Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Curse the cold! We had had enough of the infernal frigid breeze straight up from the antarctic and left Victor Harbor a day early. We headed toward Victoria, crossed the Murray River by vehicular ferry at Wellington, stopped at Keith for lunch at a delightful cafe, and cruised into Naracoorte by about 2 o'clock. The van park is a delight, not real busy and high sites. We walked over to the town via the local pond and under the disused train line. In town we did - nothing. Which must come as a surprise because despite the fact that they had at least half-a-dozen coffee shops, we just wandered back home again and had a cup of tea instead. A few snaps; These 3 ducks came paddling toward me looking for a feed... Naracoorte SA ...and then turned and slunk away, empty billed and tails between their legs. Naracoorte SA Old railway line. Naracoorte SA Gum tree flower. Naracoorte SA Old railway line. Naracoorte SA

Our last day on the island. We left the Pier 10 Aprtment at about 10am and drov back towards Penneshaw, where the boat comes in. On the way we poked our noses into a few little beaches and towns, noticeably American River, site of where American sealers built themselves a new boat in 1803. Oddly enough, there is no river at American River. We arrived at the wharf in good time so had a bit of a look around the township, which is very small, and settled for a coffee in a coffee / gift shop before wandering down to the ferry terminal and booking ourselves in for the return trip. The trip was uneventful and quite a bit smoother than coming across. Once landed we drove back over to Victor Harbor, made sure the van was OK and noted without enthusiasm that it was colder than Kingscote on the island. Brrrr. After a bit of shop-work, we fed ourselves at the local hotel on a seafood platter, then went to another hotel for a coffee and tart before returning to the van and putting the heater...

Today we did the north part of the island, well as far as the tarred road went, we weren't really up for the 80km of rough-as-bags dirt road right down to Cape Borda. Instead we went to Stokes Bay, which was a pretty enough little rocky bay. At one end there is a sign on the rocky headland pointing into the rock and claiming that there was a beach. True enough, there was a kind of tunnel through the headland that brought you out onto a truly lovely beach, talk about your hidden gems. To put the record straight, during the winter months there is nothing at these places. So for a feed or anything else, one had to retreat to the last town, which in our case was Parndana, a sleepier hollow than any you are likely to find. We chose bakery/IGA over the hotel and were rewarded with an excellent bowl of pumpkin soup and a home-made sausage roll. The owner was kind enough to give us a bit of history which included the information that the 'tunnel' was man made by a couple of '...

Well, a big day today (yesterday actually, I'm a bit slack!). Kangaroo Island is a lot bigger than you might imagine an island off an island to be. It's some 150 km long and 50 km wide. The odd part is that the towns are at one end and the attractions are at the other. Which might actually be a good thing  given the fragile and sensitive nature of these natural wonders. So today I'm taking you on tour with us: A few words and a few snaps from each of the places we stopped at. First, we took a detour down a dirt road to Vivonne Beach, which had some really bad reports on the 'net. They were right, the place looks like a cross between Deliverence Country and the Hill Billies. Shame, the beach was spectacular. Seal Bay, some 50km down the road, is a long-time breeding ground for the endangered Australian Fur Seal. At first you get a bit of a surprise that you have top go in via a visitors centre, where you have to decide between the ranger guided beach walk or t...