South Australia – Part 2 – Limestone Coast

The next part of our trip in South Australia was a road trip along the Limestone Coastline (see red pin below). For reference, if you keep driving East, you’ll end up in Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road (you may remember our GOR blog post). You can also see Kangaroo Island on the map just South-West of Adelaide.

There are many signs that we are slowly becoming Australian. Here is one: When we used to see a kangaroo warning road sign we would think “Ooh! I hope we see a kangaroo!” Now, we think “Oh crap. I hope a kangaroo doesn’t jump out in front of me.”

There were many kangaroo warning signs on our South Australia trip. I (Anthony) drove nervously through each of these stretches since I didn’t take the extra insurance option for our rental car.

Kangaroos mostly come out at dusk –and it happened to be dusk as we made our way down towards our first stop on the Limestone Coast. I was driving and rambling on about something to Kristi when a kangaroo bounded out from the opposite side of the road and right into my path. My heart stopped, I slammed on the brakes and I swerved to the left – in about that order. Half way across, the kangaroo also realized the err of his ways and performed his own late brake-and-swerve maneuver.

The kangaroo contorted his body in a spectacular way, such that he missed my front right fender by about one inch and still managed to miss my driver’s side mirror. He held this perfect pose for a second before losing his balance and falling sideways in the middle of the road behind me. He then picked himself up and bounced back from where he started – apparently, whatever was on the other side of the road wasn’t so important after all.

I was completely horrified. Kristi missed the whole thing.

So our trip started with a bit of adventure, and I drove about 20 mph slower for the rest of our holiday.

* * * * * * * *

We stayed in our first ever Bed & Breakfast in the town of Robe, our favorite town along the Limestone Coast. The accommodation was wonderful and included a huge jet spa in the bathroom – the best part! Robe is a quaint little beach town filled with interesting shops and restaurants. It reminded us a bit of Seaside, OR.

Robe has some interesting historical sites, including the ruins of the old gaol (note the classic Australian spelling of “jail”).

Here are some pictures of Long Beach in Robe. Just like Long Beach in Washington, you can drive on the sand! Anthony was a little nervous since we didn’t have a four wheel drive, but it was worth the risk…very exciting!

We stopped briefly in Beachport, another small town along the Coast. The jetty here is over 2,500 feet long, but what’s even more interesting is that it was originally planned to be over a mile long when it was first constructed in 1880!

We also drove through Tantanoola, which is home to the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere. We picked up a self-guided tour map at the local info center and went on our way. The map was poorly documented (says Anthony) and we ended up taking an accidental detour onto a dirt road. After spending 20+ minutes turning down a variety of un-named dirt roads, we finally admitted we were lost and called back to the local information center for directions. The guy at the info center said we shouldn’t be on any dirt roads. Oops. But we made it back okay – and we did get some up-close views of the windmills!

Mount Gambier is one of the largest and most popular towns along the Limestone Coast. The most interesting thing to see here was this “sunken cave”. It was originally an underground cave, but the roof collapsed creating a giant hole in the ground. The City has since turned it into a beautiful garden.

Blue Lake, a crater lake just outside of town, was another beautiful site at Mount Gambier. In the Spring/Summer, the lake turns a bright blue color and in the Autumn/Winter it turns grayish-blue . There were a few different lookouts around the lake that were great photo opportunities, as you can see below.

Valley Lake was just a short drive from Blue Lake, but was much more accessible with picnic facilities and boat ramps for water sports.

We had a great time travelling along the Limestone Coast. Our next stop was the Barossa Valley - stay tuned for Part 3!

South Australia - Part 1 - Kangaroo Island

Sorry we’ve been lax about posting on our trip to South Australia! It’s been a bit daunting sorting through all the photos and stories, so we are going to blog in sections to keep it straight forward.

For clarification, South Australia is actually a state (albeit with a boring name) – not just a region. We started by flying into Adelaide, which is the state capital (unlike in the US, the capitals of Aussie states are the largest cities in those states). We rented a car and spent one night in Adelaide before heading on to Kangaroo Island – a large scenic island about 12 miles off the coast.

They say Kangaroo Island is like a zoo without fences. We did see a fair amount of wildlife, including a handful of kangaroos, a couple of echidnas, lots of pelicans, several bush-tailed possums and one peacock (we’re not sure about the peacock, but it liked the front porch of our cabin).

   

The more interesting thing about the island was how laid back the whole place was. Most of the island is a national park and most of the rest is unpopulated. The remainder is sheep farms. The majority of the roads were dirt (which tested the off-road prowess of our small Nissan Tiida). The slow pace reminded us a little of a Hawaiian island.

The weird part of the island was that there was hardly anyone around. Maybe it is a product of living in the middle of a busy city, but it felt a bit strange.

The place we stayed in was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The nearest eatery to our cabin was about 45 minutes away by dirt road. It was only open from 6pm to 7:30pm and catered primarily the local sheep shearers. When we arrived, it was “schnitzel night” – gravy $3 extra.

The only grocery store within an hour of our cabin was more like a well stocked pantry – they didn’t use barcodes and most items were covered in dust. It was here that we decided that although country life has always sounded appealing, we’re not sure we are cut out for it. We like our city conveniences.

We did see some great sights though. We toured around the “remarkable rocks” (not to be confused with “The Remarkables” - a mountain range in New Zealand). They were fascinating, as you can see in the pictures below.

 

The views were gorgeous along the coastline.

 

We saw a ton of fur seals at “The Arch”. It was hard to see them at first because they blended in with the rocks…can you spot them?

There was a beautiful lookout up 512 steps. It was well worth the trip up!

The highlight of the island for us was a sheep dairy where they use the sheep’s milk to make cheeses and yoghurt. We are now the biggest fans of sheep’s milk products. It tastes better than cow’s milk and is way easier on the stomach. We tasted haloumi cheese for the first time and have now eaten it several times since. It’s delicious.

 

Most of the island and surrounding lands are comprised of limestone, and there are several magnificent limestone caves in the area. Here are some photos of one of the Kelly Caves we toured.

Bald Hill was another beautiful lookout. The sun was just beginning to set while we were there, which made for some neat pictures.

Overall, Kangaroo Island was beautiful and the slow pace of life was very relaxing.  We will post the next part of our trip soon!