Friday, July 31, 2020

Day 21: Mon 23 Jan - Kingston SE to Mt Gambier, 211km

Rainy and overcast
Start time: 8:25am, arrival: 2:50pm

Walk: 5km

Both vans ran out of water last night, so first thing was to find the dump and water point which was out of town a bit. So, although we left the free camp just before 8:30am, we didn't end up leaving Kingston SE until just after 9am. It was then a short drive to Cape Jaffa which we all thought would be quite speccy, but was just a new marina with very few houses and a jetty which looked quite old. The boys went for a walk on the jetty whilst the girls made the coffees. The boys sighted dolphins so we all got to see them, which was the highlight of the day; there was a baby with two adults.  Robe was the next stop, just to have a look and to say we had been there. It was a fairly impressive little town, with a monument on top of a small hill to the first explorers Finders and Boudain. The marina held some quite nice boats as well. We stopped again at Beachport as a possible lunch spot but none of us were hungry. We took a scenic drive which showed us some pretty rugged coastline. 

We had lunch at Lake McIntyre, just outside of Millicent. This lake used to be a quarry which turned into an eyesore, so they made it into a lake. The facilities available at the site were pretty good and the toilets were the cleanest we've seen. They even had a sign on them telling you the last time they were cleaned (23/1/17), and a number to ring If you were not happy with the cleanliness. 

We had had enough of playing tourist by this stage, so headed directly for the next overnight stop. We found our way to the Mt Gambier Show Grounds and checked-in - site #12P (power) (Wendy decided that a powered site would be good as it was rainy and overcast). G&Y also went for a powered site. After a quick set-up, we had a snooze and then walked into town to do a resupply run. G&Y went in with their truck so we put our fully laden backpacks in their truck and walked home. 

Pre-dinner drinks were had at the Fischer’s plot and then lamb and pork chops with smashed orange veggies and steamed greens were consumed. It had been raining on and off all day and we thought it had stopped as we walking home from the shops. It did stop raining, but the wind came up to try and dry it all out, so much so, at 10;15pm we had to get out and take the awning in (sounds like our time at Port Lincoln all over again).


Dumping & pumping

Mornos at Cape Jaffra

Robe beach front

Old Customs House, Robe

Memorial to the Chinese

Beachport

At Mt Gambier

Mt Gambier Showgrounds, #12P




Flinders and Boudain monument, Robe

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Wrap-up

We had a great seven weeks away.   The weather was very variable, with some really hot days, some really cold days, and some really “just ni...