Day 27 leaving Victoria

Beautiful sunny morning to wake up to although it was quite cold 

wind was cold

Unfortunately our car wouldn’t start but luckily for us the family that had camped behind where we were had not left yet and so Ben very kindly drove his truck around to the front of our car to help.

Fortunately jumpstarting did eventually work although it took awhile

Hence we were late leaving Apsley and in fact didn’t leave till midday

Views as we drove out of Apsley towards the border

Along the Wimmera highway

To Naracoorte

Past farms

A reminder that we were approaching the border





Nothing stunning to signify we were crossing the border just this very ordinary sign











And an unmanned pull in bay further down the road to drop off fruit veg etc

Good road to Naracoorte

An advert for the caves where we were heading











Signs that we were passing through a wine region

We drove into Naracoorte to refuel

We couldn’t find anywhere to pull up to buy some lunch so we kept going to the caves

One of the reasons why Naracoorte was so busy was we discovered that it was their show day

Snapped this mural on the wall in the town as we were driving through

Back out into the country

Driving south towards where the caves are







Imposing entrance to the driveway into the centre



Took photos of the signage so that we could work out what we were going to do whilst here





First stop for us was the cafe where we bought some lunch

This group of ladies asked me to take a photo of them so Bill decided to take a photo of me taking a photo of them

Took photos of signage and information boards as we went through to the centre









First of all we went into the centre to look in more detail at what was available

We decided to do the rooftop walk first which only allowed us to look down into some of the caves

A bit disappointing as we could hardly even see into the caves because of the tall grass in front































We could get close to this one and Bill shone his torch down into the cave so we could see a little way in

Stick-Tomato Cave was the onlycave that we were allowed to walk into so this is what we did there









A very very pleasant surprise when we got into the cave because I was quite worried that we weren’t going to be able to get in to see any caves without going on a tour and we really weren’t interested in doing a tour





It was fabulous in here we virtually had the caves here all to ourselves 

a few people came and went for short periods of time 

we spent quite some time in here and of course took lots of photos

































































We were good and didn’t go beyond here but did take photos into that area



















I made Bill crawl into this area so I could get a photo of him peering through the hole









After leaving the main caves area we headed off back out onto the road towards the Victoria fossil cave



A quick check around this area there were a few people waiting for the tour that was about to start we opted not to do this tour as the start was too late for us and it was going to take an hour unfortunate that we could not go in and see anything but them‘s the breaks















Heading back out away from the caves towards the south aiming for a camp area that I thought would be a possibility for the night

Out on a gravel road past lots of grape vines growing

And past lots of wineries





















Into the Coonawarra wine growing region




We passed this little park with timber sculptures that I had not read about







Turns out it was in honour of a local priest

And also of Mary MacKillop



Back on the road again

On to the Riddoch highway

And pulling in to the bellwether winery where we were hoping to stay

Unfortunately the lady had not received my message and had not got back to me and they had no places left for the night so we had to move on she did give us a recommendation of where there was free camp and she expressed that it was a very nice site

So moving on to Penola past lots of other wineries



















































Driving through Penola as the campsite was on the other side









Arrived at the turn off to the campsite





As we drove in it sounded alright and looked not too bad

But although there was only one other person there it did not look to me to be a suitable place to stop as there had been a lot of rain and the area looked quite mushy and I was concerned that it would be too wet underfoot and also I did not like the idea of being a bit remote when we had had that trouble with starting the car in the morning

So we moved on in search of a more suitable place for the night

Especially as it was now raining again and we had planned to cook a meal for the night



So my preference was for a van park where there was a camp kitchen

Found just the place through WikiCamps at Millicent not very far away

And also sort of in the direction that we were planning to head

Passed through Mount Burr



With lots of pine plantations in the area











Driving through the town spotted this mural on the side of this building and had to take a photo to send to Beehive

Other murals on buildings captured whilst driving past





The caravan park we had selected was on the other side of town



Our route for the day…

Ended up on a beautiful lush green site with fabulous views across the valley and right next to the camp kitchen where Bill cooked up a yummy sweet-and-sour pork

Even got a pretty sunset

Ate our dinner sitting by the fire place with a roaring fire that Bill had got going

A most enjoyable evening and a fabulous ending to a not so good start to the day and anyway pleased that we could not get into the camping at the winery as this was probably a much nicer experience