Bound for South Australia

Hello again, it's that blissful week between Christmas and New Year when most Australians take the week off to go and enjoy some sun and surf. We've headed off to South Australia, to a town called Millicent. It took us about 2 hours and 40 minutes driving excluding the stopover in Penola so the kids could stretch their legs.

I loved the noticeable landscape changes from the evaporating pink salt lakes and bulokes leaving the Wimmera to the Blue Gum and Pine forest plantations with stumpy flowering red gums on the roadside in South Australia. Not to mention the Stobie poles. I couldn't resist sending a friend with the same surname a text just to tell her the kids bemusement when Mark told them to look out for the first Stobie pole. They are unique to South Australia and after a lifetime of looking at wooden or concrete power poles, they certainly jazz up the view out the car window. We passed a charming Art Deco pub in Apsley

and then the various Santa mannequins out the front of the magnificent grazing properties and then wineries of the Coonawarra. Each with their own personality and pose.

Heartwarming indeed to see the Christmas spirit on full display in rural Australia.

Why Millicent? We were hoping to stay at Robe which is the preferred destination of most Horshamites but I left my booking too late and the campsites were all full. After a bit of a Google and a read of the reviews on tripadvisor we settled for a 3 star caravan park in Millicent, inland from the Limestone Coast. It is the first time I've ever seen 5 out of 5 star ratings for a caravan park so that in itself was enticing enough to make a booking.

Our site is lovely, flat, grassy, nestled in behind a large tree and one of those rubbery waxy shrubs. Power available on both sides, water, rubbish bin, picnic table and a view across paddocks and pine plantation to hills on the horizon.
After pitching the tent we ducked into town, famished, to pick up fish and chips, forgetting and then rejoicing that South Australia is half an hour behind us (time zone change) and realising that we were the first customers and had another half an hour of evening to enjoy. We then went to the nearest park and after feeding the seagulls the remnants of dinner went to the most impressive playground I've seen. It had every piece of playground equipment a child could wish for and the big drawcard for our kids was the flying fox.

Tomorrow, we hope to go to Robe, to see what all the fuss is about and why it drives half my town to lob at its cafes and beaches every summer.