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!!

Berri on the River Murray

We have just left our lovely stay in Berri. We stayed at a free camp called "Martins Bend" right on the River Murray. Seeing we didn't have electricity it wasn't possible to update my blog so now I will do a bit of a catch up.

Our Martins Bend campsite

The area is known as "The Riverland" probably because it's where the cool waters of the Murray feed the wetlands and floodplain forest. The result being some very productive land that consists of vineyards and citrus and almond groves. The town of "Berri" was a really nice little river township. The name Berri is taken from the Aboriginal word "Beri Beri", meaning "bend in the river". It is the commercial hub of the Riverland, with lots of fresh produce stalls on the outskirts of town.

Our first visit was out to Loxton to have a look at the "Tree of Knowledge". The Tree of Knowledge is a weather chart with a difference. This magnificent old river red gum provides historical dates of the high river levels over the years.

The Tree of Knowledge - get a look at the 1956 flood level!!

Then it was off to the historic pub the "Overland Corner Hotel" built in 1859.

Due to it's historic significance it is now owned by the South Australian National Trust.

Historic Overland Corner Hotel

We have done quite a bit of fishing in this beautiful river and I was lucky enough to catch a good size "Yellow Belly". We were also treated to some beautiful skies at sunset.

Sunset in the bush

One morning we woke up to an amazing sunrise over the river.

Good Morning beautiful Murray

Under the bridge in Berri is a mural that depicts the Aboriginal heritage of the area and is a tribute to Australia's famous Aboriginal tracker, Jimmy James.

Berri's Mural

One of the totems surrounding the mural

Today we drove through the tiny township of Karoonda, which is an important cereal and sheep farming district, hence the big Merino ram that sits in the towns railway reserve.

Yep he's a RAM!!

Adelaide Shores

Here we are in one of Adelaide's beach suburbs, West Beach. The caravan park we are staying at is called is Adelaide Shores and is very nice, but the best thing we have a grassed site. It is so long since we have walked on some beautiful green grass. Last night we were treated to yet another beautiful sunset. Sorry if anyone is getting sick of seeing my sunsets, but I just can't help myself.

West Beach Sunset

 Today we had a few errands to run, but I came across a shop I just had to visit. Travelling takes it's toll on your feet. So today mine got a treat.

Ready for a bit of pampering

That's better - Mmmm can you tell I wear thongs all the time.

Bunyeroo Gorge, Aroona Valley and Brachina Gorge

Today we set off on our days expedition of driving through the Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges. According to the signs this area displays the 630 million year old geology of the Flinders Ranges. I don't know about how old it is but the scenery was spectacular. Our first native wildlife visit nearly got ran over as it bolted in front of the car. This was just the first of many emu we saw. 

The first of many Emu's we encountered

Looking across "Blacks Gap"

After driving through the Bunyeroo Gorge with its views and ancient trees we stopped to eat our picnic lunch we had bought along. The silence up in the middle of nowhere was wonderful. Once lunch was finished with we headed off into the Brachina Gorge.
  

Just spectacular

 

and again!

At one stop we were greeted by a small herd of Billy Goats. They were really quite large so I was ready to bolt back to the car if they decided they didn't like me there.

They didn't seem to worry that we were there....

....they had their drink and off they went.

As yesterday we had a fair few dry river crossings but this time most of our gorge drive was in the actual river bed. Very weird driving along a dry river bed.

The river bed was a bit bumpy but pretty good.

Seeing this was our last night at Rawnsley Park Station we decided to go to the Woolshed Restaurant for dinner. The meal was pretty good but the sunset and the full moon were spectacular.

Thank You Mother Nature

I had no words then and I still don't

Port Augusta to Port Broughton

WooHoo - this is my 700th post and I'd like you to celebrate my milestone with me. If you leave me a comment you will have a chance of winning a piece of jewellery from DavineRaeDesign.

Just one of the three givaways that are up for grabs.
All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog or facebook

We also had another milestone on our Aussie Adventure. Today the distance we have travelled on our Adventure ticked over to the 30,000 kilometres.

Our milestone - 30,000kms

After heading off from Port Augusta our first stop was at the small seaside village of Port Germein for a nice Ham and Cheese toasted sandwich for breakie. Originally named "Hummock Harbour", Port Germein was once an important transport hub for the surrounding districts. Back in 1881 the Port Germein jetty was the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

Port Germein Jetty

A lighthouse was erected at the end of the jetty in 1894. The lighthouse was manned until 1917, when it was replaced by a AGA flashing light. The lighthouse was relocated to it's current site in 1975.

Port Germein Lighthouse

We are now at our home for the next few days Port Broughton. Port Broughton is another small seaside village located on the Yorke Peninsula on the east coast of Spencer Gulf. The population of around 950 swells to over 4000 in the Summer holidays due to its close proximity to South Australia's Capitol Adelaide.

Yet another wonderful view from Myrtle

Coffin Bay

We are now in Coffin Bay which a little township located on the bottom point of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It has a population of around 650 but during holiday season and Easter that can grow to around 4,000. I'm so glad it's not the busy time at the moment. This area is famous all over Australia for its oysters. Some say they are the best in Australia, they are pretty good but in my opinion I think the Tassie (Tasmania) oysters are the best. That doesn't mean I won't be eating as many as I can while I'm here. I'm quite tired tonight and my brain can't think of anything to write, so I might just share some photos I've taken over the past few days.

Mmmmmm Seafood

I'm not sure why but Coffin Bay's golf course has black greens??

As we finished fishing today we were treated with a beautiful sunset

Australia's famous racehorse Makybe Diva

In 2005 Makybe Diva became the only horse to win the Melbourne Cup three times

This Whale tail art in Elliston gave me a giggle

Port Lincoln wharf

Geraldton to Port Denison

Well we certainly didn't exert ourselves on this journey as we only had to drive 72kms (44.7 miles). So you would think we wouldn't be tired in the afternoon, oh no we still had to have our Nana nap in the PM. Port Denison and Dongara are twin towns divided by the Irwin River that have a real seaside village feel about them. There isn't a huge amount of touristy stuff to do, but then sometimes that's nice. It's nice and relaxing just to spend some time enjoying the sounds of the waves and doing nothing. We decided to stay on Port Denison rather than Dongara for no other reason than someone had recommended it to us. Travelling around Australia you soon get to learn to listen to peoples recommendations - word of mouth certainly is the best advertising. Port Denison is the home of Western Australia's largest rock lobster fishing fleets. Unfortunately the season doesn't start until after the Blessing of the Fleet is conducted next week. As with a lot of the villages we have visited along the WA coast there is a lot of history and historic buildings all built around the 1800's.

The Old Dongara Post Office

Dongara old Police Station, Courthouse and Gaol

Once again we are right on the Indian Ocean with beautiful white sand beaches - well normally that is. For some reason Mother Nature has decided to dump a huge amount of seaweed on the closest beach to us. Some of the piles would be at least 2 metres high. Not only does it look really unattractive it really really stinks. Needless to say I'm glad I bought a can of Eucalyptus spray to keep Myrtle smelling nice. I would presume all the would need would be a really high tide and most of the weed would be taken back out to sea. If I lived here I'd be down at the beach collecting some of this smelly stuff to use on my garden. When my Mum and Dad lived on the coast in St. Helens, Tasmania they used seaweed all the time on their garden and  their garden was fantastic.

 

I wonder why Mother Nature decided to dump this on shore -
doesn't do much for the beautiful beach

Last night we once again we had a beautiful sunset. But when I turned around to look back at the township, the sky was equally as striking. The clouds looked a bit dark and ominous. Then during the night there was lots of thunder and lightening and I got quite excited that we might see some actual rain. Haven't seen rain in a very long time. But no Mother Nature had other ideas as she only gave us about six drops of rain and then it all moved on.

Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Don't forget to always look over your shoulder

For my regulars you may remember I have been running a lucky draw for one lucky person who commented on my blog during the month of October. I thank you all for you lovely comments, but there can be only one winner. Drum Roll........ and and the winner of one of my pieces of chainmaille jewellery is Filip Demuinck. Filip if you could email me on davinerae@hotmail.com we can work out which piece you would prefer.

Goodbye Onslow

Tomorrow we leave Onslow and head onto our next destination. I know we are heading towards Exmouth but not really sure where we will stay tomorrow night - somewhere in the middle of nowhere I guess. We have had to become a little more organised for the next couple of weeks as it is WA school holidays and apparently Perthites head north for the hols. Today was a pretty relaxing day although we did go out fishing for a while. I caught one and Shane got five but alas they were all undersize. I headed off down the beach to get yet some more sunset shots.

Onslow Sunset

As it is now Spring all the wild flowers are starting to bloom in

WA so I thought I would share a few of them. 

Sturt Desert Pea - this is actually South Australia's State Flower

Fields of Mulla Mullas