Day 8 – Coffin Bay National Park
Walkers Rocks to Port Lincoln (via Coffin Bay) – 216km
Coffin Bay National Park Entry – $10 per vehicle
Port Lincoln Caravan Park – $12pp unpowered
Coffin Bay just sounds dark and interesting. We still haven’t found out whether it is named that way because in true ‘say what you see’ Australian fashion, the bay looks like a coffin or because it is named after a person or something entirely different all together. If someone could enlighten us, that would be great!
On entry to the National Park we encountered a couple of Emus on our way to Yangie Bay. I just love the way they run.
I was feeling a little under the weather so we decided against the 7 hour hike and took the 2.5hr Yangie Island walk instead. To be honest, we were a little underwhelmed. I think we have been spoilt thus far. The view from the look out was great but after that it became a little blah. I hate walking without knowing there is an amazing end point and unfortunately it was a bit of an anti climax! But not to worry. We got 9km of exercise in and saw two kangaroos and a Joey up close.
On the way out of the park, we saw more Emus. First one emerged from the brush, then another… and another… until there was ELEVEN just trotting across the road. They all started to disappear into the brush on the other side of the road when suddenly one late comer bolted across the road behind. I couldn’t stop laughing. Cheered me up anyway!
Day 9 – Port Lincoln to Port Peron
Free camp good bbq on beach toilets etc. Water tower look out in port Augusta. Big drive ready for adelaide tomorrow
Day 10 – Adelaide
After a quick hours drive in, we wet up camp and caught a bus into the city centre. By this point it was almost lunch time, so of course food was first on the agenda. A big fat burger for Matt and a wrap later for me, we wandered around and ended up in Rundle Mall, which is the main shopping street and was bustling. I tried to ignore the hundreds of Christmas trees and focus on the street artists and musicians instead.
Later, we headed to the Botanic Gardens. After days of dust, it is so amazing to see so much greenery in one place! The gardens are immaculate and filled with historic buildings, greenhouses and beautiful flowers. We could have easily lazed away the afternoon here on one of the lawns but instead, took a wander over to the South Australian Museum.
After giving our brains a work out we decided it was acceptable to go for ice cream and hunted down a parlour whilst admiring the beautiful churches and colonial architecture. Adelaide is known as the ‘City of Churches’ and it is easy to see why. The whole CBD (central business district) is surrounded by park lands which makes Adelaide totally different to any other city we’ve visited so far. It was so refreshing.
Day 11 – Glenelg
Glenelg to Kiata Campground (Little Desert National Park) – 382km
Kiata Campground – free no showers
In my previous experience, city beaches have always been a little ‘meh’. Glenelg was totally different. We parked up on a street full of beautiful 19th century houses and took a stroll a long the Esplanade. In comparison to the likes of Bondi etc, it was so peaceful and for the most part, people were just chilled drinking coffee or walking their dogs.
We initially began walking away from the main beach and took in beach views of the Adelaide Hills to our left and the beautiful, clear water and white sands to our right.
Eventually, we decided it was only right to walk back towards the jetty (definitely a pier) and take a stroll a long. At this end of the beach there were plenty of swimmers and snorkellers. A plane flew over head with sirens, unbeknownst to us, that was the shark warning plane. When they spot a shark, they circle the area overhead and blast their sirens but this one just flew in a straight line so who knows what that meant! I wasn’t planning on getting in anyway!
Day 12 – The Grampians
Kiata Campground to Plantation Camp (via Mackenzie Falls) – 157km
Plantation Camp – free bucket shower (which was luke warm but welcome)
I have been looking forward to visiting the Grampians my entire time in Australia so to finally there in the last two weeks of travelling was just amazing.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I have suddenly taken up hiking and absolutely love getting to the top of a big fat hill and enjoying the view.
First on the agenda was Hollow Mountain. Holy hell. It is definitely not a hike for the faint hearted. Climbing up boulders with sheer drops next to them is not quite our idea of fun but we did it and we live to tell the tale!
The view from the top was absolutely worth the threat of sudden death by the way.
Next, we travelled onto Mackenzie Falls which instantly appeared a lot more popular/commercialised than Hollow Mountain. There were about a billion steps dowm into a valley to find them but the falls themselves were very impressive and though I’d have loved to after the wall, not suitable for swimming.
Next, we walked a long the river (most people seem to stop at the first falls) to see Fish Falls. Again – a lot of steps and I was already dreading the walk back up but the falls were pretty cool.
After the mammoth walk back up, a sane person would head to camp but not us! On to Reed Lookout. Just a short 2km return led us to the most magnificent view. This is what I had been waiting for. A photo could mever do this place justice.
The camp tonight gets a special shout out. It had actual cubicles with a bucket/shower head combo. This may not sound too impressive for none free campers but trust me this is AMAZING. We filled our solar shower and let it heat up, poured it into the bucket, hoisted it up, turned the tap and da dah! Perfect after a long sweaty day.
Day 13 – The Grampians
Plantation Campground to Panmure Camp (via Wonderland) – 178km
Panmure Camp – free no shower
After a late start (due to the fact we both thought the other had set an alarm…) we headed to the ‘Wonderland’ car park to do the Pinnacles Walk. It was due to be 34 degrees today, which made our alarm mishap slightly more frustrating but hey, you know what they say about mad dogs and English men!
We started the trail by going via the Grand Canyon, it wasn’t quite as grand as The Grand Canyon, but it was still impressive in it’s own way.
Onwards and upwards (a lot of upwards) and we eventually made it to Silent Street. This was my favourite part of the hike. It is a narrow little canyon which you walk up but when you turn around, you get the most phenomenal view.
A lot of huffing and puffing later (photo of my beetroot face available on request) we made it to the look out. Why do I not have a camera good enough to capture how amazing this is?!
Lauren Travels 