by Rod
One of the things that I love about living on the road is the excitement of hitching up and driving off into new horizons not knowing what adventures we will have during the day or where we will call home tonight.
We left the Otways and headed west via Colac and Camperdown with no clear destination in mind other than to get to South Australia and explore the coast up and into The Coorong. With the aid of our faithful GPS (Jane) we mostly avoid highways and journey on the road less travelled. Often stumbling upon sweet little villages and great scenery without the stress of trucks and cars impatiently waiting to overtake us.
Our first stop was at a Recreation Reserve on the outskirts of the small town of Macarthur between Portland and Hamilton. It was a lovely free camp spot and a good place to base ourselves for a couple of days while we checked out Mt Eccles National Park.
Mt Eccles is one of a number of extinct volcanoes that dot the landscape of western Victoria and south western SA. Although not that high or spectacular it does stand out rising from the flat plains and has a lovely crater lake, Lake Surprise.
Even had a sleepy koala watching over us while we had lunch there.
Our next objective was to find somewhere quiet to tuck ourselves away over Easter when apparently half the population of Victoria and South Australia descend on all the campgrounds in the area. We had heard of a free camp just outside the small village of Dartmoor
near the SA border that we were lead to believe no one else knew about. Unfortunately, when we got there on the Thursday before Easter we found that our intel was not quite correct and there were over 50 caravans, motorhomes, campervans and tents competing for the limited space available. However, with our skill (or is it arse) for finding great spots to camp we managed to locate the best spot in the whole place, private and secluded, right on the Glenelg River.
Spent a very pleasant 4 days there relaxing, exploring and even getting a perfect night for the full moon, eclipse, blood moon. More photos here.
We crossed over into South Australia on Diane’s Birthday and spent a few hours in Mount Gambier indulging in some retail therapy and getting the feel of the city. We liked what we saw, big enough to be able to get what you want, but still with a country town atmosphere.
The road then led us down to the Limestone Coast to a great spot on the edge of Lake George, near the town of Beachport. Along the way we stopped off to see the wonderful Tantanoola Caves 
and equally impressive Glencoe Woolshed. The woolshed was built in the 1860’s and is one of the only woolsheds left in Australia that were never converted to mechanical sheering machinery. I do love a good woolshed!
The Limestone Coast is quite spectacular with it rugged, weathered, limestone cliffs and long sandy beaches with massive sand dunes.
Beachport has at its centre an impressive 772 metre long pier that was built in 1886. Great for a little stroll and of course, great for interesting photos.
…and now it is on up the road and into The Coorong. How exciting!! Wonder where we’ll sleep tonight…
There are more photos of this period of our journey here