Greetings from American River, still,

Provisioned with a picnic lunch from the lodge, I headed for the Flinders Chase National Park, in strong winds and intermittent rain. On checking in to the park Visitor’s Centre, I was disappointed to learn that much of the park was closed, as a result of extensive bushfires in December last year (affecting 80% of the park; 20% of the island!), and that recently some dirt roads had been closed due to wet weather.

So, I headed off to Cape Couedic and Remarkable Rocks. At Cape Couedic, the site of a lighthouse right on the south-west corner of the island, I took a short walk down a boardwalk to the Admiral’s Arch (the old “hole eroded through the rocks by the sea” trick). It was howling a gale from the west, huge waves were rolling in, and sea spray filled the air, along with an occasional brief rain shower. I couldn’t see through my sunglasses shortly after getting out of the car, so I elected not to take the camera, which is a shame, as when one could manage to keep one’s eyes open for long enough in stinging salt-laced wind, the vista was stunning. I’ve never been out in such strong winds; it was a struggle to walk in a straight line, and the wind chill was freezing.

After that, I drove to Remarkable Rocks (a granite inselberg amidst what is mostly limestone), a couple of kilometres east along the coast. The wind was still howling, but unlike at Cape Couedic, the coastline was to the south, so there was no sea spray to contend with, and I managed to take a few photos. However, they required a higher than normal shutter speed, as it was impossible to keep still in the wind!

I then visited the Cape Borda Lighthouse on the north-west corner of the island, before returning home. I got back around 3, after covering 360km, so I may not have been able to fit much more in, had more of the park been open (although in hindsight, I wouldn’t have bothered with Cape Borda, given other choices). On the way back through the farming areas, I took the obligatory bucolic photo.

I’m booked to catch the 10am ferry back to the mainland tomorrow, weather permitting. Earlier this afternoon a scheduled return trip of the ferry was cancelled; it eventually headed back a couple of hours late.

Cheers,
Julian