Road trip with dogs - day 13

We explored out to the coast on the Fleurieu penisular south of Adelaide.  This is where the Adelaide Hills and the Mt Lofty Ranges meet the sea.  The extension of the peninsular is Kangaroo Island, which can be reached by sea going ferry.  Again there is a lot of wine being grown in this area, with sheep being the most dominant of other agricultural activities.  I always expected the great Southern Ocean to roll in onto the coast with large angry breaking waves, but was quite disappointed to have it lapping at the shore quite gently.  I guess it depends on the weather.  At home on the Gold Coast you always get to see plenty of waves breaking.  I guess that is why the Gold Coast is considered to have some of the most dangerous beaches in Australia!

Road trip with dogs - day 12

Instead of only 3 nights in Adelaide we now have five nights.  Today we went exploring the Adelaide hills, the hinterland where we are staying.  We have seen grapevines, grapevines and more grapevines!  If you dring wine and it says its from South Australia, it came from round here somewhere.  We are not very far from the Barossa Valley, the place most people associate with wine and South Australia.  The country to us seems quite dry, even though the literature suggests it is cool with a high rainfall.  The countryside is quite different from home, and the gum trees are very different - their leaves seem to hang in weeping position more so than at home.  We haven't explored any wineries - I think being tired from all the driving makes us hesitate.  There are also orchards around - any trees covered with netting we have learnt means that they are cherry trees!

Road trip with dogs - Day 11

It was a very cold night here in the Adelaide Hills.  It was worthy of our cold winter days in Brisbane although it is summer in Australia.  The tent was soaked in dew when we got up.  I needed every layer of clothing I had on me - was not prepared for it to be quite this cold!

We have been getting numerous reports of floods in northern Victoria, so I spent some considerable time on the phone ringing ahead to caravan parks where we were booked to stay.  Horsham was waiting for a record flood and no way could we go there, so the decision was made that we stayed on in Adelaide a few extra days, then headed north and inland to go home instead.

Today was the big day for getting to Greg's concerts in at the Elder Hall - part of the University of Adelaide.  The National Music camp orchestras were giving two concerts, so I exchanged texts with DS greg to work out which concert he was playing it.  Turns out all groups were playing different music in both concerts.  Like most sons, with parents in range their was the ask for financial assistance!  (He's run out of phone credit and couldn't recharge while on camp!)

The morning was spent vegging out, and we got moving after lunch to drive into Adelaide proper - about 30 mins away.  We needed somewhere to park where we could keep the dogs in the car without them overheating.  We got as close as we could to where we thought the hall was, and hoofed it through the university.  The sun was very hot although the breeze still felt too cool for comfort.  We were passing the restaurant under the art gallery when I spied a familiar face - a cello player from my home community orchestra, on vacation visiting family!  he didn't know anything about the concerts and was interested in coming along.!

We found a park in the university for a fee that was ideal for the dogs and near where we were, had dramas with the pay machine but hope we haven't been booked for illegal parking!

The concerts were free.  That was impressive because at home we have to pay through the nose to hear Greg play in any of his Conservatorium groups, and he is involved in quite a number of them!  Greg was playing in the Chamber Orchestra  group on camp, and it was a small string orchestra made up of a select number of players who could truley pull their weight and cope with the music.  The most impressive piece they played was an arrangement of a string quartett by Shosakovitch - no 8.  Greg has heard it played live, and was overjoyed to be playing it himself!

Phone voucher handed over, and goodbyes said - Greg gets home before we do (just!).

Road trip with dogs - day 10

The further west we went to Adelaide, the finer the weather became.  I was tired from spending the night being buffetted by strong winds and heavy rain.  We did remain dry - the tent works well as long as where we pitch it also remains dry!

We went along some pretty boring roads today, particularly the road along the wetlands referred to as the "Coorong".  The lakes were beautiful when we finally met them.  There was great stress in the last drought on these wetlands nad authorities were considering drastic measures to get water into them.  But with all the rain in the past year, they are full of water and very healthy.

It was 30 degrees and very sunny at Mt Barker where we are staying.  Got everything dry, no worries.  Here's for a good night's sleep - need to make up for last night.

Road trip with dogs - Day 9

We woke to a very warm morning.  When I walked the dogs the breeze swung round and suddenly became very cool.  By the time we left it was beginning to rain.

The rain dogged us for the whole drive to Mt Gambier.  Back on the main Highway we stopped briefly at Wendy dennis's polwarth farm and I picked a grab-bag of coloured Polwarth fleece as my memento.  I would have lingered longer but the weather was closing it and her beautiful red soil combined with wet white dogs was not a combination I wanted to make.

We listened to the national 24 hour news radio station and caught up on what was happening at home and around Victoria.  There was flooding in Victoria due to the humid tropical air being dragged down into southern areas, just in the places we are hoping to visit later in out trip.

Mt Gambier is wet, wet, wet!  We had to put the tent up in the wet but the camp site was well drained.  Once I had mopped up all the water in the tent from just putting it up, the water stayed outside  and we were quite dry.  The dogs had a pretty boring time of it all.  They had very little time outside of the crate, as I needed to keep them warm and dry.

The Blue Lake crater lake at Mt Gambier.

The crater lake is only blue in summer - I think it is a blue-green algae that creates the colour.

Road trip with dogs day 7

I had a very good sleep last night in a dry comfortable bed.  We didn't really sleep in but still took our time to get moving.  I had got hold of Charly who breds angora rabbits (Xichel bunny lady!) and found we had driven past her gate yesterday.  So today Bill and I went for a scenic drive through the fire ravaged localities of Marysville and Healesville etc, seeing the forest changes due to the firestorm 2 years ago.  We bough a bottle of wine in the Yarra valley for my Dad to thank him for the loan of camping equipment.  And then we retraced our steps to visit Charlie with her bunnies.  Gosh, the are incredibly fluffy and very hot to cuddle!  My dogs got to go inside a house and play with Charly's dog - and to meet a real bunny!

We got back to the cabin to turn on the TV and to drop into the unfolding disaster back in Brisbane.  We have an email from DD Claire who is coping well and will probably have people who are affected by flooding stay over.  I am desperate to make contact with my Mum who is in Toowoomba - she will be just fine, but my sister at the bottom of the range will have been affected by the wall of water that went down the Lockyer valley, but the phones are overloaded and I can't get through.  And Mum should know what has happened.

The weather has cleared for the time being where we are but there are promises of plenty of rain yet to come on our trip.

Veiw of the Yarra ranges on the way to Marysville.

Healthy trees around Marysville.

Burnt trees still regenerating.

Pristine forest of mountain ash.

De Bortoloi's vineyard in the Yarra valley,

Road trip with dogs day 6

Lakes Entrance on Victorian coast

Another veiw of Lakes Entrance

Typical scene of hay bales in country Australia

We travelled from Orbost to Warburton today.  We manage to choose routes where the traffic is particularly light.  We turned off the main highwat at Moe and headed north, hoping for pretty scenery.  We were not disappointed,  We found ourselves winding along forestry roads through the mountains, with wonderful forests of mountain ash.  We had to dodge two loaded logging trucks, a bit scarey!  The weather got gloomier and gloomier and gloomier as we progressed.  When we got back out onto the highway the mountains ahead were covered with ominous black clouds and we realised there was no way we were going to miss the rain.  Just as we got into Warburton the heavens opened up and we couldn't see the road.  We got quite disoriented in the rain.  When we finally found the caravan park there was about 6 inches of water over the camping spots.  We asked for a cabin - too tired to deal with the wet! and were lucky one was available, which we took for 2 nights.  We can't have the dogs inside but we are allowed to kennel them in their crate on the veranda.  They are quite comfortable with plastic over their crate to keep the wind off them!  And the kitchen in the cabin is really good.  I'm enjoying the cooking without so many constraints!