Adelaide. 

Our first major city since we left Perth some 2600km away and totalling over 28 hours of driving!
After the vastness of Western Australia and the Nullarbor, we were looking forward to seeing what South Australia and a big city had to offer.
Adelaide did not disappoint. It was a wonderful mix of beautiful old buildings and houses, mixed with architecturally striking new buildings. The entire centre was surrounded by parks and wide open spaces which was a wonderful change from the heavily built up, new, glass buildings that seemed to dominate most of Perth.
Amongst the parks were the beautiful Botanical Gardens so, on Shiners advice, we took a stroll through post hangover breakfast.

Side note: Australian breakfasts aren’t the same. Where are the beans and sausages?? What does chorizo have to do with a breakfast?? Anyway..

Despite a couple of the buildings being closed, we spent a few hours enjoying the peace the Botanical gardens bought to a busy and thriving city (minus the building being built directly next door…).
There was the Giant waterlily house and the tree lined walkways.
We took a walk through the rainforest in the Bicentennial Conservatory which highlighted the extensive destruction of natural rainforests across Australia – It was once home to 1,500,000ha. however just 15% of this now remains!
We were also lucky to view the Titum Arum, also known as The Corpse Flower. A vulnerable plant endemic to the Sumatran Rainforest in Indonesia, it is unique as it takes 7 – 10 years to flower from seed and smells like rotting flesh when it blooms. Equally fascinating is its growth rate – sometimes growing 0.5 – 1 metre per week! Thankfully, the smell wasn’t so bad by the time we arrived to see it although, Im sure we have smelt worse in our line of work.

We took a walk through the First Creek wetland area, avoiding the million children that had been let loose there it seemed, before finally settling down on the grass for a post night out/hungover sleep in the sun. Bliss!

Not content with just a day in Adelaide, we headed back the following day to sample the big Central Market and to purchase our ingredients for dinner. Being on the road without a fridge and just a couple of ‘Esky’s’ – that’s a cool box for all those in the UK – we are limited on what we can store so relish the opportunity to buy fresh meat to have with dinner. Garlic sausage pasta was the meal of choice and it was delicious!!

Round the corner, I found my favourite sort of shop – one filled with felt bags, wind chimes and comfortable clothing. After, roughly, a minute of debating with myself, I bought myself some super comfortable striped trousers. You can never be too comfortable!!
Successful shopping trip done, we decided to take a walk through their main shopping centre which was an eclectic mix of old people dancing to music because they simply loved dancing, Vegans protesting in silent judgement, some rather entertaining beat boxing buskers and the ‘famous’ Adelaide pigs. Down a tiny side street, we found Blakebys Old Sweet Shop, which was established in the city in 1906. It was a decadent shop, with moving displays and a selection of UK sweets, some of which we had never heard of before! I settled for my usual: mint imperials whilst Dave opted for a Twinkie.
After another little mooch around, we headed for the car and further south to our next overnight stop.

After acquiring a cheap guitar and some strings from a nearby Cash Converter, Dave and I arrived at our next location, a mere hour south of Adelaide in a little place called Inman Valley. Not normally a spot for camping, the assistant in the store opposite said as long as we left no mess and refrained from starting a fire, we could stay – SUCCESS.
Rather perfectly located, Inman Valley was just 15 minutes outside a sleepy little place called Victor Harbor and Granite Island so the following morning, leaving no mess and no fires, we set off for Victor Harbor.

It was a morning of Donut Gingerbread Men and laundry before a jaunt across the pier, in the late morning sun to witness the penguin colony we had read so much about.
Over an hour later and after walking the entirety of the island we can confirm there were no penguins. Just one seal searching for food amongst the rocks below, who was so still, we thought it had died…
To rest out weary legs, we decided to take the 40 year old horse drawn tram back across the pier. Beautiful!

 

Our hangover inducing Aussie friends from a few nights back recommended Mt Gambier and the Blue Lakes as a must see. We covered the Tantanoola Caves, sinkholes (or skin holes as someone humorously mispronounced them as) and the Blue Lake over a few slow and rainy days.

Tantanoola caves were found in, unsurprisingly, a little town called Tantanoola in the 1930’s by a 17 year old lad out rabbit hunting with his ferret. After losing his ferret to an unknown cave, the young lad squeezed his way through the gap after said ferret and was astonished to find the caves – acknowledged as the most decorated cave system out of 1,300 caves in the entire South of the country. Up until 1980, when the introduction of environmental safety laws were introduced, the only way into the caves was through the original gap, utilising a rope system. This was put a stop too and a new cave entrance constructed, allowing those with disabilities to access it too.
The formation of the pink and brown limestone called dolomite, is believed to be roughly 500,000 years old but it is unknown how long each pillar – including the one that resembles a chocolate fountain, has taken to form.

Both the Blue Lake and Sinkholes were situated right in the heart of Mt Gambier.
The sinkhole was 15m in depth and housed plenty of trees, shrubs and the odd shopping trolley, whilst the Blue Lake was formed 4,600 years ago following a volcano eruption. At its deepest, it is 650ft+ and 3 miles in diameter.

And here we are, after crossing the border from South Australia to Victoria this afternoon, sat in another beautiful (and free!) camping ground whilst the wind blows and the temperature remains a chilly 19 degrees… we have so obviously acclimatised! 19 degrees at home, we are all in pub gardens and the lads have no shirts on. Oh, how times have changed!
Fingers crossed for warmer weather.. and some sun!