Adelaide to the Near Vic

wow how'd we get here so quickly !?

Port Lincoln National Park was fantastic, easy fishing, swimming and relaxing. Nicole was hoping to soon meet some kindred spirited people as we entered this park. we drove past an old Mercedes Benes before setting up camp (thinking to my-self the owners to be driving on vege-oil - they are great cars for conversion) and I wondered down to play on the rocky shores with Kaiden. On my return I found Nicole with a couple from Whyalla who owned the Merc. Nicole hit it off with them, and it was not long into discussion that the Merc was waiting for conversion to run on waste vege oil. John had been stock piling the good grease for sometime now. It was exciting to meet this couple, they were very present in conversation including with Kaiden and Jamala. I am warmed to find more people in our travels who relate to Kaiden and Jamala in compassionate and humanistic ways, no coercion or telling, just respectful listening and sharing.

A cafe at Port Lincoln seemingly as a matter of course for passing travellers gave us 180 litres of their very clean waste vegetable oil. I was grateful for this as we had no vege oil for our trip across the Nullarbor - meaning we used a lot of dinosaur fuel to make the trip :-(

Heading north we stopped by Fitzgerald Bay for an overnight camp. Before leaving in the morning a couple invited our family out to catch some crabs. Kaiden loved it. We simply wondered around scooping them up. Mt Remarkable NP was our next stop, a fantastic campground set among old Red Gums and Emus - with solar hotwater showers !! wow !! luxury. we floundered around this park for a few days, a bit unsure what we did, other than relax, shower and feast on great food.

Nearing Australia Day, we arrived in Adelaide. Nicole was very excited and taken by the city, claiming it was the only city she has been drawn to. I had been in Adelaide previously for a 'work' conference and decided to take Nicole straight to Glenelg having an inkling that she'd love it there. We arrived at Glenelg and there certainly was a buzz in the air - people were diving off the Jetty, playing ball games on the beach, playing music on the grass, a caporaro (sp?) group was in action, and buskers had a circle going in the cafe strip. Kaiden picked up on the energy right away, he was in a world of fun and laughter.

Adelaide was also a place for us to collect parts for repairs and maintenance, and though I was looking forward to meeting two families connected through the practice of Aware Parenting (www.parentingwithpresence.com www.awareparenting.com) and unfortunately missed each other before leaving.

Australia Day celebrations in Adelaide were refreshing, a parade of many cultures that make up Australia lead to a park. There were many families decked out in their cultural traditional/symbolic dress and the park was filled with flags flying from many nations/cultures. There was of course some Australiana thrown in, James Morrison and his band did a jazz version of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell". We sat ourselves on the grass in the centre of the crowd and meet a Hungarian family, the three year old girl was excited to teach me some basic Hungarian language....this is the stuff I love about cities.

Some new tyres were thrown on the car and we headed south, we have been reading a fair bit up on Kangaroo Island and could not find anything that convinced us to pay for the ferry ride over there (plus camping fees because our National Parks pass excluded Flinders Chase) - The tourist information highlighted a pure breed population of feral bees (protected), and fairly tame wildlife like kangaroos were big attractions. It did seem to have many nice beaches, and I am sure that they are. The most disappointing part about skipping this part of Australia was not catching up with a family we met in northern WA who call Kangaroo Island home.

Travelling along the coast toward Mt Gambier, the beaches have been spectacular, I seem to say this about all the beaches, LOL. Also Nicole made her visit to the mouth of the Murray River, a pilgrimage for her. As mentioned in media the mighty Murray is a mere dribble at the mouth these days, requiring some 6 million dollars worth of sand pumping to keep the mouth open and the associated coastal lakes alive each year. It is dire, the Australian iconic river is on life support. The local ABC radio featured many stories on the push for recovery, and a great interview came over the air with Carmel Flint from NPA, pushing to save important remnants of River Red Gum along the Murray. I am amazed by this woman's level of drive to hold back further damage to the environment (much wider than the Murray River system) - Go Carmel !!

The Limestone Coast is full of interesting and rugged coast line, and like some parts of WA dotted with small and quite crayfishing towns. In one of the larger towns, I was offered waste vegetable oil at a cost. This is the first time I have ever paid money for waste vegetable oil (after all I suppose it was at a fuel station where I asked). The going price was 50 cents a litre - there is competition for the oil from boat owners as well as cars. The fuel station owner boasted he has about 5000 litres at his home (he owns all the fryers in town). So 50 cents a litre it was - still cheaper and cleaner than diesel. I wonder is this where things are heading for waste vegetable oil users?

Nicole was taken by a place called Beachport where we stayed for a few days, thinking we may simply overnight it here. There was something about the place, where relaxation was contagious ! Next was the world heritage Naracoote caves, known for their vast fossil/bone collection. The caves here acted as a trap for animals roaming Australia up to 200,000 years ago, they'd fall in and have no escape. There are many generations of palaeontology work to do here and much to dis-cover about climate change and past life from these snap shots in time.

We are now in Mt Gambier - the Blue Lake is very impressive, as is there library. The library is noisy, busy and full of people, it is a vibrant place and certainly a progressive community facility. We also meet with another family practicing Aware Parenting - Hooray !! I love how easy it is to be with families who share compassionate ways of relating to children.

Mt Gambier was also a great spot for waste oil collection, and after pouring 75 litres of oil from the Thai restuarant our car smells like a mix of curry puffs and spring rolls ! yum !!