There And Back Again. Chapter Eleven. Bool Lagoon

Did I mention this is post number 300? I was thinking about writing up something special for it, but since I'm in the middle of a grand caving adventure I'd rather not bore y'all with useless crap about Yours-Truly.

I'll give you a hint though, the numbers 300, 1423, 299, 754, 286, 16, 279, and 22 all have something in common. Ok all you number series folk: have at it!

Bool Lagoon

After we left Wet Cave, we had decided to have lunch. Now, when Wifey-Poo and YT go out and about we pack all our own food and such. Mainly cus we can't afford to eat in restaurants while travelling since all the spare dough is spent on keeping the pool in good nick.

So we had everything in hand for a nice picnic lunch. But, WHERE should we have lunch? We could easily have it at one of the many picnic areas at the caves. We could easily go back up to the swimmin' hole.

But we did neither of those things.

As I was looking around online in the week leading up to the trip, getting map printouts of small towns, finding rest stops, and researching Naracoorte, I stumbled upon a place called Bool Lagoon about 20 k's south of Naracoorte.

Apparantly Bool Lagoon is supposed to be a birder's paradise. Over 150 different species of flyin' critters have been seen there at one time. The reserve is 3100 hectares so that makes it the most diverse area in all of Australia for birds.

There's also picnicing and camping areas there too. They have boardwalks that go out over the lagoon to bird blinds so you can watch the critters without them knowing you are there. Many migratory birds from waaaaaaay up north "summer over" at Bool.

Cool.

Sounds like a nice place for a piccie.

Oh, wait a sec. Isn't Oz in the middle of a drought that's been going on for over a decade? Ah, Bool is also a "seasonal" wetland area. Well, maybe there'll be some water there.





But let's just have a looksie at a satellite photo (and hope it's current):




Winter is the "wet" season down here. Or as "wet" as it's gonna get. Did you know that Bool Lagoon was totally dry from 1996 to 2003? Even in winter.

Well, since we were right across the road (at the caves) and we wanted a place to have lunch, we figured we'd give it a go.

This is what the scenery was like on the drive there:


Here's what the lagoon is supposed to look like:



It's a special place:


With neat critters too:




Now, we were prepared for it to be dry. Maybe perhaps a marshy area or two. Not too many birdses, but something...

Instead we saw this:



We decided to take a short walk down a trail. Hopefully there may be a marsh or two?

Hmmmmm, pretty dry...

The car waited for us, but it tried hard to not be embarassed and did it's best to remain inconspicuous.


This is me approaching a bird blind


This is me taking a picture of a bird blind


Hmmmmmm, don't think there's many of these blokes around today


Let's have a look, shall we?


Hmmmmm, perhaps we may see something in a close up?

Nope, nothin'

Here's what we could see during the "wet" season:
Brown Bitterns
sandpipers
green shanks
Brolga
Swamp Harrier
Australian Hobby
Barn Owl
Peregrine Falcon
Cape Barren Goose
Magpie Goose
Musk Duck
Whiskered Tern
Black-tailed Godwit
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Golden-headed Cisticola
Clamorous Reed Warbler
Little Grassbird
Black-tailed Native-hen
Pied Stilt
Banded Lapwing
Red-necked Avocet
White-fronted Chat
Red-browed Firetail
Flame Robin
Crescent Honeyeater
Little Wattlebird
Forest Raven


Let's go have lunch while overlooking the dry lagoon:


This is one of the many reasons why we were sneezing. It's a type of ozzie bottlebrush, BTW.


Heading back to the caves!




Bool Lagoon was NOT a loss, however. Firstly, we got away from any other people whatsoever. And we will be coming back in October. Had a nice, quiet picnic.

Don't worry, you WILL see water birds on the return trip! Got some great shots on the way to Lucindale.

Next up is THE MAIN ATTRACTION: The Victoria Fossil Cave!

Here's a teaser of what you see when you go into the main fossil chamber:




And as you descend even deeper... all sorts of nooks and crannies show up




Watch out for the shadows...

Second Intermission --With Confections!

Today was going to be the day we all have lunch down at Bool Lagoon. However, I've realised I've got a lot of wetlands bird research to do so that everyone knows what's going on.

And a lot of photos to look through and stories to go with the pics.

And maps to scribble on!

So while I'm doing all that (complete with icepack on back and homemade liquid painkiller/muscle relaxant at hand) I'm giving you a second intermission in the story.

And I've even got POPCORN for ya! With pics and a recipe about how to make it! Cus you just gotta have popcorn during an intermission, yessiree!

Before you get the popcorn goodness, I'm going to hand the blog over to my favorite people in all the world : YOU!

I'm going to post up a picture and you get to put a caption on it (just use the comments, eh?). Be witty, be silly, be gross, be obnoxious, be vulgar, whatever.

The second picture really needs a good story for it as it's just begging and pleading for a good story. Here's where all you clever folks out there are invited to make as long a comment as you'd like; provided it's a story about the picture. And if you are going to make it quite a few hundred words, I'd suggest writing it in wordpad or something, saving it, and THEN copy to the comments --just in case blogger has a hernia and then decides to eat your entire story.

Everybody ready? Heeeeeeeeeerrrrreeeeeeeeee we go!

Picture Number 1 Remember, this one gets a caption:




And the second one gets a story:




Great material to work with, eh? I'm sure that with all my regulars and all the new folks reading that there should be some good stories :) Take all the time you want, no worries. But try to have them in by the time we finish with the Naracoorte trip (we're about halfway).

And now you deserve a treat putting up with me: popcorn!

I cooked up a big ole bowl of it specifically to share with someone over in NSW, but I realised it'd be cold by the time it got there. So I'm eating it all myself, sigh.

Is everyone aware that the corn used for popcorn is NOT the same kinda stuff you'd normally eat? It's a very specific type in which the ear is small and the grains are pointed at their base. The endosperm is very dense and the overall kernal is drier than other types.

If you care about the latin, here's the names of two popcorn species that I'm aware of:

Zea mays var. everta

Zea mays var. praecox

Everyone is aware that corn originated in Central America, right? Once it was domesticated (evidence suggests around 6500 years ago) it spread. In fact, there were some North American tribes that cleared land and farmed corn.

Did you know that the ancient Incas used popped popcorn as funeral decorations?

Regarding Thanksgiving... After the 92 natives and the pilgrims had gorged themselves on the wonderful food the Native Americans provided for them, legend has it that the brother of Chief Massasoit disappeared into the woods. Quadequina then returned with a huge bushel of popped popcorn for everyone.

There, don't you feel smarter now? And next time you serve popcorn you can talk all about it and bore the crap out of everyone.

Making good, nutritious popcorn takes all of about 3 minutes. Provided you have the right stuff, of course.

Here's what you need to make a big bowl of tasty popcorn.

1/2 cup olive oil (I know it has a low burn point, just bear with me)
1 tbsp butter
sea salt
200 gr popcorn kernals (about 1/2 cup)

Your cooking vessel should be a large, stainless-steel, THIN-BOTTOMED pot with a lid.

Here's this'll help:




Make sure you use sea salt!


It's also best (and quickest) cooked on a gas burner as you can control the temp much quicker than electric.

Here's what you do:

Pour the olive oil into the bottom of the pot. You want enough to completely cover the bottom with 3 or 4 mm of oil. Spinkle in some salt, and flick a couple of drops of water in. Turn the heat on medium low.

In about 30 seconds, the water should start to sputter. That's your cue to put the popcorn in the pot. Put the lid on, grab the handles (use pot holders or you burn your fingers) and give the pot a quick shake. In about 30 more seconds, the popcorn will begin to pop. That's your cue to add the butter in quickly (just have a big splat of butter on a knife, lift the lid halfway and splat the butter in quickly and get the lid back on pronto).

As the first half of the popcorn pops you'll only need to shake it every ten seconds or so. But as the pot fills up you'll need to shake it almost continuously. When the popping has almost stopped, turn the heat off but keep shaking.

By doing that above paragraph you'll insure that every kernal will pop and none will burn.

Toss into a large bowl, salt, toss, salt, toss etc. Until you have enough salt for your taste buds.




If you are adventurous, then some spicy goodies you can add :) Obviously you could sprinkle garlic salt or onion salt on at the end. But how's about adding some cayenne powder of chilli flakes in when you add the kernals to the oil?

The mind boggles at the flavour combinations you can make, so give it a go!

Stay tuned for Bool Lagoon!

There And Back Again. Chapter Ten. Still In The Darkness

Yes, we've got one more day in the Wet Cave. Actually, we were in it for only an hour in real time, but it's going to be a day in blogging time.

The chambers in Wet Cave are really huge. Very high ceilings and massive stalactites. Add to that the tree ferns in the entranceway and it's very impressive.

I've picked 31 of my best photos from the cave, so as before you get them in slideshow format and also a link to the flickr page for the clickable thumbnails.

There has been quite a few rainbow lorikeets hanging around lately. Since I haven't put up too many purdy burdie pictures due to the caving posts, I figured y'all might wanna see a few of the birds.

Just a few, mind you. Well, at least enough to set siege to the KoKon Bunker.



















As you can tell, they can get quite enthusiastic during brekky.

I, however, am not feeling too enthusiastic this morning. Last night I "did" my back. Nothing new as I've had to be very careful with it over the years. It's actually been 16 months since I've done it this bad. The pisser of it this time is that I did absolutely NOTHING to account for it.

Last night we had a nice Mexican meal (there are no good Mexican restaurants in Adelaide so to do it right I've got to make it myself), watched a couple of episodes of Torchwood on dvd (I was comfortably ensconced in the bean bag), got up, scritched the beast (didn't even need stitches afterwards), and started to walk to the back to shut down mission control for the night.

As I went through the kitchen I noticed my back was starting to ache in an oh-so-familiar-way. By the time I got to the back room I was in agony.

Shit. Gonna be a fun week.

But that won't stop me from posting all about the Naracoorte Cave trip, no sirree! Besides, I seemed to have picked up some new readers lately and I'm sure they'll want to see all my scribbling on maps (we took a different route home, unlike Bilbo) and hear about the nice country towns, and villages, and shacksinthemiddleofnowhere. Besides, I'm sure you want to see the pictures of the giant 30 foot lobster.

So stay tuned, eh?

Meanwhile, we get to finish out Wet Cave. This slideshow has 31 of my pics from the cave where I tried to give you an idea of the scale of this sucka. No one in OhighO should feel claustrophobic, and no one in Massatoochits should get seasick.

As usual, here's a link to the clickable thumbnail page, courtesy of flickr.

And here's the slideshow. Remember, just click on the little box on the lower right of the slideshow to play it full screen. It's worth it!





Next post we take lunch at Bool Lagoon. But first I need to refresh my icepack, get some liniment on my back, use the magic spray, score some codeine, and get some liquid muscle relaxants.

There and Back Again. Chapter Nine. Wet Cave

After we finish going through the Wonambi Fossil Centre (after having a snack and a cup of tea) we then proceeded to the Wet Cave.

The Wet Cave has huge caverns and the main entrance is down through a roof collapse. Fortunately, there are stairs that wind down into the cave. And from there, you are on your own.

Well, not really. There is a motion sensor lighting system set up, and all the various "squeezes" are roped off. If you do the "Adventure Caving" tours, this cave is where you will start. In fact as we left I got to see a group coming out of what seemed to be an impossibly narrow cleft. I've since found out there are loads of other chambers that are accessible via Wet Cave on the "Adventure Caving" tours.

Next time I WILL be doing that!

The chambers in the Wet Cave are massive. They are so big that in either this cave or the Blanche Cave there used to be "soirees" or "balls" down in the caves. The acoustics must have been awesome! I've read conflicting reports about which cave the parties 100 years ago occurred, so any help figuring that out would be helpful, ta.

Before I give you the slideshow of the pictures WP took, I need to tell you that I can see in the dark.

I'm serious.

I can.

If there is light, I can see darned well. I've even written a post about it a few years ago, but I don't have the time to find it right now (I'm making dinner as I type this). But trust me, I can see in the dark.

You'll notice that I have my prescription sunglasses on in these photos that WP took. Why? Cus there was enough light in this cave so that I didn't even notice that I hadn't changed to my other pair.

Just another way to rose-tint my world, eh?

Oh, and I want some feedback about the slideshows. Do you prefer the slideshows or fullsize pics on the blog or thumbnails on the blog. Lemme know, eh?

Speaking of that, here's a link to the thumbnails of WP's pics of the wet cave.

And here's her slideshow:




I have to run, I've got spanish rice on, shredded mex pork, homemade refried beans going, WP will be chopping the salad, and I'm serving it up with homebrewed cervaza.

Oh, and the wild parrots are outside calling me names...

There And Back Again, Chapter Eight. Wonambi Fossil Centre

The Wonambi Fossil Centre down at the Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Site is quite the place. Firstly, it's nestled into the middle of the scrub landscape so you hardly even know it's there.

We actually started here at the Centre, but didn't go into the exhibits till after the Alexandra Cave Tour. Hence, you got to see some cool cave pics first, and now you'll get to see the Wonambi Fossil Centre.

BTW, the rainbow serpent of the aboriginal dreamtime is called Wonambi. Since there were many fossils of giant pythons (similar to the recently discovered South American ones) you can probably guess how the Wonambi Fossil Centre got it's name. For those of you not familiar with The Dreamtime, I'd suggest you open google and let your fingers do the walking.

The Naracoorte Caves are unique among fossil sites worldwide in that it's the only place where there's an unbroken fossil record from 500,000 years ago to "recent". Well, how did that happen?

The limestone was laid down by not only shellfish and their ilk, but also by microscopic sea critters during a 20,000,000 year span starting about 25,000,000 years ago. That means that by 5 million years ago, the Naracoorte ridges were "high and dry".

How do fossils from 100,000 years ago get into rock that solidified a long time before they were born? Ahhhh, this is where limestone geography and ground water explain things. Basically, the whole underground region is a porous and very permeable aquifer. Rain that fell on the "mountains" over the border in Victoria is dripping through the caves as you read this. The water did take a "while" to get there... 200,000 years or so --which explains why the bore water in Naracoorte DOES NOT TASTE GOOD.

Anyways, the water dissolves the limestone. Caves form, and there's all sorts of little interconnecting tunnels or tubes (called squeezes) that connect really big chambers.

And these interconnected chambers (shall we call them caves?) have NO contact with the surface. Yes, I know you're all thinking sinkholes, but that's not what happened. Solution tubes would form from the surface where rainwater had accumulated. So there would be (and still is in some caves) a "hole" down to the caves. Think of it sorta like a manhole in a street without the cover on. Now cover all of the street with dirt, greenery, trees, etc. Would you even be able to see the hole?

Hmmmmm, neither could the critters that fell the hole. No Lewis Carroll jokes, thankyouverymuch.

Soil and detritus (fancy term for DIRT) also falls down the hole. Critter that falls down the hole have a long drop. It adds it's carcass to the ever growing pile of dirt in the cave chamber at the bottom of the solution tube.

There are so far about 100 of these type of sites identified in the known caves, of which only 4 have been excavated. Hmmmmm, any paleontologist want a job for the rest of his or her life? Job security!

Anyways, that's how the fossils from extinct (and some not extinct) critters got down into the caves.

Getting back to the Wonambi Fossil Centre.

Not only are there some really cool fossils there, but they've re-created what the area looked like a few hundred thousand years ago. You enter and you are in a very lush jungle with critters everywhere. But these aren't static models. They are animatronic. And they have motion sensors so when you walk past one it turns it's head, opens it's jaws and growls.

Neato!

You then go underground into a cave system mock-up. All sorts of things are going on down there! At one little nook in the caves as you look at the fossil skull of some little critter you'll hear a noise above you... A big ole Wonambi naracoortensis is nestled in a crack 2 feet above your head!

I thought that was very cool. However, there was one lady walking through there who didn't like at all. In fact, her words were, "They shouldn't be allowed to do that!" And she was serious!

There were also goodies hidden in the nooks and crannies that most people would miss. Fortunately for you, I'm not most people :)

Here's the flickr slideshow of pics from both YT (Yours-Truly, that's me) and WP (Wifey-Poo, or The Most Wonderful Woman In The Entire World).

As usual, you can view it fullscreen just by clicking on the little box on the lower right hand side of the slideshow, no worries.

Oh, and here's a link to a thumbnail page of the entire set, no worries.



Do I need to tell you I thought the set with the wallaby in the snake's coils was neat?

If you want to learn much more about the area, just check out this site called The Story Of The Naracoorte Caves!

First Intermission

I'm in a bit of a hurry today. I spent an hour or so disinfecting 60 beer bottles cus it's bottling day. I then just *had* to jump in the pool as the pool walls needed scrubbing --hey, it really is work! Especially when it's only been in the low 90's for the last few days... that water gets bloody cold!

I also made a loaf of bread at 5 am this morning.

I also solved a lot of 'puter problems.

As soon as this is posted I'll be bottling the beer.

And then cleaning the kitchen.

And then pruning the front garden.

And then working on the 'puter.

And then cleaning the carport.

And then starting on dinner.

Obviously, you can see that I won't have time to get the next chapter of the Naracoorte trip up for you. Heck, I doubt I'll even have time for my 2 hour afternoon nap :(

Luckily for y'all, I take lot's of pics when the morning lorikeets and cockatoos are shoveling their beaks in the food I put out for them. I generally take one or two hundred pictures and then sift through them later on to find the good ones.

This morning though, I stopped after the third picture. I then set the camera down and enjoyed my coffee while watching the birds as I was lounging in the pool. I figured that after this shot I wasn't going to get anything better this morning.

Just click on it to bring it up to 1000 pixel wide gloriousness. I did NO colour enhancements on it. The only thing I did was resize it from 3000 pix wide to 1000 pix wide.

Enjoy.




For those of you who have a widescreen monitor, here it is at 1000 pix wide:




And yes, I know the focus is off slightly, but I still think it's a nice shot.

There And Back Again. Chapter Seven. Same Journey In The Dark.

*please note this version of the story includes addendum number one and appendix A*

Ok, that joke is probably worn out by now...

Today you get to see the pics that WP (Wifey-Poo) took, along with a couple more of mine. You still be down in The Alexandra Cave so you haven't missed the fossil centre, no worries.

Why am I showing you WP's pics even though they're from the same cave as the ones you saw yesterday? Cus not only is WP's camera different from the one YT was using, but we both have a different photographers eye. You'll see what I mean when you compare this slideshow to mine from Chapter Six.

Before you get to see the pics, I have to say that I'm terribly disappointed with y'all. SOMEONE should have "got" the pi joke in Chapter four. Ah, wait a sec, my bad. The reference and joke were both so obvious you musta felt it beneath you to remark about.

Sorry, just woke up from a nap and my brain isn't working yet, gimme a sec while the caffeine kicks in.

A
H
H
H
... I feel better now.

Just remembered: I have a PSA for you!

Do not look at pictures of drippy cave things if you are susceptable to motion sickness or have not had enough to drink yet.

There, you've been warned.

And I have some info for those of you who would like to do your own crayon scrawling on your owns maps. There's a wonderful little, FREE, program available on the system of tubes. It's called Irfanview. It's made by a bloke from Bosnia who graduated from The Vienna Institute of Technology and he's had this program available for a decade now (it's updated regularly). I love the batch conversion feature, and the algorithms for resizing/resampling are darned fine. He's just recently added a simple paint dialog so you can colour to your hearts content.

It's free. It lives at www.irfanview.com

Don't be fooled by how small the program is; when you start messing about with it you'll find it does a great many things. Did I mention it's free?

And now for the slideshow of WP's pictures from The Alexandra Cave. Remember you can view it full screen by clicking on the little box with the arrows in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow.



You will note that we take different kinds of shots.

Here's the link through to the flickr set of WP's Alexandra cave pics. There's a whole page of thumbnails and you can view to your hearts' content, no worries.


This cave descended to a depth of 18 metres. I'll save you the trouble of multipying 18 by 3.3 and tell you that we were 60 feet underground. Fortunately, there's been a lot of excavation between the chambers so that tourists can walk through. However, the passageways between each chamber used to be (and a lot still are) very tight squeezes.

I want you to have a look at this picture:

You see the light up at the top of the photo? That light is on top of the original dirt that had filled this section. The people who went through here over a hundred years ago had NO idea what was down there and were doing it using oil lamplights all while squeezing through a passageway 18 inches high. Wee, FUN!

Isn't limestone and Karst terrain neat?

In one chamber there's a reflecting pool. The rangers and staff do not add any water to it. If it dries out, so be it. Ummmmmm, constant 98% humidity. Do you think it'll dry out? The pool is only a couple of centimetres deep and there's some stalactites that are forming above it.

This makes for some great reflections! We both tried as best we could both with and without flash to get decent shots of this. I'll let you decide if we succeeded.


I know it's blurry, but I didn't have a tripod.

This next one is a shot of the pool. I was very pleased to get this.



Same shot but with the flash on, you can definitely tell how shallow the pool is:



WP's camera has a stronger flash and a longer zoom so she could get some great shots from farther away. She got some great colours here:



This one from her is even better:



When you take a passage around the left side you have a good view of the formation above the pool:



After Alexandra we had a quick cuppa, then went into the fossil centre. That'll be covered in the next chapter, but feel free to page ahead if you'd like. Oh wait, this isn't a book... Guess you'll just have to wait.

There And Back Again. Chapter Six, A Journey In The Dark

Section one, subparagraph 3, item two.

Alexandra Cave Part One

Why part one? Well, that's cus these are the pictures that YT (Yours Truly, that's me) took, as opposed to the pics WP (Wifey-Poo) had tooken. We have different styles of foa-toa-graffiness-itude-eeality. I also have awesome spelling skills.

Part two of Alexandra Cave will be, of course, the pics from WP. But you probably could have figured that out without me help.

I have a lot to tell y'all about Naracoorte. Friendly place, never been in a friendlier place, in fact. But that'll have to wait as I've kept all of you (is it up to 20 yet?) on the edge of your seats (and don't the edges of the chairs make your feet fall asleep? Well, for me it does) long enough.

We started with an hour long tour of the Alexandra Cave. It was supposed to be 45 mins, but SOMEONE (YT?) just kinda had to stretch it out a wee bit :)

I've about 50 pics I want to show you, but I don't think I should embed them all. See? Sometimes I think even when I don't!

What I've done is make a slideshow for you. The controls *should* be pretty well self-explanatory. I'm also putting up a direct link through to the flickr page where all the full size images live.

Let me know what you think, and if there's any shots that anyone wants ultrafullsize just lemme know, no worries.

Firstly, here's the direct link to where the pics live at flickr. Just a reminder, you can click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger pic. However, you want to make sure you then click the "all sizes" button to see the pic at 1000 by 750 pixels.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddd, here's the slideshow!





Just click on that big ole friendly arrow in the middle to play the show.

But of course you want to see the pics big ole full sized like. Right? Well, notice that in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow (once you've got it playing) (just rollover it cus it don't bite) there's a little box with four arrows pointing outward? Ah, you found it, good on ya! Just click on that box and it'll play full screen on your monitor. Cool, no?

There's a whole bunch of other controls and options for you to use and play with. Go on, have fun!

PS: I am disappointed with my readers... absolutely NO ONE realised that the lead singer and song writer from AC/DC (of which I bastardised the lyrics of the song Big Balls to become Big Claws) hailed from the same little town in Western Australia as did Sir James Barrie.

Ok, maybe that one was just a bit obscure...

There And Back Again. Chapter Five: The Black Gate Is Closed

Before we even think about starting with this post, here's a beaut pic of the goal:

Just click on it for full sizedness, you'll be happy.


Da-da-da-DUM!

But first, let's have just another picture of a sawdust-stuffed cat-hide thingy that no taxidermist would ever take credit for:



And how's abouts a big ole aussie shout out to a bloke who hails from Peter Pan land?

I've got big claws
I've got big claws
They're such big claws
And they're dirty big claws
And he's got big claws
And she's got big claws
But we've got the biggest claws of them all!

So my query to you (I think I'm up to 13 readers now, woo-hoo!) is what is the connection betwixt Peter Pan and the claws of a cockatoo? No more hints from moi, so start your googling fingers!

Back to the show, cus the show must go on.

Upon our arrival in Naracoorte, we drove to a motel. A motel with which I had previously (like 2 months previous) made bookings for YT and WP. They have BBQ facilities and microwave ovens in each room. That suited us just fine since I had already prepared a meal that only needed to be nuked upon our arrival.

Food for the ensuing two mornings was gonna be eggs, bacon, toast, etc. The evening meal on the second day was also ready to be cooked.

This particular motel (not naming names) is situated right smack dab in the middle of hustlin' bustlin' Naracoorte. It also had a "No Vacancy" sign out front and that made me happy that we had reservations (in every sense of the word).

Hmmmm, Mr Downes? No, I can't find that name at all. Could it perhaps be under another name?

Needless to say, the conversation to check in did not go as planned. I was nice. So was WP. In fact, she was the first to point out that even if the owner (who I spoke with on the phone) did show up and remember me or my accent (almost ten years now and no aussie accent at all) that there wouldn't be room anyways since they are booked out.

We certainly didn't want to toss someone out, and they could find no record of us ever making a booking or giving them a cc number for the deposit.

Fortunately, everything always works out for me. Has for the last 5 decades.

We always travel with me little ole campstove. It's neat, compact, and cheap. Folds up to the size of a small briefcase, and that includes the butane cartridge. I made five meals offa that puppy on this trip and didn't even need to put a fresh butane cartridge in it.

I also noted a few other motels on our way into "town". Two of them had vacancy signs posted. And there was even a caravan park (love em!!!). And a big ole swimmin' hole with bbq facilities!

No worries mates!

We ended staying at a Comfort Inn. However, this was not a normal Comfort Inn. This Inn was the VERY ORIGINAL INN FROM THE SCOTTISH FOUNDER OF NARACOORTE. You can read all about it here.

The ole WM (William Macintosh) didn't have bbq or any cooking type stuff, so we thought we'd have a looksie through town to find a barbie. Turns out that we ate 4 meals over by the big swimmin' hole that had a barbie (too slow though, used me own cooker) and a fairly sizable swimmin' hole.

The swimmin' hole in Naracoorte is very cool. Size of 7 oly-pools it is. Yep, neato:


Never woulda found this place if the reservations hadn't been lost. See? It all works out, dunna why but it just does.

There's also a great tile mosiac on the crappers by the pool. Have a look:



I think the artist had a huge supply of disused tiles cus she made awesome stuff out of rejects:



Here's where we is, just click on the pics to bring em up full size:



And I just HAD to git the crayola crayons out :)



And just cus I think overhead fotos (like, maybe, birdseye?) are neat, here's where we wuz:



Oops, gotta git the paint out:



Just a gentle reminder to y'all: if you want to see a pic larger than life then just click it!

And here are two reasons to continue along with the saga --just click the pics for big ole huge full-sized goodness!