Paddy & Jen Adventures

From Melbourne we flew back to Adelaide and headed back to the hills for one last night with the Sadler crew. They had kindly prepared a feast for us, serving up a delicious 3 course meal. With full stomachs we had an early night after our big weekend of celebrations.

We took off the next morning in our van to explore the Fleurieu Peninsula once again. This time we stayed in Port Elliott, a beautiful town close to the water. We had previously had a swim in this area at Horseshoe Bay when we were passing through with the Sadlers. This time the water has been impacted by a microalgul bloom right along the Peninsula, with swimming not advised. We spent our time riding our bikes instead, heading towards Goolwa and then in to Victor Harbor. I saw a post that my old work colleague Jason Fritzlaff and his wife Clare were also staying nearby. I messaged him and the four of us met up for a coffee and a great chat. It was so wonderful to see both of them. I do enjoy social media sometimes for these opportunities.

We hooked up the van and drove 20 minutes down the road to a farm stay at Waitpinga. We love the short travel between stays. Not exhausting at all! Australia is so huge, with so much to see and we are so fortunate to be able to take our time travelling around.

We left the van there and headed off on a pre-arranged catch up with our son Lachie, his partner Emily and her brother Ben, who were in Adelaide for AFL Gather Round. We decided to meet them in the Adelaide Hills so that the Sadlers could join us. Their daughter Delaney joined us too, along with her gorgeous baby Nora, who we met for the first time. The sun was shining and we had an amazing lunch at the Green Valley Strawberry Farm, before moving on to Lot 100 distillery and then Howard Vineyard. Such picturesque locations, which gave Lach, Em & Ben a small insight in to the beauty of the Adelaide Hills and their wineries.

The following day we did some food shopping in Victor Harbor and returned to the van to enjoy the afternoon sun, admire the goats in the paddock beside us, read our books, watch footy and listen to Paddy play some guitar. He had asked Lachie to bring it over for us to take on the rest of our travels. He missed playing it and I missed singing along (only when no other campers can hear!!).

That afternoon a lovely couple and their 2 young girls from Croydon (Vic) set up near us. They came straight over and introduced themselves and we immediately hit it off. The farm stay had its own distillery (Moo’s) and we made arrangements to join them there for dinner & drinks. It was about 100 metres from our van, which was a bonus. We spent a lovely night at Moo’s with Phil, Tessa, Ruby & Remi & a few locals. The gins were too good, so we kept them coming. No one had to be designated driver so we drank up. The night ended with us drunk chatting to Phil & Tessa and some French Tourists! It was so lovely to hang out with Phil, Tessa and their girls. They were really good people and we are already connected on social media so we can keep in touch.

The following morning pack up was not great for me. I had a really bad hangover, which actually lasted all day. I think the first thing I ate was at 7.30p.m! I have not felt like this in a very long time and it reminded me of why I do not do it often. The disappointing thing was that I missed a beautiful calm beach day at Rapid Bay. It was lucky we were staying for 2 nights. We loved it here, although there is a bit of a rush to get beachfront camping. At least that was entertaining to watch. We also lucked in with seeing my old work mate Jason and his wife Clare again as they were camped there too. The next day we drove to Second Valley (15 mins away) and did some snorkelling near the pier. It was so good to be back in the water. Back at Rapid Bay we watched the most divine sunset and stunning colours in the sky. Will definitely be back here to try to snag a beachfront site!

The following morning we had another short drive to our next destination. It was 15 minutes to our campsite at Deep Creek National Park. It was a perfectly still day/night. I spent time catching up on my blog, we did a bit of budgeting and I cooked us a delicious Lamb Shank Massaman Curry (thanks to Nagi @RecipeTin Eats). I have linked the recipe here for anyone interested!

After a humid night, with not a lot of sleep, we got up early to do a trail walk in the National Park. It was a tough Grade 4 track, with plenty of rocks and uphill climbs. The weather got hotter as we walked and we had just enough water to get us through. It was hard going, but glad we did it. Some lovely views of the ocean along the way. I just love the blue of the waters here in SA.

The following day we drove to Yankalilla to food shop in preparation for our next exciting destination (KI). Desperately needed to do some washing but we forgot our coins for the laundromat and our wallets to get cash out so we had to give that a miss which was a bummer. I did manage to pick up 5 books for $13 at the op shop – what a bargain!

On the way back we went to Tapanappa Lookout, a gorgeous location, with amazing views out to the ocean and Kangaroo Island. It was great to see the walk around the lookout had signs displayed with indigenous storytelling. That night I beat Paddy in a game of Five Crowns!!

We had been off grid (no power/water) for about eight days. The van is great as it is self-contained but we do need to be mindful of not using too much electricity/water. We rely on the solar charging up, which is no issue as the days are hot. Paddy has an app on his phone that tells us when all this is getting low.

Today (Good Friday) we did a walk in the Talisker Conservation Park to see the heritage-listed remains of a nineteenth century silver and lead mine. It was quite fascinating to see the old remains and deep mine shafts. We ran in to the Rangers and had a chat to them about how dry everything is. They said a lot of trees are dead or dying, something they have not seen in a long time. From there we drove 10 minutes to the caravan park at Cape Jervis. It was a day of washing (including ourselves!!) and powering up the van, laptop, drone etc. Tomorrow we are heading on the ferry with our car and van over to Kangaroo Island. This is one destination we have both really been looking forward to. Very grateful to be able to spend the next 11 days on KI.

Happy Easter to all our family and friends – sending you all our love.