No 2 - Into South Australia

Into S a

Of course we arrive in Mt Gambier on Australia Day holiday and the parks are all at peak rates and very expensive, so we end up at The Pines a very nice place out of town. The first place we have to see is the blue Lake which MtG is known for and it is just like the postcards – very blue and changes colour as the weather cools. The road comes through a cutting here and legend has it that Adam Lindsay Gordon jumped his horse off the top of cutting and brought it to a stop before it landed in the lake. This was the first of our ALG experiences – seems the bard is very popular around here. I knew of some of his writings including Dad’s favourite  -                              Life is mainly froth and bubble

                                                         But two things stand like stone

                                                         Kindness in another’s trouble

                                                         Courage in your own.

More of him later. We wander around Mt G and visit the sinkhole in the middle of town. The whole area is known as the Limestone coast and in times gone by the underground rivers have dissolved lots of earth and the topsoil above has eventually sunk down. This one has a path and lots of stairs for you to walk down into an amphitheatre with lots plants on surrounding walls and a cave at the bottom. It was a magic place but there was more to come. We find the Umperston sinkhole which is mindboggling. James Umperston created the garden in his front yard in the late 1800’s and it has been restored  recently. The array of plants and walls of hanging gardens were amazing. It was so lush and green and cool down in there and over 30* up top. They have tables and chairs, ponds, barbeques and made it a very pleasant place to spend time.

29/1 Today being Sunday and the day for cruise up Glenelg river, we decide to go a bit earlier and call into ALG’s cottage in Port MacDonnell on the way. Thinking that we would just go in for a look and leave within 30 minutes was our big mistake. We rang the bell as instructed and waited and then Allen turned up; and is he an ALG devotee. He and his wife live in house next door and tend the garden and caretake cottage and he regales everyone on the life of ALG and his wife Maggie. Seems our namesake was a bit of a rake – gambled, raced horses, worked at various labouring jobs when needed. Allen has traced various belongs and bought them back to Dingley Dell and set the house out as it had been when Adam, Maggie and baby lived there – complete with dirt floor in front room. We had to promise to return that afternoon and frantically rush off to get to Nelson for our cruise. The Glenelg river was quite fascinating too – it wanders in and out of SA and Vic and each time the govts have put up signs telling you which state you are entering or leaving. Our cruise captain and his wife were our hosts for the afternoon, and having a block of land along the river were very knowledgeable about the river and its many birds as well as what was happening with all the little fishing villages along the riverbank. Most shacks are on 99 year lease the SA ones you can live in on holidays, the Vic ones you can’t.  An hour later we climb up the hill to the entrance to PMR cave and prepare to climb back down but this time it is 15* instead of the 35* that it was outside.

What a magical place it is there are stalactites and stalagmites in all sorts of sizes and shapes for several hundred meters. There are shawls (shaped like arum lilies), chandeliers, icecreams, and wedding cakes that must have taken thousands of years to create. A one point our guide pointed out a stalactite and stalagmite that appear to be nearly joined, however growing at 1cm per hundred years it will take 500 years to bridge the tiny gap between them. Guess I won’t be around then to check up. At several points there were tree roots showing through that had coming from trees 30 meters above. Another fascinating piece of our world. Coming back on the boat the March/Bott flies arrived again – they have been everywhere since we went to station beach in Vic. And just like the ones back home are very annoying and hurt when they bite.

It is too late to call into Dingley Dell on way home so we call into Ewen ponds and wonder how you would find your way down stream. These set of ponds are used by scuba divers who travel down them to the sea, but they are full of reeds etc and I don’t know how you would ever get there. I guess you have to do it to find out. Travelling along the road on foreshore I was amused by Daisy - just standing at the fence looking at the ocean. Somehow you don’t imagine a dairy cow going to the beach, but this area was full of dairy farms, so I guess they just stand there looking out to sea like we do. Wandering around Port MacDonnell we see their murals (paintings on large walls of times gone by) which were very well done, and then head out to see the lighthouse and find Rhino rock and camel rock that do look like the animals they are named after. After sharing a seafood platter (couldn’t afford the rock lobster at $120) at the local we head home for a well earned sleep.

30/1 We have to go back to Dingley Dell and learn that Allen waited for us to come back yesterday, so feel a bit bad. After 3 hours learning everything there is to know about ALG we buy fish and chips and eat in café as it is blowing a gale outside. Allen has given us a packet of seeds to plant in our garden (the type planted around Dingley Dell in 1800’s), the Wayfarer newsletter (from Friends of ALG), a cassette (of not very good music) and a list of the works of ALG that he hasn’t been able to purchase (just in case we come across them in a second hand bookshop somewhere and can buy them and post back). I will send Beth the packet of seeds to throw around Jean street garden and then we will all be able to get some seeds in years to come, will add the newspaper as well but will probably throw the cassette out. 

We head north for the afternoon and go and find the Anglican church in Penola, and then explore Petticoat lane with it’s cottages dating from the 1840’s. Some of them were being used as Bed and Breakfasts but the others were privately owned and all in very good condition. One of them is known as Granny Sharam’s cottage. The Sharams arrived in 1840’s and built a slab 2 room cottage which they lived in with their first 5 children. When next child came along they built another timber cottage next door and proceeded to have another 10 babies. That is 16 kids and parents in 2 x 2 room huts – Can you imagine it! They had a large veggie garden and orchard out the back which has been turned into a community garden where the locals can go and help themselves to the produce. Granny lived to a ripe old age and died in her house in the early 1900’s, so many locals remembered her. Mary McKillop’s convent is on the corner of the street and is an old stone building still being used by the catholic school adjacent. 

Heading north we go looking for Father Woods tree. Legend has it that Fr Woods would sit under a particular red gum tree to compose his sermons and it is a very inspirational tree even today. Across the road they have created a park and “planted”  red gum trunks which have been carved. Most of them are of Fr Woods, but one is of the citizens and another has Mary McKillop, but all are very well done. Heading back we are intrigued by a strange windvane/birdscarer/moisture meter whatever and still haven’t been able to find out what it is. We were very impressed with the roses planted along the road especially at Penfolds block where Grange Hermitage is grown. Should have gone in and asked about the wind thing and they might have given us a taste. There is also a Pine plantation along the way where they planted a stack of different pine trees back in 1930’s to see how they would grow in that area. Some of them are Loblolly Pine and Bishop Pine that all looked like pine trees but evidentally grow differently. The pine plantations between Portland Vic and here are massive – leave the ones on sunshine coast road for dead.

 31/1 Off to discover Millicent today and the coast north to Robe. The info says to stop at the Millicent museum so we did for 4 hours. It has the largest collection of horse drawn trams, plus a shipwreck display and was very interesting. Outside they have a blade from a wind turbine 30m long x 3m wide; there are wind farms everywhere over here and alongside it another red gum statue carved? by chainsaw of a fireman and is a memorial to the Ash Wednesday Bushfire fighters. I wondered how J would handle it but seemed to be ok. We still have to survive Ash Wednesday in Adelaide so will have to be very careful about where we spend that day. After a very late lunch we head north to explore Beachport and Robe. We find St Nicholas’ Anglican church and the lighthouse and then the cutest little 1 room custom house used from 1879 to 1900. Evidently they didn’t have a lot of foreigners arriving here because they wouldn’t have fitted in the room with more than 2 clerks behind the desks. 

On the way to Robe we come across the Woakwine cutting. The area around here was very boggy so the farmers and councils had to drain the land to be able to cultivate it. 2 men working with a D7 dozer, single furrow plough, 7 ton ripper and 11 yard scraper dug a ditch 1 klm long and 28-34 meters deep in less than 3 years to drain the farm. I don’t know what they did with the 276,000 cubic meters of soil that they removed – maybe they topdressed their paddocks but it is an amazing feat. The local Lions club have built a couple of sheds to house the equipment used. Robe is a let down after this but still a pretty little town, with a slightly bigger customs house and a very modern lighthouse. We drive along Adam Lindsay Gordon drive on our way to the Lions lookout to view the town at twilight.

1/2 sees us heading off to Tailem Bend to visit Tony’s old home town and his mum. She is a lovely lady who regales us with tales of Tony’s misspent youth and her newest Grandson who lives with her, over coffee. Having dinner at the local that night we chat to the couple at the table next to us who knew Tony, and give us places to visit, along with a message for Pattie, only I can’t remember the womans name - ooops.  The next day we head off to the ferry across the Murray (might be a good name for a song don’t you think) and have to wait at a spot with 6 windmills and 2 wind/solar street lights.Talk about a contrast. Coming ashore at Jervois we head south through Meningie to Narrung and back through the narrows between Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina by ferry. It is all quite fascinating and quite different. The Lake looked very salty but I believe it is quite fresh and had several swans floating along. They also have a lighthouse at the narrows which seemed incongruous, but logical if you have lots of fishermen coming home at night. Heading into Murray Bridge we check out the bridge and then spend some time on riverbank resting before we visit Murray & Cassie’s friends Heather & Jim Courtney for a very lovely dinner. They were such lovely people we hope we can join them all next Easter when they have their annual holiday at Balmoral in Grampians. I get to drive back to Tailem Bend – it doesn’t happen very often and of course it is late at night and I’ve had a few drinks! But we arrive safely.

3/2 Goolwa is our aim today and we find a lovely caravan park outside town on the river complete with ducklings who seem to think that every van is a source of breakfast – I wonder why. The park has lots of trees in fruit and they are full of colourful birds which I think are musk parrots. Our journey of discovery takes us over the bridge to Hindmarsh Island and we find the park where J had his caravan for the years they were in Adelaide. We also manage to find a spot where we can see the mouth of the Murray – very pretty. Back on the mainland we visit the barrages – dam walls to hold back the water – and then decide to go driving along the beach which you are allowed to do in SA. The tide seemed to be coming in so we do a hasty retreat and have an amazing sight as a storm brews up in the sky and really shows up the white water of waves.

5/2 Today we go back earlier for our drive along the beach and make it to the mouth where there are numerous fishermen trying their luck – This part of Coorong is salty as they have dredged a channel through the sand to get to the ocean. Evidently during the drought the entrance filled with sand but with the amount of water that is held back through 35 weirs, dams, lock and barrages no one had better tell me it’s Qld’s fault that there is no water in the Murray. Everywhere we have seen the river it has been full.

6/2 We pass the canoe tree on our way to Strathalbyn and you can see where the aboriginals cut a canoe out of the bark on side of tree. S is a very old town full of lovely buildings and 3 antique shops where we spend quite some time. The first shop had 3 cabinets full of Toby jugs which would have been heaven for Ted Were – must remember to let him know. He is an old scouting mate of J’s that we visited in Melbourne last Christmas, and has quite a collection of jugs. His wife Diane also has a few very nice pieces of porcelain. They are a lovely couple who made me feel very welcome and who hope to meet up with us in WA later in the year. We come home through the hills? around Mt Magnificent, Mt Compass, Mt Moon and Mt Jagged where we fill up with some very interesting cheese from Alexandrina Cheese Co. The goats cheese was very moreish.

7/2 is spent around Goolwa visiting the Porter Street Wildlife gallery that had some good paintings of birds and animals; especially the red tailed black cockies; Dollys and Lollys which had a display of dolls and teddies as well as lots of old fashioned lollies – yummmm! and the museum where we sat down to watch a video and J fell asleep. Really don’t know what the caretaker thought with this bloke sprawled out on the lounge snoring his head off – when I got him out he said I’d walked him too far and he was tired!!!.

8/2  Todays' tripping takes us down more dirt roads from Waitpinga along the coast to Tunkalilla and Cape Jervis. More huge trees and the occasional view of ocean. While eating our fish and chips we watch the Kangaroo Island Ferry leave and decide to find out the cost - $72 each + $180 for ute + $180 for van – we decide not to go! Our journey home up the west coast takes us to Second Valley with its steep cliffs and few houses huddled to the edge of bay, Lady Bay where there is an anchor memorial to HMAS Hobart which was scuttled just off the coast and is now a dive site, then through Normanville, Carrickalinga and the Myponga reservoir with its curved wall. I am lead to believe there are many seahorses in the waters off second valley but it was too cold for me to find out. 

The Hindmarsh Tiers are plateaus of descending levels on their way to Hindmarsh falls and on through the Hindmarsh Valley we eventually find Glacier Rock. A huge rock left behind when the area melted after the last ice age. It must have been popular once as there are the remains of café and souvenir shop but very run down now. Coming into Victor Harbour we decide to take horse drawn tram over to Granite Island but it isn’t running so walk across the causeway instead. We stop at Umbrella rock where Michelle and David used to play, but can’t get within 10 feet nowadays. While J is taking photos I contemplate the surrounding rocks and decide 1 looks like a Rhinoceros eating watermelon and another is a 1 toothed walrus smiling. Have I been in the sun too long – no it’s been very cloudy all week. Along the road from Middleton the trees have a very windblown haircut – you will have to look at the photo to see what I mean.

 9/2 I picked up a brochure a while ago about ‘Spirit of Coorong’ cruise up past the Murray mouth and after we cancelled out with the horrid weather last Sunday today we get to go. Cruising off through the Goolwa barrage we see more Aust Sea Lions sunbaking on the walls and lots of bird life, especially pelicans. We get a good look at the mouth and a running commentary all the way. After lunch we stop at Godfreys Landing for a walk across the Younghusband peninsular to the ocean; where J is the only person willing to go cockle dancing – trying to find cockles with your toes. It is a wonderful lagoon, 140Klms long with fresh water north of barrages and sea water to the south; and worth looking after for all the birds that live or migrate there on the white sand. Our trip back sees the sea lions still sleeping on the beams at the barrage. Would love to come back here, during sunny weather, but tomorrow we are off to Adelaide. The company also run cruises up the river to Euchuca so we take a brochure for future reference. We have also looked into hiring a houseboat and cruising the river with 6 friends.

11/2 Our day tripping sees us try to find the Calders’ old home at Holden Hill – all gone and now a reasonably new housing estate, the barracks where J worked for 2.5 years – gone and now houses and an accountants office. After all the consequences of the Ash Wednesday bushfires it didn’t seem fair that there was nothing to even show he’d been there. One of June’s school friends from Christchurch, Allison and her husband John Flavel invited us to afternoon tea so we enjoyed chatting to them for a few hours and then found the most wonderful Nepalese restaurant for dinner. Tucked away in suburban street was this little house with roof over large patio and clear plastic windows, that served very tasty food and as we were having spicy food I ordered a sparkling shiraz as John Thompson had once told me to. They were both nectar to the gods. When we get to the Barossa I am off to Trevor Jones for some sparkles.

12/2   Being Sunday morning we wandered off to the local church, 1850 vintage which was built on rubble and is now having to be restored. The minister insisted on giving us a guided tour amid all the dust; some of the stained glass windows were covered over but the ones we saw were wonderful. Mind you they found it hard to believe St Matthews has one with a boy eating an icecream in the corner. After morning tea we tried to find the seahorse farm at Port, but couldn’t, so drove down around Outer Harbour and saw 2 of the 3 cruise ships docked – missed the QE11. Did stop to take a photo of AAMI stadium in Port in case Tony was feeling homesick, and he had to nerve to complain. John wanted to go to Adelaide Oval so we sat on the hill there to see Aust lose to India in the last over. It was very pleasant but the bum got very sore after 5 hours.

13/2   After singing happy birthday to Darby on the way into Tailem Bend, we put the car in for its 2 year service and caught the bus into town. Adelaide is so much smaller than Brisbane, it was quite nice to be able to get around without all the crowds. Spent some time in an opal shop with a museum downstairs and then hit the pink diamond shop – well JC nearly had a fit – they had 2 tiny (read minute) pink/purple diamonds on sale for $4500. You could hardly see them, they were smaller than a pin head, and would hardly be noticed when you set them. The champagne diamond that you could see was $40,000, needless to say we didn’t buy it. Will be very interesting when we get to Argyll to see what they have on offer. After the feet gave out we hopped on a tram and went down to Glenelg. After spending time in the very interesting Bay Discovery Centre at the Town Hall we watched the Greek/Italian fishermen catch squid off the jetty, bought a fig icecream Yuuummm, and caught the tram back. Fares for R were $4.40 per day (9am-3pm) and JC was free.

We are surrounded by bowlers competing in Country Carnival, here at Levi Park and have got to meet Bevan & Leonie Pfitzner and Harry & Helen from Port Neal and Gary & Ann Grund from Kimba, and  have an invitation to meet up with them when we hit the Eyre peninsular. Next door we have Peter & Eileen from Busselton who have been travelling for a year and are going to do another as their tenants want to renew their lease. Peter works as an electrician for 3 months of the year in Port Headland and that pays for the next 9 months travels. Their patrol blew its motor in Rockhampton and they had to buy another vehicle so he is going to do 6 months work this winter and we hope to catch up in PH. Dave N take note $55,000 for 6 months work!
After the hassles of getting new phone and gps yesterday after we were robbed on Monday night, today we set off to the zoo to see Wang Wang and Funi. They are the most gorgeous pandas so big and round and cuddly. Wang Wang was wandering around their enclosure and eating bamboo leaves but Funi just lay about with one arm hanging over a rock. Loved the red pandas as well, they are much smaller,(look a bit like monkeys) climb trees and hang about watching the world go by. The ring tail lemurs, golden Lion Tamarins and Squirrel monkeys were also very interesting and cute. We love the meerkats who looked so small in their territory in front of the giraffes. The female white cheeked gibbon had a baby clinging desperately to her chest which was the only young we saw.

 One of the blue fairy penguins was a lot smaller than the others, so she might have been one of this years hatchings. The hyacinth macaws were huge birds, I expected their beaks to be enormous but the body of them is so much bigger than our black cockys with very long tails. With parking at $10.00 for 4 hours we didn’t see everything before our time ran out. Mind you the feet were ready to drop off so it was very nice to sit in the car and drive down to Hahndorf. Lovely old town with lots of old buildings but geared to the rich tourist. We did manage to get some german sausages and had a german cake for afternoon tea which was very nice. It was too late to see the chocolate shop and cheese factory so oh dear we will have to go back again. Had a great drive back into Adelaide through the hills. This area seemed so dry compared to the area around Bridgewater/Stirling which was very lush and green.

Talk to Beth on way back and thrilled to know she has been given the all clear, now she really can have a great birthday on Friday.

19/2 We head down to Port Adelaide to visit the rail museum and seahorse farm. Where is Donny Ibel when you need someone to explain how steam trains work? We have the most fascinating morning wandering around hundreds of old trains (well it seemed like hundreds) and have lots of questions - mainly what are the two round humps on top of engine and how do they actually work. Some of the wheels on newer trains are huge - 5 feet high. Have seen inside the brake car that Muzz would have spent his spare time in when on the Pt Augusta – Norseman run and the original Indian Pacific along with butchers van that supplied meat to railway workers building the line, postal and bank van, health service carriage along with Post Master General’s regal carriage.

 Heading down to port we find the replica HMB Endeavour docked alongside another tall ship the “One and All”. Unfortunately it is too late for us to be able to go onboard for a tour but have a very interesting time just looking at all the rigging. We decide to head to Melbourne Street for dinner (Adelaide’s eat street) and walking along we find St Cyprian’s Anglican church – didn’t know we had a St C. Have a lovely Italian meal if expensive.

20/2 Back in Hahndorf to explore the shops we missed last week and to have our German fare lunch - a pub speciality, I may never eat again. The meal was to share and HUGE - 5 types of german sausage, sauerkraut and a potato bake. We did eat it all but only just. Had to walk around town a bit more before getting back into ute to drive to Cheese factory and chocolate shop. I guess it was good that we were so full because we could have bought heaps – it was all very tasty but we settled for 5 cheeses and 4 chockies. At least I bought chocs to share J bought chocolate Licorice which I can’t stand. We find the Lions Hearing Dogs Training Centre and make a note to book in for a tour when we come back in November. Our way back to Adelaide sees us pass through Onkaparinga Valley, Woodside and Lobethal on our way to the Big Rocking Horse at Gumeracha. This is a fascinating workshop where they make rocking horses in all sizes and colours along with wooden toys for all ages. We end up with 2 wooden puzzles for Zahra and Jayden. We do manage to find Keswick Barracks where J worked for 18 months – at least this one is still standing.

22/2 Ash Wednesday and all is well. We go to the Adelaide Caravan & Camping show and end up buying a satellite dish. It all sounds great but remains to be seen if it actually works out bush. It has to be programmed for us so we hope it is ready for us to collect on Thursday as we want to leave for the Barossa on Friday. Going back to St Andrew’s for service is like going home, everyone wants to know what we’ve done and gives us more places to visit. Hopefully we will be back as there is so much we haven’t seen. The Fringe festival has been strongly recommended by some of the older members so will have to give it a go. After church we head off to a Himalyan/Nepalese restaurant for another great meal.
23/2  Todays trip through McLaren vale saw us come home with a Chardy and Vehdelo from Chapel Hill and a Grey Nomad Sav Blanc from Pirramimma. Both salesladies were lots of fun and we could have bought more but room is the essence and we are headed for the Barossa. In a trip to a bottleshop I’ve also found a very nice Sav Blanc from Poets Corner in Coonawarra so we shall be going there on our way back. 

 25/2 We’re in the Barossa and hopefully we can stop at a few more wineries. A quick look around the area takes us to Mengler’s Hill sculpture park where there are some interesting? Stone carvings. The one of the eagle’s head was recognisable but most of the others were a mystery to all but the sculptor I’m sure.

In the SA Barossa Tourist Guide they list 101 things to do in Barossa Valley – we managed 28 of them with 14 left for next time. In the order they are listed 1. See how many of the 80 wineries you can visit – 12 (that’s 2 per day). My hazy memory recalls Chateau Tanunda, Grant Burge at Krondorf, Kellermeister, Langmeil, Penfolds, Richmond Grove, Rockford, Whistler, Pheasant Farm, Gibson, Two Hands and a selection at Taste Eden Valley. We ended up buying a Pinot Gringo and sparkling shiraz from Chateau Tanunda – surprise surprise, a Trevor Jones Riesling from Kellermeister, with other nice chardy and Sav Blanc drops. We didn’t go to Wolf Blass, Jacobs Creek, Peter Lehmann or McGuigan as we buy them from Dans, and wanted to try something different but may go in next time we are here in case they have some nice drops that don’t go bulk.  We went into Tanunda, Yalumba and Seppelts just to look at the old buildings and historical records, but in first 2 cases tried some wines and enjoyed them, much to our amazement.
 3 Visit traditional country bakeries – several and went back a second and third time in some cases.
 5. Visit Barossa Farmers Market – bought some home cured feral pig bacon and ham, lovely bread and cheeses and fruit and veggies (had a farmer tell me that they didn’t grow sweet potato because it is a tropical? Vegetable)

6. Visit the Luhr’s cottage, an original 1840’s school cottage at Light Pass.

7. Leave the dishes to someone else and eat out – No argument from me – Had very nice meals at the Tanunda Hotel (even if we were the only ones in whole pub) and Lord Lyndoch Hotel (very bubbly, efficient young man was our waiter) and lunch at Corner Bakery in Williamstown, Tanunda Bakery and Kapunda Bakery – all had wonderful pies. We had been told to go to 1918 whilst in Tanunda so on Saturday night we headed off – got there a few minutes before opening so I did what everyone else had and just sat at a table on the verandah while we waited for them to open the doors. About 6.40pm a waitress? came out and went ballistic because I was sitting at a table that was booked by someone. All she had to do was ask us to move to another table, but was quite rude so we left. We were watching a cooking demonstration at Maggie Beer’s when Murray called to say Flo was not going too well. So had to make a decision as to whether to go back to Geelong and take June over to Christchurch to see her – decided to wait and see how she got on – still going fine. Had an interesting platter for lunch overlooking the lake – lots of cheese, breads, chutney, olives etc. You really could have a wonderful day there with a group of friends. The cooking demonstration given by a young girl was about using verjuice and also interesting and informative. We didn’t buy any – very expensive shop – but stored it up for future reference. This was 11 on the list.

9 was visiting antique shops which is a given for us. 

10 Admire old farmhouses dotted around the countryside and there are lots and they are all stone. Everything is made from stone – it has to be - they chopped down every tree for hundreds of miles to feed the fires of Burra copper mines.

14 Listen to magic at 144m long Whispering Wall at Cockatoo Valley – this really is magic. One person stands at each end and you talk to each other in a normal voice and you can hear loud and clear what the other is saying. There was another couple standing on walkway above me and they could hear what John was saying – fortunately he behaved. Visit Mengler Hill was number 19. 

34 was meander along Para Road Wine Path and we visited 2 of the 4 wineries Richmond Grove and Langmeil and bought chardy at both. 

35 Find some treasures at Angaston Abbey but they were closed as was the quilt shop in Angaston.

36 Take in views of Barossa and Eden Valley from Trial Hill Road – breathtaking as was the site from Eden Valley Lookout where they have erected a huge cross and hold a dawn service every Easter morning – that would also be very moving if a tad chilly.
40 Taste some traditional German sausage meats from Linke’s and we did – very Moorish. The cheese and sausage for happy hour got a big work out for several weeks and it will take months to lose the weight. 41 Pick up a home made pie for lunch and we did several/many times.
43 Tuck into a lemon tart at B Farmers Market – why is everything to do with eating and drinking? 
48 Relax and unwind at winery events – pretty easy. 
59 Have a yarn with a local over a beer at a local – how else do you find out the really good places to visit.

63 Count the palms along Seppeltsfield Road - got to 69 and lost count and visit the Seppelts Family Mausoleum – has commanding views through the palms. One thing that amused me was 20 feet away at the side of this impressive structure there is a gate in the fence and it was tied up with baling twine. Oh well money doesn’t buy everything. 

67 Taste the cheeses of the area – no problem! 

69 Discover the boutique wines from Eden Valley – also no problem.

70 Visit the Herbig Family Tree in Springton. Johann Herbig and his wife and 2 of their 16 children lived in the base of this hollowed Red Gum tree for 5 years!!! The road must have been in a different place back then because the well and water trough are across the highway. It would have been a wonderful tree but how Mrs Herbig lived in it for so long and stayed sane is another miracle.

81 Pop in and see Bec at Corner Bakery in Williamstown for one of the best vanilla slices ever – we had a pie as well and both were divine. We’ll be back.

87 See some of the oldest vines in southern hemisphere in Freedom vineyard at Langmeil winery. 

95 Get up close and personal with some famous people, places and brands. Maggie was at B markets in her shopping? clothes – sundress with black bra straps hanging out everywhere. 

101 Visit one of the 26 Lutheran churches and pioneer cemeteries in the area – saw lots and counted all churches we passed and got to 31. That is in an area about the size of Drayton Parish. Many years ago Lyn Lietzow and I had a thing for Krondorf Spatlese Lexia and had to race over to the Melbourne Hotel at lunchtime on Fridays to get our weekend supply. It was the only place that stocked it, so of course I had to find Krondorf winery – it isn’t any more. Grant Burge has the vineyard and a very posh winery in it’s place that doesn’t make spatlese type wines, which was ok ‘cause I don’t drink it anymore. I also had to find Trevor Jones for that very nice little sparkling shiraz we had in Adelaide – also no he and Dad have split and he has gone out on his own and doesn’t have a winery at the moment. Dad still has some of the wines with Trevor Jones label but not mine. While heading down Krondorf road we managed to see a mechanical harvester in action – a bit like a cane harvester. All the vines have to be planted further apart and are trained up higher on the trellises – so any old vines are still picked by hand.

Our first stop on the day we travelled through Eden and Cockatoo valleys was the Woodcarvers Haven which was also fascinating. Twice a year they hold classes in making rocking horses and wood carving in general. So one April or September we will have to book in for the 2 weeks – can’t leave it too long or our littlies will be too old.They had the most amazing tree in the yard and were only too willing to take a photo of us under it - seems they take lots of photos everyone loves this tree. If you look hard you can see the bees honeycomb in the burl on right. There are numerous conservation parks dotted around the countryside full of interesting trees and birds – honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, finches, wrens and parrots in Pink Gums, Blue Gums, Stringybarks, Red Flame Heath, Sheoaks, Yuccas, Pines and Wattles – so our encyclopaedia of Aussie birds and animals has had a workout. Will have to add a book on native aussie trees and shrubs to the Christmas list – some of the plants look different down here from what they are at home.Of the wineries -  Pewsey Vale in the Eden Valley was first planted in 1843, Henry Evans in 1853 and Johann Henschke in 1868 so they should know how to grow good grapes by now. In this area they also have sheep grazing the hillsides, whereas around Tanunda it is all grape vines. The Lindsay Park thoroughbred horse stud is also in this area.

On our daily travels we must have visited every small town/locality and on the day we went through Seppeltsville saw us go on to Kapunda, where Sidney Kidman lived for some time while he was amassing his cattle empire. I knew that his home was part of the high school so it was easy to find. It is good to see lovely old places being looked after (actually it is being restored at the moment), and even better to see it being used by young adults. The Kapunda bakery where we had yet another pie and vanilla slice, has a museum underneath which was a trip down memory lane – lots of the bits on display I remember from visiting Aunty Veti’s bakehouse. Uncle Viv had an old oven something similar to the one on display in the bottom bakers. We often get reminded how old we are getting when visiting museums and today was no exception. Walking around town we notice the different stones used in 1 wall – it started out having several windows and over time they were ‘stoned up’ but with different types of stones. Also in Kapunda are lots of stone Cornish miners’ cottages of which one has been put to good use as the Girl Guides Hall.The southern entrance to Kapunda has a giant statue of a Cornish miner ‘ Map Kernow’ standing guard. I also liked the gate in lookout opposite. Map Kernow is Cornish for son of Cornwall.  On the way home we call into the Murray Street Winery in Greenock, a very modern winery with a magnificent view, but alas they wanted $5 per person to taste so we left. Along with Seppelts, they were the only ones who charged for tastings. 

At Caravan and camping show in Adelaide we spoke to some lovely people from Burra who convinced us to go there instead of Clare valley so we are here with more lovely ducklings to visit. Don’t know how it happened but the ducks and drakes live on green grass beside the loos and do not cross the dirt road to caravan sites – maybe it hurts their feet. The ducklings don’t know this and they come across all the time much to mums distress – she sits on her side of road quacking to them ferociously but they don’t worry – sounds like most toddlers doesn’t it!

2/3 On our journey up here we passed through Marrabel and their statue caught our eye – it is a bucking horse. Seems that in 1945 a mare was mustered off a station nearby and sold to rodeo committee as a buckjumper. The horse was called Corio, and she became the feature horse from 1947 because of her unusual bucking action. She was finally ridden in 1953, and died at 28 in 1970. She didn’t have many foals but I think 4 colts went on to become buckjumpers.

 5/3 There are old stone houses everywhere – hardly a timber structure anywhere.

Burra has a unique system of a Heritage Passport which you present at each museum and a key which gets you into a stack of other sites. So off we went to visit the Miners dugouts first. Rooms excavated into the site of riverbank which the miners and their families lived in as there were no other houses available. They must have been quite short people as the doorway was about waist height. Unfortunately one day the creek flooded and washed people and belongings away so they finally built the Paxton street cottages and others similar. There is an old stone cottage nearby that has been restored and is operating as a BnB that would have made a great home.

The Unicorn Brewery is opposite the caravan park and is in quite good nick – large rooms and underground cellars and enormous slab of wood being used as a table top. Most of these buildings date from 1850’s. The Police stables and lockup have an amazing cobblestone floor – guess the horses got used to walking on it – once again lockups were quite small.

The Redruth Gaol has also been used as a Girls reformatory and a private house. According to the info board a family lived there for some time and used the cells as kids bedrooms! They didn’t go in for improving the décor! Malowen Lowarth Cottage was a little more congenial and actually had a GARDEN – the first one we’ve seen all week. It was done out in style of late 1800’s – both house and garden.

The Burra mine site has a restored engine house which is full of very large machines and beams etc and you have to wonder how they ever got them into place. We are talking 1850’s when there were no cranes or semitrailers. The walls of the actual pit were being used as home sites for the local bird population – couldn’t see what sort they were but there were hundreds. The Bon Accord Mining museum next door had a good collection of gear and a knowledgeable guide who took us around and explained what everything was. This mine didn’t last for very long but the pump shaft was used to supply the town with water from 1884 to 1966.They also had a very good model of the original site complete with miniature horses and copper drays. The Market Square museum is under an old fashioned lolly shop – another eating dilemma.

7/3 Today was one of the best days – we are following in Goyder’s footsteps and doing the Dare’s Hill Circuit Driving Tour – sounds flash but it has intrigued me 165Klm of which 100 Klm is dirt and the info says to allow 5 hours! So we aren’t going too fast. The instructions tell you to reset your odometer at the Market Square Rotunda and then it is all measured out for you. The ruins of the Mt Bryan Bible Christian Chapel are the first stop but nearby the remains of Mt Bryan East Bible Christian Chapel are in much better repair – they must have been better Christians! We detour into see the family home of Sir Hubert Wilkins, a noted photographer, adventurer, aviator and polar explorer whom we had never heard of.

We cross Goyder’s Line near here – Goyder drew a line on map of SA in 1865 marking the place where drought relief would or would not be paid. It is surprisingly accurate to this day in delineating the 10 inch rainfall line. To the south you can grow crops to the north it is for grazing – how you can grow anything on 10 inches of rain is remarkable. We start to worry when we pass Civilisation Gate Road – later today we pass Worlds End Highway – makes you think about the Aussie sense of humour the old timers here had.

Dare’s Hill summit gives spectacular views of the Wonga range and Chinaman’s and Ketchowla Hills and the dense woodland in between. Dare’s Hill was named after William Dare who leased 50 square miles of country and ran sheep for 35 years. The ruins of his homestead ‘Piltimitiappa’, the old windmill and stone tank, and the graves of 2 of his 3 wives are all that remain.

Quite suddenly we come to the front gate of Collinsville station – what a disappointment. During my sheep breeding time I had heard a lot about the famous Collinsville stud sheep – how anything lived in this crappy scrub country is remarkable. Didn’t see any sheep to prove it. Henry Collins arrived in 1859 and took up 80 acres land. He made money carting wood to Burra mine and as an experiment planted Lucerne which flourished!!!!! (on 10inches of rain – hardly seems likely) He made enough money then to buy a stud ram and some ewes and the rest is history.

From Dare’s Hill the vegetation changes to open saltbush and bluebush country with a few mallee and sandalwood trees, dotted with old stone tanks and windmills which by the end of the day J was fed up with me wanting to photograph. Well it is amazing how they held water and didn’t leak. We stop for lunch at old Ketchowla station ruins – and it turned out to be quite something. There were numerous buildings around all 4 sides of us, but not a sound of anything – no birds, no bees, no ants, no iron banging in the breeze, actually no breeze there was no sound other than what we made and yet it wasn’t eerie. This station was established by the father of explorers Ernest and Alfred Giles in the 1850’s.

We stop at a creek and walk up it to some aboriginal rock engravings and paintings only to find them covered by steel gates, so it was very difficult to actually see them. Near the boundary of Ketchowla we come across the chimney and fireplace of Dave’s hut. He was a station hand here in 1930’s and his hut was a popular stopover for travellers – someone must have burnt it down.

The road winds around the open woodland past a saltbush farm and into Terowie. To say that Terowie is a financially disadvantaged town is an understatement but they do have a monument to the railway – it must have been big once upon a time! We now hit the bitumen of the Barrier highway and head to Whyte Yarcowie – slightly more financial – it also has a monument to the railway as it was a bustling railway town from 1880 and is reputed to have the smallest Anglican church in Australia – it must have been as we couldn’t find it. On through Hallett and another big wind farm and we are back in Burra with time to spare.

We have visited the butchers in Burra and found some of the best meat in Aus especially their saltbush lamb, it was melt in the mouth and I don't like mutton/lamb maybe it came from Terowie.

What to do – we head south to Morgan and another view of the Murray river with quite a lot of water in it. There isn’t much around Morgan but the caravan park will do as a stopover on our way east. On our way to Eudunda – a very pretty little town, well kept and with some flowers in the gardens, we pass by some hills that J finds amusing – they resemble his favourite part of the female anatomy. Coming into Point Pass at sunset the Lutheran church steeple was glowing. It is golden -  whether painted or real I don’t know but it looked spectacular.

 9/3 Martindale Hall at Mintaro has us spellbound for a few hours this morning. It was made famous in the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock but has been a family home since built in 1879. It is open during the week for tourists to look over and is a Heritage Bed and Breakfast over the weekends. Apart from being an amazing view into life of late 1800’s complete with his and her bedrooms and bathrooms for the owners and a separate dressing room where madam was helped to dress for BED – J is worried about how many clothes she must have been wearing and how he would ever get them all off!! You can bring 8 friends for a ‘Incident at Martindale Hall’ evening where you get to participate in a murder mystery whilst being served a formal dinner. Dinner, bed - if you can sleep after witnessing a murder, and breakfast will only cost $270 per person for the 10 of you. Otherwise you can come for the night for $250 on Saturdays and $120 for other nights, dinner is $130 or $35 for High Tea. All done very formally by the Butler and Maid. The guest rooms are almost all original and the smoking room is something to behold – very masculine with spears and shields from Africa, New Guinea and the Pacific and stuffed animal trophies. You could almost smell the tobacco or maybe it was stale male stuff. Upstairs the Housekeeper shared the floor with the family and their guests. Don’t know where the other staff slept. The cellar had rooms for barrels, wines, cured meats, fresh meat, firewood as well as 2 general storage ones. They could certainly hold enough to feed an army. The coachhouse was also very impressive from the outside.

We pass the oldest Jesuit church in Australia on our way to the Sevenhills winery established by the Jesuits. Also on the property is a retreat in the former living quarters and St Aloysius church. Along the walk they have small shrines of the Virgin and other peaceful places to sit and meditate – you wonder how much time they had to just sit. The winery was being refurbished and a bit of a shambles - but you could still go through their museum and do a tasting - we didn’t like their wines.

10/3 The tourist bureau here has set out a bike ride along the old railway line that they call the Riesling Trail, the people of Farrell Flat have caught the bug and have bikes of all different shapes, sizes and colours on the approaches to their town. We passed through FF every time we ventured towards Clare so we saw them a few times. The countryside around here has grazing land interspersed with their vineyards. Wondering how the Magpie Stump Hotel in Mintaro got its name also caused some amusement as did the monument at Devils Garden commemorating the hazards of transporting copper to Spencer Gulf. This is on the road to Balaklava which we went to on a Saturday afternoon and could only find 1 place open to get some lunch. Fearing for my life we wandered in the door – but it was quite nice inside and the hamburger was huge. 

Coming back in towards Clare he manages to stop at the Brooks lookout. On a clear day you can supposedly see Spencer Gulf – but that was not what got us. The info board says that the lookout is 400m above sea level and gets 550mm rain each year. Across the plain in front was the town of Blyth which was quite close and it is 190m above sea level and only gets 420mm rain on average. 5inches of rain less every year over a space of 3 Klms!!! 

11/3 We have Morning prayer today because Burra’s priest is acting Bishop and has ventured to the west of diocese on Eyre peninsular. Seems their Bishops have an area like Rob Nolan’s to minister to. But the people are very friendly and Col comes over to caravan later for a chat and drink. In the meantime we decide to go to World’s End (to see what is there) – nothing! The road leads into World’s End gorge but as the track is under water and washed out and I have hurt my ankle we can’t get very far on foot so don’t get to see the best bits – so we’ve been told. On the way in we passed another old stone homestead right on the road so we stop and go for a snoop. You have never seen walls like these – they were painted with decorations and flowers and would have been sensational when new. 

On the road through Halleluyah Hills we were greeted by a very friendly Llama who came to say hello. There are a lot of them in this part of the world especially where there are sheep. We can only presume the farmers have a problem with dogs and the llamas are there for guard duties as well as their wool. Heading north the road has big trees growing right along – they haven’t ruined their ‘Cathedral drive’;  we end up in Gladstone – not nearly as nice as the Qld version.

Driving around town J finds the gaol which we have to visit – he seems to have a thing about them (Dubbo, Beechworth, Redruth, Gladstone). The caretaker is an former Warden who takes us around the bottom area and gives us a map and you explore at your leisure. This is also used as a holiday venue and had a big group staying there! I can think of other places I would like to holiday at. It is quite a big set up and living conditions for the white felons were pretty horrible, but nothing like the disgraceful way that aborigines were treated. It is late when we head off through Jamestown to home but the ducklings are waiting for their feed. At sunset everyday the locusts come out and we have had to wash the car several times but leave the locusts stuck to the underneath for our small friends who seem to love them.

Time to go to SA Yorke Peninsular on as this file is nearly full...