back to our motel, very tired, but happy, at 9.30.
- J
Day 18 - 17 April 2010
Today we drove to Adelaide (only about 80 km), found a motel - Scotty's Comfort Inn, and booked in for two nights. It's about 25 years since we visited Adelaide, and of course much has changed in that time. With the ambitious agenda we have set ourselves, we can only pick the eyes out of the many items we would like to have time to see. We are going to go through the options tonight, and our selections will be the subject of our next diary entry.
- B
- B
