Clare Valley and Mt Remarkable NP
From Adelaide we drove up to the Flinders Ranges. On the way up we called into the Clare Valley, which is a small wine growing region (apparently reminiscent of Tuscany) full of boutique wineries and sleepy little villages. We only stopped at one cellar door as it was early in the morning and we still had quite a bit of driving to do. We chose our vineyard based entirely on the logo – a fish drinking wine. It was mid-week and there was only us there, consequently the bloke at the cellar door had the time and the inclination for a good chat. We tried a few of the wines and nodded politely when he suggested that “you could really taste the plum on the mid-palate with this wine”. It was pretty tasty and reasonably priced so we bought a bottle – he kindly suggested it would cellar well for up to 3 years but we drank it that night out of our plastic mugs.
From the Clare Valley we cut across to Mt Remarkable NP – we’d not heard of it before either, but it looked like a convenient place to spend the night. Our campsite had emus on it! We were much more perturbed by their presence than they were by ours. After we slammed the door a few times they wondered off. We did a walk to a look out in the evening and a loop nature walk in the morning. The morning was much better as there were lots of wallaroos (another type of macropod).
Flinders Ranges
From here we continued up north. The further we went the bleaker the landscape got. It was a beautiful bleakness of dry dusty red land and an endless sky with the hills of the flinders ranges on the horizon. The landscape was dotted with abandoned homesteads; windmills (that drive the bore to lift the water to the surface) and rows of trees which show where the water flows when it rains.
It was too hot for doing any serious walking so we stopped off at all of the little diversions on the way: waterholes; old homesteads; aboriginal rock art (which was a lot further from the car than we anticipated). We stayed at Wilpena Pound resort which was a civilised bush camp with a pub and a swimming pool. The afternoon was cloudy and unseasonably cool (still high 20s) so we decided we could attempt one of the walks. The most appealing was to the summit of Mount Ohlssen Bagge: 6.4km return but according to the notes it took 4 hours! We set up camp and left for the walk at 4pm, but its light till 8:30pm so we had plenty of time even if it did really take 4 hours. For the first 1km the path slowly wound upwards along a very nice path through the scrubby bush. After that the ascent became quite steep and was a case of following markers up the rock rather than a defined path. Where has our fitness gone?? It wasn’t a peak more of the highest part of this side of the Pound. Wilpena Pound is an oval shaped depression caused by two ridges. The spectacular views from the top looked into the Pound and then out over the Flinders Ranges and along the western ridge.
The walk down was OK – we were both glad it stayed cloudy as the path was exposed. There were a few kangaroos in the bottom of the valley at the end of the walk but they were quite jumpy. However the kangaroos at the campsite were over friendly. People definitely feed the wildlife all over Oz. The cheeky kanga in the campsite pulled herself up onto the table top to see what we were cooking for dinner. While we were eating our dinner there were a couple of kangas under the table, centimetres from our feet, waiting for any scraps to fall through.
The next morning we’d booked at scenic flight over Wilpena Pound. We were advised to go at early o’clock to get the best of the morning light. We woke up and it was cloudy. We’d been hoping for a wonderful red morning glow instead we got a morning gloaming. The flight was just us and the pilot in a little Cessna. Before take off we had to traverse the runway to scare off the emus and kangaroos that were grazing there. The flight was pretty good we went round and over Wilpena Pound and then followed the ridge line down. The campsite end of the pound is where the main river exits the Pound and there’s a well defined gap. At the far end of the pound the ground must be harder and the land was carved into a series of rugged gorges. The ridges themselves seem to be folded sedimentary rock. One side is gently sloping to the summit; the other side of the ridge is clearly sedimentary layers.
We drove back South a different way heading slightly west towards the Barossa valley. There were no tourist sites on this road but we did stop a few times (and jump a few fences) so Phil could get the ‘perfect’ outback photo. The small towns we stopped in/drove through were fascinating: the garage doubled up as the camping and hardware store. We also encountered a field full of strange tin men; tin emus; tin aliens etc. There must be some eccentrics living out in the outback….and a lot of spare tin, and a lot of spare time.
Barossa Valley
We arrived in Tanunda late afternoon just in time to fit in 1 vineyard, which was a faux chateau near the town centre. Despite arriving 5 minutes before they officially closed they let us in – I suspect the staff were having a late afternoon tipple. The wine was OK we didn’t buy any instead we popped into the bottle shop while walking back to the campsite for beer. Tanunda bottle shop (off license) is possibly the best bottle shop I have ever been into. It was the downstairs of a house and each room had a different drink: red wine; white wine; beer (a room for slabs and a room for 6-packs); spirits; and another room for special offers. In the wine rooms they stocked several years of the same wine from the same vineyard. They had bottles behind locked doors that were $3000!!
The Barossa was originally settled by Germans Jesuits. The guide book told us how the towns in the Barossa all had a real German feel. The people who write the guidebooks have obviously never been to Germany. It was all very small town Australia. We did find a ‘German’ bakery – all the usual breads but with the names in German too.
I’m a little bit worried about Phil. In the Daintree (far north Queensland) I wasn’t allowed an ice cream before midday because it was just wrong! However at 10am the next morning we found ourselves at the Jacobs Creek cellar door. There are lots of vineyards in Barossa; we struggled to choose; but after our small boutique winery in the Clare valley we wanted to compare and contrast with the behemoth of Jacobs Creek. There was very little banter they just poured and poured and poured. The girl even encouraged us to try the more expensive ones as a good opportunity to get some for free. Their cellar door prices were the same as the shelf price which is very unusual (its usually more at the cellar door). We did buy a cellar door special and then motored down South to catch the ferry across to Kangaroo Island.
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island is listed in all of the “Australia’s top sights” however we just didn’t get it. Either the people who rate it in their top sights haven’t seen much of Australia or they didn’t have to pay their own ferry fare (extortionate). It was pretty good: it was like a lot of good bits of Australia put into one easy to drive around island.
The first day we went to some of the beaches on the North Coast. The North Coast faces the port of Adelaide and the water was calm and absolutely clear. The first beach, Stokes Bay, was accessed by following a path that went through and under 8 foot wide boulders. There were only us and 1 other morning walker. It was absolutely beautiful. The 2nd beach wasn’t quite so good as you could drive down to the beach, so everyone with a 4X4 had done so and they were lined up at the back of the beach. The sun was shining, the water was perfect and I couldn’t resist a swim this time….once we were in we were rudely reminded that it was the Southern Ocean and not the tropical seas of the reef. It was blinking freezing! We had a token swim and then stood on the beach to dry off.
From here we drove across to Cape Borda Lighthouse in the Flinders Chase National Park. We did the guided tour but our timing meant there were only us on the tour. Our guide was very chatty; it was more like your uncle enthusing about his favourite hobby than a tour. We even got to go into the weather station because we showed an interest (judging from the mess in the office I don’t think this is usually on the tour). The lighthouse was pre-fabricated in Birmingham including the lens – most Aussies don’t realise that Birmingham is the most land locked city in the UK.
The campsite for the night was also the site of the koala walkway. We chose a pitch due to proximity to facilities; flatness and grassiness of pitch. Much to our delight the pitch also had 2 tamar wallabies nearby and a koala in the tree above the tent. Before dinner we did the koala walk – we got some pretty good photos. Koalas may be cute but they really aren’t that entertaining to watch. We actually found one on the move and we even got a photo with motion blur. The other thing no one tells you is how noisy koalas can be. We were woken a few times in the night by a grunting/barking noise of the koala defending his territory or perhaps making crooning noises for a mate.
The next morning Phil wanted to get up early to go to the Remarkable Rocks for sunrise. The plan was for a beautiful morning light; yet again it was cloudy. The rocks didn’t look that remarkable from a distance. Once we were clamouring on the rocks they were pretty: eroded to bizarre shapes and speckled with orange algae. 90% of the park had burnt in early December but the area around Remarkable Rocks was still OK. It was kind of nice having them to ourselves – the size of the car park implied it may have got a lot busier later on.
From here we drove along the South Coast of the island stopping off at Seal bay. This is home to a colony of Australian Fur Seals. These are different to NZ fur seals; they’re lighter in colour; squeak instead of bark and have different hunting habits. The breed in 18months cycles. They hunt for 3 days and then sleep for 3 days solid – they swim and hunt on the continental shelf 50km south of Australia. It is possible to go onto the beach where they rest as part of a guided tour – yet again we got lucky; just me, Phil and the guide. To be honest it was more of an accompanied viewing than a guided tour. You were allowed to get within 10m of the seals. I’m glad there were some pups about playing as the adults just slept. Interestingly the seal pups ran at the flocks of seagulls on the beach much like toddlers run at pigeons. We also went onto a viewing platform where we got a couple of great photos of a mother and pup sleeping beneath us.
That night we camped at a National Park campsite called Murray Lagoon. From the view point there was absolutely no sign of the lagoon. Rather perplexed we decided to do the short walks in the morning. The first walk was alongside some dry expanses of land; the second walk up a hill gave views of a piece of dry flat land with a tiny pond in the middle with a single duck swimming around. South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent on earth.
We got take away fish and chips while waiting for the ferry to take us back to the mainland. The black board outside suggested we could try grilled fish with salad – as if?! Beer battered fish with chips – Yum.
