We then camped for the night, another freebee, on the shores of Lake Bolac. We had been there 2 years previously and remembered the free toilet and shower block in this pretty location with very few other people around. Still there too. Lots of local infrastructure such as boat ramps, sailing markers, water taps, picnic tables, but the locals say the busy days are gone as people have found other pastimes and travel. This time the wattle was in flower, and we parked in a brilliantly yellow and pungently aromatic glade on a headland overlooking the lake. Not a place for those with hay fever!
As Margot in Mt gambier was helping her son and family to move, we delayed our visit by a day and had time to visit the Grampian Mountains, much to my delight, as we had had to pass it by last time. So we turned north to pass through Ararat, and found ourselves arriving right in the middle of the town Agricultural Show parade! brilliant timing! We watched the various floats and then found the Orchid Show, which I can never resist, and I got chatting to a lady who had lived there all her 70 years and was a non-stop history teller. It was she who told me that the town was founded by some Chinese men. Because of the Vic. government trying to control the influx of people, they put taxes on everything, including the ship's captains who brought people into the ports. To get round this, they disembarked their human cargo in a place called Robe in S Australia, who then walked the 200 miles (500 Kms) to Bendigo. These particular Chinese stopped at a stream to refill their water bottles and LO! found lumps of gold in the stream. They didn't bother to go on to Bendigo, and the rest is history, but Ararat has the largest fied of Alluvial Gold in the world, and it is stilled mined. So of course we had to visit the Gum San Information Centre which tells the whole story and has some terrific displays and artifacts. So you can see how easily a week to get home becomes 2 weeks or more. I was persuaded to treat myself to a silk dressing gown.. it didn't take much pesuading.
We finally tore ourselves away and got to Hall's Gap Tavern in time to have a fine roast lunch, being Sunday, before we drove through the mountains to the reccommended campsite at Jimmy Creek, recently upgraded and very fine for a Dept of Environment and Conservation (DEC) site. The loo was still long drop tho!
My cold was quite bad at tis point and I was beginning to think sinusitis, so I did something which is not reccommended, I dug out of my medicine chest a 4 year old pack of antibiotics whic I always care just in case, and commenced the course. Glad to say the infective threat cleared up PDQ (pretty damn quick) and I began to feel much better. So much for meds going out of date!
We managed to do the Piccaninny walk and admire wild flowers, including several tiny wild orchids, always a treat. Then we got to Hamilton and stopped to get blood pressure meds for John, only to find that his aged pension concession card had been stopped and his pension payments also! Quick visit to the Centrelink office to put that right, and they gave him back pay too. The things that happen when you are away from your mail box! We stopped at a petrol station to ask how to find the road to Mt Gambier via Dartmoor, and suddenly the conversation was taken over by a white South African man who wanted me to go to Portland with him, to see koalas and visit a great DEC camp spot. Well! I got out of that spot PDQ and reported back to John, and we whizzed out of town. Well blow me, a few miles along the road and there is Mr SA, pulled over and apparently waiting for us. As we shot past he fell in behind us, and as it was not the road to Portland, I started to feel a bit concerned and thoughts of Peter Falconio RIP came to mind ( he was ambushed and shot on the road from Alice to Darwin several years ago). So John found a tiny side track to do a sharp turn into, knowing that Mr SA with caravan could not possibly follow us. We found a lovely picnic spot beside a stream and felt much better for having lost him. He was probably a very nice man just wanting some company but...Scarey.
Getting to Yahl, near Mt Gambier, it was great to see George and Margot in their new home on their son's property. Son Ben is a vet, is married to Michelle and has 3 lovely kids, Aimee 8, Adam 6 and Ruby 2. We had a lively family dinner, saw some local sights, toured the new family home built of rammed earth, rode the tractor to feed the cows and gossiped, wined and dined; terrific. We stayed an extra day, Margot was so keen to keep us. She has only been in SA for 15 months and misses WA and all her family and friends there. George is almost 80 and still rides his horse most days, M is 70, gardens and helps with child care, so they have plenty to do and the family home is just 50 metres away on the other side of a hedge, so the kids are always in and out. Lucky daughter in law!
Mt Gambier is built on limestone which is riddled with caves, and some cave roofs have fallen in to create sink holes. These holes are large enough to hold concerts and parties in, and some have been made into formal gardens. They are quite fascinating. We climbed down into the Umbertson Sink Hole and enjoyed the gardens and the BBQ facilities. Funny to think that in WA, ever since the catastrophic Gracetown rockfall 10 or so years ago, we have Beware of falling Rock signs, while SA has BBQs under the ledges! MG is also renowned for its Blue Lake, which has a spring/summer phenomenon when the lake water turns irridescent. It had just turned before we got there, and it really was quite a sight.
We were keen to get on to Robe, to complete the story of the Chinese gold miners, and finally hit some lovely warm weather at last. SA countryside was looking green and healthy; it can go so brown in summer, lots of pine plantations, saw mills and wood chipping. We spent the night on the Coorong Peninsular, but didn't se any wombats or emus, much to my disappointment.
John booked us on a ferry to Kangaroo Island for the next day, for 2 days, in spite of $350 cost and then...
Bit of a drama at this point.. we then phoned our sick friend in Keppell Mews and heard that he was holding a party to celebrate the marriage of his daughter (they had a quiet family do due to circumstances) and we were invited. Could we get home in time? To cut a long story short we managed to get our ferry fee refunded, tho it wasn't easy, probably cost nearly that in mobile phone charges! So now we had a real focus.
During the 100's ofkms that followed. North thru Adelaide and into the South Flinders Ranges, we were luck enough to see 4 solar powered cars coming towards us. Its funny to think they are trying to function without fossil fuels, yet they each had a convoy of conventially powered support vehicles! The vehicles are tiny and look so vulnerable. I managed to get photos of cars 3 and 4.
Camp that night was interesting, at a DEC site in S Flinders. Met some German neighbours, and spent some cheerful hours in cultural exchange. They may visit us at home soon. Highlight of the night (apart from me singing Horace the Horse, and John doing his songs and jokes) was when we moved an esky (ice bin) and found a very large scorpion under it. Now I have never seen a live one before so it was fascinating. After a period of careful observation we carried it a long way from camp ( on a shovel) and pointed it at a distant point!
How can it be that, at this point the litre of Drambuie, purchased in duty free a mere 6 days ago, is almost finished?
More later...
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