Keith - Padthaway - Naracoorte

The Coorong is where we're headed, eventually ...

-- after the Alexandra and Victoria Fossil Caves...

...and the Dukes Highway will take us there in its own good time! First --

At last, Keith! Now you know you're getting close.

Keith has quite a history -- here's just a little of it. There's more! Because...

The first thing that hits you is how green Keith is. It's an oasis in an arid landscape.
An underground ocean of fresh water was discovered there, and it's the magic of Keith.

The arbotetum was a lovely place to park for a picnic as the afternoon shadows started to lengthen.

We'd heard of the Land Rover monument; it's just along from the arboretum, so we took a walk...

Holy guacamole, Batdude, they're not kidding! Land Rover on a pole!

It's the real deal -- nothing fake here. A real, genuine Land Rover, twenty feet up a pole!

Back on the road, leaving behind the green oasis of Keith.

Hats off to the local authorities: the roads are in great condition, and the signage is top-notch.
It's a bit difficult to get lost around here, though. There's uh, one major road!

Tje plight of the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. It's worth seeing this at full size -- the print is easily readable.
Notice the map here: we're just about at the state line. Much further, and we'll be in Victoria!

Padthaway ... a cool drink, perhaps? And a stroll in their roadside park --

Sheet metal sculpture -- Merino sheep; and...

A wind harp, in the shape and design of wheat or barley. This is so pretty, and a great idea.

Leaving Padthaway. Now, which way shall we go? Hang a right, Dave! 

Photographed from the car, at some speed: you're entering the Coonawarra wine region now;
the landscape becomes as green with vineyards as the McLaren Vale region. 

Running into Naracoorte, the information boards assure us, we're almost there!

The late afternoon air smelt of pine -- a plantations clusters along the road. (Over the border in Victoria
the plantations go on and on, with about the square mileage as Belgium!)

Naracoorte at last! First stop: their signature swimming lake. Anyone for a dip?

And wall art in the form of mosaics, on the changing rooms at the swimming lake...

A black cockatoo, and an echidna, unless we miss our guess. And ants -- well the echidna is
an ant eater, so why not?

The evening light was golden, but the shadows tell what time it must be. Dinner? Please?

A very cool history of the mosaic...

...and a closeup of the work itself. Very nice indeed.

After several hours of driving through a parched, arid landscape east and south of Tailem Bend, it was magical to reach Keith, which is an oasis of green. The secret is the water, obviously: an underground ocean of fresh water was discovered there, and allows for lucerne farming on a massive scale. Much of the stock feed in this part of the world is grown here.

About 225km from Adelaide, you're either on the Limestone Coast or very close to it, depending on who you talk to, and that limestone is part of the trick: rainwater filters right through, filling up caverns with the capacity of a sea; and this water is used to irrigate crops, and to make Keith ... green. More of their story (but not all, by a long shot), is told on the Keith Wikipedia page.

Soon, you leave the green behind and head back along the Dukes Highway into arid countryside for the run through Padthaway and on into Naracoorte. Middle of the afternoon ... we were ready to arrive in Naracoorte -- any time now, please! But we stopped for a cool drink in the micro-community of Padthaway before heading onward. A breeze was wafting out of the east, and the wind harp was "singing" with a strange, high "music."

Hang a right, and you're back on the road with only Naracoorte ahead of you now. You can't get lost -- there really is just one road. At last -- a major town, with everything you expect of a town, plus a fantastic swimming lake, which we couldn't resist stopping by on the way to a very, very nice motel --

Only one problem. We'd booked a room weeks before, and even received confirmation of the booking. So imagine our surprise when we rolled up to the door and they had no record of the booking, no idea who we were, or what could possibly have gone wrong -- and also no vacant rooms. So we were in Naracoorte all right, with nowhere to stay.

Fortunately, the road into town takes you right by the Comfort Inn -- in fact, the William McIntosh Motor Lodge; and we'd noticed the "vacancies" board. We doubled back, checked in, in minutes, made a cup of tea and ... ahhh, dinner!

Tomorrow: the Wonambi Fossil Center and the Alexandra Cave.

• And here's Dave's "Bill Cosby" take on this part of the trip: Tailem to Keith, and Keith to Naracoorte.

Strathalbyn and points east

The Naracoorte caves, and --

The Coorong ... this is where we'll be. But first, we have to get there!

On the road to Strathalby, and wouldn't you know it? Looks like rain!

A quiet backwater of Strathalbyn, and we're looking for a place to stop for a late breakfast.

St. Andrew's church overlooks  the whole town, with its population of little corellas, or "blue eyed cockatoos." 

Leaving Strathalbyn, headed for the Langhorne region -- on Langhorne Creek Road ...

Salt pans off the roadside by Dog Lake and Boggy Lake, as you run through to Wellington.

What's at Wellington? Well, for a start, the ferry! The only way to cross the Murray River, this side of Murraybridge.

The Wellington ferry runs every 10 or 15 minutes, and is free. Every kind of vehicle crosses the river this way.

A little history, while we wait for the ferry to come back across.

Meanwhile, the ferry is waiting for the dredge! So --

Catch up with the history of the town, and stretch the legs.

Wellington's old courthouse. Not working as a courthouse, now, of course -- 

In fact, a B&B and cafe ... now, there's a thought!

Follow the leader, drive down onto the ferry for the trip across...

Windmills on the Tailem Bend side of the river.

Gentlemen, restart your engines! Drive up off the ferry...

Now, where are we going? Tailem Bend first.

And we seemed to leave the clouds behind as we headed east. By Tailem Bend, the sun was shining.

Tailem Bend used to be a railway town ... an old steam locomotive still stands in the playground. 

We stopped for lunch, got some cool drinks at one of these stores, then --

You pick up the Dukes Highway, head east, and put the foot down!

It's grain country -- the wheat grown here is taken by rail to the flour mill in Strathalbyn --

The railway shadows the road as you head on, through tiny towns spread far apart...

Silos tower beside the road; the railway is just on the other side of these.

And you're sharing the Dukes Highway with some of the biggest trucks on the road, but we were
very impressed by the safety of this road: great visibility and signage.

Ah, a town! Needing a stretch of the legs we stopped here...

Coonalpyn: an agricultural center where fields stretch to the horizon on either side of the road.

Strange, hardy trees, suited to an arid environment, line the road...

And soon enough we're moving again -- next stop, Keith.

The only possible downside to planning these road trips a long way in advance is that when the time comes, you have to take the weather as you find it. We thought we'd "picked it wrong" as we set out: skies were gray and it looked like rain, all the way to Strathalbyn, where we stopped in the park for a late picnic breakfast.

The view of St Andrew's is lovely from any angle, and the little corellas -- "blue eyed cockatoos" -- were swooping and calling everywhere. They're all over Strathalbyn, and Wellington too, nothing the locals can do about them, and why should they? The birds were in these locations before humans arrived!

But the skies cleared as we headed east, and by the time we reached Tailem Bend the sun was shining. Tailem Bend is quite an interesting town, and has a neat page of its own. But we were only stopping for lunch and a cool drink before we tackled the Dukes Highway.

The Dukes is characterized by its "miles and miles of miles and miles." It's a loooong haul from Tailem Bend to Naracoorte, and the tiny towns (blink, and you really will miss them) are spaced far apart, little centers with names like Cook Plains, and Coomandook, Coonaplyn and Culbara, and at last, Tintinara -- a place that doesn't start with a 'C'!

It's all wheat and the railway in this region, and you just have to "lead foot it," and get through ... fortunately the road is wide, visibility is great and the signage is excellent, so it's a safe drive, though it is a long one.

Next stop: Keith, an oasis of green amid the parched summer landscape ... and a Land Rover on a pole ... after which, Naracoorte isn't far away!

• Here's Dave's account of this part of the trip: "Sturt to Strathalbyn," and "Tailem to Keith."