Heywood, our second to last stop and Stawell our very last stop!

The final entry, only 6 weeks late!

We packed up and left Port MacDonnell as it was pouring with rain and very cold so not much point in looking around. We had met the Jenkin family several times during our travels. First time was at Uluru and the last time we saw them was Broome. They had kindly invited us to come and visit them on their farm near Heywood (near Portland) so we took them up on their offer and called in for the night.

It was great to see them again. We really enjoyed reminiscing about the places we had both been to and we found out how tricky it can be to settle back in to "normal" life. They very kindly took the boys horse riding and motor bike riding so they had a ball. Tom apparently wants a horse now and Jack wants a motor bike. We may have to move to a farm to accommodate those requests!






We said goodbye and packed up the van for the last time. Hard to believe that it was the last time we would sleep in it. We drove through Dunkeld and stopped for lunch. Then drove on through Halls Gap to get to Mum and Terry's place in Stawell. It was wonderful to see them again. They left on their trip 6 weeks or so before we left on ours so it had been AGES since we had seen them. They had Banjo with them so we were all very pleased to see him again. It felt very strange being back in Stawell but great to be in a house and sleep in a bed.

We stayed 3 nights then decided it was time to get back to Melbourne. Since the kids are so good at driving now we didn't let them stop in Beaufort like we normally do but drove straight back to Barclay Drive. It was a bit unbelievable to be home after all this time away, 6 1/2 months to be exact. We loved going in to the house for the first time and the kids were extremely excited to have their own rooms. I thought we would be happy to be home for at least a couple of days but the post holiday blues set in within about 2 hours as we looked around and realized how much gardening, maintenance and unpacking we had in front of us. In fact it took Michael 3 days to unhitch the van. I think we were all hoping we could get in and drive away again! We sent the kids to school and Charlie to kinder the day after we got back and it was very strange (but good!) to be without them for a few hours. They were keen to get to school and see all their friends but we were sure that the novelty would wear off reasonably quickly. I think it will take a while to settle back in to normal life after such an amazing adventure. What a trip we had!

Mt Gambier

Can't get the photos on for some reason so you will just have to put up with reading about everything instead!

We drove into Mt Gambier for a few hours even though this was one of the towns that we had mixed reports about. A couple of people said not to bother but others said it was nice. Anyway we thought we would check it out for ourselves. We went to see the Blue Lake first which turns blue for a few months each year. We were lucky to see it at the right time and it was really blue and very pretty.

We then had a look at Umpherston Sinkhole. This is a collapsed cave that a man made into a beautiful garden in the 1890's. It used to have a lake in the bottom which they sailed a little boat around. The ground water level has dropped so the lake isn't there now. The garden fell into disrepair for 60 years or so until some people got together in the 1970's and began to fix it up. They did a really beautiful job, it's very pretty.

We had heard about some of the underwater caves that people go diving in around Mt Gambier so thought we might try snorkelling in one. We met a family in Robe who said it was amazing. We drove to a town called Allendale where you get the permits for snorkeling/diving. The bloke there talked us into full wetsuits all round including hats, booties and gloves as apparently the water was only about 14 degrees! Bit colder then we were used to. We started off by driving out to Ewen's (?sp) Ponds which is 3 ponds linked by little streams. They are surrounded by really tall reeds and the water did not look inviting at all. Jack and Tom both jumped in and had a look and Michael went in as well. I chickened out! The pond we looked at was about 14 metres deep and looked pretty amazing according to the boys. We then decided to go to the next pond called Pinaninnie Ponds. Jack and Tom got attacked by midges so didn't want to snorkel but Michael went in and I decided I should too after taking so bloody long to put the full wet suit on! I am so glad I did, what an unbelievable thing to see. From the top all you can see is a normal looking pond, maybe 100 square metres or so, surrounded by reeds. The first section is a couple of metres deep with lots of rocks that looked blue. But when you swam a bit further on, all of a sudden the bottom of the pond disappeared and you were looking down into a bottomless pit! I found it very frightening and had to hold Michael's hand to swim across it! The pond is well over 100 metres deep and is very popular with those crazy people who enjoy cave diving. Personally I can think of nothing worse. Looking down was unbelievable. The water was cold but we didn't notice it since we had all the gear on. It was a really great thing to see and I am so glad I got into the water. Thanks Michael for holding my hand!

After we dropped off the wetsuits etc back at Allendale, we drove on to Port MacDonnell for our last night in South Australia. We treated ourselves to a night out at the pub and then spent the rest of the night listening to the pouring rain! Welcome back to the south!

Hahndorf and Robe

We left Coffin Bay after lunch and just started driving, planning on stopping when we had enough. Found ourselves in the driving zone so after stopping for McDonalds at Port Pirie at about 6:30 we didn't stop driving until 10:30pm! We ended up making it to a camp spot at Port Parham about 70km north of Adelaide. Stopped for the night and then moved on at about 10:30. Drove straight through Adelaide and ended up heading into Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills for lunch. This is a really beautiful spot. Very pretty with lots of old sandstone buildings. Great shops including cheese and chocolate shops! A bit like Margaret River but not so expensive.




We then drove towards the coast, planning on getting to Robe for the night. Unfortunately we left it a bit late so stopped at a camp spot on Wright's Beach about 15km north of Robe for the night. Didn't see much point in paying $50 for a night at a caravan park so instead payed the grand total of $6.

Drove into Robe the next morning and checked into the caravan park. Much to the boy's excitement there was a jumping pillow and an indoor heated pool. Robe is a great spot. The beaches are much nicer than those we saw on the Eyre Peninsula. It has some good cafes and interesting shops. I had a photo here of Long Beach which you can drive on. So of course we did since it was the last opportunity to do so!

We didn't end up doing a great deal else, just enjoying our last few days before we get home. We drove out to the Obelisk which they used to shoot rockets from with rope attached to rescue people from the sea.

The boys tried fishing at the jetty and caught a few fish but nothing big enough to keep. They had a kick at the footy oval and a couple of visits to the skate park which was empty again with everyone back at school. The caravan parks are very quiet again too. The grey nomads must love it but the boys find it a bit hard being on their own again. We will head off to Mt Gambier, then to Portland to stay with some friends, then on to Stawell to see my mum and Banjo!