18.3.11 – Swing along to a hiking song (Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty, South Australia)

 18.3.11 – Swing along to a hiking song (Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty, South Australia)

Meg preparing to hik

Adelaide is overlooked by the Lofty Mountains, not the most imaginative of names.  As usual, we took to obligatory trip up to the look out point on the mountain top and looked at Adelaide, which, from this exalted angle, looks very much like Sydney or Melbourne.  Our duty done in this respect, we then resolved to go for a hike for which we had noticed signposts a bit further down from the summit.  Kitted up with packed lunch, fancy hiking boots, specialist hiking socks, glitzy walking poles etc. etc., we took off down the 2 miles of forest track to Waterfall Gulley.  It was steep and rough, but we were up to it – bold Scottish hikers well equipped in difficult terrain.  Through forests of gum trees we went, up each of which, we had been assured, koalas were just waiting to display themselves to us. 

Got to Waterfall Gulley - whew!

Not a one did we see, but we did see plenty of young Adelaideians, clad in shorts and T-shirts, water bottles in hand, earphones plugged in to MP3’s, sandshoes or even sandals on feet, bronzed arms and legs swinging, chatting nonchalantly as they easily strode or even ran up the rough 45% angle track which we were slithering down, sweat running into our eyes.  Not a walking boot in sight.  ‘Well’, we thought ‘This must be quite a waterfall with all these people coming up from it!’  We got to the waterfall. It was very pretty.  But none of the others had stopped there.  They were running up from Adelaide itself, about 4 miles further down.  And what’s more, they weren’t stopping at the car park we had started out from either – they were running effortlessly on to the summit, a further mile beyond.  Gasping, we made it back to the van eventually, had a cup of tea and felt much better.  At least we were the only ancient hikers we had seen, so we still claimed our trek as a remarkable achievement.

Hikers bold

Time perhaps to describe our little home to those of you who may be caravanning enthusiasts.  It’s a Toyota Hiace, about seventeen feet long and about eight and a half feet high.  It’s easy to drive, even though it’s an automatic, and also comfortable for the passenger.  Behind the drivers cab, there is a little L-shaped kitchen, with a sink, worktop, two ring gas hob, microwave, fridge, drawer unit, shelved cupboard, and a tiny wardrobe.  At the back of the van is our lounge/dining room during the day – a table and two settees.  At night, this becomes a very comfortable bed.  Above the cab and above the bed there is storage space, as well as below the settees.  It is ideal – very easy to keep, comfortable and plenty of storage space.  The only downside is that Bill, who is an expert at banging his head on anything that is to hand, cannot resist the temptation to crash his cranium into the above bed storage unit at regular intervals.  This means that our conversation goes a bit like this – ‘I thought we could – mind your head – have beans on toast for – mind your head – lunch.’



Our van as seen from the back door