From Quorn, I towed the van the short hop to Port Augusta, where I was able to cast my vote in the forthcoming Federal Election. Fairly disillusioned with both the major parties and their backroom "machines" but I still feel a civic duty to do my bit whether it counts for much or not.
The other big attraction with Port Augusta is the fact that it is the last Coles Supermarket before either Kalgoorlie or Esperance in WA. Quick stock up of the fridge & freezer and back on the road.
I spent the night further West at Kimba, where the local "RV friendly" community provides toilets and even a coin operated hot shower for travellers at their recreation ground. All provided for a coin donation slot to help maintain the facilities. Nice spot and a pleasant small farming town. In the morning I paid a visit to the local Police station to ask about the roads in & around Gawler Ranges National Park. By this time another nasty cold front was bearing down with heavy showers forecast for the day. The advice was not to risk it, so there is yet another trip for the future. Hopefully Peter & Carol will manage their planned visit this (soon to be coming) Spring so I will have the benefit of their experiences as well.
The rest of the day I drove on to Streaky Bay, which I had visited twice before during Summer and Autumn. An awful driving day with strong winds and quite a bit of rain, so I was very glad to arrive. It was very quiet in town and at the great caravan park compared to my previous stays. Good for some quiet catch up time and several servings of the superb local King George Whiting. The pub is still the best value fish & chips, but the Mocean Cafe almost across the road is not bad either & offers a number of more elaborate dishes as well as take away.
Pretty bleak for photos this time, so a selection below from previous warmer & sunnier times to show how nice the place is.....
Streaky Bay Caravan Park.
The large "SUV" truck "logo" says it all.
The pub with the best King George Whiting meal around.
Town from the Jetty.
Inside the Powerhouse Museum - 100's of machines of all shapes & sizes.
Nearby "Murphy's Haystacks" (Inselbergs)
Beautiful beaches & coastline around Streaky Bay.
Turned out it was a beautiful, clear calm morning on Monday (27th when I left), so I took a few more photos in the Caravan Park around sunrise.
A beautiful Streaky Bay sunrise.
Another shot of the Bay. Great morning for fishing and there were boats headed for the water as I left (even on a Monday).
A very quiet caravan park on a Winter's Monday morning.
and a lonely Bushtracker at the back of the Park.
Great spot to visit any time. Until the next time......the journey West continues.
I made the return journey from the Adelaide Hills, back through Kapunda, Tarlee & on to the Clare Valley. Had planned to spend a couple of days, see what the weather was doing and decide whether to head further North to the Flinders or go West and have a quick look at the Gawler Ranges National Park.
This was the third time I had passed through the Clare and I had seen enough of Wineries and beautiful old towns from my recent visits to the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills. However, there was one exception and that was a return visit to Skillogalee, primarily for the restaurant which is still my favourite in South Australia. Last visit I had an entree which was seasonal fresh figs, stuffed with goats cheese, wrapped in proscuitto, lightly pan fried and heated through in the oven, which was just SO GOOD.....This time I had an oxtail with polenta starter that was good, but followed by a main with confit duck leg that was truly to die for. Best I have had anywhere......Well worth a visit if you find yourself in the Clare Valley. You need to book as the restaurant is small and popular.
I have to say their wines are also quite special for a small producer, so I had to have another tasting and add a few more bottles to the collection in the groaning caravan for the trip home.
A photo I took the Summer before last of the Skillogalee Winery.
Clare Town Hall (also from 2015) - a pretty town.
After considering the weather reports and looking at road closures in the Flinders National Park, I decided it was still worth a visit further north for a scouting trip, at least before a full Flinders exploration. I tossed up whether to stay in Hawker or Wilpena Pound in the National Park. In the end, I decided to take the caravan as far as Hawker and have the flexibility of just the Landcruiser on some of the roads which looked to be difficult if the rains came down. Turned out to be a good decision as I saw some heavy rain and many of the unsealed roads in the Park were closed to 4WD traffic.
Carrieton - old & new enroute to the Flinders. A good lunch stop.
Hawker was smaller than I expected but a pleasant country town with a well run, friendly caravan park. First place I have had some tomatoes bought in the general store weighed on the Australia Post parcel scale. Interesting combination of store with a small cafe as well.
Not quite the views & access to walking trails as found at Wilpena Pound, but it worked out well for me as the second day I was in residence it just poured all day and the park steadily filled with drowned campers and very dirty camper vans.
Fortunately I did manage one day touring in the National Park & beyond before the weather turned very bad. A few photos from that day.
Inside the Wilpena Pound campground area.
The view from the road into Wilpena campground area.
On the road North to Blinman.
One view of Historic (seem to be a favourite word) Blinman.
The road from Blinman through Paranchilna Gorge. A great drive in the Landcruiser.
The Prairie Hotel at Paranchilna, back on the flat on the road North to Leigh Creek & beyond.
The Flinders is a large very interesting area, with much history and great walking trails. Will need to be revisited on (yet) another trip. The weather forecast was becoming even more bleak with a nasty front due in a day or two, with possible heavy rain and snow on the Ranges. Time for PJ to flee South & West.....
On the way I stopped for a coffee and a superb egg and bacon breakfast wrap with sweet chilli sauce at Emily's Bistro in Quorn. Highly recommended. I had previously spent a couple of nights in Quorn in 2015 and found it yet another place well worth both a visit and stay.
Quorn Railway Station (now Info Centre) in the Summer time. Used to be the main line North to Alice and was a major junction for Australian Rail in our past history.
The main street of Quorn again from 2015 - plenty of old pubs.....
Off to Port Augusta and the West.
I had a very pleasant drive, albeit fairly "wetish" from Kapunda, back through Angaston and on down the Eden Valley, via Mount Pleasant, Mount Torrens, Woodside & Nairn to visit Ric & Ann, who live in the Adelaide Hills not too far away from Mount Barker. Lots of beautiful cattle grazing and horse country. Green & lush at this time of year.
A much nicer drive than coming from the West through the Adelaide suburbs and up the Motorway past Mount Lofty, which has been quite stressful in the past while towing a fairly large caravan. Looks like my future journeys East & West may have to involve this diversion through the Barossa and perhaps Clare as well.
Great to see Ric & Ann again. We first met in New Zealand in the 1970's when I was a Mud Man working for Baroid in Invercargill and offshore on the Penrod 74 semi-submersible in the Great South Basin. Exciting times. The friendship has continued over the years with periods in Perth & Aberdeen, where Ric & Ann were the other Witnesses (along with Gordon & Edith) to Jean & my Wedding. There have been a few visits to the Adelaide Hills, the most recent in early 2015 during my first major exploration of South Australia in the Kedron.
On the first weekend Ric & Ann planned an outing, over the Hills and on to visit Mannum, yet another Historic town on the Murray for a quiet pub lunch. It didn't quite turn out that way....
Part of our mission was to find some real local roadside farm eggs for sale. We missed out on the first attempt but found a stocked cooler box at an isolated farm house near Reedy Creek.
Success with $3 home grown eggs. Looked like a pretty comfortable chook yard to make us feel even better.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the car parks around Reedy Creek were overflowing with families taking kids of sizes for an adventure clambering over rocks and exploring (a bit like many of our experiences whilst growing up).
Once the sunscreen was on we had a very enjoyable walk with a bit of climbing over boulders as we worked our way back down the creek bed. There was a little water, mainly in pools, but later in the Winter It can turn into a raging torrent.
A nice view from the hill looking upstream.
The photographer managed to find some interesting reflections in water (where there were some interesting algal colours).
On we went to Mannum, where we found a bit of a surprise. Little did we know that each (SA) Queen's Birthday Weekend, Mannum hosts the South Australian Truck & Ute Show. The main street was closed off and all the surrounding area was packed full of spectacular trucks, utes and a few 4WDs. Great day for the Community with lots of local stalls and everywhere doing a good trade. Appeared to be 3 different live bands playing and heaps of people everywhere.
So many shiny huge trucks lined up down the main street.
Many interesting photo opportunities.
Some amazing graphics and heaps of dazzling chrome.
There were even two Suzuki Mighty Boys on display. My Mum used to have one of these outrageous vehicles. Hers was a two speed automatic....
The more traditional side of Mannum includes the cable ferries that run in parallel across the Murray.
All told a very interesting day out.
During the next week I did a day trip to Adelaide. Down in the morning with Ann and then met Ric & Lyrien at the University of Adelaide in the late afternoon before returning up the hill with Ric. One of the main reasons for the trip was to be able to do an early (absent, interstate) vote which is only possible at a limited number of Divisional Australian Electoral Commission offices. This was in fact the first day of early voting so there was considerable interest from the TV stations who were desperately trying to interview people leaving after having cast their vote.
For me, not so successful as it had not been made clear that early interstate voting did not start until a day later, I suspect because they didn't have all the ballot papers ready (to be continued later....).
I enjoy visiting Adelaide as a City. It has many interesting things to see & do. On this trip, that included:
Porkers on the loose in Rundle Mall.
A beautiful Winter's day on North Terrace.
Interesting street sculpture.
New Adelaide - "The cheese grater" next to the new Hospital.
Old Adelaide - The State Parliament building (on North Terrace).
The ever interesting Adelaide Central Markets.
The South Australian Museum - impressive mix of old and new.
On my last visit I spent time in the State Art Gallery, located next door and equally impressive for a visitor like me.
An impressive entry statement in the Museum.
The winner of the Natural Science Art Exhibition.
" A survey into the Cretaceous". Another entry in the Art Exhibition that particularly caught my eye.
The exhibit showcasing the Mawson Antarctic Exhibition was another feature that pushed my buttons. So many things to see......
The rest of the visit included much good conversation, many wonderful home cooked meals and a few good bottles of wine, purely to aid the digestion of course.
Time to move on again until the next time..... More rain due and a decision to be made about whether I could do a preliminary trip to the Flinders or perhaps the Gawler Ranges in anticipation of yet another visit to South Australia.
I headed West from Mildura, stopping to go through the South Australian Quarantine Station on the Sturt Highway at Yamba, before Renmark. It reminded me quite a lot of the WA Station at Border Village. Not quite as strict, but the SA Authorities are trying to limit fruit fly and other problems in the Riverlands & other growing regions. Essentially, no fresh fruit or veges from interstate allowed.
At Renmark (actually Paringa), I did a small diversion North to visit Wilkedene Woolshed Brewery, also on the Murray. It was recommended by Ric & Ann, so I had a look and sampled one of their local beers (Amazon Ale) on the sunny deck overlooking the river. A nice drop.
Beautiful day at Wilkedene, but no kitchen, only a few cold packaged local food products to buy & eat.
From Renmark, I diverted a little to Berri, to stop at the local Coles supermarket and stock up after my preparation for the Quarantine point. Unfortunately that resulted in a little misadventure. I forgot to lock the freezer door, so when I arrived in Kapunda I found defrosted food and melted ice blocks scattered across the caravan floor. Fortunately no damage, but a bit of a clean up job.......
After Berri, I drove through the small town (cum suburb) of Glossop. Had to take a photo of the local high school to send to Michael (Glossop), yet another old friend from Perth and Aberdeen days.
Say no more.....The Glossop legacy.....
I had hoped to be able to do a Loch Luna wildlife cruise in a small local boat from Kingston on Murray (recommended by Ann), but Carl the owner & guide was having a few low season Winter days off.
So, on I went to Kapunda on the Northern edge of the Barossa. I was attracted by what I hoped was a quiet, reasonably priced Kui (group) caravan park and was not disappointed. This became my base for a week in & around the Barossa. Kapunda is an old mining town and agricultural centre, much quieter & (a bit) less touristy than the main Barossa townships.
"MAP" the Cornish Miner looms large on the outskirts of Kapunda.
"Downtown" Kapunda. The local Foodland & bakery does a pretty constant business.
Kapunda Museum. An impressive building, reflecting the past history of the town.
The Barossa was just beautiful in June. Surrounded by green rolling hills with a lot of crops just starting to emerge, it was wet and cold with lots of new growth around. In the Summer I am told it is HOT, just like the Swan Valley at home.
Beautiful Barossa near Seppeltsfield (from the family Mausoleum).
Another great view at Jacobs Creek.
Historic Chateau Tanuda, right on the outskirts of the Tanunda township.
There are just so many different wineries that Barossa can be overwhelming. I limited myself to visiting just a few, that were mainly recommended by others, who had visited previously and was very happy with all those that I did get to over the week. Highlights for me were Langmeil (my first Barossa Winery & a very old one), Rockford, Henschke, Seppeltsfield (for the history, Fino Restaurant & excellent set up for visitors), and Torbreck for a great range of shiraz. There are of course so many more that are also very good.....
Seppeltsfield Courtyard on a very quiet wet day.
Historic Seppeltsfield.
The old Bacon House.
The spectacular Seppelt Family Mausoleum with fantastic views over the surrounding area.
Scenic Langmeil Winery.
Rockford Winery Courtyard with the old stables tasting room.
Inside the rustic tasting room at Rockford.
Krondorf Road is home for Rockford, Charles Melton and Grant Burge, which all got a visit from PJ.
The 1918 Bistro & Grill in Tanunda, as well as Fino Restaurant at in the old Seppeltsfield bottling hall, and a number of local bakeries were recommended to me to try. I enjoyed many of them, in between trying to maintain a diet and lose some weight whilst travelling. Just a bit of a challenge.
So many things to see & do in the Barossa. Another is the weekly growers market on Saturday, just outside Angaston - much better than our local Midland "Farmers" Market & comparable (in quality of products) with the Margaret River market, which is also very good.
Much of the weekly Angaston (Barossa) Farmers Market is undercover.
"Thunderbirds" (some of you will remember the show) were there as well....
That's a pretty good overview I reckon. I really just scraped the surface of the Barossa and hope to return at least a few more times whilst I am able to.......
