Letho's Blog

Nov 12, 2010

After an extremely windy and stormy night we were surprised that our tent still was in perfect order. Thank you, Aussie Disposal, for providing quality camping gear at a low price. But wait until we get into the hot sun of the Outback .. but more on that later ..

Our first walk began only a few meters from our camp. No wonder, we had camped in the car park. It led us to the Cape Bridgewater Blowhole.

Actually, we expected something different. All the former blowholes we had visited had a very special geological structure, consisting of a washed out cave through which the tide presses water that blows up to the surface. However, it is a nice cliff. See some steaming pacific ..

We walked on to the Petrified Forest and were misled by the name as probably many others before. Look at the structures – what do they remind you of?

Right! Just as you (hopefully did) we thought these were the petrified remains of trees in an ancient forest. Wrong – these structures are hollow tubes of limestone, eroded as a result of millions of years of rainfall. Nifty, eh?

Here’s a video overview of the scenery:

Returning to the town we took the 4 km long walk to the seal colony located on a foreshore, hoping there would be any seals at all. On the way we enjoyed a great view of the seemingly neverending coastline:

I even stitched together a panorama view out of 3 single shots – the things we do for you, huh?

The walk was nice, but steep and exhausting, as it meandered along Stony Hill, the highest cliff top in Victoria. We did not know then what we would be able to hike just some time later in the Kata Tjuta’s and Kings Canyon -  more than 30 km’s in 3 days under the unforgiving, hot sun in the desert. So this must have been a really good training.

The signs were actually not overly helpful..

The worst thing were the myriads of flies annoying the hell out of us, flying into every facial hole possible, ears, nose, eyes. What in god’s name is their agenda?

When we came to the viewing platform we found these cute fellows enjoing themselves (sorry, we have no better pictures):

There were about 35 seals swimming or lying around lazily. When we peeked into the guestbook we found ourselves to be lucky – other visitors hadn’t seen a single seal on the same day! How disappointing after the long walk .. we were better off, obviously:

Taking the walk back we stumbled upon these lizards, unable to figure out what they were up to..

Next stop was a a quick visit of the Cape Nelson Lighthouse:

Not much to see, however, it was closed. We’ll spare you the view to the cliffs and beaches, though – the Great Ocean Road was nicer.

It was then that we decided to head up to Adelaide, leaving Victoria and entering South Australia. And then we realized how we had underestimated the distances in Australia – again. We still had 550 km’s to go, and it was already late in the afternoon.

Nevertheless, we stopped in Mt Gambier and found this interesting phenomenon called Umpherstone Sinkhole:

Basically, it is an almost perfectly circular shaped big hole in the ground that you can walk into. It is used for functions of all kinds as it provides a great scenery.

Mt Gambier is much more famous for another interesting natural phenomenon: the Blue Lake. Again, for you I created a panorama view to enjoy:

It shows a grey color in the winter, which turns into a massive blue within a few days in November at the start of summer. Interestingly, the exact causes are yet unknown.

We rushed further to Adelaide, passing the Coorong National Park in complete darkness and therefore unable to see any birds or the pink-coloured lakes. However, we witnessed a truly fiery sunset that concluded the day and our travels from Melbourne to Adelaide in an appropriate manner.