2024 SA Trip Part 1 – Tasmania to Snowtown
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A long time coming, this is the first of what I hope will be many trips over the next few years as I finally fully embrace my retirement. Having owned a plant nursery for the last 5 years I am giving away most of my plants to a friend in South Australia who will take over growing and supplying the mainland states. This trip will deliver the stock plants to him and also hopefully be the first of many trips away to different locations in Australia.
I have a small 18’6 caravan and an LDV van to tow it with. The LDV van will allow me to carry one of my motorcycles with me so I can travel to different places within Australia while still being able to ride my motorcycle when I want to but still being comfortable at night and having the room to carry the gear I need.
Coming out of Tasmania the trip starts with passage across Bass Strait to the mainland on the Spirit of Tasmania. A really smooth passage and I managed to sleep like a baby all the way after having a good feed of roast pork (they have this on every trip) followed by watching a movie on the iPad. Settled in to watch Avatar, The Way of Water again but I had forgotten how long it goes for.
It amazes me how they really squeeze the vehicles in with pretty much no space between. I considered myself lucky as I was on deck 5 and were amongst the first vehicles off when we berthed in Geelong and they started discharging around 5:30 the following morning.
A little overcast and drizzly as we emerged from deep in the bowels of the boat into the real world but it did not last long and the skies got clearer and clearer the further from Melbourne we got.
On the first part of the trip to visit Eric in SA I would not have a great deal of time for sightseeing as I was transporting just over 400 plants to him. I needed to get there fairly quickly so they did not dry out or cook while in the back of the van. The return trip is where I will have the time to look around a bit and play the part of the tourist properly.
The van was also an unknown quantity as I had only towed the van short distances to date. I must admit, I have been really impressed with it so far. It has maintained an easy 95-100kmh although it does slow down a little on steeper hills. I was worried that I may have been a nuisance for trucks that might want to get past but I am overtaking some of them. It has also averaged out at 12.5L/100km which is really good considering what it is pulling and how it was loaded.          Â
Leaving Geelong I took a lot of the smaller B and C roads until I got to Ballarat. These are so much nicer and more interesting than the arterial ‘A’ roads which are great to get from A to B in a hurry, but they are just boring and not interesting at all. For the return trip I will follow a lot of these roads to various points of interest that I have mapped out to visit. Should be a lot of fun.
I enjoy travelling through some of the winding, tree lined roads or between fields of canola or other crops that you can find when you move off the main arterial roads. A lot of the special and unique sights can be found if you take the time to do this rather than being focused on getting to a destination in the shortest possible time
Pink Lake - Dimboola
First stop for lunch was the roadside rest area at Loch Lel which is commonly called the Pink Lake. Located just out of Dimboola and around 300km from Melbourne, when I visited in October the lake was a vivid shade of pink. There are picnic tables and toilets available and it is easy to access the lake for a walk if you desire.
The lake gets its stunning pink colour from a pigment secreted by a salt tolerant algae that is present in the lake. The intensity of the colour can vary depending upon the season, temperature and amount of rainfall. After a large downpour, fresh nutrients are flushed into the lake which will trigger the growth of the algae and produce a stronger colour.
GPS Ref. -36.403438 141.973992
Seas of Gold
At the time I was traveling through the area there were fields of canola in full bloom with their brilliant yellow flowers lining large sections of the highway. It makes a fantastic display when contrasted against the clear blue skies and is a breathtaking sight to remember.
I had trouble finding a good place to pull over and take a picture with the caravan in tow and it was too windy for me to be able to put the drone up and get the picture I was after, maybe next time?
Coonalpyn Silo Art
There have been a lot of silos painted up with amazing murals around Victoria and South Australia and one of the goals of the trip was to visit any that were easily accessible from the route I had planned. Some are just incredible to view and to appreciate how the artist managed to maintain the perspective on the curving surfaces.
The Coonalpyn silos are alongside the highway and are 30m tall. Painted by Guido van Helten and completed in March 2017, the mural depicts five of the local primary school children. The mural wraps around the silos and extends along both faces so it is worth getting out and walking around the silos to view them all.
GPS Ref. -36.377265, 141.98906
The Big Rhino
I was planning on staying at Murray Bridge that evening so I kept on moving so I would be there before 1700 when the caravan park closed for bookings. On the way I had to pass through Tailem Bend where I had planned on visiting a few things but I had been taking my time looking around and taking detours on the trip so I was too late to access them. I guess there is always next time.
The one thing I did see on the side of the highway at Tailem Bend was a big rhinocerous. I don’t know why they would have a big rhino on the side of the road, but as chasing down some big things was also a part of the trip plan I had to stop and get a picture of it just because it was there.
Murray Bridge Marina Caravan Park
Having completed just over 700km I ended the first day at Murray Bridge Marina Caravan Park. It was a pleasure to get up early to see the sunrise on the river and marina adjacent to the park. There was a mist rising from the river, fish jumping and some great reflections to try and capture. I would highly recommend this park to anyone planning on stopping in Murray Bridge.
The following day saw the last 250km covered to my friends place where I will be staying for a couple of weeks. The car and caravan have run well and the car has performed better than I had expected. Very happy with it’s first major run.