Naracoorte

And we are on our way again, winding our way out of the hills and down to Naracoorte.
The trip to Naracoorte was supposed to be a leisurely drive with the opportunity to stop occasionally as we went, however after a later than desired start and a fanatical hunt for hot chips that were apparently only able to come from shop with a particular looking storefront the leisurely was removed.
We had already organised to stay at the showgrounds when we arrived and this turned out to be a great move as it was a lovely place to stay and very central to the town, meaning that the bikes got unloaded again. Interestingly, we stayed for four nights without anybody else around even though there was about 24 sites available.
The local visitor centre incorporates a fantastic little museum centred around a history of the Australian wool industry. Relocated around this are an 1800’s woolshed, a small town post office and an old schoolhouse – all set up with original equipment.
Not far out of town are a set of limestone caves, made famous due to the discovery of large scale fossils dating from around 500,000 years ago through the present. The importance of these was demonstrated through the presence of a colleague of David Attenborough’s, along with film crew, while we were there. The interpretive centre that has been built adjoining the caves is a fantastic source of information and the displays of important but extinct parts of our fauna appealed to young and old alike.
After looking at all the available cave tours we decided on the fossil tour, which turned out to be a great decision. Liz and I learnt things about Australia’s animal history that we had never heard of before and the walk through the caves itself was also a valuable and interesting experience.
Sadly Liz wasn’t well for the last day we were in Naracoorte which put paid to our plans to wander through the Coonawarra region and down to Mt Gambier. It did however result in me being able to say that I had visited the Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, Barossa and Coonawarra without stepping foot into a winery – although I’m not sure I see that as being that much of a positive. For the first time on this trip we were also on something of a timetable which meant we couldn’t spend the extra day needed as Max was due to do his NAPLAN testing in the coming week and Liz had organised for him to do it at the North Hamilton Primary School, therefore it was off to the Hamilton area. I say area as we hadn’t actually yet fixed on where we were staying, but I am sure we will sort that out by the time we arrive!