While Not Working

Morning on the last day of our road trip. A gentle breeze blew all night and prevented the dew from settling, allowing us to pack up a dry camp in the morning.  This made me very happy. Contented bird.  We caught a ferry over the river at Tailem Bend, the ferry in Wellington being out of action due to the Murray still being in flood (albeit receding) from the rain that fell in Queensland and New South Wales six months ago.  The Subway at Tailem Bend had the most fantastic view over the Murray River, compensating somewhat for the rank inedibility of its coffee. Absolutely terrible coffee, but a beautiful view of the Murray river. Every road trip has to end, and this was the end of ours.  It was a little strange to settle into our Air Bnb in Mount Barker, make contact with family, and trundle through two days work before the next house sit. At least I had a leafy window to look out of.  Not that I would spend any of my work time looking out of windows.  Of c...

The Lake Albert Caravan Park was quiet and, after the 4wds pulled out, peaceful. It had a good selection of books in the laundry and a great camp kitchen. My only complaint was the long walk to the loo - far enough to prompt me to cease my evening cup of Milo in order to avoid a midnight promenade in the cold. Morning mist on the lake. Morning mist on cobwebs. We set out to drive around Lake Albert, with a few side trips to the Coorong along the way.  The first thing we heard when we got out of the car at Boundary Bluff was the roar of the Southern Ocean behind the sandhills.  We never got to see the ocean but the sound of it was never far away on the Coorong. Southern Ocean lies just behind the sand dunes.   We stood on the Bluff and watched rafts of pelicans fishing furiously further down the lagoon.    More pelicans flew in to join the party as we watched.   Meanwhile, on a jetty out of the wind, crested terns roosted with their little punk hairdos ruffl...

We wandered around Robe in the morning, visiting the old jail and the Robe Obelisk, which was in danger of falling into the sea and could only be viewed from afar.  The Robe Obelisk was built in 1855 on the point of Cape Dombey.  It was used as a landmark to navigate the entrance into Guichen Bay and to store rocket fired lifesaving equipment for stricken ships Long Beach outside Robe.  It's... long.     The old Robe jail. Then we wandered up the coast via Cape Jaffa, which we blinked and missed.  At Kingston SE we stopped for smoko and a quick peek at the beach before taking a photo with Larry the Lobster, because that's what you do when you travel through Kingston SE. The stuff of crustacean-based nightmares.  There was a bit more to Kingston SE than Larry of course.  Namely, the Cape Jaffa light house, sadly closed to self guided tours. The Cape Jaffa lighhouse was not land based.  Unlike at Cape Otway, you couldn't run out to the farm a...

There was way too much to see and do between Mount Gambier and Robe, but in the interests of making progress toward Adelaide we had to restrict ourselves to a scant two attractions along the way. Attraction #1:  The Glencoe Shearing Shed. Back in 1844 brothers Robert and Edward Leake took up large tracts of land along the Coorong and, with both stock and wool being in high demand, lived a very profitable life.  Of the two Robert was the more sensible:  he became very rich, turned himself into a Very Important Person, and died in 1860.  His brother Edward was a much shadier character, to the endless chagrign and frustration of Robert who bought him out in 1855 and then, possibly not giving it quite as much thought as he should have, left it all to him when he died five years later. Edward promptly set about running the station into disrepair and ruin, but at some point decided to make his mark on history by building the best shearing shed in the history of shearing sh...