On the road home – Day 1

y margcalFirst posted on March 1, 2014

I got away from the Glenelg motel reasonably on time! I missed the turn-off I wanted (view of signs blocked by big trucks) but picked up my desired road after instructions when I filled the tank with petrol – yet again. Driving through the McLaren Vale wine area, I reached Victor Harbor late morning – morning tea substituting for breakfast. I wandered around the town and, as well as eating, bought some gifts, not realising until later that in doing so I was supporting “a worthy cause”. The quality of their products is excellent and the doll’s house furniture fabulous, a much more extensive collection than the web site shows.

Overlooking McLaren Vale

Victor Harbor’s logo is a representation of its horse-drawn tram which plies a route to Granite Island and back – all 600m of it! I’d planned to take a ride but our timetables didn’t coincide. I walked it instead, passing the tram as I did so. Nice to know I can walk faster than 1hp  :-)

Leaving Granite Island

Heading to Victor Harbour

Leaving Victor Harbor I got a huge surprise – the tumbling cubes house that I’d seen on a fancy houses TV show. I’d had no idea where it was.

Tumbling Cubes House

Then it was on to Goolwa, a proper lunch, the library visit before heading to Strathalbyn, last visited 40+ years ago. I had memories of its bandstand, surrounded by dripping gum trees. How much its setting has changed over the years I have no idea, but it was a beautiful sunny day – hard to take photos with my phone, the sunshine made the screen almost black – point, guess and click!

Next stop, of a sort, was Wellington to wait for the punt to cross the Murray. That had changed little in 40 years! I am surprised there isn’t a bridge by now.

Waiting to cross the Murray at Wellington

Dry salty lakes near Meningie

I’d thought of stopping the night at Meningie but it was a bit early in the day so I pressed on to Kingston SE. I did stop first at the shores of Lake Albert. A couple walking by stopped to chat briefly, said they were annual visitors and that the place had changed beyond recognition – the lake was full, it hadn’t been for years, farmers having to keep adding lengths to the pipes which drew water for their stock and crops.

Driving along the Coorong was one of the main reasons I chose the coast road home but it too was different to my 40 year old memories, more vegetation, fewer sand dunes ….  the smell! But still good to do.

The Coorong

At a point about where the Coorong finished, I spotted a sign “The Granites”. I had no idea what it referred to but the road was sealed so off I went – to see huge, I do meanhuge!, lumps of granite near the water’s edge. They looked rather like whales. I don’t know if it’s safe to swim there but if you could manage to clamber up the rocks somehow, it looked like it would be great fun sliding off again into the water.

The Granites

Kingston SE is home to The Big Lobster …. oh dear! Say no more :-(

It was time to stop, I thought, and enquired at a motel. One room left – a bus load of tourists was in. I had my doubts at that – how much clattering and banging as they left at what time the next morning? When they said the only room was on the first floor, great views – I chose to drive another 40km to Robe rather than lug my bag upstairs.

I got to Robe with not a lot of time to spare to get tea at the local pub. My meal was accompanied by the sound of a man at the next table sniffing. I ordered a cup of coffee and when I was trying to decide where to sit, the young woman behind the bar said “Go through to the lounge” – it was wonderful! I don’t know why others weren’t using it …. apart from the sound of the pokies coming from the gaming room :-(  Beautiful old (comfortable!) furniture, historic photos, napery, silverware, visitors books from days gone by.

Robe Hotel

Driving back to my motel after dinner, I discovered Robe, like Warracknabeal, was also  in a bit of a time warp. It was now quite dark and the tree in the middle of a roundabout …. had its Christmas lights twinkling madly!

After the library visits ….

First posted on February 28, 2014

… I took myself off to the Adelaide Botanic Garden, drawn by the buildings there rather than the plants! In particular I was drawn to ....

Palm House

Amazon Lily Pavilion

Amazon Lily pads - amazing! 

Bicentennial Conservatory

The conservatory reminded me very much of my visit to the butterfly house at Kuranda in 2011. Tropical rain forest, very humid – minus the butterflies.

Outside the Palm House was a great collection of cacti and succulents – suburban gardens will be planted with these rather than roses, camellias and the like in the not too distant future.

Because it was near the Water Lily Pavilion and it hadn’t quite closed, a few minutes to go, I nicked into the Museum of Economic Botany – what a fantastic place! I was sorry I didn’t have a lot longer there.

Fake fungi

Seeds and plants, timber and reeds. So many varieties of fungi, apples, pears and more. The seeds, timber etc were real but the perishables were models – though if placed in the supermarket you would be hard pressed to find the fake. It reminded me of the models of flowers and plants that I saw at the Natural History Museum at Harvard in 2011.

Last but not least, it was good to get up close to the waterlilies that couldn’t be seen from such close quarters when on a boat in billabongs at Kakadu.

To end the day there was more food  – half of the group met for a meal at the Dublin Hotel in Glenelg. I suppose they serve green beer on St Patrick’s Day but it was hard to see what made it an Irish pub, apart from the name. OK food, Very Slow service. I suggested that instead of leaving a tip we could throw the loose change onto the sand at the beach for some lucky prospector to find. Imagine my surprise when I later discovered at Victor Harbour that beach prospecting hasn’t gone completely out of fashion!!! 

Prospector - Victor Harbour

A long walk in Cairns

First posted on May 11, 2013

My second day in Cairns was not on the Kuranda train, as originally planned. Instead, I got a bus to Edge Hill to go to a cafe recommended by Piers’s aunt. It was pretty good without being outstanding. Walking from there to the Gardens I spotted another that looked worth a try too.

The Gardens were, firstly, the Flecker Gardens. Relatively small. Very much in the laid out style that botanic gardens have. Different (for me) in that the plants were all tropical – and not in a hot house!! They didn’t seem to encourage picnicking on the lawns though.

Flecker Botanic Gardens

Next stop was The Tanks, a gallery/exhibition/performance space created out of three WWII fuel supply tanks – they were HUGE! I don’t know at what stage they were converted to this use but much more could be done with it. Really, really interesting to see.

The Tanks

After The Tanks I went to the Botanical Gardens proper via the Info Centre, an interesting building of glass, mirrors and artwork. I bought some blank greeting cards here for future user because they were cute and pretty.

Botanical Gardens Info Centre

The Botanical Gardens are unlike any other I’ve been to. This was almost entirely virgin rainforest with a boardwalk superimposed for people to walk amongst the trees, palms, over the creek and swampy areas. Nothing “pretty” here in the way of flowers, as at the Flecker. But no less interesting, beautiful, fascinating for that.

Walled creek

Boardwalk

Rainforest

Freshwater lake with turtles and ducks

Water bird

On leaving the gardens I continued walking back to the main road because the bus sign at the edge of the gardens indicated an hourly service. I stopped at the first stop, looked at the timetable, and thought I was in luck, several routes converging at this point so a pretty frequent service. A local joined me – and she wasn’t best pleased when the next bus sailed right by. She said it wasn’t supposed to – all buses on all routes were meant to stop there. Not wanting to wait forever and chance my luck, Shanks Pony trotted off, heading for the Esplanade and views of water (quite distant, the tide was out) on the way back into town.

At the edge of the city centre I stopped in at St Monica’s, the Catholic Cathedral. From the bus to the brunch cafe I’d spotted the sign (a bit tacky), something about stained glass.

St Monica's Cathedral

Yes – wonderful – a huge series of windows depicting creation, and a smaller number depicting war and peace. There were also some other artworks around the walls – more gallery-style than church style, although all of suitable religious content. Some were by a Dutch artist, died 1944. A victim of WWII?

Alpha

Omega

I don’t know what the artist calls the panels above, but they’re towards the beginning and towards the end of the series, both with a still small spot in the middle – that’s what reminds me of Alpha and Omega.

Back to the Esplanade, I walked as far as the swimming lagoon. This was fabulous. A man-made pool, huge, with artificial ‘beach’ along one of its many edges. No fencing around it so quite free to use. I asked a patrolling lifeguard as she passed, did people go there at night. She said no, and that security would buzz off anyone who was spotted there. Seems amazing that it wasn’t fenced. But definitely a facility like that is needed in Cairns – there’s nowhere to swim in the sea, right along the city foreshore there’s nowhere suitable for swimming. Those places are all further north or south.

Cairns swimming lagoon

If my first attempt at using Flickr works, there are more photos from the long walk here.

Japanese Garden, Cowra

First posted on January 4, 2013

This is a random selection of photos of these stunning gardens.
When it comes to walking and exercise, I'd rather read a book! But if I lived in Cowra, I'd buy a season ticket and walk here every day. In fine weather, I'd bring a book and mid-walk I'd take a reading break in one of the pavilions. It is so beautiful and so serene. Perfect!