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Day 72 (Wednesday 27th December 2006)
Loaded 'Fran' with our gear and said our emotional goodbyes. Bye Ria and Dan we're going to miss you guys!
We left at 09:30 and headed for Noarlunga. When we arrived some hour or so later, we had no idea where to stop and visit, so ended up just passing it by. What's there to do when your old Uncle's upped and deserted you???
We carried on through and made it to Victor Harbour in time for lunch. We took a walk over to Granite Island, where we saw what we thought were penguins - they weren't! We did see a puffer however from the tram bridge above (gotta' love the puffers)!!
It would have been nice to spend some more time in Victor Harbour and especially got to see Josh. Josh mate if you do read this, we had every intention of coming to see you buddy and it was well up there on our list of priorities. Unfortunately however, not only did your Dad desert us, but he whisked you away too just as we were heading down towards you. Still, have a great time in Perth mate and we're sure we'll get to see real soon. Infact get that hopeless Dad of yours to bring you over next time!
We left Victor Harbour and began our long, tedious drive to Mt Gambier. Sarah handles the long drives ever so well, so she was a bundle of joy the whole way there! Along the way we saw the exciting 'red lobster' at Robe, as well as a few emus, cattles and sheep.
We did see lots of amazing birds along the Coorong and also cool salt lakes and incredible mirages. It really is big sky country around here and these mirages were some of the most spectacular, yet eerie, things we've ever seen.
Absolutely famished and not too far from Mt gambier, we stopped for a 'Red Roosters' in the small town of Millicent. My god what a bunch of inbreds!!!
We finally arrived in Mt Gambier at around 18:30 and totally unaware of where we could sleep for the night, we headed for Mt Gambier Central Caravan Park (www.mountgambiercentralcaravanpark.com.au), where we stumbled on a $48 cabin for the night.
We dumped our bags and followed the park's owner's advice and visited Umpherston Sinkhole for dusk to watch the resident possums emerge for hand-feeding. It was great to see these little guys up close and personal and despite stroking a couple, it didn't feel right. The sinkhole was very impressive, but let these animals be wild for god's sake...you can't have kids feeding them candy cane!!
After our incredibly long and tiring day, we retired to cabin, where as it was so bloody cold, we put the heater on!!!! What's going on with this goddamn country???
PS Hey Zobo and Kev! Thanks for your message guys and have a great time in Amsterdam...we know you will!!
Day 73 (Thursday 28th December 2006)
The flamin' mongruls at the caravan park told us they had no vacancies for us to stay another night, so with nothing else to do, we decided to trial 'Fran' for the night!
We went into town to get our photos put onto disc. We also made a second copy for Ria. Having got them done, Marc; like the complete imbisle that he is, decided to leave them, along with the memory card and bread rolls, on top of 'Fran's roof. Amazingly, after two roundabouts and a guy screaming "ya rolls are on top of the car", the baps survived, as did one of the discs, but the other copy and our memory card were no where to be found.
Luckily for us the kind guy at the photo store did a another free copy and sold us a replacement memory card (this one a lot larger) for a discounted price (working out at about 25 quid. What a complete bozo!
We finally made it to the famous Blue Lake just in time for the 12:00 tour. It was blue...and it was a lake! To be fair though it was a pretty spectacular sight and yet another boring guide took us through the scientifics and history of another attraction.
After the tour we headed off to see the crater lakes (Valley Lake, Browne's Lake and Leg of Mutton Lake)...of which only Leg of Mutton had water! There was a Devil's Punchbowl too, but nothing like our bad boy back home.
After eating our dare-devil baps for lunch, we drove about 16km up the Nelson Road to the Penambool Conservation Park, in search of the 'Wombat Walk'. On the way into the park we saw a cool little stumpy lizard stumbling across the dirt track. We abandoned the car and watched him for several minutes.
Once finally locating it, we completed the 4.5km 'Wombat Walk', who we'd have to say turned out to be just as illusive as the platypus. That said, it was totally the wrong time of day to see the furry fellas, but the walk was pretty pleasant all the same.
Before heading back to the campsite we marvelled at the adjacent Caroline Sinkhole from its viewing platform. The steel frame reminded us of that pretty daunting platform we stood on above the shipwreck in Zante. On the way out we disturbed a gang of emus, munching away by the roadside.
We returned to camp and Sarah cooked up one her magic barbies. It was quite nice, but Ken tasted much better!
Then we found a nice little spot on the camping field for 'Fran' and prepared her for the night. Before getting the best night's sleep of our lives, we took a little stroll into town to by an in-car phone charger and view the Cave Gardens.
PS Hey Melissa congratulations with the job! Yeah, you were right about Keith but at least Ria was on hand to rescue us. Wonder if there's anyone else left in the world for him to piss off???
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