Jesuit Church at Sevenhill Winery
Another quaint cottage
When you enlarge the centre pic you will see a lot of white dots it's not a crook image they are flying grasshoppers, they were everywhere and make a real mess of the car and van
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Click on Image to Enlarge
A row of miners cottages in Burra
A typical stone cottage Clare Valley
Wind generators on the hills a good indication of constant wind
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas
We trust you all had an enjoyable Christmas Day where ever you were on this beautiful planet. We had a nice quiet one at Clare Caravan Park bacon and eggs for breakie, prawn salad for lunch, roast leg lamb for dinner and nibbly's in between plus just a few sensible drinks, couldn't have played football but probably needed it.
And while I was lazing back reading in the warm sun I thought how fortunate we are, we really hadn't over indulged but had plenty, I thought of our good friend Miriam freezing in cold London, our daughter on her own inundated by rain in Brisbane but I also thought about the many people less fortunate than us and hope never to experience such a situation.
And while I was lazing back reading in the warm sun I thought how fortunate we are, we really hadn't over indulged but had plenty, I thought of our good friend Miriam freezing in cold London, our daughter on her own inundated by rain in Brisbane but I also thought about the many people less fortunate than us and hope never to experience such a situation.
Xmas Eve
24th Dec 2010
A beautiful warm day in the Clare valley, leaving the caravan at the park we did an early last minute shop before Christmas in bustling Clare then returned to pick up our ordered cherries at the orchard only to discover half of Clare was talking about the large caravan that had got stuck up the orchard driveway the day before, hate to think how the story had grown by then but the lady gave us an extra couple of large handfuls of cherries to make up, little compensation for the damage but a lovely gesture and no ones fault but my own.
Following a self drive tour we travelled in a large loop through the scenic Clare Valley visiting a few of the numerous cellar doors of well known wineries two in particular were Sevenhill and Annie’s Lane. Annie’s Lane is a large and old established complex and here we were lucky enough to meet and chat with the current vineyard manager, being a tight arsed pom I didn’t purchase any of their wine as it was about $5 dearer than hotel outlets.
Sevenhill Winery was interesting, situated just east of the small township of Sevenhill it is the oldest established winery and vineyard in the Clare Valley, extremely picturesque the vineyard is centred around the huge and beautiful St Aloysius Church and has been owned and operated by Jesuit monks since 1851. The winery still produces alter wine plus many other award winning varieties. Public are welcome to Sevenhill cellar door where you can taste the wines, wander through underground cellars, watch a very interesting continuous video on the Sevenhill history or just peruse the tourist bric-a-brac, we purchased a small locally made fruit cake, heavy as lead and absolutely scrumptious.
Mintaro was another important stop, this is where we had lunch at the Magpie & Stump historic pub and is another one of those quaint villages. Established in 1849 it is something out of the English Dales and although now part of State Heritage and a tourist must, it is still very much a working area with abundant grain growing, grazing and vineyards. My lunch was a magnificent beef and Guinness pie.
Not far away and worth the $7:50 entry was a visit to Martindale Hall this stately manor built in 1879 was the home of Edmund Bowman, the son of a wealthy pastoralist who had it built in 1879 complete with a cricket pitch that hosted the English Xl, a boating lake, race course and polo field. Film director Peter Weir used the Hall as the ladies college in his 1975 film ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’. The place is still used as a B&B and hosts dinners and weddings so it retains is originality and is well worth a visit especially as you actually walk through the rooms looking at everything and reading an interesting description of each rooms items and their history, not just viewing each room from a door in a hallway like many similar places we have visited overseas.
Here’s a bit of trivia I’ve just dug up regarding Sevenhill.
In 1848, Jesuit Priests fled religious and political persecution in Silesia, migrated to Australia and established Sevenhill, 3 years later they planted Clare Valley’s first grapes and soon began making sacramental wine – although the priests were soon supplying settlers made thirsty by their labours in the field and copper mines. They are still making wines in the same cellar.
Later in the evening of Xmas eve we enjoyed an excellent meal at the popular Sevenhill pub.
A beautiful warm day in the Clare valley, leaving the caravan at the park we did an early last minute shop before Christmas in bustling Clare then returned to pick up our ordered cherries at the orchard only to discover half of Clare was talking about the large caravan that had got stuck up the orchard driveway the day before, hate to think how the story had grown by then but the lady gave us an extra couple of large handfuls of cherries to make up, little compensation for the damage but a lovely gesture and no ones fault but my own.
Following a self drive tour we travelled in a large loop through the scenic Clare Valley visiting a few of the numerous cellar doors of well known wineries two in particular were Sevenhill and Annie’s Lane. Annie’s Lane is a large and old established complex and here we were lucky enough to meet and chat with the current vineyard manager, being a tight arsed pom I didn’t purchase any of their wine as it was about $5 dearer than hotel outlets.
Sevenhill Winery was interesting, situated just east of the small township of Sevenhill it is the oldest established winery and vineyard in the Clare Valley, extremely picturesque the vineyard is centred around the huge and beautiful St Aloysius Church and has been owned and operated by Jesuit monks since 1851. The winery still produces alter wine plus many other award winning varieties. Public are welcome to Sevenhill cellar door where you can taste the wines, wander through underground cellars, watch a very interesting continuous video on the Sevenhill history or just peruse the tourist bric-a-brac, we purchased a small locally made fruit cake, heavy as lead and absolutely scrumptious.
Mintaro was another important stop, this is where we had lunch at the Magpie & Stump historic pub and is another one of those quaint villages. Established in 1849 it is something out of the English Dales and although now part of State Heritage and a tourist must, it is still very much a working area with abundant grain growing, grazing and vineyards. My lunch was a magnificent beef and Guinness pie.
Not far away and worth the $7:50 entry was a visit to Martindale Hall this stately manor built in 1879 was the home of Edmund Bowman, the son of a wealthy pastoralist who had it built in 1879 complete with a cricket pitch that hosted the English Xl, a boating lake, race course and polo field. Film director Peter Weir used the Hall as the ladies college in his 1975 film ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’. The place is still used as a B&B and hosts dinners and weddings so it retains is originality and is well worth a visit especially as you actually walk through the rooms looking at everything and reading an interesting description of each rooms items and their history, not just viewing each room from a door in a hallway like many similar places we have visited overseas.
Here’s a bit of trivia I’ve just dug up regarding Sevenhill.
In 1848, Jesuit Priests fled religious and political persecution in Silesia, migrated to Australia and established Sevenhill, 3 years later they planted Clare Valley’s first grapes and soon began making sacramental wine – although the priests were soon supplying settlers made thirsty by their labours in the field and copper mines. They are still making wines in the same cellar.
Later in the evening of Xmas eve we enjoyed an excellent meal at the popular Sevenhill pub.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Clare 23rd Dec
Thursday 23rd Dec
Burra, Clare and the Clare Valley
Today was one of those that you think to yourself “I shouldn’t have got up today”.
After leaving Burra for a leisurely scenic drive south through back country roads, I noticed the signal on our caravan electric brakes sensor was indicating that we didn’t have a connection, this meant no caravan brakes and we were travelling on steep winding roads dragging almost 3.5 tonne, not a good predicament. I carried out several basic checks suspecting a broken wire but had little success in locating anything and the problem had now become intermittent. Slowly we made Clare where we were fortunate enough to find an auto electrician available to have a look at the problem in 30 – 45 mins. About 2 hours later he was ready to help and then after another hour and half to two hours he finally located what turned out to be a very simple problem, a small screw had come loose and an earth wire just wasn’t earthing, simple but a nightmare to find, at least our caravan supplier said they were quite happy to reimburse us.
Then I did a dumb thing. Underway again we detoured up a side road following a sign indicating freshly picked cherries and then drove up a driveway to the orchard where I managed to clip an overhanging tree limb with our roll out awning. Adding to the stress of almost tearing our awning away from the van, if I didn’t have low range in the cruiser I could never have turned around at the driveway end, as it turned out it took me about half an hour of tight manoeuvring held up a dozen customers coming in and in the process I ran over their wheel barrow, then discovered they had run out of cherries.
By this time I was quite stressed and very upset with my stupidity, especially as I couldn’t blame anyone else, (although David or Nancy was distracting me). So we drove out onto the highway and booked into the nearest caravan park for Christmas and then spent the next few hours carrying out temporary repairs so we could at least use the awing and there was also the added risk of the whole thing coming off as we drove if wasn’t secured, be interesting to see how we get on with insurance repairs in the new year.
Burra, Clare and the Clare Valley
Today was one of those that you think to yourself “I shouldn’t have got up today”.
After leaving Burra for a leisurely scenic drive south through back country roads, I noticed the signal on our caravan electric brakes sensor was indicating that we didn’t have a connection, this meant no caravan brakes and we were travelling on steep winding roads dragging almost 3.5 tonne, not a good predicament. I carried out several basic checks suspecting a broken wire but had little success in locating anything and the problem had now become intermittent. Slowly we made Clare where we were fortunate enough to find an auto electrician available to have a look at the problem in 30 – 45 mins. About 2 hours later he was ready to help and then after another hour and half to two hours he finally located what turned out to be a very simple problem, a small screw had come loose and an earth wire just wasn’t earthing, simple but a nightmare to find, at least our caravan supplier said they were quite happy to reimburse us.
Then I did a dumb thing. Underway again we detoured up a side road following a sign indicating freshly picked cherries and then drove up a driveway to the orchard where I managed to clip an overhanging tree limb with our roll out awning. Adding to the stress of almost tearing our awning away from the van, if I didn’t have low range in the cruiser I could never have turned around at the driveway end, as it turned out it took me about half an hour of tight manoeuvring held up a dozen customers coming in and in the process I ran over their wheel barrow, then discovered they had run out of cherries.
By this time I was quite stressed and very upset with my stupidity, especially as I couldn’t blame anyone else, (although David or Nancy was distracting me). So we drove out onto the highway and booked into the nearest caravan park for Christmas and then spent the next few hours carrying out temporary repairs so we could at least use the awing and there was also the added risk of the whole thing coming off as we drove if wasn’t secured, be interesting to see how we get on with insurance repairs in the new year.
18th – 22nd Dec 2010
With David engrossed in fishing from the local jetty for most of the day it was nice and peaceful at the camp and gave both Nancy and myself the opportunity to relax and take our time preparing everything for our move the next day, Sunday 19th.
Sunday 19th : Awoke to fickle weather again, strong cold winds and rain periods, at least once we were under way the wind was occasionally in our favour and pushed us along nicely, we eventually pulled up mid afternoon at Whyalla and set up for the night behind a high tin fence surrounding the caravan park rubbish tip in an attempt to shelter from the continuing icy blast from the south. I am in awe at the resilience of that little frail dome tent we have been putting up for David to sleep in, at times it flaps, rattles and cracks like an un-sheeted jib in a summer squall, quite expecting at any moment for it to take off like something out of Harry Potter, I wonder how we will manage to clamber over him after having taken refuge in the van during the night will be sleeping on the floor, as we undertake the nightly totter with eyes closed and half asleep to carry that, that seems apparent to all of us as we lengthen in the tooth. But resilient it is and so far has proven to be quite a satisfactory low cost investment.
Monday 20th: Eventually leaving Whyalla, after calling into the Westside Shopping Centre for 3 rolls and a loaf of bread during which time I read a third of a Bryce Courtenay novel, we arrived via Port Augusta for fuel, at the grain farming town of Melrose and set up camp at the local show grounds a nice peaceful location just out of town, 3 adults $20 per night all up power and water, showers and toilet – good value.
Melrose is a picturesque quiet sleepy settlement with traditional quaint old houses and is said to be the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges, I forgot to mention we were travelling back into the southern Flinders Range. Situated at the foot of Mt Remarkable Melrose is a starting point for several popular mountain bike trails and both the Mawson and Heyson hiking trails pass along this way. Melrose was settled by pastoralists in the 1840s but really took off when copper was found nearby in 1846 like a lot of SA towns. Now days grain growing and sheep farming is in a big way throughout the region, grain carry trucks busily thunder along in various directions carting grain to the numerous white painted silos situated throughout the countryside everywhere, once harvested large flocks of sheep are turned out into the stubble fields. With so much grain around there’s an abundance of loud pink and grey galahs and white cockatiels all having a field day and making a big noise about it.
During our two day stay at Melrose we also drove to Wilmington where we visited Alligator Gorge National Park and enjoyed a few hours bush walking.
Wednesday 22nd:
Moving on our journey south took us through small attractive farming towns some very small, just whistle stop hamlets and others such as the town of Laura a lot larger but probably still only a containing a couple of thousand local residents. Laura, south to Gladstone and then deviating east and south east through undulating grain country to Jamestown and Hallett , past hill tops covered with hundreds of power generating wind turbines that to me may reduce green house gases but boy they certain create visual pollution and I am led to believe, noise pollution. A few kilometres on was Burra one of the larger towns in this part of the country, after a brief walk around town a Cornish Pastie and a jumbo flat white the place looked interesting enough to book into the local caravan park for the night. It’s not a very large caravan park but it is only a two minute walk from town centre and adjacent to an attractive tree lined gully and billabong. No one was in attendance at the small reception office when we arrived, a contact phone number on the door went to message bank and an alternative number in a caravan park brochure also went to message bank, so we selected the site we wanted parked and secured the van and leaving a short contact note attached to the reception office door proceeded to follow a historical drive trail around town. Wow what a place take out a dozen or so near modern homes and you had a quaint English town straight out of Cornwall.
From ‘Explore Australia’, Burra region exploded into activity when copper was found by two shepherds in 1845. Settlements were established based on the miners country of origin areas were vcalled Aberdeen for the Scottish, Hampton for the English, Llwchwr for the Welsh and Redruth for the Cornish (the original Cornish Pasties we had in town were delicious, they obviously keep well) . This settlement grew to become the second largest in SA and apparently the rich copper produced over a number of years apparently propped up SA’s financial situation at a time when things weren’t looking so good, a bit like Qld’s situation and the Gympie gold fields.
If you like old places and things Burra is a classic steeped in mining history there is a lot of ruins and old sites to see and visit, there are more quaint miners cottages and old stone houses and buildings than modern ones some look like the are a bit derelict and others are well maintained with typical English like cottage gardens. A very fascinating place.
With David engrossed in fishing from the local jetty for most of the day it was nice and peaceful at the camp and gave both Nancy and myself the opportunity to relax and take our time preparing everything for our move the next day, Sunday 19th.
Sunday 19th : Awoke to fickle weather again, strong cold winds and rain periods, at least once we were under way the wind was occasionally in our favour and pushed us along nicely, we eventually pulled up mid afternoon at Whyalla and set up for the night behind a high tin fence surrounding the caravan park rubbish tip in an attempt to shelter from the continuing icy blast from the south. I am in awe at the resilience of that little frail dome tent we have been putting up for David to sleep in, at times it flaps, rattles and cracks like an un-sheeted jib in a summer squall, quite expecting at any moment for it to take off like something out of Harry Potter, I wonder how we will manage to clamber over him after having taken refuge in the van during the night will be sleeping on the floor, as we undertake the nightly totter with eyes closed and half asleep to carry that, that seems apparent to all of us as we lengthen in the tooth. But resilient it is and so far has proven to be quite a satisfactory low cost investment.
Monday 20th: Eventually leaving Whyalla, after calling into the Westside Shopping Centre for 3 rolls and a loaf of bread during which time I read a third of a Bryce Courtenay novel, we arrived via Port Augusta for fuel, at the grain farming town of Melrose and set up camp at the local show grounds a nice peaceful location just out of town, 3 adults $20 per night all up power and water, showers and toilet – good value.
Melrose is a picturesque quiet sleepy settlement with traditional quaint old houses and is said to be the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges, I forgot to mention we were travelling back into the southern Flinders Range. Situated at the foot of Mt Remarkable Melrose is a starting point for several popular mountain bike trails and both the Mawson and Heyson hiking trails pass along this way. Melrose was settled by pastoralists in the 1840s but really took off when copper was found nearby in 1846 like a lot of SA towns. Now days grain growing and sheep farming is in a big way throughout the region, grain carry trucks busily thunder along in various directions carting grain to the numerous white painted silos situated throughout the countryside everywhere, once harvested large flocks of sheep are turned out into the stubble fields. With so much grain around there’s an abundance of loud pink and grey galahs and white cockatiels all having a field day and making a big noise about it.
During our two day stay at Melrose we also drove to Wilmington where we visited Alligator Gorge National Park and enjoyed a few hours bush walking.
Wednesday 22nd:
Moving on our journey south took us through small attractive farming towns some very small, just whistle stop hamlets and others such as the town of Laura a lot larger but probably still only a containing a couple of thousand local residents. Laura, south to Gladstone and then deviating east and south east through undulating grain country to Jamestown and Hallett , past hill tops covered with hundreds of power generating wind turbines that to me may reduce green house gases but boy they certain create visual pollution and I am led to believe, noise pollution. A few kilometres on was Burra one of the larger towns in this part of the country, after a brief walk around town a Cornish Pastie and a jumbo flat white the place looked interesting enough to book into the local caravan park for the night. It’s not a very large caravan park but it is only a two minute walk from town centre and adjacent to an attractive tree lined gully and billabong. No one was in attendance at the small reception office when we arrived, a contact phone number on the door went to message bank and an alternative number in a caravan park brochure also went to message bank, so we selected the site we wanted parked and secured the van and leaving a short contact note attached to the reception office door proceeded to follow a historical drive trail around town. Wow what a place take out a dozen or so near modern homes and you had a quaint English town straight out of Cornwall.
From ‘Explore Australia’, Burra region exploded into activity when copper was found by two shepherds in 1845. Settlements were established based on the miners country of origin areas were vcalled Aberdeen for the Scottish, Hampton for the English, Llwchwr for the Welsh and Redruth for the Cornish (the original Cornish Pasties we had in town were delicious, they obviously keep well) . This settlement grew to become the second largest in SA and apparently the rich copper produced over a number of years apparently propped up SA’s financial situation at a time when things weren’t looking so good, a bit like Qld’s situation and the Gympie gold fields.
If you like old places and things Burra is a classic steeped in mining history there is a lot of ruins and old sites to see and visit, there are more quaint miners cottages and old stone houses and buildings than modern ones some look like the are a bit derelict and others are well maintained with typical English like cottage gardens. A very fascinating place.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Port Lincoln 11/12/2010
In my last post I mentioned how the weather had turned to poo, well it deteriated, we woke to clearing skies, plenty of blue and eventually bright sunshine with little wind. Nancy had asked me to make sure she got up by 7:00am so we could prepare a lunch and spend the day in Lincoln National Park a few kls away.
Note I only said bright sunshine not warm sunshine, according to Nancy it was still freezing, she always exagerates when it comes to getting up in the mornings, and by 7:45am I was starting to snarl at her. By the time I returned from a quick shower a grey blanket had covered the sky the wind was up again and it was "B" cold, blustery rain squalls persisted all day with the odd bit of sunshine in between. We did spend the day visiting Lincoln National Park that covers a huge area on a rugged peninsula, where wonderful views of rugged coastlines, azure seas and beutiful coves kept our shutters clicking constantly. Even taking photos was an ordeal the wind was so strong it was almost impossible to get a snap without movement and everything had to be done between rain squalls. When we arrived back at the caravan park, which would have to be one of the largest I've ever been in, the place was almost devoid of vans and campers, most people had had enough of the weather and moved on and tomorrow we join them.
Note I only said bright sunshine not warm sunshine, according to Nancy it was still freezing, she always exagerates when it comes to getting up in the mornings, and by 7:45am I was starting to snarl at her. By the time I returned from a quick shower a grey blanket had covered the sky the wind was up again and it was "B" cold, blustery rain squalls persisted all day with the odd bit of sunshine in between. We did spend the day visiting Lincoln National Park that covers a huge area on a rugged peninsula, where wonderful views of rugged coastlines, azure seas and beutiful coves kept our shutters clicking constantly. Even taking photos was an ordeal the wind was so strong it was almost impossible to get a snap without movement and everything had to be done between rain squalls. When we arrived back at the caravan park, which would have to be one of the largest I've ever been in, the place was almost devoid of vans and campers, most people had had enough of the weather and moved on and tomorrow we join them.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Adelaide to Port Lincoln
Adelaide 3/12/2010
Qantas delivered son David on Sunday 5th safe and sound although he was a bit indignant at having to get up so early to catch the plane which arrived at 11:35 am after a 2:20hr flight !!!
Shopping and site seeing over the next few days familiarised David with caravan life and Adelaide. We booked a tour through Haigh's Chocolate factory and entered assigned address into Gladys our trusty GPS, eventually after stopping at 400 traffic lights, travelling for numerous kls and winding our way up into the Adelaide hills, Gladys informed us we were at our destination on the right. Here we were in the bush a steep gully on our right and a few private houses to our left, a quick phone call to Haigh's and we were hurtling back down the range almost to the city centre fringe again, late of course but got the free hand out and made the tour that was also running late. The tour only took 20 minutes, didn’t exactly inspire, they don’t tell you or show you too much and it all seemed rather tedious and labour intensive, in fact they emphasise the fact that everything is hand made (as if hand made makes a better product ), it’s really a con to influence visitors to buy chocolate items from the factory shop and it works.
A lot of Adelaide’s roads are extremely long and apparently numbering re-starts at each suburb, a real trap and something everybody using a GPS gets caught with, ho hum.
Hahndorf:
Set in the Adelaide hills this distinctive town was settled by Prussian refugees in the 1830’s and to quote, “Its heritage is preserved in the village architecture and German style shops, museums, cafes and pubs”. It is a bit like visiting Montville in the Sunshine Coast hinterland only this is authentic on a larger scale and obviously caters well for the Sunday, holiday tourist trade, regardless of the tourist focus it is attractive enough not to be tacky. Hahndorf and other areas of the Adelaide Hills is a beautiful drive, for us northerners it is nice to see a variety of deciduous trees, the whole district must be a kaleidoscope of colour in autumn.
During our drive we managed to find Beerenberg Strawberry Farm where you pay to pick your own, Nancy and David were kept busy here for a short time while I listened to the Poms demolish our not so illustrious cricket team. Beerenberg strawberries are probably the nicest I have tasted, it is no wonder they are so famous. Just to add to the humour, when entering the picking fields a lady explains how to select ripe fruit and how to pick it. Apparently David wouldn’t have a bar of it and promptly told everyone (as usual), how his Grandpa had taught him what to look for and how to pick the fruit. The very first berry he endeavoured to pick, the whole plant came out of the ground and he spent the next 10 minutes trying to replant it, much to everyone’s amusement.
Hahndorf is somewhere we will visit again before leaving SA. Hans Heysen the famous artist mentioned in earlier posts lived and painted at his home and studio at the Cedars in Hahndorf. The Cedars now heritage listed is open to the public and is considered one of the must sees. Unfortunately it is closed on Mondays, trust us.
Leaving Adelaide for a final destination Coffin Bay at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula and home to the famous Coffin Bay oysters (thought I’d throw that in), we punched a strong head wind all the way to Port Augusta using 23 litres per hundred kilometres of fuel and decided that was quite long enough travelling for one day. Previous nights David had slept in the annexe but while we were travelling it was decided to use the 4 man dome tent we had brought with us for that purpose. With a black ominous sky and wind increasing it was going to be a race against time to erect and secure David’s dwelling for the night before the pending storm struck. These dome tents are so easy to put up they don’t need to supply instructions with them, yea right, well I don’t know if anyone was watching but it must have looked like a trio of drunks dancing around a maypole. Setting out the floor, flexible dome rods and inner lining was a piece of cake and very straight forward, other than the fact an F111 was parked alongside of us with it’s jets blowing across us, we had six arms between us and needed twenty, finally stabilised we threw the outer shell over the frame and proceeded to anchor it down only to realise it was the wrong way round so we moved it around 90 degrees and it still wasn’t right and so it went on accompanied by a lot of instructions from those that have never put up a tent in their life, eventually we got it all together and anchored down, rain had just started and then all hell broke loose, rain bucketed down and the wind was ferocious but by daylight it was all over and David and the tent had survived, it was certainly a baptism of fire but nice to know how effective the tent is and the next time we put it up it only took a short time, (now we are experts).
From Port Augusta we turned the corner to head down the Eyre Peninsula and expecting a tail wind after our run up the previous day, you wouldn’t believe it Murphy again, a weather change and we were punching a headwind once more. Enroute at Whyalla we visited a maritime museum that included a conducted tour of a corvette named and built in Whyalla during the second world war , this added a bit of interest to our journey, especially as we were able to look up the record of a past friend of Nancy’s family who served on corvettes during the war.
Port Lincoln became our destination for the day and we decided to stay for a few days giving a chance to have a look around before travelling the 40 kls to Coffin Bay on Sunday.
Port Lincoln
Hair cuts all round were the order of the day, amazing how woolly you get in what seems a short time. The car also needs a service and that will be taken care of today, weather has turned to poo, occasional showers which are really only misty rain but horribly overcast and an extremely cold blustery wind blowing, back into jeans and a flannelette shirt – look like something out of Ipswich but no Ugg boots.
Surely this un-seasonal weather we are all experiencing will improve.
Don't forget if you want to make a comment or ask a question you are most welcome to by just following the prompts.
Qantas delivered son David on Sunday 5th safe and sound although he was a bit indignant at having to get up so early to catch the plane which arrived at 11:35 am after a 2:20hr flight !!!
Shopping and site seeing over the next few days familiarised David with caravan life and Adelaide. We booked a tour through Haigh's Chocolate factory and entered assigned address into Gladys our trusty GPS, eventually after stopping at 400 traffic lights, travelling for numerous kls and winding our way up into the Adelaide hills, Gladys informed us we were at our destination on the right. Here we were in the bush a steep gully on our right and a few private houses to our left, a quick phone call to Haigh's and we were hurtling back down the range almost to the city centre fringe again, late of course but got the free hand out and made the tour that was also running late. The tour only took 20 minutes, didn’t exactly inspire, they don’t tell you or show you too much and it all seemed rather tedious and labour intensive, in fact they emphasise the fact that everything is hand made (as if hand made makes a better product ), it’s really a con to influence visitors to buy chocolate items from the factory shop and it works.
A lot of Adelaide’s roads are extremely long and apparently numbering re-starts at each suburb, a real trap and something everybody using a GPS gets caught with, ho hum.
Hahndorf:
Set in the Adelaide hills this distinctive town was settled by Prussian refugees in the 1830’s and to quote, “Its heritage is preserved in the village architecture and German style shops, museums, cafes and pubs”. It is a bit like visiting Montville in the Sunshine Coast hinterland only this is authentic on a larger scale and obviously caters well for the Sunday, holiday tourist trade, regardless of the tourist focus it is attractive enough not to be tacky. Hahndorf and other areas of the Adelaide Hills is a beautiful drive, for us northerners it is nice to see a variety of deciduous trees, the whole district must be a kaleidoscope of colour in autumn.
During our drive we managed to find Beerenberg Strawberry Farm where you pay to pick your own, Nancy and David were kept busy here for a short time while I listened to the Poms demolish our not so illustrious cricket team. Beerenberg strawberries are probably the nicest I have tasted, it is no wonder they are so famous. Just to add to the humour, when entering the picking fields a lady explains how to select ripe fruit and how to pick it. Apparently David wouldn’t have a bar of it and promptly told everyone (as usual), how his Grandpa had taught him what to look for and how to pick the fruit. The very first berry he endeavoured to pick, the whole plant came out of the ground and he spent the next 10 minutes trying to replant it, much to everyone’s amusement.
Hahndorf is somewhere we will visit again before leaving SA. Hans Heysen the famous artist mentioned in earlier posts lived and painted at his home and studio at the Cedars in Hahndorf. The Cedars now heritage listed is open to the public and is considered one of the must sees. Unfortunately it is closed on Mondays, trust us.
Leaving Adelaide for a final destination Coffin Bay at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula and home to the famous Coffin Bay oysters (thought I’d throw that in), we punched a strong head wind all the way to Port Augusta using 23 litres per hundred kilometres of fuel and decided that was quite long enough travelling for one day. Previous nights David had slept in the annexe but while we were travelling it was decided to use the 4 man dome tent we had brought with us for that purpose. With a black ominous sky and wind increasing it was going to be a race against time to erect and secure David’s dwelling for the night before the pending storm struck. These dome tents are so easy to put up they don’t need to supply instructions with them, yea right, well I don’t know if anyone was watching but it must have looked like a trio of drunks dancing around a maypole. Setting out the floor, flexible dome rods and inner lining was a piece of cake and very straight forward, other than the fact an F111 was parked alongside of us with it’s jets blowing across us, we had six arms between us and needed twenty, finally stabilised we threw the outer shell over the frame and proceeded to anchor it down only to realise it was the wrong way round so we moved it around 90 degrees and it still wasn’t right and so it went on accompanied by a lot of instructions from those that have never put up a tent in their life, eventually we got it all together and anchored down, rain had just started and then all hell broke loose, rain bucketed down and the wind was ferocious but by daylight it was all over and David and the tent had survived, it was certainly a baptism of fire but nice to know how effective the tent is and the next time we put it up it only took a short time, (now we are experts).
From Port Augusta we turned the corner to head down the Eyre Peninsula and expecting a tail wind after our run up the previous day, you wouldn’t believe it Murphy again, a weather change and we were punching a headwind once more. Enroute at Whyalla we visited a maritime museum that included a conducted tour of a corvette named and built in Whyalla during the second world war , this added a bit of interest to our journey, especially as we were able to look up the record of a past friend of Nancy’s family who served on corvettes during the war.
Port Lincoln became our destination for the day and we decided to stay for a few days giving a chance to have a look around before travelling the 40 kls to Coffin Bay on Sunday.
Port Lincoln
Hair cuts all round were the order of the day, amazing how woolly you get in what seems a short time. The car also needs a service and that will be taken care of today, weather has turned to poo, occasional showers which are really only misty rain but horribly overcast and an extremely cold blustery wind blowing, back into jeans and a flannelette shirt – look like something out of Ipswich but no Ugg boots.
Surely this un-seasonal weather we are all experiencing will improve.
Don't forget if you want to make a comment or ask a question you are most welcome to by just following the prompts.
Hahndorf Adelaide Hills
1839 I don't know if that's when it was established or the street number.
Adelaide Museum
Street in Adelaide
Enroute to Port Augusta
Murray River water is piped everywhere from Adelaide and endless grain fields
Corvette Whyalla at Whyalla
The Barren desert !!!!
Reminiscent of the Beatles
Friday, December 03, 2010
Semaphore - Adelaide
29th Nov – 2nd Dec
A couple more days in the Stansbury caravan park, we had driven and site seen everything within a substantial radius of this fishing village, on one day we drove a circuit that included a town called Minlaton and known as the “Barley Capital of the World”, understandably so when you see the grain fields extending forever in all directions, we enjoyed coffee and cake at the information centre that also housed a nice little art gallery. Minlaton’s other claim to fame is the “Red Devil” this is a vintage Bristol monoplane painted brilliant red and housed in a glass display on the outskirts of town, Captain Harry Butler flew this ex-RAF, oversize toy from Adelaide across the gulf to Minlaton with the Royal Mail in 1919.
Wednesday 1st Dec we’d had enough of the constant blast of cold wind at Stansbury, fishing was out of the question and although the intermittent sun was trying valiantly to pacify us, it wasn’t enough to entice us to delay our departure. We weren’t due in to Adelaide until Friday but once on the road a quick phone call confirmed availability for an early arrival so direct to Adelaide we went. Great no sooner had we arrived at the caravan park (when we eventually found it) a series of thunderstorms struck. A wet set up followed, then rain having stopped decided to go for a short site seeing drive, didn’t get far and the sky turned black again so the site seeing was cut short to batten down and it bucketed down, water every where but at least not in the van thank goodness.
Thursday, awoke to the promise of a better day the wind had dropped and there was at least a watery blue sky making an effort. About mid-morning by car and tram we ended up in the CBD for a look around and a visit to the city central markets (produce). Thursday’s weather turned out to be perfect, clear sky, warm and no humidity and without the promised thunderstorm. Later in the day we drove to the seaside suburb of Glenelg with its blend of modern well to do residences and early settler’s homes and cottages, most of them built in stone and very attractive. Similarly the churches are all attractively built in stone and look so old, some very small and others huge suggesting the local wealth at the time they were constructed.
Beaches on this side of Adelaide are beautiful, long wide stretches of white sand with the occasional jetty poking out into a clear water sea, no surf so when the wind drops the sea is flat like a lake.
Huge Norfolk Pines line an esplanade that runs along Glenelg beachfront, no doubt there are other areas to Glenelg but in this locality where we were the tram terminates at the end of the main street in what has now become a paved mall abutting the esplanade. A citizens band was playing Xmas carols in the very popular mall, entertaining numerous people eating out, relaxing with an ice cream like us or just casually wandering around looking at various small shops and listening to the music, 7:00 pm broad daylight and a warm barmy breeze drifting in from the sea.
Walking out on the jetty we watched locals catching Garfish and people walking their poodles, looking back towards the esplanade the beach on one side was being used by swimmers while on the other were dozens of people playing volley ball on numerous beach courts. Many people obviously enjoy daylight savings in this part of the country, a place where English settlers have certainly put their stamp.
A couple more days in the Stansbury caravan park, we had driven and site seen everything within a substantial radius of this fishing village, on one day we drove a circuit that included a town called Minlaton and known as the “Barley Capital of the World”, understandably so when you see the grain fields extending forever in all directions, we enjoyed coffee and cake at the information centre that also housed a nice little art gallery. Minlaton’s other claim to fame is the “Red Devil” this is a vintage Bristol monoplane painted brilliant red and housed in a glass display on the outskirts of town, Captain Harry Butler flew this ex-RAF, oversize toy from Adelaide across the gulf to Minlaton with the Royal Mail in 1919.
Wednesday 1st Dec we’d had enough of the constant blast of cold wind at Stansbury, fishing was out of the question and although the intermittent sun was trying valiantly to pacify us, it wasn’t enough to entice us to delay our departure. We weren’t due in to Adelaide until Friday but once on the road a quick phone call confirmed availability for an early arrival so direct to Adelaide we went. Great no sooner had we arrived at the caravan park (when we eventually found it) a series of thunderstorms struck. A wet set up followed, then rain having stopped decided to go for a short site seeing drive, didn’t get far and the sky turned black again so the site seeing was cut short to batten down and it bucketed down, water every where but at least not in the van thank goodness.
Thursday, awoke to the promise of a better day the wind had dropped and there was at least a watery blue sky making an effort. About mid-morning by car and tram we ended up in the CBD for a look around and a visit to the city central markets (produce). Thursday’s weather turned out to be perfect, clear sky, warm and no humidity and without the promised thunderstorm. Later in the day we drove to the seaside suburb of Glenelg with its blend of modern well to do residences and early settler’s homes and cottages, most of them built in stone and very attractive. Similarly the churches are all attractively built in stone and look so old, some very small and others huge suggesting the local wealth at the time they were constructed.
Beaches on this side of Adelaide are beautiful, long wide stretches of white sand with the occasional jetty poking out into a clear water sea, no surf so when the wind drops the sea is flat like a lake.
Huge Norfolk Pines line an esplanade that runs along Glenelg beachfront, no doubt there are other areas to Glenelg but in this locality where we were the tram terminates at the end of the main street in what has now become a paved mall abutting the esplanade. A citizens band was playing Xmas carols in the very popular mall, entertaining numerous people eating out, relaxing with an ice cream like us or just casually wandering around looking at various small shops and listening to the music, 7:00 pm broad daylight and a warm barmy breeze drifting in from the sea.
Walking out on the jetty we watched locals catching Garfish and people walking their poodles, looking back towards the esplanade the beach on one side was being used by swimmers while on the other were dozens of people playing volley ball on numerous beach courts. Many people obviously enjoy daylight savings in this part of the country, a place where English settlers have certainly put their stamp.
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