Naracoorte, South Australia

From Berri we headed to the tiny settlement of Wellington, located on the Murray River just upstream to where it empties into Lake Alexandrina. 

"The Narrows" where Lake Alexandrina meets Lake Albert

After a few relaxing days there, we set off for our little home now - Naracoorte. Along the journey we stopped off at the township of "Keith". There is nothing really special about Keith, some nice little shops, but it tugs at my heart strings a bit when I drive through as Keith was my Dad's name. My Dad never travelled much and never visited this township. I remember when I first visited here I took a photo of the town sign to show him and he was pretty chuffed to have a town with his name. Once again I took a photo of the town sign and I could just feel that

Dad was at last visiting the town with me.

Keith - this town tugs at my heart strings xx

Now we are in Naracoorte for a while. We are actually staying in the local showgrounds. It's pretty good here, clean toilets and showers, cheaper than the caravan park, nice people, and best of all beautiful green grass surrounding us.

 

Nature gave us a beautiful welcome on our first night

 Naracoorte with a population of approx. 5000 people is situated on the beginning of the Limestone Coast. and was formed from the merger of two towns, Kincraig, founded in 1845 by Scottish explorer William Macintosh, and Naracoorte, established as a government settlement in 1847. The name has gone through a number of spellings, and is believed to be derived from the Aboriginal words for "place of running water" or "large waterhole". It grew during the 1950's as a survive town for people going to and from the Victorian Gold rush.

This is definitely the most colourful Police Station and Courthouse I have ever seen

 

This area was also built on the sheep's back -
if only this shearing shed could talk, imagine the stories!!

Probably the main tourist attraction in the area are the Naracoorte Caves. Yesterday we visited the Wonambi Fossil Centre and delved into the history of Australia's mega-fauna. We also visited one of the caves "Wet Cave". This wasn't the best cave I have ever been in but still interesting. Next week we are intending on visiting the "Victoria Fossil Cave" that has the privilege of being classed as a World Heritage Area.

The entrance of "Wet Cave"

I don't think I would have liked to run into this guy back then!!

Cave Country

The Margaret River region is home to over 100 caves, although only a handful are accessible to the tourists. Four of these such caves are Lake Cave, Moondyne Cave, Jewel Cave and the one we went to visit Mammoth Cave. Some of the caves are also accessible to experienced cavers only. The caves in this region are nestled in the spine of the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge. Mammoth Cave is a gigantic cave nestled amongst giant trees. The reason we picked this cave to check out is because it is a self-guided cave, so we could view it at our own pace while learning about the caves formation on the MP3 provided. While walking under the amazing stalactites and around the gigantic stalagmites and beautiful shawls the commentary explained the fascinating story of how these such caves are formed and how some 10,000 fossils accumulated in the Mammoth Cave. At the exit of the cave we emerged into a sunken forest. I could definitely never do adventure caving but there is something about being in a cave so far under the earth. 

We drove through a beautiful forest on the way to the caves.
 I think they are Karri Trees, maybe somebody can verify that.

Mammoth Cave - Amazing Stalactites - hold on tight

Beautiful Shawls



Grand Stalagmites - might reach the roof

We came across this bronze statues of a naked girl, on a skateboard her hair and blind fold flowing in the wind as she hurdles down the hill. There wasn't a sign with it so I have no idea of the how or why's. I'd love to know it's significance of it?