Great Ocean Road Trip continued

Wednesday Feb. 16 Flat Lands and Ferries


The day dawned with clear blue skies and the road beckoned us early. Before heading east, we explored the earth cache at the Umpherston sinkhole in Mt. Gambier. It was a beautiful garden inside the sinkhole that was started in the 1800s. Our second stop was the Naracoorte National Park Caves which is UNESCO World Heritage Sight. We opted for the self guided tour of the wet cave which was very informative. On to the town of Keith where we ate lunch in a city park area which provided tables and restrooms.


Continuing East through cattle ranches, hay farms and hundreds of vineyards, we reached the Murray River. A small ferry, similar to the Albion ferry, floated us across the swollen Murray River to the town of Wellington. The next hour took us through more farmland and wineries to Goolwa, and Victor Harbour. The last hour led us among reforestation areas and wind farms to our destination of Cape Jervis.


As we checked in for our stay in a log cabin at Jervis Station, the owner remarked that we looked like ‘log cabin’!!!! After checking in, we headed down to the wharf to check on parking for the ferry tomorrow to Kangaroo Island for our day long tour. Returning, we had our dinner and took a short walk around the grounds, which is a working farm. (http://www.capejervisstation.com.au/)

Thursday February 17

Welcome to Seal Bay

Up bright and early this morning for our big trip to Kangaroo Island. We boarded the ferry at 8:30 for the 9:00 ferry….the Sealink ferries are small compared to the ferries that head over to Vancouver Island….it holds 300 passengers and 50 cars….the ride over is 45 minutes and the cost for a passenger is $44 each way and $85 for car!!! It lands at Penneshaw, a very small village where we boarded a large bus and started our tour of the island. Kangaroo Island is about 155 km long…about 4400 people live there…..farming…sheep, bees, fishing, wineries, cheese making, eucalyptus oil and tourism. Our first stop was to Seal Bay where we walked down a long board walk to the beach seeing a few seals……then they opened a gate and we walked right down into the sand with the seals….hundreds of seals lazing around down the beach….small ones, big ones, sleeping ones, swimming ones, playing ones….very funny, it was awesome to be so close.


Our next stop was a “two course lunch”….a very nice buffet with 4 different salads and a piece of chicken and a sausage….desert an apricot danish with cream…..mmmmm




Pam & the Kookabura

 Then off to a Birds of Prey free flight show…..where we were shown several different birds and what they do. I (Pam) held 2 kookaburras!


Back on the bus for a 50 min drive to the other end of KI to Flinders Chase National Park to the Remarkable Rocks…I have been looking forward to seeing these strange shaped rocks ever since we decided to come to KI (there is an earth cache here so I have been reading ahead). They still surprised me because I thought they were part of the cliffs but they where sitting right out in open with nothing but flat land and raging ocean around them.


The bus then took us on to Cape du comedic Lighthouse, Admiral Arch…a natural arch formed by erosion from the pounding sea where a colony of sea lions live. Our final stop was at Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw kangaroos and koalas. The on to catch the 7:30 ferry back to Cape Jervis.


The wind is howling around us right now….hopefully it is blowing all the clouds away for our drive into Adelaide tomorrow.

Friday February 18  Swimming to Adelaide

We awoke to pouring rain and have driven here safely in the pouring rain.  Found a quilt shop, the hotel, the market and lunch without incident....we will breakdown and pay for internet in the hotel to update everything tonight.  Hoping that tomorrow it will be drier.