SOUTH TO THE COAST AND CIVILIZATION

As we continued on Southwards we were still surprised with the least likely things!  This cloud formation for instance......Looks like something is brewing!!!!!

And even though we were in a lot more fertile part of the country, it is still quite apparent that water is still a precious commodity.  this town had the right idea for their median strips and used a surface that required no watering, except for the odd tree that is!

As we had travelled through the bush, I had noticed on many occasions small round orangy or yellowy balls on the side of the road.  The first time I saw them I thought it might be part of a trucks load that had fallen off.  But then this was happening way too often for it to be that.  Eventually Dave just pulled up after I commented yet again that I had seen "those funny little balls again."   I flew out of the car and went and got one.  It turned out they are 'paddy melons'   Not good for anything much - sour to taste - Shame, as they appear to be able to grow where nothing much else does.

We knew we were nearing the coast when we came across this structure - but in the middle of the a town with no sea in view???

As we were travelling alongside the coast the road wound through miles and miles of pine plantations.....they seemed to go on forever..........

Although the idea behind this trip is to discover parts of Australia that we have never seen, there are a few places that we will pass through that we have seen before.  This place was visited 37 years ago on our honeymoon.   I think it was cold then too!!!    The Blue Lake in Mount Gambier.

We continue to admire the old buildings.  Even though our 'old' buildings are no where near as old as those we saw in Europe - they are none the less fascinating and inspiring.  And unique to our History.

We stopped to check out a free camp site at the base of Mt Schank. We decided not to camp there but I thought that the walking trail looked interesting.

So why not give it a go..

a nice looking little walk up to look at the crater that is Mt Schank.

Finally got to the top of the crater after what seemed an age.....

This is the inside of the crater - a bit hard to capture the feeling of the place

The views were pretty spectacular outside the crater as well........

Then it was back down the 339 steps to the bottom of the hill.........Guess we needed the excercise!!!

Half way now and we can see the car way way down there!!!

After we eventually climbed back to the car, we headed for Pt McDonnell

and a nice little campground just beside the beach

As we traveled along the coast there were just so many places to stop and Dave was getting quite a workout as our official photographer.  But even that can get tiring and I found him having a little rest.

We were enjoying almost everything about our country and our trip........everything except for the wind and the flies!!!!

But at least now there is a use for the wind which has been harnessed......

Now all that needs to be done is...................

Find a use for FLIES!!!!!!!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM??