Like a particularly itchy mozzie bite (of which we've collected a fair few), it has been bugging me that we've missed out on a few journal entries along the way. The first of which being our journey from Lavers Hill in Victoria (the dairy farm) to Adelaide (James' grandmother's cousin's half-sisters nephew and wife, or something like that) in South Australia.
Our first stop before we crossed the SA border was the teeny town of Nelson. Being on the teeny side (ie one caravan park, one roadhouse and not much else) didn't prevent us from finding a space for our car thankfully, as the camping site was virtually empty, except for some very relaxed wallabies who came to visit us in the morning. Roos had kept their distance from us before, but these fellas didn't hesitate to hop around the car with noses to the ground, nuzzling at the grass but also one eye on our breakfast table. This was also our cheapest accommodation for the entire trip so far ($19) so it does hold a special place in our stingy hearts.
Across the border we arrived in Mount Gambier, famous for its beautiful blue lake and sinkholes. But unfortunately we hadn't seen a movie since Melbourne more than three weeks previous so the first thing us sad sacks looked up was whether there was a local cinema (there was, the Oatmill)and what was showing (Iron Man). Woohoo!
Folks in Mount Gambier are super friendly and proud of their town (the second largest in SA) and not only did the woman at the Information Centre deluge us with information and maps on how to do absolutely everything and how to find it, but the lady in the caravan park repeated the performance, much to the consternation of the queue of people waiting behind us to be checked in.
This part of Australia is known as the limestone coast and is riddled with holes and caves of every sort thanks to underground water channelling its way through the porous rock. We duly visited the big blue lake which changes colour throughout the year but we didn't hang around as it started to rain. Even though we got pretty wet, and often, in this part of South Australia, we were constantly reminded how scarce water is, and there are lots of 'polite' notices in the bathrooms instructing us to not waste water and bloody get in and out of the shower quickly, mate.
The brilliantly named Umperherston Sinkhole is, er, a bloody great big hole in the ground that was used as a picnic area by the early settlers who appreciated the shade and cooler temperatures it provided. There was a little lake in the bottom and the then owners planted lots of wondrous and exotic plants to create a lush garden. It fell into disuse but has since been fixed up with a bbq area, green grass and lots of hanging plants that the locals use regularly.
The highlight of the trip was our next stop, the Naracoorte Caves. A National Park and World Heritage Area, it is famous for its prehistoric fossils of some of Australia's megafauna. Yes, megafauna. Giant versions of kangaroos, snakes, lions and birds etc. Like snakes aren't bloody big enough already. We stayed in the Park campsite and had the place to ourselves. This was rather eerie as there was absolutely no-one else camping there and we, the paranoid people that we are, found ourselves the most secluded spot to park our car in the bushes so no, er, megafauna could find us easily. We did two tours while there, one was a self-guided walk through beautiful limestone formations and the second was to the Bat Cave. You don't actually enter the cave however, a huge and active nesting site for thousands of the critters, but watch them via infra-red cameras which have superdooper magnification. The guide was brilliant, answering all our stupid questions, and he told us to come back later for the best bit of the tour. Every night at sunset the bats swoop out of a hole at one end of the cave, and visitors can grab themselves a spot for what is quite a hair-raising experience. James and I were the only people there that night as the sun began to disappear, the air suddenly cooled and then the night was just full of swerving, swooshing black bodies which flew past our heads and disappeared into the nightsky. We had to keep ourselves quite still, as a couple of times the bats, with single-minded it's dinner time purpose, almost smacked into us in their haste to get out of the cave but were able to readjust their sonar and fly around the morons who were in way of the insect buffet. Apparently many of the creatures fly the same route every single night and we were probably standing in the middle of their preferred flightpath!
After our brief encounter it was off to bed and then Adelaide in the morning which will be Part 2.
