Utes in the Paddock

Home again!

We decided to drive straight home from Griffith.  The original idea was to stop over in Parkes on the way to break up the trip (which is about 550 km) but, as we weren’t planning on doing any sightseeing there, we decided to save the overnight accommodation cost and continue all the way.  We arrived here at about 7:30 PM yesterday evening (Sunday).

On our first day just over 4 weeks ago, we enjoyed ‘Animals on Bikes’ along the Molong–Dubbo road, so it seemed appropriate on our last day to see more paddock art at ‘Utes in the Paddock’.

But more of that later….

Saturday 20 August:  The trip from Hay to Griffith is only about 150 km so we arrived in Griffith in late morning.  It would have been earlier but there was an Op Shop at Darlington Point and the inevitable happened…

Griffith is one of those places that you rarely pass through on the way to somewhere else.  It’s not on a major highway, so you have to make a deliberate decision to visit.

At our motel we met Margaret, Irene and Beverly who were happily preparing to attend a fancy dress 70th birthday party in their home made hats. Margaret’s hat featured a mouse (a real one! – thankfully not among the living) about to be devoured by a rubber snake, in honour of her pet snake.

We wanted to go to Griffith because of the Italian influence – many post WW2 Italian migrants ended up there so we expected to find lots of Italian-style produce. It didn’t quite work out that way. Arriving on a Saturday was part of the problem because most shops closed at midday – and then we got lost trying to find a smallgoods factory. Bloody Burley Griffin and his %#@#**$ roundabouts. No wonder Canberra’s roads are impossible to navigate!

Anyway – although we had allowed a two-night stopover at Griffith, we decided that one would be enough.

Sunday 21 August:  This morning there was a Farmers’ Market not far from our motel so, on the way out of town we stopped in.  It was excellent – lots of Italian-styled produce so we picked up a bit of olive oil, some Italian biscuits and some Italian bread.

The shortest way home from Griffith is via Rankin Springs, West Wyalong, Cowra and Bathurst, but that would have involved travelling over previously travelled ground. So in keeping with tradition, we went meandering again.  We’d never been to Lake Cargelligo and the trip to Bathurst that way is only slightly longer than the direct route – so off we went.

Lake Cargelligo was much bigger than we anticipated – and there’s that lake!  It seems incongruous to see such a large body of water in the middle of the New South Wales’ outback.  It’s a natural lake which originally only filled when the Lachlan River flooded.  Some channelling works now mean that it’s rarely (never?) empty.

Just outside of Lake Cargelligo we came across a series of odd looking towers – it turns out that they form a new Solar Thermal Power Station which is nearing completion.  To quote from the Engineers Australia website“:

“The Solar Thermal Power Station consists of a field of heliostats which concentrate solar energy onto a tower mounted carbon block through which water is circulated and heated to drive a steam generator.  Upon completion, the 3.5MW Generator can supply the peak demand of the nearby township, and demonstrate the capability of ‘solar with storage’ to offer electricity network support.”

Well, it sounds impressive – even if we’re not sure what a heliostat is….

Then it was on to Condobolin, a town we visited in 2007.  Just outside of Condo (as the locals call it) is Gum Bend Lake.  In 2007 it was completely dry – you could walk from one side to the other and the only impact on your shoes would have been dust.  It’s amazing what a couple of good seasons of rainfall will do.

Gum Bend Lake 2007

Gum Bend Lake 2011

And so we come to ‘Utes in the Paddock’, on a side road at Ootha about 30 km from Condobolin.  They were well worth the detour.  Here’s just a few – more can be seen on the Utes in the Paddock website:

“Epitaph to Fossil Fuels” by Shane Gehlert

“Ute-opia” by Stephen Coburn

“Dame Edna’s Looute” by Karen Tooth

“Go Vegemite” by Rob Keen

Final lunch stop of the trip

When we reached Orange at about 4 PM we’d completed a loop of about 9,000 km.  We stopped for a quick coffee there to sustain us for the last couple of hundred kilometres.

Well, that’s about it.  It’s been a great trip and the Magna never missed a beat.  All up we covered 9,456 km in just over 4 weeks – about 1,500 km more than we estimated at the start.  The highlight was undoubtedly the flight over Lake Eyre but Uluru, Kata Tjuta, the West MacDonnell Ranges, Kangaroo Island and the outback generally were just amazing.

If you’ve lasted the distance, thanks for joining us.

Over and out!

Posted from Castlereagh

Three States in One Day

Breakfast – South Australia (Loxton)

Lunch – Victoria (Mildura)

Dinner – New South Wales (Hay)

Friday 19 August: We awoke this morning to sad news.  We had heard last night that a helicopter had crashed at Lake Eyre but it wasn’t until this morning that we found out that it was a team from the ABC who were aboard.  The team were filming a follow up to the 2010 story on the filling of the Lake.

It had been the original ABC program on Lake Eyre that inspired us to change our holiday plans to include a flight over the Lake.  We had also bought and watched the DVD on Lake Eyre before we left and hoped to see some of the sights that were described by the presenter, Paul Lockyer.  At our motel on Friday evening we watched the special tribute to the three members of the team.  It’s fair to say that a tear was shed.

So Paul, John, Gary – thanks.  Our flight over Lake Eyre is something we will always remember and treasure.

At this stage of the trip we have no set agenda.  We haven’t booked accommodation anywhere so every day is a mystery….  We left Loxton at about 9AM and had vague ideas of heading first to Mildura and then seeing how the day panned out.  After lunching at Mildura we eventually got to Balranald at around 4:30 PM and decided to press on to Hay, even though it would mean arriving just after dark.

We followed the Murray River as far as Euston.  There’s a lot of water flowing down the Murray – great to see after so many years of drought.

Murray River at Gol Gol

Between Balranald and Hay is the Hay Plain (aka the ‘One Tree Plain’), a very Nullarbor-like landscape. It’s been some years since we last came this way – we remember heat, dust and lots of both. This time, the plain looked to be in top condition.

Brian and Friend at Balranald

One tree on the One Tree Plain

From Hay, it will be pretty much homeward bound.  We’ll be stopping at Griffith and possibly Parkes before getting home on Monday. 

Probably….

Posted from Griffith

Kangaroo Island – 2

Thursday 18 August: It may not have been noticed anywhere else but the breakdown of the Kangaroo Island ferry has been big news in South Australia.  When the radio alarm clock went off this morning, the resumption of ferry services today was the lead story on the ABC’s 7AM bulletin.

Slow news day?  Maybe…

But then, when we arrived at the ferry terminal at Pennishaw, there was a reporter and cameraman from Channel 10 Adelaide, reporting the arrival of the first ferry.  Later, on board, we all had to give a cheer and ‘thumbs up’ for the benefit of the Channel 10 camera…

The first ferry in four days arrives at Pennishaw

Anyway – we departed the island without incident, although about 20 minutes late, and made it though to Loxton on the Murray before deciding to pack it in for the day.

So – catching up on the last day or so….

Tuesday 16 August: Today the weather closed in.  We woke to howling winds and driving rain and we were tempted to dig out the books, cheese and wine and settle in for the day.  But by about 10AM, things looked a little better so we headed off to the Raptor Domain, which was one of the ‘must visit’ destinations on our list.  The rain eased when we arrived and the weather must have deterred a few other potential visitors as only three others turned up to view the birds.

We’ve seen raptor displays elsewhere – Margaret River in 2009 and Alice Springs a week or two ago – but this has to be the best display of the lot.  The birds were only a few metres from us and several were quite happy to sit on our (gloved!) hands and/or legs.  There were a few other non-raptors, notably Wally, the Tawny Frogmouth, whose presence on a dead tree branch went unnoticed until he was pointed out – they are masters of camouflage!.

Wally (as in ‘Where’s Wally?’) – the Tawny Frogmouth

Chips, the Australian Kestrel

Brian with Casper, the Barn Owl

Marg and Barking Owl

The raptor display lasted for about an hour and probably would have lasted longer except that Rex, the Wedge-tailed Eagle, decided that there was something interesting a few paddocks away that needed his immediate attention.  Bart, the bird handler, had to head off in hot pursuit.  All of the birds have radio transmitters fitted so we assume Rex was recovered safely….

We then took ourselves off to Kelly Hill Caves – it was good to get out of the wind for a while!  The Caves are worth seeing but probably not as extensive or as spectacular as others we’ve seen.

Our last stop for the day was Seal Bay where, again, the rain kept away and the sun even came out for a brief period.  Seal Bay is the home of a colony of Australian Sea Lions and is a conservation area with restricted access.  There were perhaps a hundred or so of the animals on the beach during our visit. 

Sea Lion Mother and Pup

Getting to know you….

Sea Lion Yoga

Wednesday 17 August:  Nothing exciting today.  The rain kept away but a bitterly cold wind blew for the whole day. We travelled to Pennishaw and American River to look around.   There was this old truck rusting away near Pennishaw but that was about it, photographically speaking!

Posted from Renmark

Kangaroo Island – 1

Monday 16 August: As we mentioned in the postscript to the previous post, the main ferry that services the island has broken down, throwing transport to and from the island into chaos.  It seems that our Thursday departure is still OK as we are booked on the second ferry, which is a mixed freight/passenger ferry.  The people most affected are those with an open-ended departure date – they are being told that they may not be able to leave before next Monday, at the earliest.

The news of the ferry breakdown spread rapidly and there was a run on stocks at the local supermarket, a run that we were happy to join in!  People were leaving with supermarket trollies loaded to the brim with all the necessities including, in one case, the largest package of toilet paper we had ever seen.  Well, it pays to be prepared!

Bread and milk stocks were the ones most  affected by the rush but we managed to grab a small amount of each.  Other than that we didn’t need much more as we had stocked up before reaching the island.  Petrol supplies seem to be OK so we should still be able to explore those parts of the island we haven’t seen yet.

Kangaroo Island is much larger than many people realise – about 155 km long by 55 km wide. It’s not the sort of place that can be satisfactorily explored in one, or even two, days, although some tour operators try. One tour leaves Adelaide at about 6AM and returns at 10:30PM the same day!

Yesterday (Sunday 15 August) we investigated the western end of the island around Flinders Chase National Park.  Before we got there, however, we noticed a turn off to Duck Lagoon.  It didn’t sound all that promising but it was only 3 km off the main road so we thought “Why not?”.  It was a good decision – it’s a beautiful spot that’s not likely to be on the itinerary for the day trip from Adelaide.

Duck Lagoon

Duck Lagoon is also the site of an old homestead (the Weatherspoon family) and a eucalyptus oil distillery, with lots of photogenic old machinery lying around.

Percy Weatherspoon’s Oaklands Ute at Duck Lagoon

Moving on from Duck Lagoon we arrived at Remarkable Rocks.  From a distance they don’t look all that remarkable – just a few boulders on a rocky outcrop.  So, what’s all the fuss about??

Up close, it’s a different story.  The granite has been eroded into fantastic shapes looking like the jaws of giant dinosaurs.

Not so Remarkable, but….

 

Also at Flinders Chase is a formation known as Admiral’s Arch but the most enjoyable part of this area was the colony of New Zealand Fur Seals lazing on the rocks ‘catching some rays’.

Admiral’s Arch

New Zealand Fur Seal

Posted from Kingscote

Adelaide to Kangaroo Island

Saturday 13 August:  Once more we were in meandering mode, although this time it was forced on us by the bizarre timetabling of the vehicle ferry from the mainland (Cape Jervis) to Kangaroo Island.

At this time of year there are two ferry trips per day – one at 9AM and the other at 6PM.  As it’s about 150 km from Adelaide to Cape Jervis we would need to be packed, breakfasted and on the road from Adelaide by 6AM to get the 9AM service – and then we wouldn’t be able to check in to our KI accommodation until 2PM.  So we opted for the 6PM service, which meant that we had about 7 hours to drive 150 km after checking out of our Adelaide accommodation at about 9:45AM. 

Our meanders first took us to the beachside suburb of Glenelg for an hour or so.  Glenelg is a busy place on a Saturday morning, mainly (it seemed) as a meeting place for the city’s cyclists.  The place was awash with lycra, so much so that it proved difficult to find an empty table at one of the many coffee shops, all of which seemed to be filled with a few Cadel Evans’ look-alikes and lots of Cadel Evans’ really hoping to look-alikes….  Eventually we found a table at an up-market beachside hotel. Not the cheapest coffee we’ve ever had but we couldn’t fault the service.

Main Street, Glenelg

After coffee we worked our way south along the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula.  We had never been down the west side of the Peninsular before – pity, it’s beautiful country.  It reminded us a bit of the south coast of New South Wales and that’s high praise!  Like most of the parts of South Australia that we’ve visited so far, the country seems to be showing the benefit of good rainfall in recent seasons.

We did make one short detour inland to the McLaren Vale wine region.  After our experiences with shinglebacks on our Western Australian trip in 2009, we’ve developed a soft spot for these engaging reptiles so, when we noted that there is Shingleback Winery, we had to take a look.  It proved a worthwhile detour and several bottles accompanied us on our way back to the coast.

We fished and chipped at Aldinga Beach and then stopped briefly when Brian spotted some decrepit old corrugated iron farm buildings that just needed to be photographed.

Back on the road, we stopped at the oddly named Myponga to check out the weekly market and the local junk shop – yes, Marg picked up a few more indescribable bits and pieces to add to the ever growing collection of indescribable bits and pieces ….

Eventually we arrived at Cape Jervis just before 5PM, still with plenty of time before the ferry’s departure.  The ferry trip takes about 45 minutes, so we arrived at Pennishaw on KI just before 7PM.  Then we had a 50 km drive to our accommodation at Kingscote.

Sunset as the ferry departs Cape Jervis

Postscript

Monday 15 August:  Widespread panic stations here this morning as news spread that one of the two ferries between KI and the mainland had broken down.  Queues formed at the local Sealink office as people scrambled to find out when they could get off the island.  As we queued, we overheard people being told that they wouldn’t be able to leave until Sunday or Monday.  It was starting to look as if we were in for an extended stay.

However – when we spoke to the Sealink Representative it turned out that, as we had booked a definite return date and the ferry we are booked on isn’t the one that broke down, our Thursday departure remains valid.

That is unless the other ferry breaks down as well… 

Posted from Kingscote