Southern States Highlights 2

We left Coober Pedy and after a night at Port Augusta continued on our journey to Wilpena Pound, a natural amphitheatre of mountains situated in the heart of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

Along the way we saw what looked liked lemons on the side of the highway and thought a truck must have lost its load. However, upon seeing these 'lemons' regularly our curiosity peaked and Penny took some close-up photos. Turns out they are naturally occurring vine-growing gourds!

We arrived at the Wilpena Pound Resort and checked in for the night. We discovered that all the bush walks were multiple kilometre/hour walks, and since we only had a few hours until nightfall we just took a relatively short walk within the resort and then relaxed - perhaps another visit is called for in the future, to take full advantage of the history and beauty of this place.

We also drove a few kilometres to the Old Woolshed and viewed a wonderful landscape art exhibition by local artists. On the way back we passed a mob of emus and a father emu (the fathers always care for the chicks) and his eight chicks crossed the road in front of us. Very cute.

That night we enjoyed the resort's bar and restaurant facilities, and the next morning we left early for Adelaide, calling in to the charming village of Hawker for coffee. At Goodwood, in Adelaide's south, we located our apartment for the next two nights.

A few days earlier, Penny had received an email from reception requesting she download an app on her mobile phone that would be used as the 'key' to the apartment. Once we arrived, she had to activate the app and press a big green button on her mobile each time we needed access to the driveway gates, the doors into the unit block, the lift to the first floor, and unit itself. It took some getting used to... Turns out reception isn't even at the block but at another unit block in another suburb, but thankfully only a phone-call away. Maybe this is the way of the future for accommodation, but a good old door key would have sufficed! In any case the apartment was lovely and only a short walk to an IGA for supplies.

The next morning we drove out to historic Hahndorf, walked the main street with its quirky stores (and even an op shop) and brunched at a lovely traditional German cafe. The weather had turned to cold and grey, and the cafe had two open wood fires, which were very welcome. From Hahndorf we drove across Adelaide to Glenelg on the beach. Our beach walk was short because of a howling gale, but we found a wonderful little museum that chronicled the history of Adelaide and Australia's federation. Later that afternoon we drove to the northern suburbs of Adelaide where we caught up with ex-Gold Coast friends Norma and Peter for a delightful local tavern dinner. 

And then it was on to the wine district of McLaren Vale for two nights at the Serafino Winery. We had stayed in the town years ago but in the interim a 'cube' had been installed. So, after a walk through town we drove to the well-known D'arenberg Winery to see what it was all about. The four-storey structure houses their wine tasting area and hosts special events: at present an exhibition of some of Salvador Dali's sculptures. Fascinating. And we came away with half a dozen different bottles of their red wine.

And then we lunched in style at another well-known winery, Wirra Wirra.

Then it was onwards to Robe for a night. Along the way we drove through the village of Meadows and Penny recognised the church we had seen there on our last trip to South Australia. And the reason she remembered it is because her great-great-great-great grandparents are buried there.

In the small town of Meningie where we stopped for lunch, we discovered a wonderful craft and collectables store within the old town hall.

Then it was on to Robe for the night.

A night at Warrnambool followed and then a long drive along the Great Ocean Road which is always spectacular.

London Bridge - Penny walked across it in the 1980s when it was still joined to the land.

Razorback

Once there were 12 Apostles, now there are only 8

After a very long and winding but picturesque drive we arrived in Geelong and boarded the Spirit of Tasmania for our 10pm crossing. After arriving at Devonport we had breakfast in Latrobe and then drove to Launceston and checked into our accommodation for the next five nights. What followed was a string of social catch-ups!

Jim with some of the Skemps guys (14 all up) at the annual AFL Grand Final weekend. This year Jim's team, the Brisbane Lions not only won, but thrashed the Sydney Swans. 🦁🍾🎉

More of the Skemps guys enjoying coffee at The House Paddock cafe at Scottsdale. 

Penny at coffee with Janny, Jill, Anne, Dianne and Jenny from the HASH group at the Silo Hotel. She then spent the afternoon with friends Pat, Karen and Grant at their home watching the game.

Some of Launceston's beautiful old buildings

On the Sunday night we were woken well after midnight to the extremely loud Emergency/Evacuation call and spent 20 minutes in the carpark along with other guests including some in pyjamas with bare feet... A false alarm, of course.

Penny enjoyed a glass of (non-alcoholic) champagne with friend Narelle whilst Jim caught up with mate Raffaele (Raffy). He cooked up a batch of his famous spaghetti napolitana and complemented it with a glass or two of pinot noir from his own grapes. Penny later joined them for coffee.

Penny at lunch with her Coffee, Chat and Craft ladies Jill, Eleanor, Pat J, Pat H, Nella, Carol and Nellie at Links at the Country Club.

Penny with her oldest friend from high school, Nan, who lives with her husband Ted and a menagerie of animals on their property at Longford.

Jim at coffee with his morning walking group Phil, Brian, Peter P, Al, Chris, Geoff, Peter E, Alan and Tommo at Liv Eat in Launceston.

On our last night in Launceston we dined with the HASH group at Spice Indian Restaurant at Seaport and left the next morning for Cradle Mountain. We stopped in at Sheffield to check out last year's entries in the International Mural Fest. This year's competition will be held from 3-9 November.

2023 People's Choice First Prize

Just a few of the entries from Mural Fest 2023

At Cradle Mountain we caught the Cradle Discoverer shuttle to Dove Lake and hiked partway around the lake, past the famous boathouse.

Wombats were definitely about (as evidenced above by the 'cubed' poo) and Penny was very keen to see them up close. Fortunately, one was eating lunch beside the road on our way back to the cabin, where a pademelon appeared to greet us!

Fungi beside our cabin

Then it was on to the big smoke, Hobart, for a couple of nights. On the way we called into the famous Deloraine Deli for takeaway coffee. Penny couldn't believe her eyes when our friend Linda got up from a table and came over. Penny and Linda met in Launceston many years ago through the Launceston Writers Group, both of them from Brisbane. Linda relocated to Melbourne a few years ago but has just moved back to Brisbane and was in Tassie briefly to catch up with family. So, we were very pleasantly surprised to see her!

Salamanca Market was bustling as always as we made our way around. We couldn't get over the increase in the number of stalls selling boutique whiskeys and gins, but since Tasmania has more distilleries than any other state in Australia, it's not really surprising. We also walked up to the city for a spot of retail therapy and Penny's favourite bar Evolve is always on the itinerary. This trip we ate at Irish Murphys pub, which was excellent.

We then made our way north to Devonport and boarded the Spirit of Tasmania for our return voyage to Geelong. Shortly after we departed the Captain announced there was a lot of wind out in Bass Strait and that the journey was likely to be 'bumpy'. He wasn't wrong! 🫢 And unfortunately, Penny's NRL Team the Melbourne Storm lost the Grand Final, which we watched on board 😔.

But, there is always next year - and the opportunity to visit our second home again then too! 

Southern States Highlights

It would be safe to say that most normal people wouldn't drive from the Gold Coast to Tasmania via Coober Pedy... but that's exactly what we'll be doing. To give you an idea of the distances:

Benowa (Gold Coast) to Coober Pedy (South Australia) = 2,549 kms

Coober Pedy to Geelong (Victoria) where we board the Spirit of Tasmania to cross to Devonport (Tasmania) = 1,555 kms

Devonport to Launceston, Launceston to Cradle Mountain, Cradle Mountain to Hobart and back to Devonport = 855 kms

Geelong to Benowa = 1,767 kms

That's a total of roughly 6,726 kms, not accounting for side trips and changes in itinerary! 

In this blog I will post photos, text and anecdotes from the various highlights of our travels over the next six weeks. So, here we go!

🚙-------------------🚗

We embarked upon our journey early on the morning of Thursday 5 September, and arrived in Armidale (NSW) some eight hours later, after stopping several times to change drivers, stretch our legs and pick up food and coffee.

The next morning we headed to Dubbo where we spent a wonderful half day at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, this time travelling the 5km route by electric cart, which was great fun.

We were really interested to see these Przewalski's (pronounced shah-val-ski) horses, the last truly wild horse population on the planet, which diverged from the domestic horse over 500,000 years ago. Currently only 2000+ remain in the wild, all descended from only 12 individuals. Wildlife conservation organisation Revive & Restore is using cloning technology to ensure their genetic variation into the future.

The newly opened state-of-the-art Taronga Wildlife Hospital

On our way back to the motel we stopped in at the small but beautiful Shoyoen Japanese Garden, which is brimming with birdlife and enormous Koi (carp).

Koi (Carp), some up to 80mm long

From Dubbo we drove through Parkes and Forbes to West Wyalong for a night and then continued west to Mildura on the NSW/Victoria border. Along the way we passed through the tiny villages of Weethalle, with its beautiful silo art, and Goolgowi, where we picked up great coffee and snacks. 

In Mildura we had booked a cabin in a caravan park on the Murray River, for two nights. In the morning we drove out to Lock 11 and the Mildura Weir. Here, the difference in the water level between upstream and downstream is 3.6 metres, so a lock, one of many on the Murray River, was completed in the 1920s to allow river boat travel.

When the lock was built, an island was formed which is home to a number of animal and bird species. Mildura is the only place on the Murray where the lock and the weir are separated by an island. We walked across the lock gate and completed a circuit of the 15-hectare island, a beautiful way to spend the morning.

Mildura Weir in full flow

As we were driving that afternoon, we noticed blue smoke issuing from the Prado's exhaust, so we wheeled into the local Toyota dealer. They advised us there had been a recall on our vehicle for an exhaust converter, and as this had not been done previously, they organised to complete the work for us by the following day, at no charge, and provided us with a loan vehicle. Of course this meant we needed to stay another night, about which we weren't displeased!

Mildura is also home to fabulous murals on its walls, and we spent a few hours walking in the city. We were pleasantly surprised to find a Banjo's Bakery Cafe in town and stopped in for lunch. As it turns out, there are now 47 of the Tasmanian (founded in 1984) stores throughout Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia, with more set to open.

On the way from Mildura to the Clare Valley we couldn't get over the daisies beside the highway, both in and away from towns. They certainly brightened up an otherwise boring road.

And we had a nice surprise as we drove through the small town of Waikerie and discovered part of our route was via car ferry.

The Clare Valley is of course known for its vineyards, but canola is also grown here, and it is home to South Australia's largest wind farm.

Burra is an historical town in the region with beautiful sandstone buildings, quirky shops and cafes.

In 1845 Burra had the largest deposit of copper on earth and it was mined and shipped all over the world. Outside of Burra is the Red Banks Conservation Park which paleontologists have called one of the richest megafauna sites in Australia - home to the diprotodon who lived here 65,000 years ago.

When in the Clare Valley one must of course visit a vineyard/winery. We drove past several well-known vineyards and then settled upon the area's oldest vineyard, Sevenhill Cellars, which was founded in 1851 by a young Jesuit priest, Fr Aloysius Kranewitter from Prussia, and named in honour of the seven hills of Rome.

Originally the vineyards were established to produce sacramental wine which would have been used in the adjacent St Aloysius' Church, a beautiful stone building which was substantially completed in 1875. Also on the site is the Sevenhill College which was completed in 1868. It also serves as the Jesuit residence and was the first Catholic secondary school in South Australia.

We enjoyed a tasting (and bought two bottles of red wine) and then wandered through the grounds taking in the peaceful atmosphere; some of the Shiraz vines on site were planted in 1860 and are regarded as one of the earliest surviving plantings in the region. At the church we climbed down into the crypt, the only one in a parish church in Australia, and the final resting place of 42 Jesuits. Clearly, this vineyard is a little different to the rest and one we wouldn't have missed!

From the Clare Valley we continued our drive north-west towards Woomera. Our first stop was Port Pirie which is a lively town of around 14,000 people. There are at least a dozen churches of differing denominations in the town, and two others have been turned into restaurants. This one is called Spirou Seafood & Salad or Church of Fish & Chips!

We took the car through a carwash, as it was heavily laden with bugs, grabbed a coffee and then continued on to Port Augusta, also a vibrant town with around the same population as Port Pirie. We picked up some lunch and then continued on. Just out of town is a Sundrop Farm, a world class 20,000-hectare greenhouse using hundreds of solar panels and numerous wind turbines. Their philosophy is:

'Sundrop integrates solar power, electricity generation, fresh water conservation, and production, climate control and hydroponics to enable the year-round production of premium produce at high yields with consistent quality and deliver a meaningful reduction in fossil fuel and water use through innovative use of renewable energy / low carbon technologies.'

We were sharing driving, around 100 kms each per shift and this made the journey easier, as there wasn't a lot to see along the way. However, Penny was challenged by a few emus that darted out onto the road! We arrived in Woomera, not knowing what to expect, and checked into our cabin at the local caravan park.

The cabin was extremely basic, the floor sloped to one side and the flyscreen door had a big hole in it. But it did have a bed, a bathroom and a kitchen of sorts. The inside walls were dark timber panelling, and everything was very old, but a new air-conditioning unit had been installed - trouble was, it was the old 'hole in the wall' type and made the most horrendous noise. However, there wasn't a lot of other accommodation available in Woomera.

On the plus side, we discovered the Eldo Hotel that evening, which was delightfully modern, and enjoyed a delicious meal and glass of red. And the next morning we visited the Woomera Heritage and Visitor Information Centre, which had fascinating exhibits on the history of the area, a superb cafe and even a ten-pin bowling alley.

View from the Eldo Hotel

Inside the Eldo Hotel Restaurant

Exhibits at the Heritage and Visitor Information Centre

Back in 1947 when the Iron Curtain had descended across Europe, Britain was alarmed at the rapidly escalating arms race, and urgently launched a program to develop its own rocket range jointly with Australia. The two governments declared a site north-west of Port Augusta to be ideal and it soon became known as Woomera.

Over the years an extraordinary variety of rockets and missiles were launched and tested at Woomera. Their purposes varied as much as their design - some were weapons some were used for military and/or civilian research, and some were intended for launching satellites or carrying out upper atmospheric tests.

Today Woomera is still ADF-owned and operated and is the only land-based test range left in the western world capable of testing the 'next generation' of weapons systems. It has a regular population of under 200 people who are all either ADF personnel or contractors, and their families. Facilities in the town also include an AFL football ground and sports club, a school, church, medical centre, post office and well-stocked convenience store.

We continued on to Coober Pedy, a very long, straight road with not a lot to see except the occasional mining site. The privately owned properties are enormous, and many are not fenced so there are plenty of signs warning about cattle and sheep along the roadside - and we saw a lot. We also stopped in at Lake Hart which is a 16,000 hectare salt lake - just stunning.

Along the way...

Lake Hart

Finally we arrived in Coober Pedy and checked into the Mud Hut Motel. Although not underground like some, the interior walls looked like we were underground, which was quite enough for us.

We first headed to the Umoona Opal Mine & Museum, one of a few underground museums that detail the development of Coober Pedy and the origins of the opal. We now know that opal is formed from a solution of silicon dioxide and water.

As water runs down through the earth, it picks up silica from the sandstone and carries this silica-rich solution into cracks and voids caused by natural faults and decomposing fossils. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind a silica deposit. This cycle repeats over very long periods of time and eventually opal is formed.

This particular museum focusses a lot on the vast inland sea that dominated Australia some 110 million years ago. Naturally fossils have been discovered including marine animals like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

The very modern underground Umoona Museum winds through hundreds of metres of tunnels

Ichthyosaur skull over one metre long

Interesting demonstration on boomerang making

We moved on to the Opal Cave, an underground opal shop and gallery. What's interesting about this shop is that it was established by a woman, Faye Nayler, in the early 1960s who moved from North Queensland to Coober Pedy to make her fortune (like every other prospector...).

Faye was the first woman to mine opals in Coober Pedy and with the help of two lady friends dug out an amazing underground home using only picks, shovels and wheelbarrows, and worked a nearby mine for 15 years, eventually making a decent income. She retired to Laidley in Queensland as the publican there and passed away in the early 2000s in her late 70s. We toured her home which also includes an indoor swimming pool!

The living room and one of two bedrooms

Inside Faye's mine

Tom's Opal Mine operated in the 1980s and 1990s. We took a tour through the mine and were shown a working blower that sucks up the 'mullock' (rubbish) that is dug out of the mine and removes it to the surface.

We were equipped with a hard hat and black light (fluorescent torch) so we could identify seams of opal in the walls and ceiling.

Driving out of town we saw what looked like hundreds of mines. They are actually piles of mullock left over from test drills, and they cover the landscape as far as the eye can see.

The Old Timers' Mine is yet another museum, but this mine was established in 1916 and our self-guided tour took us through the mine and the original underground home. The current owner lives above ground and is the son of a Greek couple who started their opal business in the 1960s and eventually retired south towards Adelaide.

Around 50% of the 1,700 or so Coober Pedy residents live underground and even though the rock appears to be quite porous and is easy to drill, it doesn't require any shoring up. Apparently, these days people who build underground home line the walls and ceilings, but nothing else is really required. Most people have a surface front on their homes and bathrooms are generally built within this structure.

Typical front of a home with the back built into the hill - the 'chimneys' provide ventilation

The town itself is similar to a moonscape and of course very dry and dusty. The annual rainfall is only about 5" so Coober Pedy has a modern desalination plant with water pumped from 60cm deep artesian bores located 23km north of the town.

There is limited infrastructure; a wonderful IGA store, several service stations, cafes and restaurants, a selection of underground or aboveground motels, and two caravan parks. There is also a drive-in theatre that is currently (?) under renovation, a football ground and several places of worship, the most impressive of which is the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Hand carved from the rock, above the altar

Beautiful mosaics

Inside another church, the Catacomb Church (Anglican)

And of course no town would be complete without an op shop, which we just happened upon...

Penny was surprised at the quality of merchandise available inside and was told by the staff that all their stock is sourced from Adelaide. A very impressive little op shop.

We carried our own breakfast with us but chose to eat most of our other meals at the Big Winch 360 cafe. The 8 metre high Big Winch structure overlooks the town and was built in the 1970s to celebrate the Opal Capital of the World. In 1986 it was destroyed by ferocious winds, and rebuilt.

We leave Coober Pedy in the morning and head south to Port Augusta before continuing our journey to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges.