Its a Hop, Skip and Jump to Kangaroo Island - Retrospective TR (updated 5/1)

[kimmar067]

Depends on which side of the pond you come from. British vs American spelling.

....American all the way! Come over to OUR side of the pond, as it were.

 

[juniorbugman]

Silo art started in Brim, a small town in Victoria's north west Mallee region. Grain Corp, which owns most of the silos, agreed to let Guido van Helten (an artist from Brisbane) to paint a mural on a 30m high silo. That mural became an instant success and drew visitors to Brim.

I find those silos quite interesting. What a nice way to repurpose something.

 

[juniorbugman]

Depends on which side of the pond you come from. British vs American spelling.

Canadian all the way so colour it is.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Something Old - Umpherston Sinkhole - Again

It's Groundhog Day!
And what did I learn from this re-do?
Yeah. Do NOT share pictures with my fellow togs until we have completely left the area!!!

I love these pictures of the sinkhole. Ours do such little justice to it whereas yours capture the true shape. Photographer extraordinaire versus amateurs - lol!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Something Blue - Blue Lake Crater

There was a walk up on the 'hill' behind the lake. My fellow travellers decided it would be a good idea to see if we got a better vantage view of the lake.

Lazy us - we just drove around - lol!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

A Large Watering Hole

We really did try and make our way out of Mt Gambier. We were heading down the Riddick Highway and through Coonawarra wine country. We didn't stop for vineyards but we just had to stop for the grazing.

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Yeah. I do mean lunch! An hour out of Mt Gambier, we arrived in Naracoorte. With a population size of under 6000, we weren't expecting a large town. The word Naracoorte has its derivation in the local Aboriginal language, meaning place of running water or large waterhole.

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You guessed it. We found the local pub!

The Naracoorte Hotel Motel was filled with the usual local suspects.

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And reminders that we weren't in a big smoke.

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I expressed my views about eating seafood at an inland small town last night. Obviously....I never follow my own advice! Thankfully, the calamari was good. Three out of the four in my car pool chose the calamari. It tasted fresh and was rather tender.

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DH was the odd-vegan out. The kitchen was very accommodating. They were happy to amend a dish to suit his dietary requirements.

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Actually, the grub was surprisingly good. I would be happy to recommend the Naracoorte Hotel Motel as a stopping point.

In fact. If I were ever heading this way again, I would make more time for this whole area. With the Coonawarra vineyards and the world heritage listed limestone Naracoorte Caves, I think this area deserves at least two days in itself. Next time!

Drop into my TR - though it's on the way back so a while to go yet - to see pics of at least one of the Naracoorte Caves.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

For those of you following along, the Dis-ser that I caught up with was @Aussie Wendy . She has started her TR, after a gentle prod from me.

If you want to read along, you'll find her TR here.

Thanks for the recommendation PIO!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

....that's okay....I'll live vicariously through you....

It's vicarious living for me here for just a bit longer. Covid numbers in my state has not gotten to where the authorities want it to be. Another 2 weeks of lockdown.

....American all the way! Come over to OUR side of the pond, as it were.

It's OUR as in colOUR.

I find those silos quite interesting. What a nice way to repurpose something.

There are a whole heap more on the silo trail. I'm hoping to be able to go see them next year. Afterall, I doubt we will be able to travel overseas without a Covid vaccine.

Canadian all the way so colour it is.

I love these pictures of the sinkhole. Ours do such little justice to it whereas yours capture the true shape. Photographer extraordinaire versus amateurs - lol!

Thank you!
Well.....you know if you want any of them for a photobook or something, just let me know.

Lazy us - we just drove around - lol!

Yeah, well. We only realised after we had climbed the hill that you could drive round!

Drop into my TR - though it's on the way back so a while to go yet - to see pics of at least one of the Naracoorte Caves.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Day 2, 9 September 2019

Second Valley, South Australia.


It had been dark when we arrived last night. What you see is effectively all we saw in Second Valley here.





This was the view from our very nondescript hotel room.






I understand that the Second Valley Beach is a different story! We didn’t have time to stop on this trip. Next time.


We had stayed overnight at this sleepy hollow because it was a convenient stop to the ferry terminal.





It was only a 20 minute drive to Cape Jervis.





The alternative is Victor Harbour, which is a little further away. If you are heading to Kangaroo Island from the mainland, Cape Jervis is the gateway and departure point for the ferry services to Kangaroo Island. It was a fishing village before the ferry service was set up here.
That's where the ferry sails from to Kangaroo Island, that land mass along the horizon. For those of you that cruise reading along, yeah. Not quite what you would have expected for a Ferry Terminal.






The ferry packs in about 40 cars. We waited our turn and got on board.




The ferry takes about an hour to get from Port Jervis to Penneshaw. The passenger lounge area is nice enough and there is a kitchen area to get basic snacks and drinks.

The time passed by very quickly!

This trip was planned with some of my photographer friends. So, we had a few of them on the same ferry heading across.

After we had confirmed the dates, @Aussie Wendy caught up over a call and realised that we were both heading to Kangaroo Island. Completely independently of each other, we had planned our KI dates and booked ferry crossings. Would you believe......we had booked to be there at the EXACT same time? Even more coincidental.....we had booked to cross to the island and head back on the same ferry!

So, no pics of us on this crossing across, but we did spend a few minutes chatting and catching up in 3D! It's really a small world afterall.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Walking from one end of Penneshaw to the other


At the other end of the ferry crossing is another sleepy hollow called Penneshaw. For those of you wondering….if you are on a cruise that comes to this part of the world, all cruise ships dock in Penneshaw.

One supermarket, one chemist/pharmacy, 3 cafes and 1 pub. That's the size of Penneshaw. I never did get a proper shot of Penneshaw!

But.....there was home made lemon cake at one of the cafes. Delicious! In fact, that cafe turned out to be the place of choice for the other photographers in the group that had arrived the day before. They were there waiting for us.




We went in search of amusement. We were told by the people in the cafe that there was a local "sculpture walk" at the other end of the street.





We were walking into and around that gully. It might seem far in the picture; but it took us about 40 minutes to complete the walk. That was with me and my fellow photography friends stopping every 2 minutes to take pictures!





It was a lovely view looking back.




It WAS a Sculpture walk were on. I struggled to find any.




I did find the bees.





And you all know how much I like taking pictures of bees!






In any case, where there are bees.....






I went chasing birds as well. This one is the female Blue Fairy Wren.





Yup. I chased the male as well.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Finding some 'Sculpture'



We were at a loose end and just killing time on this 'sculpture walk'.





Somewhere along the way.....this was about the only true sculpture I saw on this walk.





Hmmm. Guess this might qualify as "sculpture"???




Sculpture walk ticked off. There was only so much we could photograph on this local attraction.





On the walk back to the cars, I found an interesting post.




We also found some Wattle Birds feeding.





We had successfully managed to kill a couple of hours. We needed to fill in the time so that we got to check in time for our hotel. By the time that was over, we made a move for our first group excursion.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Adventure Ocean Cruise .... It's all about the Birds!



One of the tour events we had organised was a 75 minute adventure ocean cruise.




After the usual safety instructions, the captain cast off and we were out on the ocean. As you can imagine, on such an outing, you are totally in the hands of Mother Nature as to what you might see.




We got to see a White-bellied Eagle.









We also spotted a juvenile shortly after.





There were also Cormorants in abundance.









Looking back at the shoreline. That's sheltering the rock (now a replica due to deterioration of the original) that is inscribed by members of the French crew of Le Geographe (captained by Nicolas Baudin) when they stopped here while mapping the coast of New Holland in 1803.




You could walk to this shelter from Penneshaw. I figure it might take 5 - 10 minutes to get here.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Adventure Ocean Cruise .... It's all about the Wildlife!


The reason for taking this Ocean Adventure....dolphins!




We saw a pod of about 15 dolphins.




They were happy to come up close and check us out.







Whilst we could have easily stayed there, our captain pushed us along.




Afterall, there were other wildlife to see.




We checked out some of the seals.




Or was it...the seals checked us out?




Yet again...time was pressing.




It had been a great cruise, with loads of animal encounters. I don't know if we had been lucky or if this was just a normal day for Ocean Adventures. I would also imagine that this would be one of the shore excursions offered if you were cruising through Penneshaw. If so, I highly recommend it. Just.....dress warm!




We had booked into the local pub for dinner. I was so hungry that I didn't take any food porn. An early night was definitely in order today!

 

[franandaj]

What a fun trip so far! The silo art is an interesting concept.

You got a lot of great bird and other marine mammal photos! What a beautiful place Australia is!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Day 2, 9 September 2019

I understand that the Second Valley Beach is a different story! We didn’t have time to stop on this trip. Next time.

We have a few pics when we get to it!

After we had confirmed the dates, @Aussie Wendy caught up over a call and realised that we were both heading to Kangaroo Island. Completely independently of each other, we had planned our KI dates and booked ferry crossings. Would you believe......we had booked to be there at the EXACT same time? Even more coincidental.....we had booked to cross to the island and head back on the same ferry!

So, no pics of us on this crossing across, but we did spend a few minutes chatting and catching up in 3D! It's really a small world afterall.

It certainly was serendipitous!

 

[kimmar067]

Day 2, 9 September 2019

Second Valley, South Australia.


It had been dark when we arrived last night. What you see is effectively all we saw in Second Valley here.

View attachment 524176

TWO things:

1. You were there on my birthday.
2. Where's the FIRST valley?

 

[Aussie Wendy]

kimmar067 interesting thought - where was first valley? Sorry for jumping in PIO. The answer is boring. Google tells us the name is derived from being the next valley north of Rapid Bay, the initial camp on South Australian mainland of Colonel William Light.

Just for you here is a pic of a section of the beach and jetty in Second Valley where the wind threatened to blow me off a causeway.

 

[Zosha]

Never thought I’d be reading a KI trip report on Disboards! these are strange times. Glad you liked Naracoorte and the Coonawarra region. It’s where my family hails from originally.

 

[PrincessInOz]

TWO things:

1. You were there on my birthday.
2. Where's the FIRST valley?

Happy Belated Birthday!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Day 4: Penneshaw to Flinders Chase National Park

It's the Start of a New Dawn!


7 am in the morning and the view from my room balcony.





It promised to be a beautiful day.





Today, we were moving from Penneshaw on the eastern end to the western end of KI. According to Google Maps, that's a 90 minute trip.





Yeah. Right.

Let's see how long it really takes with my group of togs!