Warnambool to Naracoorte
Got up this morning to a fine drizze. I called in a McDonalds for breakfact and to use the free Internet then drove on towards Adelaide. The road had now left the coast and I head inland a fair way. I stopped off at Mt Gambier to have a look at the Blue Lake. The lake is inside the crater of an extinct volcano and is now actually the towns water supply. The 'Mount' defies what is actually there as you don't seem to climb very high up to reach the rim of the crater, however looking down into it the water level of the lake is way down and a strange deep blue colour. It can't be a reflection from the sky either as it was actually chucking it down when I got there (what's new!) I sat and played radio for a bit chatting to a couple of radio amateurs on the local repeater, causing a little confusion as the guy I was speaking to couldn't understand my call sign. (My call is G7ELA and as I'm currently in 'VK5 land' I have to add that bit on the end so it becomes G7ELA/VK5/Mobile; it confuses a couple of people!)
The Landscape was now rapidly changing as I drove on, the road was a good 2 lane road with overtaking sections every so often but there was very little traffic on the roads. I passed through huge forested flat land area's which were obviously commercial plantations of pine, the road way went for miles in a dead straight line with the huge pines planted about 40yds off from either side of the road which gave a strange tunnel effect. After an hour or so the landscape changed again to vineyards, and more vineyards planted as far as you could see in both directions and the land started to roll gently again. Eventually I came to the town of Nararcoorte, I had been driving for about 3 hours and it was getting late in the afternoon so I decided to stop for the night. The rain had stopped but there were still dark clouds around so fancying a change I hunted out the Tourist Info office to see what was available in the area. The office had closed when I got there but they had left small paper bags hanging out side full of local info guides and maps, so I had a flick through them and found a listing for a Backpackers Hostel. This seemed like a good idea and the cost was similar to camping. I gave the owner a ring and they had space and he gave me directions. 2 minutes later I was outside the front door. The owner showed me round the back to the dorm, which seemed to be a converted garage but quite clean and with lots of bunks. He explained that they weren't a normal sort of Backpackers Hostel but they normally just have a tour group in 4 times a week and also they provide beds for lots of the temporary workers who work on the farms and vineyards around the area. The dorm was clean and the people that were there were all very friendly but the place was very shabby and a little 'Heath Robinson'. The kitchen area for the 'backpackers' was a mess and I decided to not bother cooking here! Just as I was dropping some things on a bunk another lad arrived. Unfortunately his car had broke down not far from town and the tow truck had dropped him at the door and taken his car in to be looked at the next morning. As we we both 'independent travelers' and the owner suggested we visit the local pub for some food as they did a 'special' evening meal for $8.80. So we decided to walk down to it and get some food. Jeroen was from Holland and had bought his car from one of the companies which specialise in selling older vehicle to travelers. He was planning to meet a friend in Adelaide at the weekend the drive on to Perth but the car had stopped about 10km outside of Narbrook. He had managed to flag someone down who helped him to call the breakdown service. He had to go back in the morning to find out the damage. The food in the pub was basic either a turkey, pasta or fish plate brought out from the kitchen with as much veg or salad as you could eat from a buffet. A bit plain and the turkey was loaded with salt but with lots of veg and salad was a nice big cheap fill. I had read about the local caves in the tourist info guides so planned to visit them tomorrow morning, and suggested to Jeroen that he could have a lift to Adelaide if his car was terminal. He wasn't sure was he was going to do yet so we left it for the night and returned to the hostel.
The Landscape was now rapidly changing as I drove on, the road was a good 2 lane road with overtaking sections every so often but there was very little traffic on the roads. I passed through huge forested flat land area's which were obviously commercial plantations of pine, the road way went for miles in a dead straight line with the huge pines planted about 40yds off from either side of the road which gave a strange tunnel effect. After an hour or so the landscape changed again to vineyards, and more vineyards planted as far as you could see in both directions and the land started to roll gently again. Eventually I came to the town of Nararcoorte, I had been driving for about 3 hours and it was getting late in the afternoon so I decided to stop for the night. The rain had stopped but there were still dark clouds around so fancying a change I hunted out the Tourist Info office to see what was available in the area. The office had closed when I got there but they had left small paper bags hanging out side full of local info guides and maps, so I had a flick through them and found a listing for a Backpackers Hostel. This seemed like a good idea and the cost was similar to camping. I gave the owner a ring and they had space and he gave me directions. 2 minutes later I was outside the front door. The owner showed me round the back to the dorm, which seemed to be a converted garage but quite clean and with lots of bunks. He explained that they weren't a normal sort of Backpackers Hostel but they normally just have a tour group in 4 times a week and also they provide beds for lots of the temporary workers who work on the farms and vineyards around the area. The dorm was clean and the people that were there were all very friendly but the place was very shabby and a little 'Heath Robinson'. The kitchen area for the 'backpackers' was a mess and I decided to not bother cooking here! Just as I was dropping some things on a bunk another lad arrived. Unfortunately his car had broke down not far from town and the tow truck had dropped him at the door and taken his car in to be looked at the next morning. As we we both 'independent travelers' and the owner suggested we visit the local pub for some food as they did a 'special' evening meal for $8.80. So we decided to walk down to it and get some food. Jeroen was from Holland and had bought his car from one of the companies which specialise in selling older vehicle to travelers. He was planning to meet a friend in Adelaide at the weekend the drive on to Perth but the car had stopped about 10km outside of Narbrook. He had managed to flag someone down who helped him to call the breakdown service. He had to go back in the morning to find out the damage. The food in the pub was basic either a turkey, pasta or fish plate brought out from the kitchen with as much veg or salad as you could eat from a buffet. A bit plain and the turkey was loaded with salt but with lots of veg and salad was a nice big cheap fill. I had read about the local caves in the tourist info guides so planned to visit them tomorrow morning, and suggested to Jeroen that he could have a lift to Adelaide if his car was terminal. He wasn't sure was he was going to do yet so we left it for the night and returned to the hostel.
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