The view from Mount Alma -- high country, and glacial rocks at Inman Valley

Mount Alma rises high above Inman Valley, South Australia ...

...and the views are superlative in any light. Samwise Gamjee would be right at home.

Evening light over the slopes of Mount Alma -- winter, 2016. And it's cold!

Mount Alma rises high over Inman Valley on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, and the views from the top are superlative. Scotland, Ireland ... New Zealand and Middle Earth come to mind when you're gazing out over this countryside, especially in winter (when these images were captured), when it's green ... and cold, and windy!

In fact, Mount Alma is a cyclist's nightmare, which probably explains why so many of them ride it. Dave has ridden in a couple of times, and we'll link you from here to his cycling blog when he has the post up. But for the rest of us, it's an awesome drive in the comfort of a car. Preferably a big, powerful car! A roadside sign down at the bottom warns that this hill is not for buses, trucks and so forth. And they ain't kidding. The signage is plentiful, and it's emphatic. See below!

The road starts to rise away up Mount Alma ...

Drivers beware, and as for cyclists? Abandon hope. Unless your name is Nairo Qintana ... or Dave.

See what we mean about the signage? Pass this point on a bicycle, and it's all your own fault, right?

However you get to the top of Mount Alma --

Your reward is reaped in this kind of heaven. It's a photographer's paradise --

--so long as you remember your coat, hat, scarf, gloves, boots, thermals--

Watch out for Hobbits. There's got to be Hobbits around here. Stands to reason.

Evening light is starting to gather. Not long till sunset...

Sheep head down to the lower slopes. Perhaps they have a barn down there.

Sunset on Mount Alma...

A zoom shot into the very heart of the sunset. In fact, the hills are not really so dark. Yet.

Shadows are just starting to get long...

Not too much winter sun is left now, and when it's gone --

Just minutes later the headlights are on and it's twilight already.

Driving Mount Alma is actually very safe. The road is well marked and the local council keeps it in very good repair. We've done it in twilight, and it didn't seem to be dangerous at all.

There's also a rally event held here, one of those "time trial for sportscars" races, which explains the rubber left on the road in places. It's not local "petrol heads" at all.

Coming down from the top, the road just drops out from under you and the car really is in low gear to handle the gradient. The views on the way down are as awesome as those from the top, but you're thinking, "Hmm, better get down before it gets dark."

Having done Mount Alma at the end of the day, racing the setting sun to get photos before there just wasn't enough light, we decided to go back in the morning -- full daylight and blue skies. So here we are for "take two," a few weeks after the shots above.

It's winter -- July, 2016 -- and it might look bright and warm, but it's cold enough that after a while your bare ands don't want to move properly anymore. The pictures were worth it, though. Right now, I'm just going to shut up and let the gallery speak for itself! Here goes:

As you reach the foot of Mount Alma and run back into Inman Valley you start to see
"eccentric" granite boulders like these everywhere. How in the world did they get
into the middle of paddocks like this? They're the same kind of granite rocks you see
at Victor Harbour, and (!) Granite Island. And then --

Yes -- glaciation deposited these boulders here. And if you'd like to continue your drive through Inman Valley,
you'll see Glacier Rock itself...

To the uneducated eye it's not exactly spectacular, but geologists could get excited. Read on:

Glacial History and Inman Valley --

Selwyn's Rock ... Cambrian Kanmantoo Quartzite. Very cool. (Say that three times, fast after two double tequilas.)

Dave, your smiling tour guide, points out the formation itself...

It'd be easy to drive right past Glacier Rock, because the signage is rather circumspect, just a little thing pointing you off to the side of the road. Alas, there's no disabled access to the pool and rock at the bottom, and the stairs are steep enough to be a major challenge to anyone who's not in robust shape (see below). There's a little observation platform at the top, though, and the info boards are up there -- just beyond the cafe. Did someone say, cafe? As in, coffee? Or, perhaps, lunch?

(For picnickers, there's a picnic table just off the road at the village of Inman Valley, just a few kilometers away: look for the redbrick Memorial Hall ... good bathrooms, too, and curious local artwork.)

We did actually stop for coffee at the Rock View Cafe. And clean forgot to take pictures. The coffee was wonderful, and we'll return again another time and fill in the blanks. We've also done the picnic thing, availing ourselves of the little facility at the village of Inman Valley, and that was great too.

Nan Hai Pu Tuo ... Buddhist temple and tranquility at Sellick's Beach

Guan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, gazes west over the sea at Nan Hai Pu Tuo

The Guan Yin statue at Nan Hai Pu Tuo was crafted in China and shipped to
Australia in pieces for assembly at the temple at Sellicks Beach.

Guan Yin will be the centerpiece of a massive temple which will take years more to complete... 

Nan Hai Pu Tuo, the Chinese Buddhist temple, stands on the Gulf St. Vincent, in South Australia

The temple is open to the public, though the buildings are still temporary. Work continues, and we visit
every few months to watch the progress.

Here, the 20 meter Guan Yin statue is in place, presiding over earth-moving machines...

Statues and art at Nan Hai Pu Tuo were shipped from workshops in China over the space of a year or more,
and stored on-site, waiting to be set into place. 

The Chinese Buddhist temple at Sellicks Beach attracts many visitors, some who come for devotions, others
who come for the art and the tranquility.

Behind Nan Hai Pu Tuo, the land rises away in the Fleurieu Peninsula's gentle hills. Sheep graze these paddocks...

Looking north from the clifftop on a cloudy day. The suburbs of Adelaide sprawls into the mist.

The cliffs at Sellicks Beach on a sunny summer day -- looking south toward Carrickalinga and Normanville.

The address of Nan Hai Pu Tuo is 'Cactus Canyon Road' ...and here's why! Yep, there's cactuses. Not sure
the location qualifies as a 'canyon' in the US sense. More a weather-worn crevice in the cliffs.

Guan Yun, Chinese Goddess of Mercy, at Nan Hai Pu Tuo, Sellicks Beach.

Guan Yun gazes over the Gulf St. Vincent, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia.

Detail from the headdress of the Guan Yin statue: Gautama perhaps.

Chinese historical design enriches the entire temple site. A visit to Nan Hai Pu Tuo is like stepping into a living
art gallery or museum. In another year the meditation gardens should be open.

Above: as you stroll around the grounds, be sure to look down as well as up. Some of the most gorgeous artwork is at your feet, much in the Chinese historical form, and some -- like the detail of a ram's head from a great bronze vessel, above right -- in the very ancient form, from a time when most of Europe was in its pre-historic phase. 

Below: a six-inch New Holland honey eater chases tiny insects in the blooms of a twenty-foot cactus flower, and a potted succulent in the grounds of Nan Hai Pu Tuo temple produces tiny flowers in amazing shades of pink.

The great bronze urns are filled with sand -- incense sticks burn here...

Fantastic animals, part dragon and part turtle, form the footers for the monolithic temple stones bearing
Buddhist inscriptions in Chinese. No English translation is provided, alas.

Guan Yin is surrounded by temple stones, supported by fantastical creates and
topped by writhing dragons (see below). At her feet is an altar bearing fruit and flowers.
Nan Hai Pu Tuo has been serving as a functional temple since around 2014.

Above: the temple stones, standing three or four meters high, are inscribed with texts one assumes are sutras, prayers or memorials. We wished an English translation had been provided, but alas, all at Nan Hai Pu Tuo is in Chinese, save for a notice saying  'No cameras in the temple, thank you.' (Entirely understandable. The outdoor arena where Guan Yin stands can be photographed. Jade was hesitant, till noticing Chinese tourists had no such hesitation to photograph.)

Visit Nan Hai Pu Tuo in the dead of winter: the hills are green, dotted with sheep and growing gold with sour sobs.

Winter skies mist the hills at Sellicks Beach, where Guan Yin gazes west to the sea...

...and Nan Hai Pu Tuo probably has mouse issues! In recent months we see a new arrival --
the friendliest young cat whose role would be understood by felines the world over.

The Nan Hai Pu Tuo temple cat is still very young ... his paws are enormous, and when he's full grown
he should be the size of a lion cub. Purrrrr. Just one more scitch!

A few minutes' drive out of the Adelaide southern suburbs brings you into Sellicks Beach on Aldinga Bay. (The thumbnail map at left is perfectly readable, if you view full size.) You leave behind the bustle of Noarlunga Centre and the new developments and head into sheep grazing country ... green hills and mist, in winter, brown and sun-scorched in summer.

And just as you pass the town of Sellicks Beach, you see a flash of white popping up beyond the southern hills. Did you imagine it? Take another look. You're catching sight of the very top of the twenty meter statue of Guan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, which stands gazing west over the ocean at Nan Hai Pu Tuo, the Chinese Buddhist temple at Sellicks Beach, on the coast of South Australis's Fleurieu Peninsula.

The local popular press made the usual, even predictable mistake, when the statue was raised from hundreds of blocks shipped from a workshop in China. They promptly called it 'the Buddha statue.' Well, their hearts were in the right place, at least! (Bodhisattva would actually be spot on; but doubtlessly it's way too hard to spell...) Even a cursory glance will show you this is not a likeness of Gautama, or any of the other numerous historical buddhas.

In fact, the Guan Yin statue rising high above the coast of the Gulf St. Vincent is the second such statue in the world. The other is the Guan Yin of the South Sea of Sanya, in the province of Hainan, in China -- see its Wikipedia page right here. Our statue isn't so tall, but it's extremely beautiful. It forms the focus of a Chinese Buddhist temple right in the heart of Australia, which, when completed, will have taken over ten years to build.

At this time work is still in progress, but the gardens are growing in and much of the statuary is in place. The meditation gardens should be ready in another year or two, and work on the permanent temple and pagoda should begin soon. In mid-2016, temporary structures are still serving as temple and refectory; and photography is -- understandably -- not allowed inside the temple. We can't show you the interior, with its glorious states and immense bronze bell. In fact, Jade was somewhat hesitant to take photos at all, until she noticed that Chinese tourists visiting the area has no such hesitation.

Save for a sign saying, 'No photography in the temple, thank you,' here isn't a word of English anywhere at Nan Hai Pu Tuo. We wish there were. Europeans have one devil of a time learning to recognize Chinese characters -- it takes a lifetime. Note to temple staff: English signs, please?

We've visited in summer and winter alike, every few months, to watch the progress. Can't wait for the meditation gardens to be open to the public. It's going to be peace on Earth, and Jade is looking forward to taking an hour to drift away on a cloud of tranquility there. Better than a pill.

There is a website for Nan Hai Pu Tuo, but it looks like it hasn't been updated in nine years, and there's very little on it: http://nanhaiputuotemple.com ... hopefully they'll rework this soon.

Visit Nan Hai Pu Tuo on your way south to Second Valley and Rapid Bay, Goolwa and Victor Harbour. Or, swing inland at Aldinga and visit Myponga Reservoir on the way to a picnic at Mount Compass.