South Australia > Victoria

It was time to wish Kingston SE goodbye. We packed up our stuff, and headed back onto the B1. Hatti was keen to do a quick detour past the giant lobster that was Kingston’s ‘attraction’. It appears to a popular trend in some Australian towns and cities to adopt a thing, and procure a big version of it to put on display. Affectionately known as Australia’s big things.

Leaving the campground.
Kingston’s giant lobster.
Hatti posing next to a wind turbine propeller.

Wind turbine have been well adopted in South Australia, recently featured in the news as having purchased a giant lithium battery from Elon Musk’s Tesla to store surplus energy generated by their wind farms.

Around half way down to Mount Gambier we paused for a quick break. The stop was a small village on the B1 called Tantanoola and it had a nice collection of houses, shops and a giant wind turbine propeller… pictured above.

A nice house in the nice collection of houses.

After a short while we headed on to Mt Gambier, home to the Blue Lake. We had a quick picnic, then headed to the campsite, ‘Blue Lake Holiday Park’. We don’t usually opt for a holiday park; but it was off season, they had tennis courts and the location was perfect for wandering around the neighbouring lakes.

Excited to get the picnic underway!
Parked up the unpowered section of the holiday park. We had the place to ourselves, which is always nice!
As soon as the handbrake was reasonably tensioned we began the lake tour.
Cristal clear waters, so clean in fact they supply fresh water to Mt. Gambier.
We’ve had minimal reception on the open road, as a result we get fairly excited when we see one of these!
A glimpse of Valley lake.
Blue lake!

Sandwiched between Blue lake and Valley lake was Leg of Mutton Lake, which is now less than a puddle thanks to a drop in the water table. The indentation does however make for a nice walk. So followed the path down from the road and explored the basin of the former lake.

The basin, now lush and green!

Lake-ed out, we retreated back to camp and set up office in the BBQ hut. This would be our blog updating station for the evening.

Still in reach of civilisation / the internet.

In between blogging and dinner, we jumped onto the nearby tennis court for a quick hit around. Dusting off the rust we soon pulled together a short rally or two!

We had to take advantage of the tennis court on site, so we hired a couple of rackets for the evening.
A rally in action!

After the afternoon / evening in Mount Gambier, we headed off towards Hamilton. It had been recommended to us (thanks Gary) as a drastic change of scene from the flat costal road! After a quick lunch break in Hamilton we made for the Grampians National Park.

The botanical gardens in Hamilton made for a nice location for our lunch break.
A well populated green house!
They had a challenging hooped version of money bars.

Within minutes of leaving Hamilton the Grampian mountain range loomed ahead of us. A dramatic scene.

Welcome to the Grampians!
Possibly Mt. Sturgeon and Mt. Abrupt.
The carpark looked busy, we anticipated squeezing past fellow hikers as we weaved up the mountain!
Thrilled (at this point) to be stretching our legs.
Soon we rose above the treetops to staggering views!
Caution, after our last walk, we took 10 litres of water to keep us going.
Epic scene no.1
Epic scene no.2
H. not even breaking a sweat!
If you look closely you can see the Saab!
Epic scene no.3
An hour into the hike the summit marker came into view!
Possibly the best introduction to the Grampians ever!
The path.
The road was now a faint line in the distance.
Epic scene no.4
Proof that we made it to the top!
Epic scene no.5
More proof… the green screen was a worthwhile investment!
Authentic Australian brush.
H. ecstatic to be at the top!
Waving at a kangaroo on the way down.
The summit, now a distant memory.

Having completed the hike, we were happy to duck back into the car, and venture to the stop for the evening; a campsite in Dunkeld. With most visitors travelling to Halls Gap, a resort to the North of the Grampians, we had to the place to ourselves.

Greenery in the campsite.

The campsite was well equipped; the kitchen had a twin gas hob, so we cooked up a feast of posh beans (Heinz beans with fried red onion, tomato puree, garlic, paprika and possibly some other stuff) with a side of potato wedges!

The grub.

The next day we headed back to the coast. The first destination of the day was a boardwalk that skirted Port Fairy’s Griffitts island (a strong recommendation from my Grandfather).

The start of the (concrete) boardwalk, a causeway between the Port Fairy & the island.
The island was home to a bird sanctuary, lighthouse and few pleasant beaches.
The old causeway, looking a little worse for wear.

The last chapter, in our trip from Perth to Melbourne (Lorne) was to travel along the acclaimed Great Ocean Road. The 240km stretch of coastline was home to some staggering coastal erosion thanks to the (relatively) soft limestone and sandstone composition.

A typical path to the impressive stone formations.
A glimpse of the coastline!
The first of the stone stacks.
A closeup of the destruction; the power of the sea!
Here the sea had whittled a porthole in the rock face.
What is under the boardwalk? Not much…
This one was called, ‘Santa’s Grotto’… or something similar.
Impressive. Smugglers cave vibes, but no bounty in site.
London Bridge… commissioned by Poseidon, carried out by the Sea.
Another path to the unknown.
As it turns out a hidden beach home to a waddle of penguins.
Erosion in action!
The finale, hence the double width path.
The Twelve Apostles (looking West).
Another couple Apostles, looking East!
H. framed beautifully by the Apostles!

After an abrasive morning of looking at erosion we arrived in Lorne, our destination for the rest of December and all of January! Thankfully we could give the car, and ourselves, a break from the road! See you all next time as we bed down into the beach lifestyle!

J.

 

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