Mount Barker

We arrived in Mount Barker on Thursday the 21st of April.When we got to the caravan park they put us on site just outside the Amenities block.We were not very happy with site and I went back to the office to see if we could get another one ( There were a couple of sites across the road that were vacant.) but they were fully booked. Out the front of the caravan park was big oval and we were told that we could set up anywhere around the edge. We checked it out and decided it was better than the site we were given.The top of the fence that ran around the oval was used as the water pipe and there was electric boxes on the big light poles so we could have power.
The kids went off and played games in the middle of the oval- Plenty of room for them to run around without disturbing the other campers.
Over the weekend we watched other campers come in and set up in different areas around the oval.
On Friday the weather was cloudy with short rain periods throughout the day.
On Friday we went to Melba's Chocolate Factory which was very busy because of Easter.It had a huge room filled with all the chocolates and lollies that they had made.Around the room were viewing windows so the customers could see the different processes that they were doing.
 After Melba's we went to the giant Rocking House which is a toy shop with lots of different wooded toys in it that they make on site.

Todd, Alanna and Luke climbed to the top of the rocking horse. Careena was going to but when she saw how steep the ladder was she changed her mind.
At the Giant Rocking Horse there was a small wildlife park that was free to visit. We bought a bag of  animal food each for the kids to feed the animals.

The sheep were the first to be fed and they were very hungry. Careena didn't like the sheep because they were very pushy and kept following us.  Alanna liked the goats and the Sheep the best. Further up the track we saw Wallabies and Kangaroos.  Careena liked  feeding the wallabies and Kangaroos the best. Behind a fence was an Emu and I told Luke to hold his bag of  food at the bottom and hold it up so the Emu could have some.The Emu was very cheeky and stole the entire bag much to Luke's and our surprise. After Luke got over the shock he was very disappointed.  The ducks chased Careena and they were very noisy.
Todd liked feeding the Peacock the best.
After visiting the Big Rocking Horse we drove into Adelaide to have a look.

On Saturday we went strawberry picking at Berrenberg farm, then spent the rest of the day at Hahndorf which is a historical German town. It was very busy with a lot of tourists and we had fun looking in all the shops. I loved all the old buildings that were made of stone. There a lot of them in this area.

Easter Sunday we spent a relaxing day at the van. The owner and his 81 year old mother in law  drove around the caravan park in their golf buggy handing out easter eggs to the kids.


Monday we drove down to Glenelg and the kids had fun at the BEACHHOUSE ( A 2 storey amusement arcade with waterslides, dodgems, bumperboats, etc.)

After the beachouse we walked out on the pier and saw a stingray in the water. The kids had fun at the beach. After they had finished playing we saw a large crowd of people gathered around a busker. We went over to have a look and he was doing magic tricks and making lots of jokes.He was excellent in all that he did. We spent the whole day at Glenelg and then went back to the van for tea.




Tuesday we went to Victor Harbour and had a ride on the horse drawn tram (They claim it to be part of the 1st railway in Australia) out to Granite Island.  Granite Island is a wildlife Sanctuary for Little Penguins and a very popular place for tourists. It takes about 40 minutes to walk around the island which has great views back to the mainland and out to sea.

Wednesday we decided to have another days rest and let the kids catch up with their scrapbooks. Because they were behind they soon lost interest and Todd and I helped bring them up to date by cutting and pasting pictures. Two hours later we had finished.
During dinner the Local Soccer club came down to the oval to train.It was very funny having dinner while they were running past.Lucky there was only two groups and not 12 groups where Luke used to train.
Tomorrow we are moving on to Port Pirie.

Penola and Naracoorte

Wednesday the 20th April

We left Mount Gambier about 9am. About 1hour later we arrived in a little town called Penola. (Careena had found a brochure in Mount Gambier tourist information centre about a Fantasy Railway in Penola and wanted to see it.)

The man who owned the railway was very friendly. He gave the kids quizzes and they had to find the answers around the railway to get a prize. He has spent 10 years building the railway and he still has more to do. Every time you looked at it something new would jump out at you. He had castles with little figurines  everywhere.








Naracoorte Caves
When we had seen enough of the railway we moved on to Naracoorte to look at the caves.
We did tours of 3 caves. The wet cave which was self guided, Alexander and Victoria Fossil Cave.

The caves formations were not as spectacular as some of the other caves we have been in e.g Wombeyan Caves in NSW but we decided to visit them because of the high fossil content that is found there.



Fossils found in the cave.



Fossil of a giant leaf eating Kangaroo.

A lot of the fossils that were found were of giant Mega fauna which are now extinct.
The animals fell into the caves from above through holes and they could not get out because there was no other openings.
There were over 100 deposits of fossils in the Victoria Fossil Cave which is approximately 4 km long. Our tour did 400 meters of that.
When we left the caves it was getting late so we decided to stop at Keith, (about  1 hour away  )for the night on our way to Mount Barker.

Mount Gambier- 17-4-2011



 

Sunday

We crossed the border from Victoria to South Australia on Sunday Morning.I was expecting to see a big sign and a quarantine station with people checking to see if we were carrying any fruit with us( Not allowed fruit or veg into South Australia due to fruit fly) because Todd's parents had told us previously that they had been checked at the border but there was nothing except a big yellow bin and a sign telling us to dump our fruit.



Along the way to the Tourist Information centre we drove through a big cobweb which stuck to our arial on the car.There were other cars with cobwebs on their ariels as well and they were hanging off street signs, long strands of thick cobweb that blew halfway across the road.



When we were setting up at the Caravan Park a few streets away we looked up into the air and there were long strands of cobwebs floating everywhere.I have never seen anything like it before and I am quite dissapointed that I didn't get a photo.It was quite amazing. It reminded me of fairyfloss when it is being made  before it is put onto the stick and it is flying around the sides of the machine.

I asked the lady at the reception desk at the caravan park about it and she said that she had not seen anything like it before but she had read something about Pakistan on the internet that when it flooded all the spiders went to the tops of the trees and made cocoons. She wondered if something similar had happened here because the cobwebs  had blown  across from the Murray where they had all the rain earlier in the year. The eggs had hatched and baby spiders were finding new homes.

Monday

Woke up to a beautiful day with the town clock in the background chiming 7.00

We went and saw the Blue Lake today and did the Aquifer tour which took us to the water surface of the lake. The lake is in a crater of an extinct volcano and is the water supply for Mount Gambier. It is pumped to to storage tanks on the highest points and then it is gravity fed to city.



The lake is best seen in the summer months when it is the bluest. It starts to change colour this time of year to a grey colour.



Blue Lake





Pump House





The Aquifer tour



Valley Lake

Vally Lake is another extinct Volcano near the Blue Lake but it is very different because we could drive down into it. It has an excellent playground for kids of all ages and a native reserve that we could explore at our own lesuire for a gold coin donation.

Umpherston Sinkhole

A sinkhole is where the roof of an underground cavern has collapsed to form a large hole.

Umpherston Sinkhole is very beautiful because they have turned it into a garden.



Mount Shank

On Wednesday morning we woke up to a very overcast and rainy day but we decided to climb Mount Shank anyway.(Mount Shank is another extinct volcano but it is further out of town than Blue Lake.)

We arrived at the carpark, donned on our rainproof jackets and started our trek. (A local dog decided to escort the kids to the top.) We had to climb 336 steps to the rim of the crater.

Mount Shank on the day we decided to climb it.
(Covered in cloud. and raining)

When we got to the top we saw that there was a track leading down into the bottom of the crater. Todd decided to walk down into the crater while the kids, the dog and I stayed at the top. The kids were getting a little worried because the clouds were closing in  and the rain was getting heavier. They were yelling out to Todd to hurry up.  

  

Todd walking down into Mount Shank

  

Todd at the bottom



Kids and the dog that joined them.

Todd wringing out his socks after
his walk into the crater.



Mount Shank







Walking back down Mount Shank
the weather started to clear up.

O.B.A.A Ballarat

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