-- From Rapid Bay to Mt Gambier

The road tracklog
from Rapid Bay to Mt Schank
from 08/03/2010 to 14/03/2010 

Monday March 08 was a driving day under the rain with a temperature of 22°C. I stopped in Victor Harbor to publish my site, alas I have all the sorrows of the world to do it. At the beginning of afternoon I looked at another cybercafé which proved more effective and especially faster. To publish the pages of my website every Monday becomes a true challenge. After the full of diesel tanks and food in Woolworths I took again the road always under the rain to bivouac in Frank Potts Reserve after Langhorne Creek.

The following day was still a short driving day under the rain, the barometer was always very low. In Wellington I took a free ferry, eh yes it exists in Australia, to cross Murray River. I thought of bivouacking at Long Point alas one needed a permit which I did not have and the site was not for a truck. I continued the road to the ferry at Narrung where there was a carpark area not brilliant.

In the early morning of March 10, I have a serenade of a bird at my door. The day was announced under happy auspices. But the remainder of the day was without attraction. The road skirted the coastal band of Coorong NP. After having lunch I reached Kingston SE where I was accommodated by the Giant Lobster. It is a curiosity without being a masterwork, it is lacking some much. But Australians are fond of these concrete structures. I was going to throw an eye at Cape Jaffa where a marina was under construction. I bivouacked shortly after. This day was without rain although the barometer is always very low.

I stayed one day more on the rest area of Kingston SE to solve some recurring problems. After eight of intense labour without lunching I was not satisfied by accomplished work. Last hard for me which misses experiment of do-it-yourself cruelly. To follow…

The next day on the move towards Naracoorte I stopped in Robe to consult my mailbox at the Library. Then I was going to pay a visit to local sights,… an obelisk in sea front. Not what to marvel. But in the centre town two sumptuous nicely renovated ancient Ford stationed close to Visitor Center. I carried on my road by beautiful weather to bivouac close to Lucindale.

Naracoorte Caves National Park

The evolutionary history extends over 500.000 years in deep within the Naracoorte caves. Remainders of tens of thousands of creatures so remarkably preserved that the Naracoorte site is regarded as one of the richest in fossils in the world. The fossils of Naracoorte are representative of the fauna of Pleistocene before the devastating climatic changes. The site was listed at the world inheritance of humanity in 1994.

I visited four caves by starting with Alexandra Cave which exhibits remarkable stalactites and stalagmites of a rare smoothness.

Victoria Cave shows the oldest fossils of Pleistocene such Diprotodon optatum and Procoptodon goliah.

Bat Cave presents a live televideo of alive bats without disturbing them. The exhibition was surprising and incredible. I took a picture of a bat in my hand,…, stuffed.

Finally Blanche Cave is quite different from the others from where its name. Its rooms receive conferences and concerts. I spent nearly three hours to explore them accompanied by a guide not tarring of comments sometimes incomprehensible for my French ears.

I spent nearly three hours to explore them accompanied by a guide not tarring of comments sometimes incomprehensible for my French ears. In the early afternoon I headed again to Naracoorte to the noon Saturdays closed Library but from which the WiFi Internet connexion is accessible outside the building. I sat by ground with other young people to consult my mailbox, to make research and to read the newspaper La Monde. Then I returned close to the Caves to bivouac at Wirreanda Campground.

In this Sunday March 14, on the move towards Mt Gambier I crossed at the west of Penola the vast wine properties of Coonawarra whose climate is similar to that in the area of Bordeaux. Curiously at the east of the city it is again the field of the meadow, change of soil. Then the landscape changes near Mt Gambier with old volcanoes several millennia whose crater of that of the Mt Gambier is occupied by a lake as blue as the blue of the flag of France. Close to the Library where I made a Internet stop the City Hall dating from the 19th century.

In middle afternoon I establish the bivouac in the Mt Schank, extinguished volcano, of which I climbed the path to walk around the crater. It was a sunny day with a pleasant temperature favourable with the meditation.

Monday March 15 I turned over to MT Gambier to publish my site with the Library.

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