Day 3.75, 29 April 2018
Station Pier to Braybrook
The SS Axolotyl under full steam - or one very much like her
The SS Axolotyl arrived at Station Pier in Melbourne at precisely 7.00 pm as advertised. It was pitch dark and with only a late-model GPS to guide us, we set out - not without trepidation - for the Melbourne Discovery Holiday Park and other parts unknown.
Only one wrong turn and there we were by 8.00 pm eating deep fried street food from an in-park food vending van!
Very nice, but not quite perfick!
Day 4, 30 April 2018
Melbourne to Lake Fyans
Up betimes (as Samuel Pepys would say) to look about the "Melbourne Discovery Holiday Park" at Braybrook. It is immediately apparent that many others have also "discovered" this little bit of tourist infrastructure well before the Prop and Mrs P.
The joint is as full as a fat girl's sock and bigger than God's underpants!
Uneventful drive out of the metropolis towards Halls Gap via Ballarat.
228 km later and just short of Halls Gap in the shadows of the Grampians, we spy a sign reading "Lake Fyans Holiday Park".
Well reviewed on Wiki Camps (the holiday park, not us) and feeling essurient (us, not the holiday park) we decide to give it a shot.
Perfick!
Lake Fyans with the Grampians in the background
Day 5, 1 May 2018
Lake Fyans to Halls Gap and Back Again
"Conquer"may be too large a word in this context, the conquest consisting of a 2 hour return walk/climb/struggle to "The Pinnacle Lookout" a remote but astonishingly popular lookout at the top of the Grampians.
The View from the Pinnacle
The Prop hoped that once there he might commune with nature for a moment or two. Instead he was obliged to commune with a large and rather rowdy group of schoolchildren! Not at all the same thing!
Victorian school kiddies eager to commune with the Prop
Still the views were good and the exercise no doubt did wonders for the Props's cardio-vascular system.
A good view
One note of minor embarrassment: The Prop and Mrs P appeared to be the only walkers above school age who were not equipped with a pair of stylish aluminium rambling sticks. Now on the shopping list!
Doesn't pay to look like an amateur but the Prop draws the line at wearing lycra.
Off west tomorrow...
Day 6, 2 May 2018
"Wont'You Take Me To Funkytown Bordertown"
Up betimes and on the road west.
Passing through Dadswells Bridge the Prop almost missed the most remarkable piece of tourist infrastructure that the northern Grampians has to offer - the Giant Koala cafe! In truth, with a little more luck, the Prop might have missed it altogether.
Not sure about all these "big" tourist things in Australia. They may be something of a paradox - a bit like the "mullet" hairstyle.
One can never be quite sure whether the wearer of a mullet (or the proprietor of a "big" tourist attraction) is serious and really likes the thing OR is quietly taking the piss. This means that one never knows whether one is laughing AT the mullet-wearer or WITH the mullet-wearer.
More concerning is the possibility that the mullet-wearer is laughing AT you while you are laughing at/with the mullet-wearer because he knew all along that you would!
The Giant Koala of Dadswells Bridge - probably has a mullet!
Due to South Australian quarantine restrictions, the Prop and Mrs P were obliged to lunch on several apples and a tomato or two to save them from the bin at the border. Most heartbreaking of all, the Prop had to dispose of half a dozen home-grown capsicums - the first he has ever managed to successfully cultivate despite numerous attempts.
Arrived at Funkytown Bordertown by 2.00 pm to a very pleasant 26 degrees.
It is called "Bordertown" because it is close to the border.
It is not called Funkytown because, although it is a pleasant enough little town, being as generous as one can, its lacks a little in the "funk" department.
Bordertown SA, virtually funk-free
Day 7, 3 May 2018
Funkytown to Kapunda
Up betimes on account of a power blackout!
After a night of boisterous weather conditions the Prop awoke to find no mains electricity was making its way to the Cane Toad. Perhaps the South Australian grid (Tesla battery and all) had failed again?Not so! Upon investigation it appeared that water had leaked between the side of the Cane Toad and the electrical input socket causing what we amateur "sparkies" refer to as a"short".
A bit of fiddling and a bit of insulation tape and all good...we hope....
Heading in a general north-westerly direction we passed through Keith - don't know his other name - but were unable to locate what is billed as the second best attraction in that location: "The Land Rover on a Pole". At first the Prop thought that this might be a memorial to a Polish immigrant unfortunately run over by a 4WD. Turns out that someone thought it was a good idea to weld an old jeep to the top of a big pipe and stick it in a park.
The second best attraction in Keith
Saw a nice piece of silo art in Coonalpyn.
Silo Art - the only attraction in Coonalpyn
Drove through Eden Valley, the Barossa Valley including Nurioopta just so we could say "Nurioopta" several times before we finally arrived in "Kapunda".
As many readers will know, this charming little town, formerly known as Coppertown has recently been re-named in honour of the Prop's close personal friend, Mr Ronaldo Kapunda, the famous naturist. The town ordinarily has an ideal climate for naturists, both young and old, but today was a rare exception. It was as cold as Liaweenee and everyone in town had their full kit on - including the Prop and Mrs P.
Ronaldo Kapunda pictured on a warm day
Tomorrow: The Prop susses out "the Big Miner" - or should that be the Major Miner?
Day 8, 4 May 2018
Kapunda to Woolundunga
Up betimes after yet another night of boisterous weather but the Cane Toad was tight and men did their duty.
First stop, "Map Kernouw". According to the "interpretation infrastucture" (i.e. signs) "Map Kernouw" means "son of Cornwall" in the Cornish dialect. Turns out Kapunda (formerly "Coppertown") had the first working mine in Australia. It was staffed by men from Cornwall who wore stiff leather hats with wax candles stuck to them with lumps of clay so they could see underground. This was, in 1840, what we would now call "cutting edge technology".
In truth it was just a fire hazard!
Anyway, lots of little Cornish miners came to South Australia and brought their hats, candles and pasties with them and helped to make this country great: That's more or less what the "interpretation infrastucture" says.
"Map Kernouw" a major miner in Kapunda
Farewell Kapunda - you have done Ronaldo proud!
Ronaldo Kapunda - as proud as buggery
Back in the saddle of the Cane Toad inwe made for Port Augusta. However disappointing (not to say somewhat disturbing) reviews on the only two Cane Toad Parks in Port Augusta forced a rethink. At length, Mrs P found a very nice little establishment called "Woolundunga" As well as servicing Cane Toads (and their owners) Woolundunga produces South African sheep which eat saltbush and make very nice saltbush-flavoured meat.
Woolundunga also has a very fine collection of stromatolites. Eager to view them (despite not knowing what a stromatolite is or what one looks like) the Prop and Mrs P set off on a hand-drawn-map bushwalk to the site of said stromatolites.
About an hour later we arrived at a location which may or may not have been rich in stromatolites. It was unarguably rich in pieces of rock. Bereft and bewildered we returned to camp afraid someone might ask us to describe the stromatolites that we had seen. So, we repaired to the Cane Toad for the night to "google" images of stromatolites in the hope that we might find something that looked like something that we had seen earlier. Not sure that we did!
Could this be a stromatolite? Who knows?
We did see some nice birds and a nice sunset though.
Fincus Stromatolitus - or the Common Stromatolite Finch - very common in Woolundunga
A nice sunset
Tomorrow: The Nullarbor beckons...
Day 8, 5 May 2018
Woolundunga to Wudinna
Up betimes after yet another night of boisterous weather but the Cane Toad was tight and men did their duty.
First stop, "Map Kernouw". According to the "interpretation infrastucture" (i.e. signs) "Map Kernouw" means "son of Cornwall" in the Cornish dialect. Turns out Kapunda (formerly "Coppertown") had the first working mine in Australia. It was staffed by men from Cornwall who wore stiff leather hats with wax candles stuck to them with lumps of clay so they could see underground. This was, in 1840, what we would now call "cutting edge technology".
In truth it was just a fire hazard!
Anyway, lots of little Cornish miners came to South Australia and brought their hats, candles and pasties with them and helped to make this country great: That's more or less what the "interpretation infrastucture" says.
Back in the saddle of the Cane Toad inwe made for Port Augusta. However disappointing (not to say somewhat disturbing) reviews on the only two Cane Toad Parks in Port Augusta forced a rethink. At length, Mrs P found a very nice little establishment called "Woolundunga" As well as servicing Cane Toads (and their owners) Woolundunga produces South African sheep which eat saltbush and make very nice saltbush-flavoured meat.
Woolundunga also has a very fine collection of stromatolites. Eager to view them (despite not knowing what a stromatolite is or what one looks like) the Prop and Mrs P set off on a hand-drawn-map bushwalk to the site of said stromatolites.
About an hour later we arrived at a location which may or may not have been rich in stromatolites. It was unarguably rich in pieces of rock. Bereft and bewildered we returned to camp afraid someone might ask us to describe the stromatolites that we had seen. So, we repaired to the Cane Toad for the night to "google" images of stromatolites in the hope that we might find something that looked like something that we had seen earlier. Not sure that we did!
Day 8, 5 May 2018
Woolundunga to Wudinna
Lots of steering the Cane Toad in a straight line today.
Paid a visit to Kimba (sic) to appreciate more silo art. Who knew four years ago that "silo art" was even a thing?
Silo Art in Kimba - but not a white lion in sight!
However, often the oldies are the real goodies. In the shadows of the tarted-up Kimba silos stands - and has stood since a time whereof the mind of man runneth not to the contrary - THE BIG GALAH.
The Big G may be weathered and faded but still, like a colossus he bestrides the Eyre Highway like a...well...galah! (The use of the word bestrides is not strictly accurate as, in fact, all of the Big G is on the southern side of the Eyre Highway. However, so imposing is the Big G that he seems to bestride the very continent itself! [Readers will excuse this hyperbolic flourish])
The Big Galah - but is it art?
Waving a fond farewell to Kimba and the Big G, the Prop and Mrs P moved on to Wudinna.
Uninstructed the Prop would have pronounced the name of this place Wuh-Dinna. However, not being up with the Anglicisation of Aboriginal words, he was not to know that the locals call it Woodener. (as in "His smile was wooden, hers was woodener, but mine was the woodenest")
Wudinna also has a "big thing" called the "Australian Farmer" it is carved from the local red granite and is very impressive. It is also very universal in the sense that it does not seek to imitate the appearance of any particular individual. In fact, it doesn't even look like any individual, let alone a farmer. It doesn't even have a hat! But apparently it is "art" so that doesn't matter.
The "Australian Farmer" - a fine example of art.
Tomorrow : To the Very Edge of the Nullabor - Ceduna here we come!
3 comments:
The serenity
We love big things.
There’s a lot happening out there on the road. Can’t wait for the next action packed episode.
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