Arrival in Adelaide

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Well, when I left Brisbane I said: “Adelaide and Patricia, here I come.”  I can say now: “Here I am.”

I arrived nicely on time and after calling Patricia, who was waiting very close to the pick-up area, she arrived at the designated spot.  I packed bag and backpack in the van and we took off to the caravan park where we would be staying overnight.  I was so glad to have packed a warm jacket, because it was very windy and unexpectedly cold. 

The caravan park was huge and apparently very popular.  It was called Adelaide Shores, Stay & Play and situated close to West Beach.  We had a quick meal, cup-a-soup and toast and a cup of coffee afterwards and I got initiated in the how and what and whereabouts of everything.  At dinner time we met a few people and talked a bit and one of them was Dutch and travelled to Australia every year in the colder winter months.  They came from Koudekerke. After that we had an early night.

 Sunday, November 9, 2014

Sunday.  It didn’t even feel like Sunday! Actually, for a while I didn’t even know it was Sunday...

We woke up at 6am and I felt I hadn’t slept a wink.  I didn’t think I did, because I remember having been awake for hours on end and woke up rather early with a painful shoulder.  It being a lot colder than at home didn’t do much good.  Patricia got up and got us a nice hot cuppa tea.  We stayed in bed for a while, talking, and then went and had a shower and breakfast.  Breakfast, like dinner last night, we had in the camp kitchen, a nice communal place and very clean. At 9.30am we packed up and left for a drive around Adelaide.

I have forgotten to take pictures of the caravan park, but remembered to take some of West Beach:

Then we drove on to Adelaide, past the airport and to an amazing city which was surrounded on all sides by green parks.  The old type houses were beautiful and it was a pity that we couldn’t leave the camper somewhere and go for a stroll through the city.  Its centre is surprisingly small, but laid out well.  Next we went on to Murray Bridge, via Mt. Barker, where Patricia’s brother lives.  We picked up a cache in Murray Bridge on the way, because this is partially a geocaching trip of course, since Patricia and I both share the love of this outdoor activity.

The cache was called

Jack Heye

Cache: Jack Heye

Cache: Jack Heye

As you can see, a very tricky one hidden in the fence.

On to Trevor’s place where we were welcomed with a cuppa. He’s a lover of model airplanes and has a room full of them.  He also showed a picture of his own, full scale, plane that he used to fly when he was still farming.  

It was about lunch time when we left him, so we decided to stop close to the bridge over the Murray River (hence the name of the town: Murray Bridge) and had a picnic lunch near the water’s edge.

The Murray River is part of the Murray-Darling system and is fed by the waters from the Murray-Darling basin, but by the time the mighty Murray reaches Adelaide it isn’t so mighty anymore, because most of the water on the way down, all the way from Queensland where the Darling River starts, the water is used for irrigation by the various states the rivers flow through.

We discovered that there also was a cache hidden close by, so we went in search, but it was hidden too well for us (on a locomotive).  We didn’t find it.  No worries, there are millions of others for us to find...

When finished with lunch and the search we drove off, crossed the Murray bridge and went southwards.  Our plan is to visit Mt. Gambier.

bridge over the Murray River

Our next stop is at Tailem Bend where Patricia knows of a hidden cache, also on a locomotive.  This one is just as tricky as the first cache we found, but since Patricia had done this one before it wasn’t too hard for me to find (with a little hint!). 

Coorong Links - RX201

Cache: Coorong Links - RX201

Cache: Coorong Links - RX201

Our drive south went through the beautiful Adelaide Hills and when we entered the flat basin we saw a lot of salt lakes, which, according to Patricia, are called Pink Lakes.  Their colour is due to the blooming of algae in the water.  Of the first few, which had completely dried up, I couldn’t take pictures.  They consisted of crusted pink salt and were in a way a beautiful sight.  We could stop for the last one, which hadn’t dried up, but had a crusted pink edge:

We kept on driving southwards.  The road followed lakes that were formed by a narrow stretch of land that bordered onto the ocean, the part called The Great Australian Bight.  There were a few caches along the route, but we didn’t really want to stop constantly, so made a choice here and there.  Eventually we stopped at a look-out called Tanganekald, which was also the name of the cache.

The air smelled definitely of raw sewage and we had no idea if it was the water or something else close by.  It was quite pungent, so we didn’t stay longer than necessary.  The cache was easily found once we had read the hint, and we could sign another log.

Tanganekald

Cache: Tanganekald

Cache: Tanganekald

Cache: Tanganekald

From then on it was a short drive to our stop for the night.  We had a choice of two rest areas, but after having checked out our first choice we went back to the first one we had stopped at, because the preferred one was right on the beach where it was so windy, we couldn’t set up the tent or cook dinner. (We generally need the tent when we are at a rest stop without toilets!)

Rest Stop 33: Coorong Information Bay – S36 37 15, E139 52 36

We had a cuppa and set up the tent at the back of the van. The tent hooks over the door and serves as an extra room.  We can cook, eat, sit out of the rain, go to the toilet or have a shower privately and under cover.  The weather, although cool and windy, was good enough for us to cook and eat dinner outside.  We had chicken and a variety of vegies for dinner.  While washing up a couple from Perth arrived (Darrell and Paul), with whom we had a brief chat.  They were travelling in a camper similar to ours and were impressed with the facilities, in particular the tent at the back!

After dinner we retired in the van where Patricia went to sleep almost immediately and I typed up this post.