After leaving the Victor Harbor beachfront Melissa and I drove the short trip to Horseshoe Bay. The small bay is nestled just off the main road and was what I consider to be a perfect swimming or snorkeling beach. I pulled the car into the parking lot and the little kid inside me freaked out! The water was blue and the sand was fine. A few meters off the shore was a rocky island surrounded by a small reef, separating the enclosed bay and the rest of the massive Gulf of St. Vincent.
I tried to remain calm in front of Melissa but all I wanted to do was hit the water. I calmly and collectively strolled down to the waterfront and waited for the ocean to invite me in with a small sneaker wave. As soon as the water touched my feet I was introduced to another Oregon Australian similarity; the water is freezing! I was crushed. Although my day in the water has not yet happened I have been reassured that when the summer heat turns up (soon I hope) the water will warm to tolerable temperatures and I will be in it every day!
After I collected my shattered self, Melissa and hopped back into our borrowed wagon and headed off into the sunset. The next town we had scheduled into our trip was a Scottish town called Strathalbyn, just outside Lake Alexandrina. The drive into the small town gave us a change in scenery. We had enjoyed the lush, green rolling hills outside Adelaide all the way down to Port Elliot and Horseshoe Bay. The road was now flanked by flat, wide-open farmlands mixed with the occasional figure of water stretching up towards the road as a reminder that the lake was only a short distance away. It seemed like the drive into “Strath” took forever.
The town was pleasant to see with ancient looking churches and buildings tucked in among a meandering creek. We even had the chance to stop in and grab a snack from a Swedish bakery. That’s right: a Swedish bakery with a Swedish chef in a Scottish town in South Australia! The world is truly a small place. After eating one of the richest pieces of carrot cake I have ever eaten, we hit the road again. If the road to Strath was a little less than exciting, the next stretch of road was downright dull. We intended to drive the entire stretch of 394 km to our next destination, a town called Mount Gambier.
The road took us along the Coorong National Park and along some desolate stretches of highway. The drive really reminded me of some random highway in Oregon or maybe some roads along the way to Utah. We reached Mount Gambier just as my mind official left me and everything was becoming funny and annoying all at once. We stopped at the first hotel we happen to cross and got a room for the night. I can’t recall the name of the place but it was obvious that the building was once an old office building. Our room seemed franticly slapped together with a bathroom that didn’t fit at all. The walls seemed paper thin and we both found it really hard to sleep.
The next morning we set off to explore the town and find a better place to call home for the night. Mount Gambier is an interesting small town set amongst crater lakes, sinkholes and caves. Unfortunately Melissa and I had to keep our spending to a minimum and we didn’t get to see all the caves in the area because of costs.
One aspect of Australia that I really enjoy is that you can always find old and very old style buildings hidden in each town you visit and Mount Gambier was no exception. We stopped in the middle of town to check out a Hotel–slash-pub–slash-restaurant that looked turn of the century on the outside and modern and bright on the inside.
Just up the street from the building was a large sinkhole that opened up into a cave. The town had obviously adapted to the regions unique landscape; taking great strides to make those things into safe and interesting tourist attractions. The highlight of the town is the Blue Lake that sits just a few streets above the town. The rain had begun to fall heavy and Melissa and I didn’t get too much time at the lake. The Blue Lake was very similar to Crater Lake back home in Oregon. The Australian version is much smaller with a lot more trees surrounding the rim, but offers the same unique mystical deep blue color (even in the pouring rain).
Another attraction in Mt. Gambier is a sinkhole called the Umpherston Sinkhole. Just on the edge of town, in a little park, is an enormous gaping sinkhole, with lush green foliage hanging around the edges and – of all things- two palm trees reaching from the bottom high into the sky. Melissa had been looking forward to feeding some “cute” (and by cute I mean hideous) possums that our travel guide promised would come out in the evening. Luckily the rain picked up, and we “sadly” had to pass up the opportunity.
Our last night in town we decided to treat ourselves to a good old-fashioned Australian steak dinner (I miss my steak and cake nights). We ended up eating at a place called the Barn. The restaurant is known for its local produce, wines, and grass fed beef. Being unfamiliar with gram measurements, I ended up with a massive 800 gram (about 28.2 ounces) of pure Australian grass fed deliciousness. Needless to say I couldn’t finish the thing (Sean would be disappointed if he heard that).
Early the next day, we once again climbed into our bucket seats, not really looking forward to the 5 ½ hour drive home. Aside from a stop at Telford Scrub Conservation park (a thick forested area about 14km from Mt. Gambier were, we had been told, we could see some koalas, and after wandering around for an hour we didn’t see anything but a few birds!) it was even more mind-numbingly dull than the previous scenery. We couldn’t even find a town to grab lunch in, and rolled into Adelaide in the late evening with our stomachs starting to digest themselves.
I never thought I would say it, but after this trip – albeit a lovely break from work, and a gorgeous introduction to some of our nearby beaches – I was looking forward to not driving anymore!
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