Prologue
They say all great plans never get past the first foot on the ground. This was so true on this adventure. p.s. Ckms = Camino Kilometres.
Due to the 2020 and 2021 covid lockdowns, I couldn’t do any of Europe’s grande randonnées (Big Rambles) and so I was looking for a long walk once our state borders opened. We had heard about “The Aussie Camino” from the Australian Pilgrim’s forum so I investigated it.
The web page stated it started in Portland, Victoria, and followed the Great South West Walk west for five days along the coast to Nelson. From Nelson, it continued west along the coast to Port Macdonnell in South Australia then north to Mount Gambier, Bush Haven, Kalangadoo, and, finally, Penola. It is based on Mary MacKillop’s journeys in the late 1800s. It listed it as about 240 kilometres over twelve days, so I sent off for the guidebook and put some feelers out on a few of my Facebook group pages. We soon had a party of five (Chris, Carlo, Boni, Carolyn, and I) plus a bear.
The plan was simple. I would drive to Penola and meet up with Carolyn. We’d leave Carolyn’s car at the caravan park there and drive to Eight Mile Creek, east of Port Macdonnell where we would put a water stash. East to Nelson where we would pick up Boni as she only wanted to do the first five days and leave her camper van there. Then to Portland where we would meet up with Carlo and Chris. We would leave our cars there, walk to Nelson where Boni would pick up her van and we would walk on to Penola. We would then drive back to Portland, pick up our cars, and go our separate ways. ¿Qué podría salir mal?
Boni decided to keep her van with her instead of camping on the first night in Portland. Then our first night in Portland had huge storms predicted so we asked if we could upgrade from campsites to a van or cabin. There were none available as it was some sort of holiday, and all other hard accommodation was booked. The park manager then directed us to the “Admella Motel” because “they always have spare rooms”. ALL accommodation booked out but the Admella Motel “always has spare rooms”?!? A few alarm bells went off but for no reason. It was quiet, tidy, and reasonably priced.
A bit of a planning session in one of our rooms with our guidebooks, queso, and vino tintos showed that the first night at Trewalla Camp would be fine but the second night at Bridgewater Lakes showed no real facilities so we decided to car shuffle for the first two days. Planning done, we headed to Macs Hotel for dinner and our first sellos in our credentials (stamps in our Camino passports). It took a while for the staff to work out what we were after but finally someone had heard about the Camino and that Mac’s was the first place to get a stamp so after a bit of rummaging around in various drawers they found the stamp. That was a concern. We wondered if this was going to be a thing at the other stops recommended for sellos. It was
28 February 2022 · Portland, Victoria ·
el Camino Australiano . Day 1. Portland – Cape Nelson – Bridgewater Bay – Trewalla. 25Ckms. A lovely first-day walk following the cliff section of the GSWW. A few drops of rain but not as much as we feared. It was 6 KMs of the beach after Cape Nelson which was a lovely way to finish the day. I forgot how much fun it is to climb sand dunes with a pack on. Not.
1 March 2022 Cape Bridgewater, Victoria
el Camino Australiano. Day 2. Trewalla – Cape Bridgewater – The Springs – Tarragal. 28 Ckms. A big day. The first 6 KMs were dune tops and beach to Cape Bridgewater Cafe where Cafes con leche were a treat and our second stamps then some long climbs through sea mist to Cape Bridgewater itself. Bridgewater Bay is the caldera of a 2-million-year-old volcano and from the Cape you can see the distinct shape. Then it was a very, very long afternoon. It started raining near The Springs and stayed till the end.
2 March 2022 Discovery Bay Coastal Park
el Camino Australiano. Day 3. Bridgewater Lakes – Discovery Bay – Swan Lake. 22 Ckms. Discovery Bay is the meseta of this Camino. A lot of headspaces and a lot of hard work. It will take us 3 days to walk the beach to Nelson and we are already questioning it. It was a very hard walk, and everyone is hobbling. Lisa, Niven, and I did this ten years ago so you would think I’d know better.
3 March 2022 Discovery Bay Coastal Park, Victoria
el Camino Australiano. Day 4. Swan Lake – Lake Monibeong. 17 Ckms. We all had a hard day yesterday. The sun, the soft sand, and the dunes at the end hurt. We got into Swan Lake but Boni didn’t arrive till later and was very distressed so Boni and I got a lift into Nelson today while Carlo Carolyn and Chris hit the beach. It was 30 when they got to Lake Monibeong and we had oranges and cheese for them when we arrived. They said the sand was lovely and firm most of the way.
4 March 2022 Nelson, Victoria
el Camino Australiano. Day 5. Lake Monibeong – Nelson. 22 Ckms. Chris, Boni, Carolyn, and Carlo had a wet walk along Discovery Bay to Nelson on lovely firm sand while I organised food drops and accommodation in Nelson and Port Macdonald. We’re staying in a lovely place called Nelson Cottages while it buckets down outside. Dinner at the hotel tonight.
5 March 2022 Brown Bay, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 6. Nelson – Piccaninnie Ponds – Brown Bay. 23 Ckms. It rained all the way from Nelson to Piccaninnie Ponds then cleared on time for morning tea. Then it was back on the beach but different. The clouds rolled back in, a gentle on-shore breeze and nice firm sand all the way to Brown Bay. A lovely 10 Kms on the sand.
6 March 2022 Port MacDonnell, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 7. Brown Bay – Port MacDonnell. 15 Ckms. A lovely stroll along the beach. There was cloud cover, a strong onshore wind behind us and the tide was out leaving awesome firm sand. Our fourth stamp was gained at the Victoria Hotel. Time for lunch.
7 March 2022 Mount Gambier, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 8. Port MacDonnell – Mount Schank – Mount Gambier. 28 Ckms. A lovely ramble along country lanes to Mt. Schank and onto the highway, 5 Kms from Mount Gambier. Mostly flat with wonderful cloud cover and a light breeze. We saw our first flecha amarilla.
8 March 2022 Mount Gambier, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 9. Mount Gambier. 12 Ckms. Rest day. We decided to spend the day being touristas. It started with a lap of Blue Lake, then some clothes washing before heading to town to watch a brilliant movie called “Volcanos” which explained the geological history of the area. The afternoon was spent walking the city’s Heritage Trail.
9 March 2022 Dismal Swamp, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 10. Mount Gambier – Hinton Road – Bush Haven Cottages. 15 Ckms. A lovely stroll from the outskirts of Mount Gambier and then along Hinton Road which gradually devolved from bitumen to limestone to forestry road to bush track onto the cottages. Again, the cloud cover kept the sun off.
10 March 2022 Kalangadoo, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 11. Bush Haven – Kalangadoo. 21 Ckms. Our guide said to ramble along shady country roads, but Google Earth identified the abandoned Mount Gambier Penola rail line and since rail lines are flat and direct, we thought it would be better. Eight kilometres and five Black Tiger snakes later we decided that rambling along shady country roads would be more appealing.
11 March 2022 Penola, South Australia
el Camino Australiano. Day 12. Kalangadoo – Krongart – Penola. 28 Ckms. A cold start to our final day saw us back on the rail line but we stick to side trails as much as possible. We didn’t see our first tiger till we were 12Ks along. Then we were back on country lanes all the way to Penola.
Lighten The Trip Fantastic 