We drove off the Kangaroo Island ferry & headed straight to Deep Creek Conservation Park for a night. We had a large spot for our caravan - booked online- & enjoyed the serenity of the park to ourselves.
The CP is the largest portion of remaining natural vegetation on the Fleurieu Peninsula. We were there for me to do some birding along a track not far from our camp ground. The heath vegetation was glorious to walk through. Apparently whales can be seen cruising the coast during their migration June to October each year.
More heath vegetation, this time at Cox's Scrub a little further north.
Fried Egg Plant
We move camp again to Goolwa, which sits along side Lake Alexandrina where the Murray River flows into the Southern Ocean. The lake is on the eastern edge of the Fleurieu Peninsula. The Murray River is the main river flowing into the lake together with 3 other rivers. The lake is shallow & contains a number of islands.
There are several locks that contain the fresh water to form the ephemeral lake & empties into the sea via a channel near Goolwa.
We booked ourselves onto a 6.5 hr cruise up the Coorong & part of the Coorong National Park.
The Coorong NP is a spectacular saline lagoon that stretches 145 kms. It is narrow & is separated from the Southern Ocean by a nearrow strip of ancient sand dunes. The Coorong is protected under the internationally RAMSAR Convention as a Wetland if International Significance protecting migratory waders & other waterfowl. the NP also supports animals & fish.
We are 2 of 14 passengers for the day that included a cold salad lunch with freshly cooked pipis & both morning & afternoon tea.
Fresh Water Lake Alexandrina is separated from the saline waters of the Coorong NP by a barrage. We were to go through 1 of these barrages & pass 2 others on our journey out . These photos are the return shots, but placed here as well.
1 concrete block opens to allow the boat into the barrage & closes behind us - lock.
Once inside the barrage / lock, another concrete block opens to allow the vessel to pass onto the other side.
The Murray River mouth has actually shifted 6 - 8 kms during the past 100 years.
The water flow is mostly blocked now by a sandbar due to very low river flow, so the mouth area is dredged to remove tonnes of sand so that the mouth remains open.
That's the Murray River mouth after travelling 2,520 kms & spanning 3 states. Sadly as a result of 4 major dams & 16 storage weirs for upstream irrigation, only 15 - 20% of the water that falls in the catchment area finds its way to the mouth here.
We pass Barkers Knoll, a fishing village. There's also a National Park camping ground not far from here, access only by boat.
We stop at Godfrey's Landing for the tour leader to collect some Pipis from the beach.
We had to walk over a sand dune to get to the beach.
Looking up towards the NP.
Our next stop & turn around point is at Cattle Point.
The Coorong is a set of complex & ancient sand dunes. The oldest was probably formed about 120,000 years ago. There's also another sand dune formation of about 80,000 years old. Younghusband Peninsula sand dune is part of the latter dune formation. The Murray River mouth is the start of Younghusband Peninsula.
There is a lagoon formation here at Cattle Point.
We are taken on another dune walk here at Cattle Point.
Prior to European colonisation, there were 5 Aboriginal tribal groupings living on the Coorong.
We find evidence of their family gathering & eating here on the dune. It is quite possibly tens of thousands of years in the making with the scattering of Pipi shells - white shells ...known as Middens.
Whist staying at Goolwa we also visit Victor harbour, which is on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
That's a pier that stretches out to Granite Island.
People who want to visit the island can take a horse drawn tram or walk.
We left Goolwa & followed the perimeter around Lake Alexandrina to now find our next camp at Meningie on the eastern shores of Lake Albert. Lake Albert joins Lake Alexandrina that is 3 times larger in size of L Albert. We only stayed a night here, but the outlook was quite peaceful.
We continued to follow the Coorong NP eastwards. We camped next at a caravan park at Salt Creek. It appeared that most of the National Park campground camp spots were too small for us or too difficult to get into. The weather the next day was to dramatically change to rain.
This is the Coorong NP at Salt Creek.
We explored the area of Salt Creek by car.
This part of the Coorong NP was quite beautiful & it would have been lovely to spend a few days there.
Oh dear, this hare looked cute, but they're an introduced specie & an Australian pest.
Indeed, after 1 night at Salt Creek, the rain set in by 8am. It was with a heavy heart that we had to move & so we drove further south to stop at Robe.
During a break in the weather we drove out to Robe Obelisk. The Cape Dombey cliffs below the Obelisk have been eroding from the perils of the Southern Ocean. The 12 m Obelisk was built in 1852 & the cliffs had to be stabilised somehow. The Obelisk was built to assist ships & their navigators to the safe entrance into nearby Guichen Bay.
The Robe Gaol was built in 1860 to house prisoners from Mt Gambier in the SE of South Australia. Robe's jail remained open until 1881. Restoration of the walls of the historic jail was carried out in 1995.
We moved further south-east to make camp at Port MacDonnell. We were there for me to go on a ocean bird watching tour called a Pelagic in 2 days time. We had been at this same camp ground in June the previous year, but alas the weather was too rough for the skipper to take us bird watchers out then in 2016.
To use up time & take advantage of the now great weather again, we explored the rugged coastline around Port MacDonnell for a 2nd time.
This is Cape Northumberland.
It is Rock Lobster season & these people were diving for them. There's floating air cylinders in between this group to be used for their dives instead of the usual strapping to their backs.
Join the 2 photos together to get an idea of the size of Blue Lake.
This description says it better than I could.
After my successful pelagic day trip on the open ocean we hopped across to Portland in Victoria.
We were only 110 kms from Portland, & I'd heard that bird watchers can get closer access to see the Cape Gannets by talking to the Portland visitor information centre. There's a huge colony of breeding Aust Gannets at Portland & there are a handful of the South African Cape Gannets there too.
We booked a night in the caravan park & explored the area that afternoon. That's the beach area not far from the Gannet Colony.
We also went for a drive to Cape Bridgewater.
The lighthouse was built in the 1884 to assist ships to navigate the treacherous Southern Ocean waters that were sailing Adelaide to Melbourne. The lighthouse is still in operation today.
The other buildings have been restored & are used for accommodation.
Cape Bridgewater is also home to a colony of Fur Seals. The cliffs around there are the highest cliffs in Victoria. Southern Wright Whales can also be seen from the cliff top during the migration months.
The town of Portland has a major timber exporting port. Portland is the biggest exporter of Blue Gum hardwoods chip in the world. Most of the wood chip is exported to China to be turned into either paper of timber for housing. That pile of wood chip is approximately 40 m high.
Following my mid morning visit to the Gannet colony at Point Danger, we cross back into South Australia. We now head north through Mt Gambier, Penola, the Coonawarra wine region & head to Bool Lagoon Game Reserve which is south of Naracoorte.
Bool Lagoon is one of the largest & most diverse freshwater lagoon systems in South Australia. The seasonal wetland is home to a wide range of wildlife & provides essential drought refuge for many rare & endangered bird species.
Bool Lagoon is officially a game reserve & in dry years it attracts a lot of waterbirds.
Hacks Lagoon is on the other side of the access road to the camp ground & is just as large as Bool lagoon.
Despite Bool Lagoon being a Game reserve, it on the list of wetlands of International Importance covered by RAMSAR convention.
This is part of the 500 m boardwalk that extends out over the Bool Lagoon wetlands. The boardwalk provides magnificent scenery. There are also a number of bird hides next to both lagoons. This visit both lagoons are quite full.
Later in the afternoon & through out the night I could hear several Australasian Bitterns booming call. I had the pleasure of photographing 1 that afternoon as well.
The next day we packed up camp & crossed the SA / Victorian border near Pinaroo.
4 days later we crossed the Qld border at Goondiwindi.
We stayed at my brothers place near Toowoomba for 2 nights before heading to our Kedron Caravan Gathering at Kenilworth.
Hubby is up on the roof doing a little maintenance & cleaning the solar panels.
En route to Kenilworth we also stayed a night at Lake Clarendon free camp before arriving at Kenilworth for the weekend gathering.
The gathering completed our trip of travelling outback Qld's Channel Country & most of South Australia over 5 1/2 mths. We'd driven possibly upwards of 15,000 kms, with at least 1/4 of those roads on dirt roads giving us 3 tyre punctures. We had a fun time & loved what the landscape had to offer.
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