We spent the night in an unremarkable rest area between Naracoorte and Penola and it turned into a stormy night with rain and branches cracking around us. We didn’t get going until much later on Sunday morning and then drove steadily towards Mount Gambier. We passed thousands of hectares of softwood timber plantations. Forestry is the largest of the region’s industries and exports one million tonnes of softwood chip annually. The plantations of young trees looked like Christmas Trees, and one was even decorated with tinsel! But most had towering straight trunks and were destined for Carter Holt Harvey timber mills.
We spent the night at a Top Tourist caravan park – the first time we were in an official park and on electricity for several days. A good hot shower was very welcome in the morning and then we drove into the town centre to collect some mail that was waiting “Post Restante” for us at the Mount Gambier Post Office.
The city of Mount Gambier is set in a unique and ancient landscape of volcanic craters, lakes, limestone and underground aquifers. It is best known for its “Blue Lake” – a lake in one of the three craters of the volcano and the source of fresh water for the city. The Blue Lake water colour changes from blue steel in winter to brilliant turquoise blue in summer, and we spent a good while walking around the whole 3.6 km crater rim with the dogs admiring the lovely colour of the water and the scenery. Apparently the lake contains 36,000 million litres (ML) of water and the city uses 3,700 ML annually. At one point we had great views of both the Blue Lake and the Leg of Mutton Lake next door – which is a smaller crater that has been dry since 1859.
Our next stop was at Umpherston Sinkhole. Once a cave, the top of the chamber fell to the floor, creating an environment for a sunken garden. James Umpherston originally beautified the garden in 1886 and there was once a little beach and boating. When we visited, there was very little in the way of water, but the plants and flowers, bees, possums and lush lawns in the floor of the landscaped garden were very pretty.
We discovered that the Showground in the middle of town was available to motor homers. So we paid our fee at the Mobile garage across the road and got given a huge set of keys to the toilet and showers. We found a good spot in a small grassy enclosure, plugged in our power lead and settled down for the evening with a gin and tonic and some TV.
We headed for the volcanic craters again the next morning and did a long and strenuous walk around the Valley Lake Crater called ‘Mountain Trail’. There were some wonderful lookouts that were worth the steep climb up and back down. Unlike the Blue Lake Crater, the water was a darkish green and the contrast in colour was very strange as the two craters are almost next to each other. We really felt we had done some work when we got back to the van and all the doggies had enjoyed themselves and Muffin seemed very happy and not tired at all.
We did a few tasks in town before driving off in the mid afternoon to our next stop at a tiny town called Dartmoor, about 70kms from Mount Gambier along the Princess Highway. It was on this stretch of road that we passed from South Australia into the state of Victoria. Dartmoor had lots of amazing wood carvings on posts lining the streets as we drove through the town. The carvings had been done by a local chainsaw sculptor and were quite a novel feature. We had been told that there was a very nice rest area near there alongside the river, and that was true. We found it very scenic and relaxing, under trees and on lovely green grass - a great spot for the night.
We set off for Portland the next morning and along the way, Paul jumped out for some free range eggs and then we headed for the Information Centre for local maps. Portland had been a Whaling industrial town and this had led to its original settlement. Now it was a busy industrial and agricultural town. The Information Centre was on the Warf front and we could see the Docks with a huge sheep carrier waiting to be loaded. The Aluminium Smelter dominated the right horizon and huge piles of wood chippings by the Bulk Shed. It was drizzling a little but we still took the doggies for a run on a small beach the other side of the Information Centre and they all said hello to a little black Staffie. Muffin ran like the wind and wasn’t at all breathless or tired, so we are still wondering about her recent bad heart diagnosis.
We found out that the movie ‘Avatar’ was showing at the cinema in town, so after Paul had a swim in the local pool and cooked a very nice Tuna dinner, we left the dogs in the van parked outside the cinema and went inside. It was an old and rather dusty cinema with the world’s smallest screen! Still we enjoyed the movie very much and our brains were racing when we came out.
We had been given the ‘nod’ by the Information Centre that parking overnight in their car park was OK. So we returned there, but quickly decided that we weren’t going to get any sleep, as cars kept coming and going up the street past us, even though the road was a dead end. We couldn’t imagine what they were doing at 1.00am... So we got dressed again with plenty of moaning and muttering and drove to a side street on the outskirts of town, opposite some tennis courts. I didn’t sleep well – a combination of seeing a very exciting movie and having to relocate in the middle of the night.
We both woke up tired the next day but still managed to drive out the Aluminium Smelter for a walk around the surrounding area. The smelter was opened in 1988 and now employs over 600 people and is one of Australia’s largest export earners. Then we drove on to Cape Nelson lighthouse. We paid for a Lighthouse Tour so we could actually climb inside the lighthouse which is 32 metres tall and was built in 1882 of local stone. The light was officially lit in 1884 after there had been three ship wrecks off the point. At the top we were able to walk outside and the view was spectacular, though we didn’t see any Blue Whales sadly. Our tour guide did a good job of explaining the history and we saw the signal room with the original telescope and flags.
Afterwards we had lunch at ‘Isabella’s cafe’ which was surprisingly excellent. We had smoked salmon and fetta baguettes with capers, dried tomatoes and salad. The chef and his fiancé were managing the place whilst having a break from travelling around Australia and after a chat we also scored some delicious ‘petit fours’.
Then we drove back through Portland and along the A1 to a tiny town on the coast called Yambuk. It had a grassy low key caravan park on an estuary that was dog friendly and we decided to stay the night there so we could have showers and a good night’s sleep. The dog policy was very ‘free’, with doggies running around everywhere, so we introduced our three by letting them off their leads too. No-one seemed to mind. We met two French boys travelling for a month in Oz and sleeping in the back of a van. Naturally they didn’t think much of Australian wine – too expensive. We had a good walk on the beach and it was very pretty.
Our next stop was at Port Fairy – a very nice historic town with heaps of old buildings. We stopped in the high street for coffee and cake and chatted to a lady visiting with a large dog. There seemed to be dogs everywhere, so we felt at home! We both agreed this would be a good place to spend more time in, with its little harbour and beach and lots of cafes. We drove along The Great Ocean Road, stopping off to look at a disused Methodist Church that was for sale (in our dreams!). We shot through Warrnambool, just getting diesel and discovering that the Woolworth supermarkets are all called Safeway in VIC. We did stop at the Cheese Factory for a tasting and bought some nice cheeses. But we couldn’t cope with the busy, built-up feel of the town.
Then it was onwards through the heart of The Great Ocean Road and we stopped at some of the views from the cliffs of all the rock formations: Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, The Arch etc. At Port Campbell, Paul went for a snorkel in the sea and saw a huge ray that scared him a little. We got some fish and chips for dinner and sat on a bench overlooking the sea with a glass of red wine.
Then we did a final run to The Twelve Apostles in the late afternoon. The sun was low and the light on the huge limestone rock stacks was very arresting. The place was buzzing with tourists and cameras along a boardwalk that enabled you to have a good view. The sea was pounding against the vertical cliffs and the Apostles stood tall and proud in the water, even though they were taking a beating from the sea too!
We walked back to the van which was parked at the information centre there, quite overwhelmed by the scenery and planning to get some warm clothes and a flask and go back to see the sunset. But sadly the clouds built up and the sunset was not going to happen, also Muffin decided to have another spat with Tia in the van, so it wasn’t a good idea to leave them alone just then. The van parked next to us was also a KEA with 4 people and we all agreed that we would spend the night parked there instead of driving on in the dark to a campsite. There must have been about 15 other cars and vans of all sizes who did the same, so we were alone. The wind picked up and the van was buffeted through the night, then a water tanker woke us at 6.00am – oh well.
Perhaps because of the scenic sensory overload and disturbed sleep, we had a bad morning, going over our plans for when our trip is finished and we have to get back to the real world in just a month’s time: finding somewhere to rent in Melbourne (with 3 dogs), getting our paperwork from store in Sydney for our tax returns, furniture removal at some point, will we sell the van?, Muffin needs an appointment with a cardiologist vet, missing our friends in Sydney, planning a UK trip – and so on and on. Getting a consensus was difficult and we were both moody and a bit depressed with all the ‘stuff’ we had spinning in our heads! We really would like to just keep going and not have to face the music...
The drive from The Twelve Apostles to Apollo Bay was very hilly and windy and made driving quite arduous. Faster cars kept queuing behind us and we often had a little convoy. I managed to fall out of the van carrying a basin of water and twisted my ankle, but no lasting damage done. Eventually we made it into the town of Apollo Bay – a fantastic place with wonderful sandy beaches in a sweeping bay, turquoise sea and surrounded by hills and falls. The downside was that it was peak tourist time (Australia Day long weekend) and the place was teeming with families and fishermen, kids, dogs, bikes and caravans. We couldn’t get a spot for the night anywhere close and eventually got a tip off from a local to go 6kms out of town to Skenes Creek where we parked for the night in a little picnic area where the river meets the sea. It was very pretty with the rolling hills behind us –and it was free, no noisy tourists and dogs to be seen. Hey ho. Paul cooked a tasty pasta and did some Italian reading, while I wrote up the BLOG.
