HEARD OF PORT ELLIOT?

Here we are in our very own "caravan park" at 19 Charteris St Port Elliot, SA.

ALL SEASONS ESCAPE!

If you want to stay here, phone 0402 8111 74. Or email jack.k@live.com.au

This new house is ideal for an all year round holiday escape/break. Family friendly and ideal for two families or a group of seniors wanting a time together. Bernie, Janice, Helen, Keasty, Bails and a few others.... bingo!

This is a beautifully appointed and furnished holiday home in a great position. Great bike trails, good tucker places within easy walking or drive about 5 km. Positioned between Victor Harbor and Goolwa (and Middleton is even closer! We just ate at the Middleton Tavern!)

How does this look? There's a good fish and chip place near this beach. It's maybe a 5 min walk from 19 Charteris to the water.

There are a few churches in the town.
Don't invite too many folk if you're planning on a party in the COUNCIL CHAMBER pad! This is central like everything else.
Some of the places are drop dead gorgeous. Bit older than ALL SEASONS ESCAPE though.

What used to be the Arcadia Hotel is now the local hostel. It's got great views of the water also.

WATERS ROUND KI

There are quite a number of stunning beaches and views of the water as you wander round KI (Kangaroo Island). The island is about 155 km long and not very wide. Some of the beaches are very long - eg Emu Bay beach is 4 km long. We walked that one for over an hour the other day.

Loved the lighthouses. This is the one at Cape Willoughby. We went up to the top and even wandered round the "verandah". See the whale bones at the bottom?

Maybe this was why we didn't go swimming!

Just look at the granite rocks/boulders on this beach. We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch here before going on the tour of the lighthouse.

Somebody once said:

A contented man looks at the fire - a restless man looks at the sea.

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Do you agree? What do you watch? Do you know what I watch?

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The sea...ever changing, and always the same.

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At Port Elliott at present (near Victor Harbour). Getting some cycling training in.

KANGAROO ISLAND - PART 1

This giant sea lion reminded me of a grizzly with his light coloured mane. Just beautiful.

Takes all types. Some sleeping, some with jobs to do. Some just want to play or fight!

Hey... did you hear what I just heard? [I won't tell you how many photos of sea lions I deleted.]

Even this bloke heard it!! He wasn't too far away. Saw 1 yesterday and 2 today.

Heaps of small wallabies too. Maybe this one is a Tammar wallaby. He wasn't even frightened of us. Quite a few of his mates splattered on the roads.

This was quite impressive.

Admiral's cave. Heaps of NZ fur seals on the rocks and in the water. You might be able to spot some if you click on the photo so it enlarges.

These rocks were seen by early explorers Matthew Flinders and Rob Hughes. Matt said, "Gee they're remarkable rocks!" And some scribe wrote down... Remarkable Rocks!

Good weather means we can still get away with shorts. Could get cool any day now though.

These kids from Mt Barker school even posed for me! Not a bad bunch of kids. Wandering round the island for 3 days. Teachers were pretty laid back. We were impressed.

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Sorry, you didn't get any photos of Kelly Hill caves. Maybe next time. Also Weir Cove near the lighthouse.

MOANA SUNSET by FAY

I should never have let Fay loose with the camera I know. A bloke could quite easily become redundant at this rate!!

She went walking on the bike/walking path at Moana, which is just south of Port Noarlunga South. Any further south and you'd be on Kangaroo Island! And that's where we're heading next.

She took some excellent shots. Fortunately I've been able to erase most of them!!!

Wonder if it'd looked like this if I'd gone out with the camera. Why doesn't she get her own camera anyway? I'm thinking of getting her back. Thought I'd take up cooking! That'll show her!

BUBLACOWIE MILITARY MUSEUM

The BUBLACOWIE MILITARY MUSEUM and MEMORIAL is the work of an incredible guy called CHRIS SOAR. It's situated just out of Yorketown on the Yorke Peninsula.

Chris (pictured above) has material from WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars. The museum is built on the grounds of the former Bublacowie single classroom school.

The museum was built by Chris and his wife Enid (now deceased) to perpetuate memories of the sacrifices made by so many in all conflicts and to help our young learn of our military history.

Chris is a Malay/Vietnam veteran himself.

There are some fascinating newspaper clippings from war eras.

Chris has even restored a number of army vehicles.

He has other vehicles also, such as this Morris Minor and the Austin 1800 below.

You should get to see this museum. It is really worth the visit. I'd love to bring my kids here, and maybe later my grandchildren. Thanks Chris. You have done an incredible job with this project.

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Tomorrow we'll start heading back towards Adelaide. Only 220 km from here to there! Maybe Balaklava or Riverton.

YORKE PENINSULA

Balgowan on the Yorke Peninsula. Does it get much prettier than this? This is on the west coast between Wallaroo and Port Victoria. We stayed at Wallaroo - neat place.

Laura town had its FOLK FAIR on this last weekend - 10 & 11 April. It's the home of CJ Dennis. Well, his younger days anyway. Dick Biles had this statue done for the town. We got to meet Dick a few times but this was the only glimpse of C J Dennis we got!

Guess there are quite a few folk, like Dicko and the cleaning lady, who don't get down the Yorke Peninsula, so thought I'd throw up a few shots. Don't forget, that top photo is from Yorke Peninsula also. Click on it, and it should enlarge. Agriculturally rich, naturally beautiful.

Fay was having a look across Gulf St Vincent to see if she could see Adelaide. It can't be that far across according to our maps. Tomorrow we're off to have a look at the Innes National Park and Marion Bay etc. Maybe I should get a bike ride in before we depart from Coobowie which is where we're staying. Look it up on Google Maps. Edithburgh is a neighbouring town.

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Gotta be in Adelaide to see CANDYMAN on Fri or Saturday.

THE MID NORTH IN SA

Stayed at ARGADELLS (a working sheep and cattle station) just north of QUORN. There are cottages, camp sites, caravan park with ensuites and bush campsites. There's also a heap of tracks round the property for you to pit your skills against the tough terrain. Really recommend these folk - Malcolm and Judy. Here we are having brekky round the campfire. Our rig in the background.

My 4WD exploits were great. Cautious. Attentive. Mindful. Mindful that we want this Pajero to get us back to Cudmirrah at some stage... maybe late May. It was fun.

Melrose is known for its single track mountain biking.

Had a great meal here at the North Star Hotel. Kerry looked after us here and the food was creative and scrumptious. Thanks Kerry. You could sure have a good party here!!! Really well set up inside too. Linked with the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna.

We met Pip at the bike shop. Check out www.otesports.com.au - looks pretty top class stuff. Fay wouldn't let me stay and play.

When we reached Laura (that's a town), we found Stevens Motors. We negotiated with them and they reckoned they could squeeze us in for our 195,000 km service the following day. The business used to be a Chrysler dealership about 3 generations ago.

About to take Fay here.... for a treat. She loves treats, and she's been so good. Mind you we are still ploughing through the chocolate easter eggs we picked up quite a while ago! They specialise in ice cream which we'll have after we've had a home made meat pie for lunch. Fay doesn't know that either.

This bloke makes saddles, harness etc. If you need something in this line.... here's your place. We're happy with Stevens Motors at the other end of town.

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Today we'll head to CRYSTAL BROOK. That's a great town too. We'll stay there a few days we think. Get a bit more cycling in.

WELCOMING WILPENA

THIS IS WELCOMING WILPENA!

Denise and Marie-Anne from the Wilpena Visitor Centre were only too happy to assist us and managed to allow us to stay on our powered spot. They fiddled with an existing cancellation and we didn't even have to move our rig. Fantastic! Thanks ladies. This photo above is typical of the Flinders Ranges.

Pretty big stuff eh?

These fellas were everywhere. Lucky we didn't run over a few today, otherwise we'd have had fresh emu on our menu. They were in groups of dad & 3 chicks, dad & 4 chicks and here, dad & 5 chicks (teenagers). Makes you wonder what the female emu gets up to while dad's lookin' after the family... again!

At Parachilna there's not much more than the Parachilna Hotel. But it's well worth a visit. Drop in and have a feed while you're in town. Stay in the pub for a night. Got some lovely rooms.

Order FMG - feral mixed grill! Includes camel, goat, roo and emu. Looks pretty scrumptious eh?

Not far away is BLINMAN. It's famous for the Land Rover gathering each Easter and a cook out on the October long weekend. They tell me the place comes to life. Sure made me a lovely strawberry malted!! Where I grew up as a kid (Glenfield) there were heaps of people named Blinman, so we had to come see for ourselves!

This is part of the Great Wall of China. Saves you getting a passport and buying an airline ticket - just come here! It was impressive and long, even if my photos didn't do it justice.