Innes National Park, whilst unremarkable on the landward side, had a fabulous coastline – lots of small bays with rocky headlands sheltering small sandy beaches and all visitorless – except for us. Unfortunately neither air nor water temperature made swimming an attractive proposition – infact our swimmers haven’t seen light of day since we left Nanga – thousands of miles to the north. 
Innes National Park did have one fascinating attraction – Inneston. The site of a gypsum mine in the early 20th century, Inneston went into terminal decline at the time of the Depression when the bottom fell out of the gypsum market. With many of the houses constructed from stone they have survived and some have been restored. Most of the workers houses have long gone and what remain were probably occupied by foremen and junior managers. However, perched on a hill overlooking the lower order houses, the mine workings and the lake, were The Engineers House and The Managers House from where the Innes family ruled over their domain. These were renovated 15 y
ears ago as part of a youth training programme with the local college – both can be rented and would be excellent for a group of like minded people wanting to make a noisy week-end of it (Cue for the Kenmore Club’s visit to Australia!)
Next day – off to Adelaide.
The journey from the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula to Adelaide was uneventful although we couldn’t resist stopping at yet another “Scottish” town – this time Ardrossan which, like its Scottish namesake, is a smallish coastal town.
With not much bush camping available within the city of Adelaide we “went commercial” and set up home for three days at the Belair National Park, next to the Belair Country Club and Golf Course. It provided a green, grassy woodland site convenient for getting into the city.
Our reasons for being in Adelaide were threefold (i) to see it
(ii) for me to get the car serviced and (iii) for Sandra to attend the Adelaide Craft Fair. With Sandra taxied off to her craft fair (she wouldn’t let me go with her – shame!!) and the car into a garage, I was left to wander Adelaide by myself. The central city area is very self contained being almost completely surrounded by parks and green space. The public transport system is very good and I soon found myself on the 99C – a free bus which runs in a loop around the central business district.
As with so many places in Australia the Scottish connections soon started to appear – the first of these being a very familiar statue prominently placed outside the main library (see photo). The library also housed the Don Bradman Collection for anyone interested in cricket.
Adelaide is known as “The City of Churches” – for very obvious reasons – and it was interesting to note that the “Free Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)” built in 1851 is the
second oldest church remaining in the city. It is now known simply as the Scots Church and stands in very august company on the other side of North Terrace from the University, the Museum, the Library and the Casino.
My day was spoiled somewhat by a call from the garage. In addition to the service I had asked them to have a look at the air conditioning that hadn’t been working properly since my “water-skiing through mud” episode on the Oodnadatta Track. It appears that I had somehow blown a hole in the condenser which needed to be replaced – at a cost of over $800 – ouch!
Adelaide was cold. Our image of camping in Australia included being able to sit outside the tent at night having a cold beer whilst watching kangaroos cavorting in the sunset. With Sandra having taken to bed to keep warm I was
left to shiver – watching my fingers turn blue and pruney with the cold. The last time I felt like this was in Esperance in the south of Western Australia and the next day we headed back north into the desert. Being a creature of habit I told Sandra I had had enough and I was abandoning the south and heading north again. This time however I met resistance – Sandra had a hidden agenda. Melbourne it appears is the craft centre of Australia – and she wasn’t going to give it a miss. Luckily for our marriage the weather next day was slightly warmer so we packed up and started the trek to Melbourne.
A few miles down the road, as we hadn’t had breakfast before leaving Adelaide, my stomach started that sort of grumble which can only be satisfied with a bacon roll – and so we found ourselves in Hanndorf.
In the first half of the 19th century a bunch of German immigrants, fleeing religious persecution in Prussia, arrived in Australia and eventually set up shop in what was to become Hanndorf – named after the captain of the ship which brought them on what had been a hazardous crossing. The town is now trading almost exclusively on its Germanic heritage and is a real tourist trap aimed at lovers of Kranski, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. A long row of gift shops and restaurants has at its centre The Hanndorf Inn complete with piped oompah-band music. Having assuaged my hunger pangs at Otto’s Bakery we left.
On our trip I do the driving whilst Sandra acts as my, usually reasonably competent, navigator. To be fair, when in her normal state of health, she is actually very good and I can only explain her lapse as being a consequence of having been unwell for the last week. Hit with a double-whammy of cystitis and gastric problems she has not been firing on all cylinders and her map reading skills were not 100%. I really blame myself as, knowing she wasn’t herself, I should have checked before setting off to the Younghusband Peninsula as our route south.
The Younghusband Peninsula is part of Coorong National Park and is a thin strip of land running in a southeastery direction for about 160k with the Southern Ocean on one side and a lagoon, The Coorong, on the other. Sandra’s plan was to drive the length of this peninsula camping on the way – all good, exciting stuff. I did query how we actually got onto the Peninsula from the north and whether there was actually a road as it seemed to be a chain of islands. No problem said Sandra they are all linked by barrages and you can drive across them.
Arriving after a long and boring trip at Goolwa, the last mainland town before the islands, I thought a trip to the information office would be a good idea to check on local road conditions – and it’s a good job I did or our back-track would have been even further. When I said I was travelling south, the not very helpful man on duty said “South? You’ll be heading into the ocean – you’ll need a boat” Redefining my direction as south east he was no more helpful “You’ll still need a boat – there’s no roads”
Sandra’s experiences of barrages are in the Orkney Islands in Scotland where a number of islands were joined by barrages during the war. Known as the Churchhill Barriers, as well as providing a defence against sea attack, they also provided roads linking the islands. With the south coast of Australia unthreatened by the might of the Third Reich it was not felt necessary to install drivable barrages as part of the road network – so we had to re-trace our steps thus adding several hours to our journey!
Passing through interesting named places such as Magrath Flat, Policemans Point and Tilley Swamp we eventually rolled into Little Dip Conservation Park no doubt annoying the only other campers, a young couple, who probably thought they had the place to them selves for the night. We camped behind sand dunes which hid a very interesting limestone coastline absolutely riddled with caves. After a beautiful sunset, which goes unrecorded as we forgot the camera, we hit the sack only to be woken at about 3am by thunder and torrential rain – was it too late for me to head north back to the welcoming desert? Apparently yes!
We compromised by turning east to Naracoorte to visit Naracoorte Caves National Park – a World Heritage Area with a very complete mammalian fossil record dating back 500,000 years. There can be found one of Australia’s best kept secrets. In caves deep below the ground descendents of the giant megafauna that once stalked Australia’s forests can still be found. Rare examples of the Thylacoleo, Diprotodon and giant kangaroos can still be found lurking in dark subterranean recesses. Although photographing these rare creatures is strictly prohibited, Sandra managed to elude the security system for a few seconds to get some photos which she knew Harvey, Oliver and Lex would enjoy!
We crossed into Victoria, our 6th State/Territory and made for The Grampia
ns a range of mountains after which was named the Grampians National Park. We are camped at Troopers Creek, a beautiful site with great birdlife, lots of nice walks and a fabulous view of the nearby mountains from out tent. Today the weather has been reasonably warm with no rain – is this a turn for the better?
Innes National Park did have one fascinating attraction – Inneston. The site of a gypsum mine in the early 20th century, Inneston went into terminal decline at the time of the Depression when the bottom fell out of the gypsum market. With many of the houses constructed from stone they have survived and some have been restored. Most of the workers houses have long gone and what remain were probably occupied by foremen and junior managers. However, perched on a hill overlooking the lower order houses, the mine workings and the lake, were The Engineers House and The Managers House from where the Innes family ruled over their domain. These were renovated 15 y
ears ago as part of a youth training programme with the local college – both can be rented and would be excellent for a group of like minded people wanting to make a noisy week-end of it (Cue for the Kenmore Club’s visit to Australia!)Next day – off to Adelaide.
The journey from the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula to Adelaide was uneventful although we couldn’t resist stopping at yet another “Scottish” town – this time Ardrossan which, like its Scottish namesake, is a smallish coastal town.
With not much bush camping available within the city of Adelaide we “went commercial” and set up home for three days at the Belair National Park, next to the Belair Country Club and Golf Course. It provided a green, grassy woodland site convenient for getting into the city.
Our reasons for being in Adelaide were threefold (i) to see it
(ii) for me to get the car serviced and (iii) for Sandra to attend the Adelaide Craft Fair. With Sandra taxied off to her craft fair (she wouldn’t let me go with her – shame!!) and the car into a garage, I was left to wander Adelaide by myself. The central city area is very self contained being almost completely surrounded by parks and green space. The public transport system is very good and I soon found myself on the 99C – a free bus which runs in a loop around the central business district.As with so many places in Australia the Scottish connections soon started to appear – the first of these being a very familiar statue prominently placed outside the main library (see photo). The library also housed the Don Bradman Collection for anyone interested in cricket.
Adelaide is known as “The City of Churches” – for very obvious reasons – and it was interesting to note that the “Free Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)” built in 1851 is the
second oldest church remaining in the city. It is now known simply as the Scots Church and stands in very august company on the other side of North Terrace from the University, the Museum, the Library and the Casino.My day was spoiled somewhat by a call from the garage. In addition to the service I had asked them to have a look at the air conditioning that hadn’t been working properly since my “water-skiing through mud” episode on the Oodnadatta Track. It appears that I had somehow blown a hole in the condenser which needed to be replaced – at a cost of over $800 – ouch!
Adelaide was cold. Our image of camping in Australia included being able to sit outside the tent at night having a cold beer whilst watching kangaroos cavorting in the sunset. With Sandra having taken to bed to keep warm I was
left to shiver – watching my fingers turn blue and pruney with the cold. The last time I felt like this was in Esperance in the south of Western Australia and the next day we headed back north into the desert. Being a creature of habit I told Sandra I had had enough and I was abandoning the south and heading north again. This time however I met resistance – Sandra had a hidden agenda. Melbourne it appears is the craft centre of Australia – and she wasn’t going to give it a miss. Luckily for our marriage the weather next day was slightly warmer so we packed up and started the trek to Melbourne.A few miles down the road, as we hadn’t had breakfast before leaving Adelaide, my stomach started that sort of grumble which can only be satisfied with a bacon roll – and so we found ourselves in Hanndorf.
In the first half of the 19th century a bunch of German immigrants, fleeing religious persecution in Prussia, arrived in Australia and eventually set up shop in what was to become Hanndorf – named after the captain of the ship which brought them on what had been a hazardous crossing. The town is now trading almost exclusively on its Germanic heritage and is a real tourist trap aimed at lovers of Kranski, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. A long row of gift shops and restaurants has at its centre The Hanndorf Inn complete with piped oompah-band music. Having assuaged my hunger pangs at Otto’s Bakery we left.
On our trip I do the driving whilst Sandra acts as my, usually reasonably competent, navigator. To be fair, when in her normal state of health, she is actually very good and I can only explain her lapse as being a consequence of having been unwell for the last week. Hit with a double-whammy of cystitis and gastric problems she has not been firing on all cylinders and her map reading skills were not 100%. I really blame myself as, knowing she wasn’t herself, I should have checked before setting off to the Younghusband Peninsula as our route south.
The Younghusband Peninsula is part of Coorong National Park and is a thin strip of land running in a southeastery direction for about 160k with the Southern Ocean on one side and a lagoon, The Coorong, on the other. Sandra’s plan was to drive the length of this peninsula camping on the way – all good, exciting stuff. I did query how we actually got onto the Peninsula from the north and whether there was actually a road as it seemed to be a chain of islands. No problem said Sandra they are all linked by barrages and you can drive across them.
Arriving after a long and boring trip at Goolwa, the last mainland town before the islands, I thought a trip to the information office would be a good idea to check on local road conditions – and it’s a good job I did or our back-track would have been even further. When I said I was travelling south, the not very helpful man on duty said “South? You’ll be heading into the ocean – you’ll need a boat” Redefining my direction as south east he was no more helpful “You’ll still need a boat – there’s no roads”
Sandra’s experiences of barrages are in the Orkney Islands in Scotland where a number of islands were joined by barrages during the war. Known as the Churchhill Barriers, as well as providing a defence against sea attack, they also provided roads linking the islands. With the south coast of Australia unthreatened by the might of the Third Reich it was not felt necessary to install drivable barrages as part of the road network – so we had to re-trace our steps thus adding several hours to our journey!
Passing through interesting named places such as Magrath Flat, Policemans Point and Tilley Swamp we eventually rolled into Little Dip Conservation Park no doubt annoying the only other campers, a young couple, who probably thought they had the place to them selves for the night. We camped behind sand dunes which hid a very interesting limestone coastline absolutely riddled with caves. After a beautiful sunset, which goes unrecorded as we forgot the camera, we hit the sack only to be woken at about 3am by thunder and torrential rain – was it too late for me to head north back to the welcoming desert? Apparently yes!
We compromised by turning east to Naracoorte to visit Naracoorte Caves National Park – a World Heritage Area with a very complete mammalian fossil record dating back 500,000 years. There can be found one of Australia’s best kept secrets. In caves deep below the ground descendents of the giant megafauna that once stalked Australia’s forests can still be found. Rare examples of the Thylacoleo, Diprotodon and giant kangaroos can still be found lurking in dark subterranean recesses. Although photographing these rare creatures is strictly prohibited, Sandra managed to elude the security system for a few seconds to get some photos which she knew Harvey, Oliver and Lex would enjoy!
We crossed into Victoria, our 6th State/Territory and made for The Grampia
ns a range of mountains after which was named the Grampians National Park. We are camped at Troopers Creek, a beautiful site with great birdlife, lots of nice walks and a fabulous view of the nearby mountains from out tent. Today the weather has been reasonably warm with no rain – is this a turn for the better?
Love the animal pics!
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