Fossils and ibis and lobsters ... oh, my!

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Limestone imitates colossal fantasy wedding cakes at the Victoria Fossil Cave 

Stop by the Wonambi Fossil Centre first for tickets to the guided tour. And note the correct spelling ...
not of 'Wonambi,' but of 'Centre.' 

The area was recognized and World Heritage listed 20 years ago...

...and here's why! 'Spectacular' is an understatement. Want more? Scroll down:

Looking between the jaws of the sleeping dragon. Check out those teeth!

This is not Thylacoleo carnifex -- in fact, it's Simosthenurus occidentalis. 

This shaft was drilled in the early days after the caverns were discovered ... they were pouring concrete
to make the paths and walkways, in an era before the word "preservation" was understood!

Checking out of  the William McIntosh Motor Lodge the net morning. We'd be home for dinner, but...
lots to do and see first! (That's the trusty old Camira, not Lola, of course ... 2009. Right.)

This is what we'd hoped for at Bool Lagoon! This is just a flooded hollow off one side of the road out of Naracoorte...

Imagine how Bool Lagoon would be, when it's, uh, wet! Ibis Cape Barren geese, mallards, and scores of swallows.

The thriving metropolis of Lucindale ... we're headed for Kingston S.E.  now.

And as Tolkien said, the road goes ever on...

...through pastoral landscapes under a steadily lowering sky. Yes we're losing the weather.

Kingston S.E. -- the bridge over the Maria Creek ...

-- which features some wonderful artwork and sculpture, such as...

-- seals, carved in a local stone -- not sure what kind.

One of the most interesting things in Kingston S.E. is the Analemmatic Sundial. Say, what?!

Seriously! It's a 'sundial of human involvement.' See this info board at full size -- it's perfectly readable here.

Dave demonstrates how it works, and -- know what? It tells the right time, too! It's tickling 10:00am.

Geographic sculpture and welcome swallows at the gas station --

Tiny, tiny birds that rarely sit still. You seem to see these guys everywhere in South Australia, except in town.

The other landmark for which Kingston S.E. is famous ... it's hard to miss.

The Big Lobster -- "Larry the Lobster," in fact! And for scale,
here's Dave sitting right under it. It's, uh, big.

Cape Jaffa Historic Lighthouse was moved to Kingston S.E. from Margaret Brock Reef, 15km SW of here --

The National Trust info board tells all.

Horses out for a day at the beach, just an hour's drive over from Naracoorte.

The hiking/biking trail through the salt bush, just above the beach. Watch out for snakes!

The beach at Kingston S.E. ... inviting, but we didn't stop for long, because -- 

We're off to the Coorong now, headed back to Adelaide on the Princess Highway.

The Victoria Fossil Cave was -- like the Alexandra Cave -- warm and humid. It's also vast, with paleontology going on right before your eyes. Excavations continue apace, with students working on new discoveries. (A couple of years after this, the caves were flooded when torrential winter rains hit the region, which would have delayed the work, but hopefully not destroyed the sites.)

One of the most dramatic of the creatures unearthed in these caves is Thylacoleo carnifex, a predator on top of the food chain in its day; and wouldn't you know it, Jade couldn't get a good picture of the fantastic skeleton on display in the depths of the Victoria Cave: the light was very low, and with the guided tour group, she could never jockey into a good position for long enough to get a shot! So --

The artist's reconstruction of Thylacoleo carnifex, borrowed from the Australian Museum website, and
used here within their copyright guidelines.  © Australian Museum

(Yes, Jade chased up the copyright guidelines for use of the image, and this is exactly what they specified.)

Also -- from Wikimedia comes this great shot of the skeleton ... in fact, it's the shot Jade couldn't get on site, on the day:

From Wikimedia. Credit: Karora ... License: Public Domain.

Now, according to Doctor Mike, who routinely works with fossils, reconstructions and Thylacoleo, this is an outdated reconstruction. This, above, is the first reconstruction that was built by Prof. Rod Wells and the late Ed Bailey, in 1992. The Wikimedia image dates from 2006. However, a much more recent "build" is available, but no one is -- yet -- using it. Here it is:

Picture by Dr. Mike Adamson, who worked on the reconstruction in 2011. 

Picture by Dr. Mike Adamson; 2011.

"This was the second Thylacoleo which was built, taking less than three weeks, and it was finished and mounted just three hours before the Investigator Lecture." -- Dr. Mike Adamson 

It was getting late by the time we returned to the the William McIntosh Motor Lodge ... dinner and a good night's sleep were in order, because we were checking out early the next morning. We were headed home, but a lot of miles and some great places were ahead of us. First destination: Kingston S.E.

The "S.E." was added to differentiate this coastal town from the Kingston on the Murray River. It's a very nice town, strung out along a lovely beach. The sky was lowering ... we were losing the weather, running back into clouds and possible rain, just as we'd set out into, days before. First: go-juice in the car. Then, check out the "sundial of human involvement" ... hey, it works! See the pictures, above, in which Dave demonstrates.

And then ... The Big Lobster. Larry the Lobster. And the name doesn't deceive: it's huge. It sits right at the end (or beginning) of the Princess Highway -- in fact, the physical address is 1, Princess Highway. Alas, in recent years Larry has been allowed to fall into disrepair, and if you look at the reviews of the cafe for which the lobster is the draw-card, well ... turns out, it's not actually somewhere to stop if you're hungry and/or in a hurry. Folks say the food is just okay but the service is slow and the prices are high. Hmm. Good thing we'd packed an awesome picnic basket!

So we headed down to the foreshore for lunch, using one of the gazebo-style structures because quite a wind was whipping across the beach. All the way from Naracoorte, we'd been playing tag with a horse transporter. First they'd stop, then we'd stop, so we were always in touch -- and in fact we were headed to the same spot. A farm family from one of the properties right by Naracoorte were taking their horses for a day at the beach. They recognized the Holden Camira ... she was easy to spot, and identify; Camiras had a problem with their paintwork. Holden used something called "Ocean Mist Green," and it literally fell off, so Jade's dear old Camira was "patchy," to use a generous term. But she also went like a rocket, and we kept her probably longer than we should have, before Lola joined the clan. So the farm family recognized us, and we recognized them -- we got to talking, and it made for  lovely interlude.

Suitably refueled, we checked out the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse. We'd wanted to climb it, but it was closed, locked up, on the day ... well, dang. Another time. And speaking of time -- we had to be moving, if we wanted to see something of the Coorong while the light, and the weather held. So --

Next time: Salt Creek, black swans, and the Coorong.

• If you enjoy the Bill Cosby version -- Dave covered this part of the trip in Fossils in them thar hills, plus Narracoorte to Lucindale, and The Journey Home: Kingston S.E.

Milang and Lake Alexandrina -- wetlands, sailboats, big skies and a lot of history

The sun rises over Paddlesteamer Drive, Milang, Lake Alexandrina

Colonial houses often have satellite dishes on the roof

A barge loading crane on the jetty -- it wears a "National Trust" badge these days

Lake Alexandrina, pretty in winter sunshine...

...and Lake Alexandrina, brooding on a winter's evening

Welcome to Milang, established 1854

Welcome to Milang, on Lake Alexandrina, in South Australia. It's all about big skies and vast water, sail boats and pelicans, night skies of incredible brilliance, wetlands with an enormous population of frogs, and a sleepy little town that's so quiet, the silence is a great reason for going there.

Frogs. Yes, frogs!

The Spotted Grass Frog, the Eastern Banjo Frog (aka the Bullfrog), and the Common Froglet ... the info board quotes a population of "thousands" of them in the wetlands, but in the evening you'd swear you're listening to millions. On one Milang visit, we had dinner at the Pier Hotel, and on the walk back to the van (the Millennium Possum waited patiently) we were stunned by the frog-racket emanating from the wetlands. It was August; there had been flooding in the Lakes area -- some of the shacks on Paddlesteamer Drive were still sandbagged, but to the frogs, it must have been sheer paradise.

Main street Milang -- that's the Pier Hotel at the end, a country pub with a very good dining room.

Paddlesteamer Drive, right above the beach ... winter ...

...and Paddlesteamer Drive on a summer evening.

"Paddlesteamer Diver" is a quaint, or even exotic name for an area the Alexandrina local government wishes would just vanish! The shacks have been there for so long, they're almost heritage listed, but they're still shacks ... somewhat makeshift and far from the modern subdivision Milang might like to see. These were originally holiday homes, but many people are retiring there -- and why wouldn't you, with views like this ... yes, that's a pelican fishing for lunch:

And it's not only about the lake, and the sailing -- or the herons and pelicans. Lake Alexandrina is a low-lying region, which means the wetlands are world class. Migratory birds stop there, for instance, the Japanese Snipe:

In summer, the water levels are so low that the region is far too dry for waterfowl, as such. (The same is true of all the southeast coast, from the Coorong to the Victorian border.) However, if you don't mind dodging showers and wearing a jacket, in the winter you can bird-spot to your heart's content on the coast of Lake Alexandrina. Temperatures will be around 16 degrees Celsius, give or take a little ... this is winter, after all. The trouble is that light levels can also be very low, so you might spot your rare bird, but digital cameras don't seem to be able to make heads or tails of the conditions. Photos are notoriously murky and need a lot of enhancement when you get them home.

But just let the sun shine, and the wetlands are gorgeous, especially in winter:

A boardwalk-cum-bridge spans part of the wetlands...

...connecting Milang proper with Paddlesteamer Drive and Lake Alexandrina itself.

The wetlands follow the coast of Lake Alexandrina, a habitat for birds and amphibians...

Some of the plants look like they came here from Mars...

Follow the walking trails, and you might not see the abundant birdlife, but you'll hear amazing voices.

Wildlife on the scale of the very small comes out after the rains.

One general rule, if you're going to tromp around in the wetlands -- or any other place that's off the beaten track, for that matter. Watch out for snakes, and make sure you wear something decent on your feet, and long-legged pants. The Lake Alexandrina region is home to the Common Tiger Snake, the Red Bellied Black Snake and the Common Brown Snake. Now ... everybody says they're plentiful, but we gotta tell you ... we've spent eons there, trying to photograph rare birds, and we haven't -- yet! -- seen a snake. Not one. Nada. Not that you can't, and won't, see them eventually, but they seem to hide when they see us coming. Not being mortally afraid of snakes, we'd love to catch sight of them, but they're even more timid than those rare birds. (Spiders, on the other hand ...! You might wish spiders were timid. One day, Dave will tell the story of the palm-sized huntsman with whom he shot pool...!)

Men and women of the Alexandrina region played their part in the wars too, and are remembered at Anzac Park. The memorial there is very special. The warzones in which the local veterans served, and the allies alongside whom they fought and died, are marked out by trees...

Anzac Park, Milang

Milang Soldiers' Memorial Gardens

Milang War Memorial

The area has a long and colorful history, involving riverboats and the coastal trade, the influx of settlers from many parts of Europe, agriculture and, later, tourism. A little of Lake Alexandrina's history is remembered in the wall art:

 "Visions of a Timeless Shore" by Peter McLachlan, assisted by Peter Evans; 1996. 

[The wall art, above, is entitled "Visions of a Timeless Shore." It was launched on March 3, 1996 by Mr. G Davidson, and was painted by Peter McLachlan, assisted by Peter Evans, as a commission from the Milang and Clayton Traders Association, Inc., and with the support of J. Schubert, the S.A. Country and Arts Trust, and the local community. Sorry we can't give you links for the artists, but a Google search turns up almost nothing. If anyone knows either of the Peters, please ask them to get in touch!]

There was a time the railway went to Port Milang, but today all traces of that railway are historic, heritage listed, enduring only as open-air museum exhibits...

The standing exhibit, seen from the wetlands, looking back towards the Pier Hotel, Milang. 

The old Milang Station. There's a signboard in there, offering Devonishire Cream Teas --
alas, that cafe has closed now. And that's an enormous pity.

End of the line -- literally! A preserved section of track at Milang just ... stops.

The remnants of the old, disused railway ... "the tracks to nowhere" ... lie right alongside the wetlands bird sanctuary. It's as quiet in Milang these days as it would have been bustling and noisy in the era of the steamboats. Today, as this info board says, wrens and robins nest there, dipping and diving for the insects that also breed in the marshes. These tiny birds are impossible to photograph -- they're the size of golf balls and so fast, you can't keep track of them with your eyes, much less a camera -- not to mention, in the kind of low-light conditions that Milang can turn on to confound you, almost without warning. Low-light conditions, you ask? Read on --

We must have visited Lake Alexandrina about a dozen times, and the sun might be shining when you set out, but as you approach, almost every time, the weather changes. You get amazing skies, spectacular sunsets and dawns ... flooded lowlands full of black swans ... but it can be murky in full daylight. The images for this post have been chosen from photos collected over many visits, across several years. At left you see the Langhorn region, approaching Milang and , yep, right on cue the sky is lowering at noon, daylight is failing. The frogs love it, but digital cameras have an impossible time. They do best at sunset and dawn, when the clouds intensify the whole experience. In fact, once we camped out there, specifically to photograph the dawn...

Leaving Milang. Now, where do we want to go next?!

Next: photographing dawn over Lake Alexandrina, and -- staying at a B&B there, which turned out to be haunted! Then, we'll take you to Langhorne Creek, and a visit to Bleasdale Winery.