Goodbye Australia ~ for now

Red Gum trees on path to Wilpena Pound

As we headed south the temperatures started to reduce and heading NE out of Port Augusta we headed into the Flinders National park. This is the first area of non-sandstone mountains we had seen for a long time and are the first range south of the generally flat north and centre of Australia, so were a welcome sight. We first visited Wilpena Pound, an almost circular valley formed by a syncline in the rocks which has a narrow gorge for an entrance.

Bark of Red Gum tree



Wilpena Pound

The walk into the Pound wound along the creek overarched by enormous gum trees to a viewpoint overlooking the valley where in the past times of greater rainfall wheat had been grown. A drive through the North Flinders wound up ridges and down valleys, and while walking part of the long distance trail up a beautiful secluded valley we encountered Scottish type drizzle and low cloud - a real contrast to the previous few weeks.


Tasmanian Tiger skeleton at Narcoorte

South of the Flinders we headed to the Murray River - the largest river in Australia. This magnificent river meanders through its floodplain leaving large areas of marsh and many ox-bow lakes, but out of the floodplain the land is heavily cultivated, irrigated by water from the Murray River, with vast areas of vines and fruit orchards. A number of the famous large Australian vineyards are in this area along with a host of specialist vintners.
Heading south through regular rainstorms we reached the Naracoorte National Park - which has received a world heritage listing for its accumulation of recent fossils in Victoria Cave. The fossil bed was found in the late 1960's and is still being researched, with the involvement of some of the original team which discovered the beds. It is unusual in that the fossils are from the last 500,000 years and include parts from over 130 species and provides a unique picture of animal extinctions and the effect of the various ice ages.

London Bridge, without the left hand arch

Our route south headed for the coast which we have then followed all the way to Melbourne along the fantastic Great Ocean Road. Portland is a working port where thousands of tons of timber from the huge coniferous plantations along the coast are shipped, either as logs, or as woodchip, which is much easier to lead from the huge piles of woodchips on the quay. There is a constant convoy of trucks bringing logs to the harbour. Despite this the old town away from the port is very attractive. Shortly after Portland the great Ocean Road proper starts. It was constructed immediately after the first world war to provide employment for returning soldiers and is a fantastic achievement, in places cut into the cliff face or zig zagging inland over the limestone mountains.

Australian Fur Seals

New Zealand Fur seal

Along the route is some fantastic coastal scenery of sandy beaches, vertical cliffs with arches and stacks and jagged offshore islands. Notable along the route are London Bridge - which until 1990 was a double arch promontory, but one collapsed leaving a single arch stranded in the sea, Loch Ard Gorge, a series of deep inlets and blowholes named after a ship which sank there in the late 1800's, and the 12 apostles, a very atmospheric series of stacks offshore from high vertical cliffs.
On one of the headlands there are two seal colonies, one Australian Fur Seal and one New Zealand Fur seal separated by a few hundred metres, but apparently never intermixing. Several seals were pulled up onto the rocks with some playing in the water nearby. Further along the coast we pulled off to Cape Ord where Koalas were introduced into the forest some years ago, but have bred uncontrollably and are now killing the eucalypts they feed off.
We had to exit the country by 27th November to meet the Visa requirements and with just over 2 weeks before our flight home from Singapore we decided to take the opportunity to visit China before our visa expires and have left the van at a caravan storage yard near Melbourne and headed north to Beijing.   

The 12 Apostles

Loch Ard Coastline

Wild Koala