Port Augusta

6th June – Saturday

After heavy rain all night, the sky was actually clear at sunrise, although very, very cold. Shady, bushland caravan parks may be very picturesque and lovely in summer, but in winter they are just plain cold and damp. It was very nice to sit back in the nice warm caravan, drinking our NQ Gold coffee, and watching all those in their tents and small caravans sitting outside having breakfast, wearing coats, beanies and scarves.

Anyway, we headed for Burra, leaving behind the vineyards and olive groves and entering the area of lush merino and grain farms. Burra was an interesting little copper mining town, again with lots of very old buildings made from the local blue stone. Around Petersborough the scenery changed again, much drier and arid grain farms and stock.

During our morning break, we met a couple of Tasmanians in a motor home who were travelling with a couple from Bendigo, in a caravan. They also pulled into our lunch rest area, just as we were leaving and blocked our turning circle. This meant having to back up the caravan, which isn’t normally a problem with the two of us and the two way radio. However, with three different people offering advice to the driver, it was quite a relief to be back on the road again!!!

The road into Port Augusta took us through a pass as what is possibly the southern end of the Flinders Ranges – it would have been a very long drag if we had been going the other way. As it was, the long downhill stretch helped with our fuel consumption. Today was a fairly heavy day, as we filled the water tanks at Clare, the road was flat most of the way and there was also a head wind.

The Big 4 Holiday Park at Port Augusta is much more open, with gravel sites, which are extremely narrow. Awnings may not be used without permission from the management! The site is long enough for two caravans but an awning would touch the next caravan.

A tour of Port Augusta’s sites took us to the Matthew Flinders lookout over the Spencer Gulf, with a great view of the Flinders Ranges – and a pod of dolphins. We had to drive through the Arid Botanical Gardens to get to the lookout and signs warned us constantly to give way to snakes and lizards.

It’s raining again.

Picnic at Hanging Rock

5th June – Friday

Woke to clear skies and sunshine, after it rose! Unfortunately, the weather didn’t stay this way and by lunch time it was even colder, raining and very bleak.

It only took as an hour and a half to drive to Clare, good driving all the way. The caravan park at Clare is very nice although we aren’t too keen on being put on a site between two large gum trees. The park was nearly empty when we arrived before lunch, however, it very quickly started to fill with caravans and tents. Not only is it a long weekend, but I think it must also be a student-free day for schools.

This afternoon we drove out to Mintaro, a village which dates back to the 1840’s and obviously very proudly looked after by the locals. Of course, most of the old buildings have been turned into bed and breakfast establishments, but great care has been taken to retain the heritage quality of the village. This is also the place that C. J. Dennis (A Sentimental Bloke) lived as a child.

Not far from Mintaro we discovered Martindale Hall, a large Georgian mansion which originally was built on an 11,000 acre merino farm and the grounds included a polo field (of course!), a cricket oval and a race course. Martindale Hall was also the setting for the school in the film, Picnic at Hanging Rock. (Hanging Rock is actually in Victoria.) We wandered around inside – some beautiful rooms and furniture, even saw the master bedroom which was used as Miranda’s bedroom in the film. The bath was so deep that if it was filled with water, the water would have come up to my hips! Not to mention the difficulty getting in and out, with the large timber surround.

The caravan park is obviously in a bad location for television reception and we were told we would need a coaxial cable, available for hire, of course. We have brought our own but had to get another adaptor to make it fit the plug here and then discovered it wouldn’t fit into the caravan fitting (supposed to be universal fittings!). So to solve the problem, the coaxial cable goes over the roof, in through the bedroom vent and straight into the television. Bit messy, but works well.

Tomorrow – Port Augusta.

The Cook and the Chef

4th June – Thursday

The days are starting to run into each other, especially the weather. Guess what? Today was foggy, cold and dreary. It will be nice to get to some clear skies and dry ground.

Our final day in the Barossa Valley started with a drive to Truro (we had to go past Wolf Blass!!!), a little town not far away. Snowtown is also in the vicinity – what makes this area famous for murders? Anyway, Truro would be smaller than Forth and we didn’t stop here, just continued on to Kapunda, reportedly the most haunted town in Australia. No self respecting ghosts were to be seen on the streets at 11.00am. Kapunda is also famous as the first commercial mine in Australia, with copper being mined from the 1840’s until the last 19th Century. The workings from the major copper mine are still very apparent and the Big Miner (a Cornish miner) has been erected on the outskirts of the town.

After taking a suitable number of photos in the difficult grey, overcast murk (also very chilly), we continued to Gawler. This was a much larger town, but again, retained many of its stone heritage buildings. Very much the commercial/shopping hub of the district.

We then followed the signs to the Whispering Wall, which turned out to be the dam face of the Gawler Dam. The curved structure of the wall allows sounds from one side of the dam to be heard very clearly at the other side. The curve causes the sound waves to bounce around somehow and sound as if they are being broadcast from the cement wall beside which one stands. It was rather amusing to watch people talking to the cement wall, thinking there was a hidden microphone behind the sign!

Then the best part of the day – lunch at Maggie Beer’s Farmhouse Shop. Picnic baskets of pates or breads are available, so we chose the Dukkah bread basket, which included both white and yummy walnut breads, Dukkah, olive oil and olives. This was followed up with crème caramel and passionfruit icecream. All Maggie’s products are available to sample – and purchase, of course. We were also lucky to catch a cooking demonstration by one of Maggie’s staff, who explained how to use verjuice, Maggie’s signature product. Fried mushrooms and baked pumpkin were very quickly cooked up for everyone present to sample. The demonstration was conducted in the kitchen that Maggie uses on her television series; her next filming day will be next Tuesday, so we missed out by a few days. Her shop is on the family pheasant farm, overlooking a dam with the olive grove in the background. Very pleasant.

Tomorrow we are off to Clare.

Wineries

3rd June – Wednesday

Another foggy start to the day, but by 11.00am the sun was actually shining. The first time we have seen the sun since arriving in South Australia.

Today we visited some wineries – only managed six! Started with Penfolds, who have just released the 2004 Grange. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on offer for tasting, but evidently is put on the list at times - $80 a taste (not even a glass full) and one does get to keep the glass. Then it was on to Seppeltsfield and the beautiful heritage winery. We didn’t taste here, as the focus was on fortified wines, but it was well worth the visit just to see the buildings.

Next on the list was Jacobs Creek and their ultra-modern visitors’ centre and plenty of wines to choose from to taste. Just next door was Grant Burge Wines – wonderful place with two very nice ladies, fortunately, in the tasting room. It was here that Cat absolutely disgraced himself – became quite overcome with the range of fabulous wines on offer and ended up flat on his back, after swinging from the chandelier!!!

Lunch was at another Grant Burge establishment (his actual winery) and we enjoyed some beautiful home made soup and quiche. We were very relaxed by this time. This area must really buzz during the warmer months, especially at weekends. While we were having lunch, a gentleman (not related!) asked for a white latte, then realised lattes are white.

Over the hill to Yalumba, another beautiful old winery and then it was Wolf Blass – my favourite. After tasting the gold and grey label reds, the very nice man offered me a free taste (normally $10) of a platinum label shiraz. If only I could afford $135 for a bottle of wine. However, all day we did consider the health benefits to our hearts – and our families!

Returning to the caravan park, we discovered another two Tasmanian caravans had arrived, so introduced ourselves to some people from Wynyard and Somerset who are on their way to Darwin.

Rocking Horse

2nd June – Tuesday

Very heavy rain overnight with fog early this morning – and it was laundry day! Someone had started complaining that he was running out of socks. The fog lifted to become low cloud, so it was onto the clothes with the washing while we went for a drive to visit the Toy Factory and the Big Rocking Horse.

This was a bit disappointing (the weather didn’t help, of course) but there was a $2 charge per person to climb to the lookout and a very good proportion of the stock in the Toy Factory had a little “Made in China” sticker attached. The wooden toys made on site were beautifully constructed and finished, and beautifully priced! Fortunately, our grandchildren are a bit passed the wooden toy stage.

Of course, the rain bucketed down when we were only 10 minutes from home and the washing received another rinse, but no extra spin dry.

The Barossa Valley is a really picturesque region, with lots of well-maintained heritage/colonial buildings, wineries and vineyards.

It was also hairdressing day as the next opportunity wouldn’t happen until Alice Springs – far too long to wait. Very impressed with the result, especially the price. I am starting to wonder why Kingston hairdressers are so expensive!

Winter!

1st June – Monday

Today we headed for the Barossa Valley, only a 2½ hour drive from Meningie. Not as cold as previous mornings but very overcast. Very flat countryside until almost to Tailem Bend. We did get a glimpse of Lake Alexandrina on the way.

Not long after joining the main Melbourne/Adelaide highway, the truck chatter picked up on the 2 way, the main discussion being the large number of police motor bikes at a nearby weighbridge. Then a transport officer (or maybe a policeman) cut in to ask a truck why he didn’t pull in, it was compulsory and he was to turn around and return! We assume he did, but haven’t worked out why there was such a large police presence.

As we headed towards the Barossa Valley the weather closed in and the low clouds very quickly became thick fog, even some drizzle. This meant we didn’t get to see much in the way of scenery for some time.

We are staying at Nurioopta for a few nights (just round the corner from Wolff Blas!) and there are certainly plenty of grapes grown around here – I would hate to be a grape pruner, the rows are just endless. Some of the grapes have lost their leaves but many still have their autumn columns and are quite spectacular. There are 55 wineries in the region that are open to the public, however, I think we will select only a few to visit.

Today was the first time we have used our new ground cover under the awning – it works very well and looks very smart. Cat was very impressed!

Kingston

31st March – Sunday

Another cool morning with clear, sunny skies. Left Mt Gambier, heading for Meningie, and drove through pine plantations for over an hour. Forestry is obviously the main industry for this region. Easy towing today with very little traffic and very flat roads, although they were rather bumpy at times. The flocks of crimson rosellas we saw yesterday were replaced by yellow tailed black cockatoos.

We had a stop at Kingston – how could we not stop? – had a look at their lighthouse, found a supermarket (needed some provisions) and then discovered another “Big” on the road out of town. In the last couple of days we have seen the Big Koala and the Big Woolbales – today it was the Big Lobster! He is for sale if anyone is interested.

After leaving Kingston, we followed the Cooyong for about 100 kms – a pretty boring drive for most of the way as all we could see were the melaleucas on either side of the road. It wasn’t until we were almost to the northern end of the Cooyong that we actually saw the water and sand dunes.

Meningie is a nice little town (population 940) on the shores of Lake Albert. The caravan park is beach front and for an extra $2 we could have had a site that fronted the beach. As there are only about six caravans in the park, we decided to have a site on the opposite side of the road and still get the same view. The sunset was unbelievable! So are the mosquitoes.

Unfortunately, the beach is a mixture of sand and mud, but it was still nice to have a walk and look at the pelicans. We also discovered the local bowls club where six locals were having a friendly game. I don’t think Sheila and Patsy would have approved of their footwear – Blunstone boots are a definite no-no at Beltana!!!