Flagstaff Hill - Warnambool

Today the Red Elephants rugged up and visited Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool.  A few people had recommended we visit Flagstaff Hill.  We started by watching a short movie that put us in the picture or the boat in this case.   We board a clipper ship in old London Town in the late 1800.  There is great excitment that soon turns to the reality of life on the high seas with cramped quarters and rough seas.  We then hit the hot droldrums of the tropics before finally spotting land and disembarking in Warrnambool.  The Red Elephants then entered the old time Village of Flagtstaff.  We walked along cobbled streets to find the Lady Bay Lighthouse and climbed up the 35 steps.  We then had a look at the lighthouse keepers cottage that had been preserved in time, furniture included.   The Lighthouse Keepers wife had made some nice scrappy patchwork pillows that decorated their 3 rooms and a hexagon quilt that was drapped over their bed. You will be pleased to know that the junior Red Elephants kept the invaders at bay by shooting the canons.

Flagtstaff

Hauling in the sails

Oddball and his friends

We visted the Dr's Surgery and house, Dressmakers residence, leadlightmaker, the sailmakers, the printer to name just a few.  But the highlight was seeing the Dogs from Oddball , Eduy and Toula.  They asked us very nicely to keep away from their sheep.  When I asked if I could have their wool to crochet, Eduy and Toula got very vocal , I think they where asking me to make them a jumper.

Although we enjoyed our visit to Flagstaff Hill but compared to our visit to the Pioneer Village in Swan Hill we thought Flagstaff Hill was a bit run down.  Pioneer Village at Swan Hill was more interactive for the Junior Red Elephants.
click here for Flagstaff Hill
Having finshed our visit to Flagstaff Hill we then drove on down to the breakwater and viewed over to Middle Island where ordinarily Oddball and his friends reside protecting the Fairy Penguins.  There was no crossing for the Red Elephants due to rough seas.  But on low tide on a good day you woud be able to walk across.  The seas where so rough today that as the Junior Red Elephants leant on the breakwall watching the waves a random wave drenched the Junior Red Elephants and sent me running for cover.

Middle Island

The Red Elephants then explored the foreshore of Warrnambool where we found lots of most excellant playgrounds in very green parklands and the best flying fox ever.  The Junior Red Elephants scored these playgrounds 9/10.

click here for Warrnambool Foreshore
Along the foreshore where 3 or 4 Caravan parks that left us wishing we had stayed here instead of Port Fairy as all the parks where a stones through from the beach and all looked very nice.  But to be fair we have not explored Port Fairy probably yet, that is for tomorrow , so my friends stay turned for Port Fairy tomorrow.

The Wind and Mount Gambier

Hello  I have mentioned the wind a few times in various posts and I know your thinking wind , big deal.  Wind has played such a big part on our trip that I would like to somehow with words give you the experience we have had with wind.    It seems that the wind has blown since we left home 4 weeks ago.  It is no ordinary wind it is  feirce, agressive and menacing.  It is persistant.  The wind you can hear whooshing along tearing through the trees and threatening to rip those big strong trees apart limb by limb. It swirls around WHOOSH. Its hits the caravan with an almighty thump, rocking it from side to side or one end to the other.  That wind sucks our canvas bed ends  in  then violently spits them back out again.  The wind gets  in your head via your ears and plays with your mentle state.  It alters they way we see what should be beautiful views.  IF the wind had a face it would  be dark gray with a deep menacing frown lines an angry mouth and evil dark dead eyes.  The wind it is bitterly cold and does not give up, it will not let you sleep.  The wind it blows at what seems full strength all night long.

Beachport

Beachport

Sink Hole Mount Gambier

Onto happier thoughts and experiences.  We left Robe today and called into the small town of Beachport just down the road.  It also was a lovely little seaside town, not as trendy and touristy as Robe.  The Red Elephants took the tourist drive around Beachport enjoying the views of the cliffs overlooking rock islands.  If it was a nicer day we would have had a dip in the salt lake.

Onwards we drove to Mount Gambier listening to Jimmy Barnes and singing along and then the stories of Specky McGee.  The Red Elephants travelled past low lying land at the end of the Limestone coast.  Many parts of the land was under water I am guessing this is not normal but part of the recent rains.  We passed by sheep farms and moo cows and one paddock that had a the baby cows huddled with their mothers.  Then there where pine plantations or as the junior Red Elephants call them Christmas tree farms.

Mount Gambier is a big inland  town.  We checked out the sink hole  in the middle of town.   It was not as gardeny as I had remembered seeing it on Better Homes and Gardens.  I mentioned this to a local lady who told me that was another sink hole and it had been vandalised the night before. She recommended not taking the Junior Red Elelphants there.  Who does this type of sensless things??  The Red Elephants  then  treated ourselves to a nice warm lunch in one of the cafes.  It is our anniversary after all.  We then visited the Blue Lake, it was blue and much bigger than I thought.  Actually there are a few Lakes around Mount Gambier all close together and easy to get to.  You can walk around the Blue Lake , but we chose to drive due to.....?  You guessed it the wind!!  Mount Gambier did not seem to be Caravan Friendly , we found it quite hard finding a place to park the Caravan while we had a look around.  By luck we found a carpark big  enough for the car and caravan  in the local Spotlight!!


click here for Blue Lake

Restful at Robe

We have had a few restful days here in Robe.   Restful for the Red Elephants equals, Jumping Pillow fun, Playing soccer and cricket with the other kids in the park and making new friends. Swimming in the indoor heated pool and playing a bit of tennis.  It also means long beach walks and a walk along the bluff looking for Whales and Dolphins, sadly we did not spot either.  The Red Elephants finished the Bluf walk with Hot Chips with a view of the Great Southern Ocean.  Actually besides the Hot chips that dosn't sound restful at all.

We bought ourselves a Lobster and tartare sauce and sat around the table with great excitement to try our fresh Robe Lobster.  We all agreed we would prefer to have snags and tom or BBQ sauce.

Last night the park treated us to an outdoor movie night.  It was right next to our site and we sat watching the movie in our campchairs, wrapped up in our blankets eating our Tornado's (Cornetto's) as Soccer boy likes to call them.

The weather has turned again today and we have said good bye to the sun as the Antarctic Winds are doing their thing gusting in over the ocean again, mixed with showers of rain

Today we visted Robes  Sea Life Centre.  Although not big we where personnaly taken around by a lovely lady who passed on her extensive knowledge of the sea life contained in this small museum.  We got to feed and pat Port Jackson and Banjo Sharks.  Mr Red Elephants feed a Barramundi, I'm sure he would have preferred to catch one, but thats another trip altogether.  The Junior Red Elephants where most impressed by a big King Crab and I liked the dainty little Sea Horses.  As we left the lovely lady drew as a mud map of places to see in her little town of Beachport.  Its people like this who make a trip like this.

Click here for  Robe Sea life Centre

Robe - Home of the Rock Lobster

Robe , home of the Rock Lobster, dont you just feel like breaking out into that song by the B52's.

The sun was shining today and we had blue sky as we meandered our way down the main street of Robe.  Its a bit of a confusing street as it  dosn't seem to know if its olde worlde sea port or modern eateries and trendy clothing shops?

Our meander came to a sudded  halt as we made a mad dash to the marina to see the trawlers come in with their catch of Rock  Lobsters.

The marina was all modern and floating walkways.  The trawlers I was expecting turned out to be sleek newish boats that looked like something the rich and famous would own..  We watched as the lobsters are hualed out of the hold with tales flip flapping, put  in crates and wheeled along the floating walkways to be weighed in at shore.  The fisherman leave at 3am and return to the marina at 1pm.  It only takes to fisherman, a skipper and a deckhand.  The lobsters are caught in cages that contain some type of bait, sounds like bits and peices of fish.  The chap we talked to had 4 boxes, the same large storage type boxes we all used at home. We thought it didnt look like very much, But where told thay have limits and there sitting in front of us was $8000 worth of Lobster.  The Lobsters are mostly sent to China.  Naturally we followed the fisherman back to the co-op and viewed all the lobsters in their tanks.  The Red Elephants where surprised how big the Lobsters where and they come out of the sea red , just like us.

We went for a walk along he beach that ws covered in great blobs of seaweed and the water  still all murky and dirty as a result of the recent Super Storm.  ( I just like saying Super Storm now.).There was no way this Mrs Red Elephant was going to swim in there.  On the beach we found all sorts of washed marine life  we have never come across on the southcoast.  Sporty Red Elephant turned into Bindi Red Elephant, picking up manner of critters and inspecting them.  There seemed to be lots of soft sea slug/cucumber type things and other little roundish whitish blobby things.  Soft mini coconuts in round shapes and dare I say poo type shapes.  Lots of sea urchins washed up but with out their spikes.  We where wishing we had our Uncle Mick with us to tell us what they all are.

Red Elephants Fun Facts

So far Travelled =  4500km
Fuel Fill ups = 7 = $1035
 Average Km per day = 350km
Main Driver = Mr Red Elephant
Map Reader /Navigator extrodineer = Mrs Red Elephant

Food Shop= Every other Day,  massive credit debt incured

In car Entertainment = Audio Books Specky Mcgee  x 4, bears, reading,maps, looking out window.  There are hardly no fights or complaints of boredom from the back seat.  However always hungry.

Lunches: Peanut Butter or cheese and vegemite sandwitches, noodle cups, jaffles and the occasional pie.

Dinners: Not many BBQ's due to weather, spaghetti bolognaise, satay chicken, carbonara, pies mash and corn, Fried Rice, meatball stirfry, pasta and sauce, jaffles, sausage on the BBQ and Hamburgers on the BBQ

Overnight Stops =  13
 Weeks on the Road = 3.5

Two Floods, One Super Storm, One Statewide Blackout,  numerous road closures, 2 sunny days

2 Change of routes due to weather.

Homework=  Every 2nd day on average

Naughty Bears in car threatened to be sent home to Nanny on the next train.
Minor Surgery; Blanky boo

Crochet Completed; 1 shawl and one penguin under way .

** Spelling and grammer note, having read back over past posts I realize there are some errors, please note some posts are written late at night, some in a hurry and some with interuptions and some with fueled with a cider or too,  Spellcheck sometimes works and sometimes not.  This shows that I am human and we are not all perfect and that is Ok.  Its all about sharing the experience.**

Mannum on the Murray

As we left Burra this morning I called into the local craft shop and got talking to a very nice lady.  My impression of Burra was saved by this lady and I bought some Peach and Ginger Jam and Cauliflower Chutney that we have tried already with cheese, and I can report it was yum.

Today the sun shone the sky was blue and hardly any wind at all.  We drove from Burra that incidently is in the Clare Vally to Mannum on the Murry River.  Leaving Burra we once again passed lovely green rolling hills dotted with the orange tinge woolly sheep.  Honestly I just want to crochet them up into a beanie.  We also passed the same hills once again dotted with the giant windmills of wind farms.  Large fields of wheat and canola where also passed and fields of other crops we couldn't quite work out what they where.  The wheat was gently waving in the breeze.

The thriving metropolis of  Gawler woke us up and stressed us out with all its business and narrow busy main street.  We missed our turn of completely and I asked a local the way at the garage while Mr Red Elephant filled the car with Deisel.  He was very helpful and it turned out we had to about turn and drive down the main street again.  Mr Red Elephant was not impressed with my map reading.  NOT my fault I was expecting a big sign saying Mannum not a little sign saying Lyndoch!  AND the map had really tiny writing.

We then entered the Barossa Vally and of course here we saw Vineyard after vineyard sporting their fresh new spring leaves.  One we could see still had flood waters sitting on the ground and debris washed up against the base of the vines.

The Red Elephants enjoyed lunch at the edge of the oval and under the AFL Goal posts  at Lyndoch a lovely little village in the Barossa.

We also stopped at Williamstown after I spotted a tree that had been yarn bombed!

Again the view out the window  changed again we had more rugged hills with more hardy sheep that where climbing amoungst great big rocks in their paddocks.  Once again my map and the signs let me down and we missed our turn of.   We had a very UN pleasant time arguing our way up MT Pleasant.  Mr Red Elephant the made it his job to point out the BIG green signs.

So here we are at Mannum.  Its nice here I like it.  Its warm I had to put shorts on and take my jumper of.  We drove down the main street to the our friend the Murray River that is a little bit dirty looking right  now and very very wide.  The caravan park is on the banks of the Murray River and is nice and clean and welcoming.  We have had a walk up and down the main street, and. I mean that literally, as it is up and down hill.  Visited the op shops,  Soccer Boy found himself another pair of soccer boots and I left some nice tableclothes behind.  Mr Red Elephant then spent a restful afternoon fishing in the Murray and caught one carp that some how escaped the waiting Pelicans.  We had watched another fisherman have his fish stolen and gobbled up by the Pelican as her reeled it in, hilarious the pelican had this big fish shaped bulge in his neck.  I sat in my campchair by the river crocheting in the sun.  Soccer boy tried his new boots out kicking the soccer ball with a new friend and Sporty Girl Red Elephant was being a photographer of Pelicans and baby ducks.
Mannum Caravan Park
Today was a good day and is exactly how a trip like this should be.

Historic Burra

Today we had a good travelling day.  We passed by lovely green rolling hills dotted with woolly sheep.  I found it quite uplifting.  The sheeps wool had a slight tinge of orange to it.  I guess this comes from the very red\ornage soil.  Even the dams have a reddish orange hue to them.

We decided to call into a town called Peterborough.  It was a lovely town filled with old buildings ,wide roads and Mr Red Elephant counted 3 Pubs.  Peterborough is a historic rail town and as such we felt the need to attend Steamtown.  At Steamtown we where meet at the door by a friendly chirpie lady.  We paid our family fee of $35 and joined a tour.  Our tour guide was most knowledgable and came from a train family, both her husband and her father had worked on the railways, and she grew up in a house just opposite the tracks.  The junior Red Elephants counted 12 trains that we climbed in and out of and explored.  We had First class and second class, the workers sleeping train, the hospital train, the dining car, the guards train.  We hopped in and shovelled coal into the steam engine then pretended to drive a deisel engine.  We toured the roundhouse and the mechanics shed.  It was well worth the visit and I am so glad we went.
Steamtown Website
While in there the wind blew up all cold and strong again.  Driving into the wind Mr Red Elephant could only get the car up to 75km an hour.  He kept shaking his head.

All the travellers we meet and talk to are all complaining about the weather and in particular the wind.  We are all well and truely over it.

Leaving Petersborough we headed to Burra past more rolling green hills this time dotted with modern windmills.  They are so tall and streamlined.  It was funny some where turning and some no.  With the wind spend today they should have been zooming around  Some people like them some people dont.  I dont mind them, up close they are very big, quite amazing really.

We reached Burra and lets say the first two people we encountered in a tourist industry type job where well and truely past their used by date.  So although the town is little with lovely old sandstone/limestone buildings and a river running through it these ladies have put me off.