FROM VICTOR HARBOUR TO THE FLINDERS RANGES AND BEYOND!


When we left Victor Harbour for Hahndorf the weather followed us. We arrived in Hahndorf in pouring rain and nearly got bogged on the caravan site! We could not recommend the caravan park to anyone. Expensive at $28 per night, poorly maintained and on a steep hill!

Hahndorf is a gorgeous little place though. We strolled the streets, dining in the German pub and shopping in the butchers for very different types of smallgoods. Walter was in German heaven. From there we also drove into the Adelaide Hills and up to Mt Lofty above Adelaide. On a fine day the view would be magnificent but again it was raining! Such a pretty and green area though.

On leaving Hahndorf we went north to Birdswood and visited the National Motor Museum. This is the most amazing place, so much to see and so much history. Even Tom Kruse, the Birdsville mailman’s original truck is there. We travelled onto Clare from there. This is the most beautiful valley, and so many wineries. We stayed in a lovely van park there on the edge of town and went for some lovely drives. Didn’t really go to too many wineries but two stood out. One was Skilogalee that is in a lovely old stone cottage and has a well renown restaurant there. We dined there for lunch and tried some of their wine. Very, very nice! The other was Paulette’s winery. Neil and Alison Paulette used to be at what was Mt Pleasant Vineyard at Sandy Hollow. They now have a lovely winery and vineyard just outside Clare. The view from their balcony was sensational and so was their wine! (We found no wine has any keeping qualities with us though so you’ll have to take our word for it!).

We travelled on from Clare heading north to the Flinders and decided to stop overnight at Orroroo. This is the loveliest place, so much so that we stayed 2 nights. Here we went on a walk to the dam alongside a creek and also found history and poetry along the way. In the late 1800’s a guy etched a poem into the rock before heading back to America. (see photo). Also outside Orroroo was Magnetic Hill. This is the craziest thing! It is actually an optical illusion but the road definitely looks like it runs up hill but if you place your car in neutral and turn off the engine it “runs up hill”! We did it a couple of times to prove it! Orroroo is part of the Central Flinders so has some lovely drives through the valleys and the hills.

From Orroroo it was on to Hawker then towards Wilpena Pound. However, each and everyone we spoke to advised us not to stay at Wilpena but at Rawnsley Park. We did and were very glad we did. Rawnsley sits right under the Wilpena Pound, under Rawnsley Peak. It was a much nicer caravan park and had its own lovely walks also. Walter and I undertook quite a number of the walks there including Pines Cave as well as driving up to Wilpena and walking into the old homestead. The wildlife and birds were fantastic. We also undertook a 4WD 75 km trek at a place called Willow Springs. The trek itself was called Sky Trek. It was a full 8 hours and some awesome scenery and 4WD road. We climbed as high as 950m above sea level to Mt Carnarvon where you had an amazing view over Wilpena Pound. It wound back down and into a place known as Skull Rock that just looked liked something out of the Phantom comics!

We left Rawnsley and headed further north up past Parachilna and into the Northern Flinders and the Gammon Ranges. We left the road north at Copley and headed towards Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. This is 140 kms from Copley and very remote. Arkaroola has a motel type village as well as a caravan park. We found a spot in the park opposite the amenities and next to 2 other couples that we had met at Rawnsley. We all went out to the restaurant that night to the carvery and then played cards after dinner.

This is also known as “the wild side of the Flinders”. It has been in drought now for over 7 years so most of the waterholes are dry and the scenery is wild and arid. It is also the home of the endangered Yellow Footed Rock Wallby. There are many drives – mainly 4WD recommended – that take you to really interesting areas both historical and geological. There are many old copper mines and uranium was discovered here back in the early 20th Century.

Whilst we were there Walter and I both gained work. We thought it a good idea as the weather just wasn’t right at that stage to travel down to the Yorke Peninsula. I was cooking in the kitchen for the A La Carte restaurant and bus tour groups including Banquets in the Bush. (These were 5 course Cordon Bleu menus for elected bus tour groups). Walter was employed to repair a 40 yr old Caterpillar loader and to repair the many, many flat tyres they get in the workshop. His work was for 4 hours a day but mine ended up being many 14-15 hour days – 6 days pr week! Money was good though and really nothing (other than the bar) to spend it on. Neither of us are bar flies so we saved quite a bit of money whilst we were there. It came with some problems though. In the first week, the exposed site we had at the caravan park caused the van to be hit with a freak wind that blew the whole awning off the van, wrapping around a tree on the far side. It smashed the TV aerial and the shower hatch on its way over as well as mutilating all the awning and poles. Walter then had to drive the van 600 kms to Adelaide to have it repaired under insurance! As they needed me as the cook they put me up in one of the motel units whilst he was away. When he returned we then moved the van to a less exposed position over near the staff quarters. However for the rest of the time at Arkaroola we left the awning rolled up!

We had quite a few really bad red dust storms that came off the Simpson Desert and even though we taped up the vents, the fine red dust seemed to filter into everything! We did make some lovely new friends there in Janet and Mary and working with Sian for the Banquets in the Bush was fantastic. However, small communities like this and being so remote also find many “misfits” who want to work in places like this. It was good that we had the solace of our own van and friends like Janet and Mary to keep us sane and laughing! We will never here the Italian term “That’s a nice” now without going into gales of laughter!

After 2 ½ months we left there on 29th October and drove to Port Augusta. We ended up being there for 6 days getting carpets cleaned, van and car washed, curtains all washed and ironed before heading south into the Yorke Peninsula. Also high on my list of priorities was a visit to the hairdresser!

We left Port Augusta on Melbourne Cup day and it’s the first time ever I not only never had a bet, I didn’t even know what was running and never saw the race run either! We arrived in Ardrossan a pretty little seaside town on the eastern side of the Peninsula. We strolled around the town and down to the wharf. From here and south is where you can catch Blue Swimmer crabs. But here, instead of using nets you walk through the shallows with a rake! We have now bought our own crab rake and are about to try our luck.

We decided to take a drive south from Ardrossan and look at some of the other small places where we might like to stay. We called at many including Black Point, Port Vincent and Stansbury. Black Point is a tiny place only about 20 kms south of Ardrossan. No shops but its Adelaide’s “millionaire’s row”. However we found it had a tiny little caravan park right on the beach with great views north and along the coastline. Port Vincent is lovely but the park was totally booked out and told us their next vacancies are about February/March! Stansbury however had a beach site available until 14th December and is a lovely place. Also had another site, one row back that we could have over Christmas. So we have booked this as everywhere else also appears to be booked solid so it will be a nice place to base ourselves until January and is central enough for us to drive out from there to explore the rest of the Yorke Peninsula. This a lovely area.

We are currently at Black Point (with crab rake) overlooking the most beautiful view and move down to Stansbury next Wednesday. It is quite windy at present and overcast. Have not had much rain though.

We are now going for a walk on our long beach here before having a glass of wine…..ho hum, life is tough!

Until Stansbury when I will update you again on our travels,

Cheers Rob & Walter