And so, to Robe

Had a few nights at a place called Goolwa on the mouth of the Murray River.


Brandt tried his luck fishing, but nothing wanted his bait.

Next on to a free camp at Langhorne Creek.


A lovely spot on the side of the road. Across the road are grape vines.




Next, was another free camp at Kingston S.E. this was also supposed to be a good place for fishing. Alas they'd had a fishing competition the previous week with 900 entrants. That left nothing much for the rest of us. However we drove 10km along the black at The Granites (25km north of Kingston),


and Brandt did manage to catch a fish (we didn't know it's variety until a few days later when Brandt studied his fish book and found it to be a toad fish - which is poisonous to eat so luckily he had released it back to the sea)


It would appear that this area is good for crayfish. At the entrance to Kingston S.E is a huge model



Also, at our caravan park in Robe is an area for fish and cray prep.

Here at Robe we stayed waiting for our mail to catch up to us. Our vehicle registration sticker expired on Jan25 so it was walking time for us for a few days.
On Thursday 31st Jan some fellow travellers invited us to go with them for a drive to Cape Jaffa. On the way back we came across an echidna digging on the side of the road


They are bigger than I had imagined.

On arriving back at Robe, they realized we had not seen an awful lot of the place (with our car not being used) so they took us on a short drive around Robe.
We had been told that the sea here was an unusual colour. Unfortunately I don't have a good photo that shows the colour, but I do have photos








Departed from Robe Friday Feb 1

Victor Harbor

The one that got away





it caused a great number of folk to stop and watch. We were there from the hook up until about 45minutes later when the line broke. The general opinion from all the "experts" who were there was that it was a shark.

Got to cape Jervis in time to see the ferry leave for Kangaroo Island (a very expensive place to travel to, let alone any costs once you get there)


Stayed three nights at Victor Harbor. On our last day walked over the causeway and around Granite Island.








Spent a long time waiting for the right shot of the waves breaking on the rocks





There were some unusual rock formations





The coastline of Granite Island is rugged


We also got a great view looking back to Victor Harbor





And all the while the camels waited patiently for someone to want to ride them

Adelaide

Don't know about you, but I associate Barossa Valley with Adelaide. So day one was a visit to Barossa Valley and a few wineries


And while at a winery, one must have a wine tasting (driver excluded of course). We sampled a series of wines and the suggested serving options of foods - all available from the supermarket.



On our return trip we took in the "whispering wall" where whispers are carried from one end of a dam wall to the other.


Above is where I whispered from and below, Bruce and Helen are about to reach their end of the whispering wall. It truly is amazing how clearly the whispers are transmitted and how audible they become.



A small German town near Adelaide is Hahndorf


We visited here spending time wandering through the main street,


sampling some genuine German foods,


and doing a spot of shopping


On the way back to Adelaide we called in to Mt Lofty where we had a coffee and took in the view





At camp we once again had the company of people friendly bird life


And on Friday 11th January we said farewell to Bruce and Helen and shared a final meal with them at Adelaide airport

Mannum, Murray River

And so we left the Grampians, passed the giant koala,


and at some point crossed the border to enter South Australia. Careful planning meant that all we put in the border quarantine bin was half a lettuce and half a cucumber (we have since acquired a travellers guide to Australian state borders quarantine restrictions - and found we could have kept the lettuce).
We stayed at Mannum and on Monday took a lunch cruise aboard the Proud Mary, which gave us an hour and a half on the Murray River.


There were plenty of houseboats lining the banks of the river


Lunch was smorgasbord and one or two of our group went back for seconds


Brandt even had a turn at the controls of the wheelhouse


Back at the Mannum Caravan Park, the birds entertained us





Also other boats passed by. The Murray Princess was quite impressive as it passed by





Next stop.....Adelaide

The Grampians

Instead of risking there being no spaces left for us in the Grampians National Park camps (it is first come gets the sites), I booked us in to the Halls Gap caravan park.
The view from our "back door"




Being on the edge of the National Park we had frequent visitors of the wild life












Day one took us in search of the fantastic views - a combination of driving and walking.




















We believe the above photo is of The Pinnacle, which Brandt and Bruce climbed on Day two. It was supposed to be a five hour walk but they returned after three hours and say they spent about 40 minutes at the summit. Unfortunately the sun appears to have marred Brandt's photos, but I am posting the best of them anyway. I assume they are of the view from the top.