Day two in Australia and we awoke to yet more sunshine and a blue sky scattered with powder-puff clouds. We packed up the car with rugs, water and a picnic and, with three cousins and an aunty, embarked on a bit of a road trip. Driving through the suburbs of Adelaide, it is hard not to notice the number of parks dotted around the city. You never have to walk too far to reach a spacious green area in which to picnic, throw a Frisbee around or walk the dog. How nice to be able to pop out on your lunch break and sprawl out on a rug under the shade of a gum tree. Unfortunately, Adelaide is experiencing what can only be described as a drought, so grass throughout the city is looking rather limp, tired and brown. Water restrictions that were only supposed to last a few months are still in place more than a year later and look set to remain for some time yet. Still, the parks provide wide open spaces in the centre of the city for anyone to enjoy at any time which, being a city girl myself, I know is priceless.
First stop on our road trip was the lookout at the summit of the aptly named Mount Lofty which, at 710 metres above sea level, is the highest peak of the Mount Lofty Ranges. From there we could see all the way to the ocean. The entire city sprawled below us, the buildings of the tiny CBD reaching up to the sky and the suburbs snaking out in all directions. It was here that I first began to wish I hadn’t worn a floaty skirt - the wind would whip up every now and again, causing me to flash at least one unsuspecting family and forcing me to grab each side and pull down the rogue pieces of cotton with my fists.
We drove on, quickly entering the bush, coming across a small community, farm or cattle ranch every now and again but largely enjoying the vast stretches of empty countryside. Our destination was the coastal township of Victor Harbour. The parks and ovals next to the beach were packed with families enjoying the sunny weather on Good Friday. We took our rug and esky and parked ourselves on the beach, facing Granite Island, just over the causeway. Lunch was unloaded and we feasted on foods we could only dream of (or pay a fortune for) in Thailand - dips, pates, cheeses, baguettes and salad. Deciding that a seaside trip required an ice cream, we packed up our lunch things, retreated from the windswept beach and headed for a shop selling huge ice cream cones. Happily licking away, we walked across the bridge towards Granite Island, a small island not far from the mainland which is home to a colony of fairy penguins, all of whom had obviously considered it far too windy to emerge from their nests. My wayward skirt caused me to flash several other unsuspecting tourists as I tried in vain to pin it down to my legs, a manoeuvre which also made it fairly difficult to walk. My struggle to make it round the island with my dignity intact was worth it for the staggering views across the water towards the mainland and of the ocean glinting in the sunlight. Standing on the western side of the island, it was weird to think that nothing lay between us and Antarctica. Once again I marvelled at just how far from most of the rest of the world Australia is.
We drove home via Goolwa, a small community nestled around the beach of the same name that I remember from childhood trips to Adelaide – its waves make it perfect for boogie boarding and many a happy day was spent tumbling around in the surf and playing games on the beach. The waters of the Southern Ocean were too cold in autumn for swimming so we stopped off at aunty Claire’s newly completed holiday home and had a good old cuppa before making our way back home for a slap-up meal and lots of lovely South Australian wine – merely a warm-up for tomorrow’s activities.
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