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On the road
Jan. 16th, 2007 12:10 amI've been interstate today, out of Victoria and into the wilds of South Australia. Into a different time zone, even. It's only two hours to the state border and another half an hour to the towns I went to, but in that time I crossed so many types of terrain: I went from the sea and flat, livestock-filled plains, through blue gum plantations, to vineyards, then to undulating volcanic hills, then home through pine plantations and stony rises.
I always enjoy the signs that towns put under their names, stating their sundry claims to fame. Passing through Digby today, for example, I discovered that it is "the birthplace of Victoria", while Penola is both "the gateway to the Coonawarra" (a wine region) and "the home of the Blessed Mother Mary McKillop" (Australia's first - and only - saint). I feel these are all more significant than a town near here, which proclaims itself to be "the olivine capital of Australia" and illustrates this sign with a picture of a green rock. I admire the honesty of that; they could have claimed to be the olivine capital of the world - who would know otherwise? - but they chose the noble path.
Anyway, Penola (pop. 1,200) is nice; much nicer than I expected. I mean, I'm not planning to move there any time soon, but it has a gentle, nineteenth-century charm built on solid blocks of limestone. "Did you come down from the Mount?" someone asked me, which made me feel all Biblical (she meant, "had I come from Mount Gambier?", which I hadn't). The question gave me a disorientating sense of the local geography, because Penola is north of Mount Gamber, so to me the question should be, "Did you come up from the Mount?", but obviously to her the fact that Mount Gambier is physically higher that Penola was the more important factor.
I lived all my life until 1:44 pm (South Australian time) not knowing that a town named Kalangadoo existed.
I drove south (or up, if you prefer) to Mount Gambier (pop. 28,000), somewhere I haven't been since 1989. Since you can't go to Mount Gambier and not look at the Blue Lake (I think it's the law), I did so. "Yes," I said to myself, "that's definitely a blue lake." ( See for yourself )
I always enjoy the signs that towns put under their names, stating their sundry claims to fame. Passing through Digby today, for example, I discovered that it is "the birthplace of Victoria", while Penola is both "the gateway to the Coonawarra" (a wine region) and "the home of the Blessed Mother Mary McKillop" (Australia's first - and only - saint). I feel these are all more significant than a town near here, which proclaims itself to be "the olivine capital of Australia" and illustrates this sign with a picture of a green rock. I admire the honesty of that; they could have claimed to be the olivine capital of the world - who would know otherwise? - but they chose the noble path.
Anyway, Penola (pop. 1,200) is nice; much nicer than I expected. I mean, I'm not planning to move there any time soon, but it has a gentle, nineteenth-century charm built on solid blocks of limestone. "Did you come down from the Mount?" someone asked me, which made me feel all Biblical (she meant, "had I come from Mount Gambier?", which I hadn't). The question gave me a disorientating sense of the local geography, because Penola is north of Mount Gamber, so to me the question should be, "Did you come up from the Mount?", but obviously to her the fact that Mount Gambier is physically higher that Penola was the more important factor.
I lived all my life until 1:44 pm (South Australian time) not knowing that a town named Kalangadoo existed.
I drove south (or up, if you prefer) to Mount Gambier (pop. 28,000), somewhere I haven't been since 1989. Since you can't go to Mount Gambier and not look at the Blue Lake (I think it's the law), I did so. "Yes," I said to myself, "that's definitely a blue lake." ( See for yourself )