March 2023 (South Australia)
March has been split between Palm Cove (Far North Queensland), Melbourne, Rye (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria) and South Australia.
Something a bit exciting happened to me which was that my first piece of writing (other than letters to the paper!) was published - https://www.australiandoglover.com/2023/03/motorhoming-adventures-with-two-golden.html This is a story and some photos of a trip we had in December with our Golden Retrievers, Albus and Harry, when we hired a motorhome for a few days in country Victoria.
We thought that the motorhome was a bit cramped so we are trying something else this month with our trip to South Australia (SA). It’s an experiment of renting pet friendly accommodation and also towing our boat. Andrew is a very keen fisherman so he hoped to fish a lot whilst we explored a part of Australia we had never visited.
One of the reasons we organised this holiday was to give our adult kids a break from looking after the dogs full time. Ironically, they have been quite upset at being at home without their furry companions! They are soooo lonely they complain to us daily! Oh dear, our motives were good!
We set off mid March and drove 900 kilometres from Melbourne to Wallaroo in SA. Dead kangaroo count en route was high. Scenery beauty count was not so high. It was a long day.
We left at 6am Melbourne time and arrived at Wallaroo at 6pm SA time (half an hour behind Melbourne). We stopped a few more times than we ordinarily would since we had the dogs on board and we even found two fenced dog parks so that the dogs could have a run and blow off some energy.
We wouldn’t normally drive 12 plus hours in one day especially with the two dogs but we wanted to catch the Spencer Gulf Searoad and it left at 9.30am so we needed to be there the night before. To take 2 adults, a car and a boat is almost $500 one way (ouch!) but it saves a few hours of driving so we chose to take it. Also, you don’t catch a car ferry too often in your life (well, we don’t anyway!) so it’s a bit of fun!
First stop for a few days was Port Lincoln. All I knew about Port Lincoln before I arrived was that it was the Tuna Capital of Australia and the home of weightlifter Dean Lukin. (Yes, I am old enough to remember the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics!)
Port Lincoln is actually a big town. About 13,000 people live there. It sits on Boston Harbour which is beautiful. Andrew was very pleased with himself. He went on a fishing charter one day and took his own boat out another. He happily brought home King George Whiting and we happily ate them.
From Port Lincoln, we day tripped to other towns including: Coffin Bay. We travelled to Coffin Bay for their famous oysters. As we drove in, I thought I was seeing things. Right in front of me walking alongside the road were emus! We had never seen emus out of captivity so we were very excited!
We wanted to do an Oyster Farm Tour together so we found a dog sitter nearby via MadPaws. Our pampered city pooches got to be farm dogs for the day (they slept extra well that afternoon and night!!)
The Oyster Farm tour was really fun – we put on waders and sat on a pontoon as we learnt about oysters and how to shuck them. We rinsed the freshly shucked oysters in the sea water and ate them natural. What a treat!
Everywhere we go, we are amazed at how many caravans there are! Honestly, most of the towns are so sleepy that I think there are more caravans than residents!
From Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, we travelled to Hardwicke Bay on the Yorke Peninsula. We stayed at a beach shack right on the beach. The area is known for amazing sunsets and we have enjoyed them sitting outside with the pups.
Each day, we saw pelicans and dolphins. And something quirky – tractors driving on to the beach to launch boats!
We drove on to the beach ourselves (we have a 4WD) and parked. We let the dogs off leash and they had the time of their lives running on the white sand, playing in the rock pools and chasing a ball.
This part of the world has unspoilt, beautiful beaches and, seemingly, few people. Again, the caravans seem to outnumber the residents.
As at the time of writing, we’re about to leave Hardwicke Bay and head to Angaston in the Barossa Valley for a couple of days of wine and food before we head home. More on that in April’s instalment.
Conundrums for this month apart from my usual biggie, namely ‘What do I do with the rest of my life?’ are:
1. Is travelling with Albus and Harry too restrictive?; and
2. Should we buy a caravan?
Travelling with the dogs has not been too restrictive. They have loved 24/7 company and they have travelled so well – they have sat quietly for hours in the car, sat contentedly tethered at cafes and pubs, slept wherever and whenever and (mostly) stayed off the couches at the houses we have rented! Renting pet-friendly accommodation (we used AirBNB) has been a far better doggie travel experience than the motor home.
We thought that the motorhome was a bit cramped so we are trying something else this month with our trip to South Australia (SA). It’s an experiment of renting pet friendly accommodation and also towing our boat. Andrew is a very keen fisherman so he hoped to fish a lot whilst we explored a part of Australia we had never visited.
One of the reasons we organised this holiday was to give our adult kids a break from looking after the dogs full time. Ironically, they have been quite upset at being at home without their furry companions! They are soooo lonely they complain to us daily! Oh dear, our motives were good!
We set off mid March and drove 900 kilometres from Melbourne to Wallaroo in SA. Dead kangaroo count en route was high. Scenery beauty count was not so high. It was a long day.
We left at 6am Melbourne time and arrived at Wallaroo at 6pm SA time (half an hour behind Melbourne). We stopped a few more times than we ordinarily would since we had the dogs on board and we even found two fenced dog parks so that the dogs could have a run and blow off some energy.
We wouldn’t normally drive 12 plus hours in one day especially with the two dogs but we wanted to catch the Spencer Gulf Searoad and it left at 9.30am so we needed to be there the night before. To take 2 adults, a car and a boat is almost $500 one way (ouch!) but it saves a few hours of driving so we chose to take it. Also, you don’t catch a car ferry too often in your life (well, we don’t anyway!) so it’s a bit of fun!
First stop for a few days was Port Lincoln. All I knew about Port Lincoln before I arrived was that it was the Tuna Capital of Australia and the home of weightlifter Dean Lukin. (Yes, I am old enough to remember the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics!)
Port Lincoln is actually a big town. About 13,000 people live there. It sits on Boston Harbour which is beautiful. Andrew was very pleased with himself. He went on a fishing charter one day and took his own boat out another. He happily brought home King George Whiting and we happily ate them.
From Port Lincoln, we day tripped to other towns including: Coffin Bay. We travelled to Coffin Bay for their famous oysters. As we drove in, I thought I was seeing things. Right in front of me walking alongside the road were emus! We had never seen emus out of captivity so we were very excited!
We wanted to do an Oyster Farm Tour together so we found a dog sitter nearby via MadPaws. Our pampered city pooches got to be farm dogs for the day (they slept extra well that afternoon and night!!)
The Oyster Farm tour was really fun – we put on waders and sat on a pontoon as we learnt about oysters and how to shuck them. We rinsed the freshly shucked oysters in the sea water and ate them natural. What a treat!
Everywhere we go, we are amazed at how many caravans there are! Honestly, most of the towns are so sleepy that I think there are more caravans than residents!
From Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, we travelled to Hardwicke Bay on the Yorke Peninsula. We stayed at a beach shack right on the beach. The area is known for amazing sunsets and we have enjoyed them sitting outside with the pups.
Each day, we saw pelicans and dolphins. And something quirky – tractors driving on to the beach to launch boats!
We drove on to the beach ourselves (we have a 4WD) and parked. We let the dogs off leash and they had the time of their lives running on the white sand, playing in the rock pools and chasing a ball.
This part of the world has unspoilt, beautiful beaches and, seemingly, few people. Again, the caravans seem to outnumber the residents.
As at the time of writing, we’re about to leave Hardwicke Bay and head to Angaston in the Barossa Valley for a couple of days of wine and food before we head home. More on that in April’s instalment.
Conundrums for this month apart from my usual biggie, namely ‘What do I do with the rest of my life?’ are:
2. Should we buy a caravan?
Travelling with the dogs has not been too restrictive. They have loved 24/7 company and they have travelled so well – they have sat quietly for hours in the car, sat contentedly tethered at cafes and pubs, slept wherever and whenever and (mostly) stayed off the couches at the houses we have rented! Renting pet-friendly accommodation (we used AirBNB) has been a far better doggie travel experience than the motor home.
The caravan is a tricky one. Even if we do buy a caravan, do we buy one with the dogs in mind or do we forget the idea of taking the dogs and plan to travel just the two of us? Buying a caravan means not towing a boat (a decision for Andrew) but we could take a rooftop tinny. Buying a caravan probably changes the car we buy next. Ahhh….decisions, decisions!
Us in Coffin Bay and "the locals"
Hardwicke Bay
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