Tuesday 22nd May - Bendigo to Bruthen

Monday 21st May - Bendigo

Sunday 20th May - St. Arnaud to Bendigo

Saturday 19th May - Kingston to St. Arnaud

Friday 18th May - Kingston

We weren't sure whether we were going to stay another night in Kingston, but decided we would.

Had a fairly leisurely  start to the day.  Went back to the chemist and picked up Bill's script.  He had seen the plane arriving earlier in the morning.  While there I bought a lovely little pelican to add to my collection.  Had a look at a few lovely shops, including a craft / gift shop where we bought a metal seahorse to hang on the wall, apparently it is a male seahorse - the females don't have the 'frilly' back.  She had females as well.
Then we went to a secondhand / antique shop.  I bought an original Noddy book complete with gollys, no. 24 (which I discovered I already had when I got home.)  It only cost me $5 and is in good condition.

Banzai Tyre-tread Depth Gauge

Bill bought himself a strange little gadget that he believes to be a tyre-tread gauge.  It is made of stainless steel and cost the grand sum of $8.  He also bought a brass plaque commemorating the maiden voyage of a ship named the "Ryoku Maru".  He did some research on the internet when we got home, and thinks he has found information about the ship.  Apparently the presentation of such plaques was / is common practice.  Strange thing is that the ship was apparently built in 1972, but this plaque commemorates a maiden voyage in 1976.  The only thing we can think of is that it was a maiden voyage for new owners, as it appears she had several owners over her lifetime.  She appears to still be in service.  Question?  How did a commemorative plaque from an Asian owned ship serving in American ports end up in an antique shop in Kingston????  We then went to a little gift shop in the old courthouse - lots of lovely things, which the owner apparently made many of.  I bought two little plaques to put away for Brittany for her birthday.

Larry the Big Lobster

Naturally we went to visit the Big Lobster (called Larry).  We decided to have some lunch there.  Can't remember what we had, but it was nice.  Just opposite the Big Lobster there were two quaint little cottages that looked just lovely.  Quite ramshackle, but oozing character.

Quaint cottages at Kingston

Customs House Robe

We also took a trip down to Robe, which had been our alternative place to stay.  I thought it sounded nice, and wanted to see it.  Well, we drove there, drove down the main street and turned around to go back!  I fancied an icecream, but we didn't see a single place where I could buy one.  All of the shops that looked interesting were shut.  Some interesting old buildings, many of which had descriptive plaques attached.  Trouble was, you could only read them if you actually walked the streets, and I wasn't up to that.

I finally got my icecream back at Scoops cafe in Kingston.  Very yummy it was too.
We had dinner from the take away at the caravan park.  I had a small hawaiian pizza, Bill had fish and chips.  Not bad for a caravan park office!

Thursday 17th May - Victor Harbour to Kingston

Victor Harbour to Kingston

Packed up, and left the park by about 9:30 this morning.  Another lovely day, weatherwise.  We decided to go inland rather than along the Coorong, so we went via Goolwa, by-passed Murray Bridge again and headed for Keith.  We had lunch at the Keith Roadhouse.  Bill had an open steak sandwich, which was enormous.  He said it was very nice.  I forget what I had.  We saw the Jeep on a Pole, and the big water pipe, both landmarks in Keith.
We arrived in Kingston about 2pm, and located the Kingston Caravan Park. No en-suite sites, but they did have disabled facilities - trouble was we didn't ask about them and later found that they were at the other end of the park, in their own block, and we could have had a site right next to them.  Ultimately it didn't matter, although it would have been nice.

Site at Kingston Caravan Park

We got set up, then had a quick drive around the town to see what was what.  Looked like there was a couple of interesting shops to look at tomorrow.  Also took one of Bill's prescriptions to be filled at the chemist.  We had to come back for it tomorrow because they had to get it flown in (from Adelaide?)
Decided we'd go to the Royal Mail Hotel for dinner.  I was a bit disappointed in my meal.  I ordered stir-fry chicken with cashews and hoiken noodles.  Unfortunately there wasn't a cashew in sight!  Bill was quite happy with his meal.

Royal Mail Hotel, Kingston SE

Wednesday 16th May - Victor Harbour, Goolwa

Cockle Train

We made the right decision when we decided to go on the Cockle Train today instead of Sunday - the weather was perfect.  Sadly it wasn't a steam engine today, but the railcar we travelled in was still historic.
We bought our tickets ($24.50 each for a return trip) and even got a special one for Salty Dog.  He was allowed on the train.

Salty Dog on the train

Mindacowie

The train goes through Port Elliot and Middleton.  At Middleton there is a lovely old house offering bed and breakfast.  It is called Mindacowie - a name that tickled my fancy.  I wondered if there was a Mindabullie too!

We decided we'd just have a coffee at Goolwa rather than try to fill in about three hours waiting for the next train.  We had 3/4 hour, enough time to walk over to Hector's where we had afternoon tea the other day.

Tuesday 15th May - Victor Harbour

Monday 14th May - Victor Harbour, Aldinga,

Victor Harbour to Aldinga

Today we went for a drive to Aldinga. We sort of got ourselves lost on the way, but eventually made it through Myponga, Sellicks Beach and Aldinga Beach.

Sellicks Beach

Aldinga Beach

Aldinga is one of the few beaches where you are allowed to drive on the sand.  According to the wikipedia site about Aldinga there is some controversy about whether cars should be banned from the beach.  However, we did the touristy thing and drove down on to the sand.  Even Salty Dog got a walk on the beach.
We had a bite to eat at a funny little take-away shop that was sort of an Indian restaurant.
We stopped somehwere on the way back and had a look at a lovely little gift shop - bought two small birds for Mum, two for me, and a metal crab.  Quite reasonably priced.  It might have been at Yankalilla that we stopped.
We decided to have dinner from the shop at the caravan park.  I had a hawaiian pizza, and Bill had fish and chips.  Quite nice.

Sunday 13th May - Victor Harbour (Mother's Day)

Hot Spot cafe

The weather was rather bleak today.  We had thought of going on the Cockle Train to Goolwa, but decided against it - felt we wouldn't see very much.  Instead we went to the shopping Centre and had a look at Big W.  Had some lunch at the Hot Spot cafe in the centre. 
We bought a metal seahorse as my Mother's Day present.
I rang Mum, Susan rang me, and Mark texted to wish Happy Mother's Day.
We checked out the Whalers Inn as a possible venue for dinner - only to find it isn't open for Sunday night dinner.

Kelly Lane 'feathers' mug

We had a look at a few other shops around town.  I bought a lovely mug for Mum for Mother's Day - a Kelly Lane mug with lovely blue wrens depicted, but all in delicate shades of mauve and purple.

Hotal Victor

We had dinner at the Hotel Victor.  Quite a nice meal.  Tried our luck on the pokies, but didn't do any good.  A lady next to me won $1100 though.

Saturday 12th May - Victor Harbour, Normanville, Cape Jervis

Quite a nice day today.  We went for a drive to Normanville - this is the place we were going to stay at 4 years ago when I was diagnosed with my secondary cancer.  It has taken us four years to get here!

SeaLink ferry to Kangaroo Island

Cafe at the ferry terminal

On the way we stopped at Cape Jervis.  This is where the ferry goes across to Kangaroo Island.  We had thought of taking the trip but it is frightfully expensive for the 45 minute trip across the water, and you virtually have to take your car which makes it even more expensive.  I think it would have cost a total of $376 for the day.  So we made do with having a bite to eat at the little cafe at the terminal, and taking photos of the ferry.

Starfish Hill Windfarm

There were lots of windmills in the area.  One was called Starfish Hill.  They really are quite a magnificent site.

Normanville Beach Cafe

We continmued on to Normanville.  It was quite a pretty little town, with nice beaches.  We had a drink and an icecream at the Normanville Beach Hut.
We drove back to Victor Harbour after our brief stop at Normanville.

Normanville Beach

We decided on Indian for dinner - but probably didn't pick the best place on offer, as it was really a take-away restaurant with a couple of tables and chairs to sit at.  Not the most ambient place to dine.  However, the food was quite nice.  Mind you, I nearly died when I saw my Butter Chicken - it was brick red, not the gentle creamy orange colour I'm used to.  I think it was called the Sitar Restaurant.