Day 9: Halls Gap to Naracoorte

Brrr, it was a chilly one this morning. Clear skies left us with a frosty morning. We woke to our car covered in frost which caused a little concern when Darren and I couldn't 100% remember if it was cold water you're supposed to put on the windscreen to clear it. So we decided to start the car up and leave it to idle for a while and it did the trick.
We finally got away before 9am, only just before but none the less it was a personal(family) record!
We only had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so we headed directly for Naracoorte with 2 minor detours. One to get a photo in front of the big koala ( you have to do that sort of thing when you are a tourist), the second was to discard any fruit and veg we couldn't eat before crossing the border.
We gained 1/2 an hour when we crossed the border into South Australia today which made our early departure even better.
We are staying at Naracoorte holiday park which is a lovely little park and a bit busier than we expected. Darren chatted with the managers about the capital works projects they have on the go. We have to use the old amenities block as they are renovating the other one. Darren is hoping to have a sticky beak at their new camp kitchen and amenities block that is being renovated, before we leave in the morning. He didn't have time today as we headed to Naracoorte caves as soon as we were set up.
Naracoorte caves are a very educational experience. We did 3 tours, 1 self guided and the other 2 with a guide. Wet cave was the self guided one and was a good introduction into what to expect when you go into a cave. The next tour was Alexandra cave and could loosely be described as a bit of a disaster. The cave was very pretty and the tour guide was extremely knowledgable but there were so many children allowed to run a muck we could hardly hear a word she was saying let alone have the opportunity to see anything properly.
The Alexandra cave tour went a little over time so we had to race to the next cave to do the Victoria fossil cave tour. This one was a lot more enjoyable. There were only 2 other children who were as interested as ours were in the tour and the information that was being divulged by the guide.
The Victoria fossil cave exhibited a lot of stalactites and stalagmites. It also has had fossils, many of extinct animals, discovered more recently, 1969 I believe was when the fossils were discovered. We were also entertained with stories of mistakes previously made by the national parks department that made irreparable damage to the caves, but thankfully those mistakes have been realised and no longer practiced.
We had originally planned to stay in Naracoorte for 2 nights but have decided to head to Victor Harbour tomorrow and stay there for 3 nights. This will be our base whilst we visit Kangaroo Island and other attractions in the area.
Forecast is for rain for the next week so I'm going to continue praying for fine weather and hope it works!