Today we covered 550k leaving the state of South Australia to Portland in the state of Victoria. There is a lot more direct way which is about 680k but we want to go along the coastal road which is going to double the distance.
We are going to take three days in total to do the distance. Our first day is more just a slog as there is not a lot along this part of the trip except lots of eucalyptus trees and we are about 100k inland. Once we get to Portland we will bump along the coastal road. This is one of those must do drives.
This artwork on the silos is spectacular. Apparently, it is become not a lot more common.
Whilst driving through one of the wine growing areas we came across about a dozen Santa’s in various poses. They all seemed to follow a movie theme. Including the ones above there was Santa ET on a bike flying through the air (hanging off a tree); super man; think it was a Humpty Dumpty which didn’t fit into the theme and some we couldn’t recall.
We stopped at Mount Gambier which is very close to the Victorian border and went to see the Blue Lake. This was r commended to us by a number of friends and were blown away by the colour of it. In winter it is actually grey in colour but come November and through to April it is this amazing colour. It was the crater of a volcano that erupted about 4,800 years ago. The average depth is 70m and it has a flat bottom. The water is replenished by rainfall, artesian wells and storm run off. This is the water source for the people of Mount Gambier.
It was then over the border towards Portland where we are staying the night. Our friends Jackie and Mark from Adelaide, offered us their holiday home for the night which is east of Portland. Directions were superb as it is hidden away with spectacular views of the ocean.
We are very much off the grid out here though having said that their holiday house is very modern and comfortable with rain water, power and sewerage.
The only way to get a bit of a signal is to walk up a small knoll at the rear of the house and on our way up there we came across this fellow. He is an Echidna and was trying to hide from us by burying his head in the dirt. This is one animal you don’t want to give a warm fuzzy cuddle.
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Forgot to mention that this is our mode of transport for the next three months. It is Frasers’ mums old Suzuki Vitara that had been in David and Leone’s shed in storage so it has come in very handy for us. She is about 25 years old with only 171,000k on the clock, immaculate condition and only been driven by a little old lady. For the purposes of our trip we have named her Suzy Suzuki.
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