mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Bird Symphony

One of our memories from Australia will be the sounds and colours of the birdlife over here. Most mornings we awake in our campground to a symphony around us. The rosellas, cockatoos, kookaburras and black swans are plentiful. The bellbirds sound just like a set of bells. Our only wish is that there would be even more of them to deplete the pesky flies who don't bite but seem to enjoy buzzing around our heads......we have learned what the 'Australian salute' is all about.

Since our last post we have had many highlights.
Our first stop was at Cape Otway, known for their lighthouse built in 1848. A fellow camper had advised us to watch out for koala bears on the road out to the lighthouse. Sure enough we spotted a couple of travellers taking photographs and I stopped and asked if there was a koala in the neighbourhood. They told me to look around, up high, and before long we could see up to 20 koalas resting in the limbs of the gum trees (eucalyptus plus other gum tree variations). They are nocturnal creatures so most of them were sleeping while others were changing to a more comfortable position, some of them with babies in their back pouches. They were fun to watch and easy to photograph. As we drove on (and knew what to watch for) we saw many more along the way. The lighthouse was a different story. The locals seem proud of its heritage (running regular tours) but it is also on the Shipwreck Coast where there have been more shipwrecks than anywhere else in Australia (some of it due to WWII German sea mines). In any case, I didn't get it, someone clearly wasn't doing their job properly if there were that many accidents. It seemed to me like celebrating the Calgary Flames (or Toronto Maple Leafs) surviving a season without being relegated to the minor leagues like they do in soccer.

Our next stop was in Port Fairy which had a Folk Festival going on during the week-end. Unfortunately for us it was sold out several weeks in advance but they had a Fringe Festival going on at the same time. There were lots of street performers along with food and market stalls, and several bands from the folk festival came outside the gates to do sets in the town parks. We enjoyed the time sitting in our camp chairs listening to the music.

On another day we drove to the Naracoorte Caves, a World Heritage site, where we took a guided tour underground to see some ancient fossils and some 'living' caves (stalactites, stalagmites and columns). A swim in Lake Alexandrina was refreshing after another 30c+ day. That led us into the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, where we spent a day touring around. They have some lovely beaches and in the centre, the McLaren Vale wine region, where we checked out several wineries.

The next day we walked around Adelaide, our furthest western destination in Australia. The city is very well designed with the downtown area completely circled by parks and a river along the north end making it very accessible for biking and walking. They have done a good job of preserving and utilizing their heritage buildings, especially around the University of Adelaide area, but their modern architecture seems quite boring (compared to Melbourne). The daytime temperature finally dropped to a more comfortable 25C so it was a nice day to stroll around the city, including a stop into their large Central Market where we bought some more fresh food for the next few days.

Today we toured the Barossa wine region which was on our 'to do' list and were glad we did. It will always be a favourite from now on. The wineries produce excellent wines (which we knew), but they are also unpretentious (unlike Napa), in beautiful surroundings, uncrowded and still offer free tastings, including some of their $50-100 wines. We visited some of our cellar favourites.....St. Hallett, Thorn-Clarke, Yalumba and Penfolds. Our camper van is now fully stocked......we might even have to discard some vegetables and fruit if they continue to get in the way.