Entry 2 – 2025 – Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia
After having paused our travels for about 6 months, Grrr, it was wonderful to achieve an outing with our caravan in 2025. Refer to entry 1 for 2025. It had definitely provided a much appreciated boost to our well-being. We may have only been away for 12 days, but on our return to our home base, there seemed to be a spring in our movements. Steve’s stamina was on the mend, enabling him to complete some maintenance at home and on the caravan. It felt good to be active again.
There was a family gathering for Steve’s dad’s 93rd birthday.
There was an opportunity to participate in a small gathering of “Bushtracker Caravan Owners Group,” at Port Elliot caravan park for a week. Port Elliot is a great location on the Fleurieu Peninsula located about 75 kilometres south of Adelaide, South Australia.
With the completion of our current, required medical appointments, we thought we might head out a couple of days prior the mini muster date. Generally, it was a quiet time of the year for people holidaying in southern South Australia.
It took 4 days ringing the caravan park before someone answered the phone. We were pleased when someone did eventually answer the phone. Though we were a bit stunned with the gruff response. They could only fit us in one day prior our booked arrival date which we accepted and they hung up. We had also left messages on the phone answering service and sent an email with our request with no responses.
What the ----. Stunned and annoyed we decided to ring the nearby Normanville caravan park to see if we could get a night’s stay. The automated phone message advised we were fifth in the queue. Eventually we spoke with someone who booked us in, in quite an officious manner.
Arrival at Normanville caravan park showed the park to be at near capacity. We saw there were quite a number of NSW, VIC and WA registered vehicles nearby us in the caravan park.
As it transpired, the popular tourist destinations of central Queensland and adjoining New South Wales were experiencing record flooding from monsoon rains. Huge areas of these states were currently inaccessible, with more rain forecast by the weather bureau.
It had been many years since our last visit to the Normanville caravan park. It was nice to be reminded of the area’s beauty.
Departing Normanville caravan park Steve bumped into one of his old work colleagues. We parked up outside the caravan park, spending time over a cuppa, with a good old chin wag. It was a pleasure catching up with Graham and Barb.
We made our way towards Port Elliot along the Inman Valley Road. It is quite a scenic route with lots of large gum trees bordering the road edge. Mary had never travelled this road and Steve had last driven along it some 30 years prior. Back then Steve had an altercation with a kangaroo, resulting with damage to the work car he was driving. We did see a mob of kangaroo’s and thankfully on this occasion they kept to themselves in a nearby paddock.
We deviated into the town of Victor Harbor to obtain some provisions. Our route took us past a church and we saw a familiar person up a ladder out front. Steve use to socialise with Lew back in his boy scout days and attend at the same school. We last knew he was a pastor at one of the local churches. A quick stop with more pleasantries and we were again on our way.
What a delightful unexpected day we were experiencing.
We arrived at our next planned destination at Port Elliot caravan park. We were a couple of hours later than planned and weren’t the least upset. It had been one of those special days, as the saying goes, “meant to be.”
We spent the next week with lots of socialising. Catching up with some fellow “Bushtracker Caravan Owners,” we had met over the last ten years. There were a couple of new ones. It was a lovely time, with eight caravans in attendance.
There was a tag along drive, showcasing the local area. This included a stop at the Myponga Dam providing a group photo opportunity and showing every one utilising a “Toyota,” as their choice for a Bushtracker Caravan towing vehicle!
There seemed to be many outings experiencing the local food offerings.
From the nearby town of Goolwa there was a boat cruise on the Murray River to where it meets the ocean. It was quite an enjoyable experience, a first for us. Best shown in pictures with the last one utilising a model, fellow Bushtracker Caravan owner, Grahame. Grahame a very nice person, “influenced by wife Nerilee,” whom show great compassion for their fellow human being.
Parked alongside of us was the aptly named “Cocky B.T.” owned by Nerilee and Grahame. After a week of socialising, we headed home for some much-needed rest time.
