Before leaving Mount Gambier we paid a night time visit to the Umperston Sink Hole, a great big sink hole which has been turned into a garden. Why go at night? Well the possums come out to feed.
They are very cute, very fat and very tame, taking bread from our hands.
We said goodbye to Mount Gambier and hit the road, for what was going to be our longest drive yet.
The road was straight, very long, had no other cars on it and became pretty monotonous. We passed through several towns, Millicent, Beachport, and Robe to Kingston where the Coorong National Park begins. The park, which is a series of lagoons separated from the sea by sand dunes, is about 148 km long. Great, we thought, something to see. But no, there were very few access points and the lagoons were out of sight from the road. The biggest thrill of this whole 380km journey was overtaking another car! I couldn't believe I had spotted a car in front of us and as we got nearer and nearer it became obvious it was driving below the speed limit so I overtook it. Then, after the excitement, we settled in for the next bit.
A gravel road took us finally around to the lagoons and there were thousands of birds, our favourite were the pelicans, great prehistoric looking things.
Finally, having crossed the Murray River on a ferry, we arrived at a pretty little town called Strathalbyn. We stayed there for a couple of nights, just pottering around on Wednesday, watching the school kids have their swimming lessons in a gorgeous outdoor pool, window shopping and joining the South Australia library so we could get wi-fi!
On Thursday we drove through several flat and quite attractive holiday towns such as Goolwa, Port Elliot and Victor Harbor, they have an appeal to a certain section of the population - there are retirement villages everywhere! We made our way to McLaren Vale, one of the major wine growing regions. Our final stop - Glenelg, in a lovely apartment overlooking the sea. We are now only 15 minutes from Adelaide centre.
Jim had a bit of a surreal moment, he walked along the Esplanade towards the Marina, enjoying the sunny evening surrounded by others dressed in a similar way to himself, shorts and T-shirts. He turned onto the main shopping street to be met by the Glenelg Brass Band wearing their thick uniforms, Santa hats and playing Christmas carols.
This morning we saw Santa stuck in a chimney and admired the pretty Christmas tree. Just doesn't seem right does it.
This afternoon we visited Jim's sister Lisa, her husband Andy and their children Mason and Isabelle. They emigrated to Seaford, about 40 minutes outside of Adelaide, in August and have settled in very nicely to the Aussie lifestyle. It was great to see them, they are living in a beautiful house only a street away from the beach. Just perfect for kids.
We were in agreement about many things, why do Australians shorten every word, or put an o on the end. E.g. Moustache, muso, fireman, firo, etc. Why is their telly so crap, and why is their food as far removed from fine dining as you can get?
I may not have mentioned the food here before but it is pretty dire, American style portions, bland, with no spice, and fried. The staples are pepper squid - fried, schnitzels, flattened meat - fried or red meat. Oh and chips with everything! Outside of trendy Melbourne we have noticed there are a lot of 'large' people and loads of adverts about bowel cancer, Australia's biggest killer outside of skin cancer. Hmmm, check your diets mates. However, if you search, and pay, you can find good food. The coffee is fantastic, and I guess, the sun makes up for many things!
Things we like about Australia so far:
Climate
People are friendly
Parks everywhere in the towns and cities
Beautifully clean
Independent shops in small towns are quirky
Things we don't like about Australia so far:
Food
Stereotypical macho Aussie men
Use of expletives and shortening words (even newsreaders)
Internet connection - apparently broadband will arrive in the next 5 - 10 years
We're taking the tram into Adelaide tomorrow. Speak soon.
- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad
Location:Kintore Ave,Adelaide,Australia
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