Days 139-144 – Adelaide (25-30 Jan) Week 20

Left Aldinga for Adelaide to stay with friends Trevor and Margy who live in the Adelaide hills.  About an hours drive north east.  There are some major hills in this area and Trevor had given us directions for the least hilly way (5km climb) to get to there place but even so we overheated and had to pull over.  Definitely need to take the car in to get the radiator fixed later in the week.  Trevor and Margy live on 10 acres and have wonderful views over the ranges and sea glimpses.  It is a lovely spot to stay.   They have a male chocolate labrador (Kora) and a female yellow labrador (Halle), five chickens, an aviary of budgies and three horses.  So a real menagerie. Its great and Coco loves it.  They have five grown up children with only two still living at home (occasionally).  We had a lovely Australia Day breakfast with some of Margy’s friends and a couple of their children and their partners.  The weather was perfect, John cooked brekkie on the bbq (he doesn’t have to be at Rotary to cook brekkie) and we had croissants, champers, fruit platters, lamingtons and anzac biscuits to name a few.  Sarah (youngest daughter) and her boyfriend Brett gave us a demonstration on frisbee.  They are both very good players and play competition frisbee.  We didn’t know there was such a thing.  In the afternoon we went for a drive to town called Springton in the Barossa Valley to look at a church that was for sale that Rachel (Trevor and Margy’s oldest daughter) and her husband were interested in buying to live in.  Unfortunately it had been sold.  The next day (Wed) John and I went to the Mt Lofty Summit which overlooks the city.  It is 710 metres above sea level, it was destroyed in Ash Wednesday 1983 fires along with 28 human lives and 257,000+ livestock and animals (only I would remember that number right).  We watched a short DVD on the fire and the devastation was horrendous.  At the summit there is fire watch tower which really has a good vantage point for many miles.  From there we went to Waterfall Gully and was surprised to find there was water running.  Very very steep hills to get there and it is amazing to see houses perched right on the edge of a hill.  I would be nervous living in some of them.   Thursday John and I spent and the day at the Noarlunga Colonnade which is a really large shopping centre.  From 8.30am to 5.15pm we killed time while our radiator was being fixed.  Don’t want to see another shopping centre for a while.  Friday saw Trevor take the day off work and the four of us went to Hahndorf a lovely town in the Barossa valley.  One of the Adelaide Hills' most famous towns, Hahndorf is Australia's oldest surviving German settlement.  There is still a strong German flavour in Hahndorf, most evident in the smallgood outlets and German bakeries that line the bustling main street.  Sir Hans Heysen a famous painter was one of the original settlers here.  The Beerenberg jam factory is not far from town.  It is a great town to visit particularly if you are looking for different gifts and it is very popular with tourists.  We had lunch at Udder Delights following some cheese tasting which was delicious followed by dessert at No. 5 a wonderful chocolate shop.  They make chocolate with pure belgian chocolate and we had the best hot chocolate, a choice of milk or dark chocolate.  John and I tried the dark hot chocolate.  It was the delicious as were the Belgian waffles and the chocolate tiramusu.  Very decadent.  Later in the afternoon Trevor and Margy bought the deal of the year, a brand new Toyota Yaris that someone had won as a prize and didn’t want it.  They got a real bargain.  The highlight of Saturday was a KOALA.  Yes we saw our first wild koala.  It was about 8.20pm and we were out walking Coco when I spotted it.  Fantastic!!  It was a darker colour than we were expected and he/she was a very healthy looking specimen.  Not as high in the tree as I would have thought and not in particularly tall gum tree either.  We were chuffed to see it but as you would expect the one time we didn’t have the camera so couldn’t take a picture - but we did see it. 
Addendum – next morning went for a walk to see if I could find the koala again and I did (well might not be the exact one but it will do).  

Days 137-138 – Aldinga Beach Adelaide (23-24 Jan)

Went to the one and only cow race in Australia today at Mt Compass 20 mins drive inland on the way to Victor Harbour.  It is very much a rural event with a lot of the locals attending.  There are a lot of events during the day to keep crowds entertained and the highlight is the cow auction and then two cow races followed by the Cup.  It is in its 37th year and seems very popular. the day starts at 12noon and ends up late at night with bands from 6.30pm.  All funds raised go to charity.  The highest bid for a cow was $5000.  The cows are loaned by local farmers for the day and the auction is purely fund raising.  Riders are chosen for each cow but it is obvious the cows nor the riders have any experience at this.  We didn’t realise the cows would be ridden thought they would wear colours and the first one to the end wins.  We only stayed for the first race (of sorts) as it was getting late so didn’t see the big race.  One of the prior events was a working dog demo and two were kelpies who looked very similar to Coco – it could almost have been her except they were males.  They rounded up sheep and then cattle which we hadn’t see before.  Other events included a milk skulling competition, rubberboot marathons (wet boots and surfaces) and an assortment of proud ute drivers showing off their utes which some were quite speccy.  Have to say it didn’t come close to the dog in a ute competition we have in WA.  It was quite a fun day and there were lots of stalls selling all kinds of local produce/crafts.  It would good if Cowarmup (cow town for none WA-ians) had something like this.  Mt Compass is a very rural agricultural area and I think I heard the commentator say that 9 months of the year they have rain!  Could have misheard that – seems odd when the rest of the state is in drought.  We have been dodging the tour down under bike race and driving to Mt Compass today we actually had to drive along some of the route, you should have seen the masses of spectators alongside the roadways – we reckon half of Adelaide must have been there – it was amazing to see so many people for quite a distance.

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Today (Sunday) drove the west side of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Victor Harbour stopping along the way at Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island – where the Murray River meets the ocean.  Goolwa is a lovely little town – very touristy and today was market day with a lot of local produce/craft on sale.  Very busy spot probably because of the long weekend (for some).  To get to the Murray Mouth you have to drive over a very impressive bridge to Hindmarsh Island.  The Murray River traverses 610kms through SA to get to the ocean.  Due to the drought dredging of sand has to be done to stop the river mouth closing at a cost of $6M per annum.   Amazing the difference between the temperature 40 odd kms can make – it was really chilly here and windy so we didn’t kayak like we were thinking of doing.   We came across a town called Currency Creek which had a really interesting cemetry (normally wouldn’t stop at these) with some really old headstones the oldest we spotted was 1857.  Onto Victor Harbour with a population of 12,000 in town and 20,000 in district.  Again a very popular tourist destination with many holidaymakers from Adelaide.  Apparently a lot of Adelaidians flee here to escape the heat as it can be 10 degrees cooler and it was chilly in shade today.  The foreshore reminded us a little of Busselton but with much more activity and things to do and see.  Driving home we took an inland route and found a spot called Glacier Rock, quite a significant geological area.  A lot of the scenery in the lower Fleurieu reminded us of the SW of WA, take out the ranges and it we could easily be mistaken for being home.

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Days 134-136 – Aldinga Beach Adelaide (20-22 Jan)

Last minute decision to drive to Adelaide from Burra.  We were going to stay a little longer in the Clare Valley but decided we had seen enough wineries and old buildings.  Dropped into Kapunda (old copper mining town) and it was too hot so kept going.  Joys of travelling on a whim.  Aldinga is about 43kms south of Adelaide on the top tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula.  This peninsula is very popular with holidaymakers from Adelaide due to its proximity to the city and the further south you go the cooler the weather.  Kangaroo Island is off the bottom tip of the peninsula via a ferry from Cape Jervis.  Cape Jervis is 110kms south from Adelaide and is as far as you can go before you have to swim.  We were going to go to Kangaroo Island until we found out it would cost over $300 to get there and back (us and the car) for a 45 minute trip.  So opted not to go.  Apparently not many locals go due to the cost.  The park we are at is about a 5 minute walk to the beach which is very pretty.  The beaches here have rolling hills as a backdrop into the ocean and it is very scenic and quite different landscape to what we are used too.  We didn’t realise however that the closest beach to us (walking distance at least) is a nudist beach – and yes they do get around in the nuddie.  As on Cable Beach in Broome majority are old codgers – honestly some things are best left to the imagination!  To get to the non nuddie beach you have to walk the gauntlet for about 500m.  Just hope no-one stops you for a chat as where would you look?  It was a hot night last night and Coco and I went down for a swim and it was beautiful.  Real ocean with waves and a drop-off!  Compared to what we have seen so far on the Eyre Peninsula it was heaven.  Each day we have been here there has been a spotter plane surveying the beaches for sharks and the first night its shark siren went off a few times.  People still chance a quick dip!  Apparently there is a reef nearby - Aldinga Reef - which is known for its shark sightings. 

We drove the east side of the Peninsula 110kms to the bottom at Cape Jervis.  Some very pretty scenery, the hills are just lovely, whilst brown and dry still lovely.  We stopped at the Myponga Reservoir which had a fair bit of water in it which surprised us and yes lovely scenery.  Some great beach spots along the way again with the hills as a backdrop.  Certainly is a very picturesque part of the country.  We were considering snorkelling at a place called Rapid Bay and Second Valley where leafy sea dragons can sometimes be seen, but John put the scares on us about the sharks!  Second Valley was full of kids but could be worth a snorkel as it is more protected once the kids go back to school.  At Rapid Bay we would snorkel at the jetty which is 470m out to sea and open water – would be looking over our shoulders out there a fair bit.   Also the water is so cold about 16 degrees!  Really need a wetsuit of sorts to stay in the water for a good period of time. 

There is a huge shopping centre at a suburb called Noarlunga, 20kms north of Aldinga which we went to check out. We were looking for a radiator workshop as we were having radiator issues and discovered it nearby.  Don’t believe there is a shopping centre in WA that comes close to it in size.  Lots of franchise stores that we don’t get in WA such as a nut store, cakes, greek yoghurt, cheap stores like Red Dot.  Could get lost in there quite easily.  Have to be honest shopping loses its appeal when you can only buy on need not want due to lack of space!

One thing we only found out when we got here was the Bike Tour Down Under is being held in this part of the world over this weekend.  There are 8000 competitors and everywhere is busy particularly roads and accommodation.  So we have had to time our trips out when the bikes aren’t on our route.   We leave here on Monday heading back to Adelaide and staying with friends of ours Trevor and Margy who live on some acreage in the hills area.  We are looking forward to catching up with them again as we haven’t seen them for at least 5 years. 

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Days 132-133 – Burra (18-19 Jan)

120kms today from Crystal Brook to Burra in the Clare Valley. A very pretty drive through some lovely rolling hills. The Clare Valley is a wine growing region, one of three in SA.  The main hub of wineries is in the town of Clare 40kms away. Copper was discovered in Burra in 1845 and the mine was one of the richest mines the world had known. Quite a bit of history here but expensive to see and being a tourist town they charge for everything.  There is a charge for entry into each museum of $5.00/person/museum or $20.00/person to enter 8 of them.  They also want anything from $5 to $15 for guidebooks.  We did discover the best coffee we have tasted for a long long time at a antique/bookshop coffee shop. Many antique/curio shops here more pricey than the one in Crystal Brook.  Were going to travel 40kms to Clare today (Tues) but were too lazy to pack up so stayed another day in Burra.   We dusted off the bikes and rode 3kms to an apple cidery for some tasting, uphill most of the way on dirt roads – we needed a cider by the time we got there but coming home was much easier and yes we bought a bottle.  Another town with lots of historic buildings, many of them have been converted into B&Bs or accommodation quarters.  Quite a pretty town and it is very popular in spring and autumn. 

In 2001 fossils of a Diprotodon were discovered nearby Burra and before becoming extinct 50,000 years ago was Australia’s largest marsupial resembling a giant wombat.  The fossils are on display in the shire office.  Interesting to see.

 

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Day 131 – Crystal Brook (17 Jan)

Left blustery Whyalla heading inland to Crystal Brook (188kms), foothills to the Southern Flinders Ranges. A very pretty drive with views to the ranges.  Crystal Brook is a small town of about 1800 people but a nice town with lots of history.  A wonderful antique/curio store houses the information bureau. Everything they sell is on consignment and there were some real gems like Royal Albert tea sets, the old slider viewers we all had as kids, hand held meat mincers, those old fashioned really thick porcelain mixing bowls, Enid Blyton books, easy to spend a lot of time in there.  Not a lot to do in Crystal Book it is more of an overnight stop.  The caravan park was a bargain at $18/night, amenities very clean and not many people.  The only downside was that it was very dusty with the wind following us from Whyalla that night so the inside of the van now needs a good dust.  We cooked our snapper on the weber tonight and it was just beautiful, thanks Graham.

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(John's turn) Now for those interested in stats or curious as to actual costs because one day you want to do something like this, here goes:-

Over 18 weeks we have travelled 12,091Km's. spent $3,939.38 on fuel using 2,767.73L. Now according to my maths that means we are spending $218.85 per week (not bad as we only budgeted for $150 a week, although the North West of WA was heavy in distance now that we are on the East coast we expect these averages to decrease) fuel is costing on average $1.423/L, we average 670km's per week, and stay 3.5 days per stop. All this in a 1992 Mits Pajero with serious wind resistance on the roof and a 2.5 tonne van. This all gave us on average 12.78mpg or 22.84L per 100Km's.

Days 129-130 – Whyalla (14-16 Jan)

Today we drove to Whyalla 154kms north east of Arno Bay.  Whyalla’s slogan is ‘where the outback meets the sea”.  Outback being the Flinders Ranges and the sea being the Spencer Gulf.  We are catching up with Wally and Anne friends of ours from Busselton who are here for a few days visiting Wally’s sister and her husband (Marlene and Graham).  We have booked into the Foreshore Caravan Park and have a site right on the beachfront.  So far this is the most expensive park we have stayed in at $33/night.  We are paying $5/night more for a beachfront site which is very nice except they didn’t tell us we would get gale force winds late afternoon/evening, gee is it windy can hardly open the door without it being blown away but the days are lovely.  As with most of the beaches in SA so far the tide is a long way out but it doesn’t stop hopeful fisher people walking out to catch crabs.  Because of the shallow inclines in the beach causing the tide to be way out people use crab rakes to literally rake crabs out of the sand.  Seems to be fairly successful.  40 crabs per person per day can be caught here in SA – ridiculous who needs that many crabs??  We spent a couple of hours with Wally and Anne before they headed off to Marlene and Graham’s holiday shack in Point Douglas (45km north east of Whyalla) for a few days.  They have asked us to visit them tomorrow (Fri). Wally and Anne also had our mail and a tripod for the satellite dish from home.  John and I headed out to the local shopping mall to get our fix and decided that we really don’t miss shopping that much.  Supermarkets open at 7.00am and close at 10.00pm here.

Had a lovely day at Point Douglas with Wally, Anne, Marlene and Graham at their holiday shack in Point Douglas.  What a beautiful spot.  There would be no more than 12 homes in this bay and the Southern Flinders Ranges overlook the bay.  (I have visited the Flinders Ranges previously and they are just beautiful, unfortunately we won’t be exploring the ranges as it is not recommended this time of year because of the heat).  The tide was in so we took the opportunity to go kayaking before it went out.  The weather today was just perfect, not too hot but warm enough to enjoy a swim so I had my first swim in the Spencer Gulf! it was wonderful.  Graham kindly gave us a whole snapper that his son had caught here which we have defrosting and will will cook on the weber tomorrow night for dinner, yum.  On the way back to Whyalla we stopped at Point Lowly.  This is one of areas where the giant cuttlefish come to spawn between May and September each year.  There are diving/snorkelling tours during this time which would be great to do.  On the way to Point Douglas we saw sea cages (see pics) that house yellow tail kingfish.  These cages are owned by Southern Star Aquaculture and Cleanseas.  In this area they specialise in growing the kingfish for 18-24 months when they harvest them and sell them in markets in Adelaide, Whyalla, Melbourne and Sydney, USA, Japan and Europe.  When we were in Port Lincoln and Arno Bay Cleanseas also had offshore sea cages containing tuna.

Saturday very very windy, southerly wind gusts up to 54kmh and we are copping if right off the ocean.  Because of the wind we decided to stay put today and travel tomorrow when we won’t have to deal with strong headwinds.  We are heading east into the Clare Valley which is predominantly a wine region.  Research we have done it looks to be very pretty with lots of trees, creeks etc.  It is only 1.5 hours from Adelaide.

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Days 126-128 Arno Bay (11-13 Jan)

Left the farmstay at Port Lincoln early this morning as we were worried about the high risk of fire.  It is so sweltering hot!  We are heading to Arno Bay which is about 120kms north east of Port Lincoln.  The winds already are quite strong and they are predicting them to get even stronger as the day progresses with thunderstorms.  So we want to get settled asap.  At first glance Arno Bay is a sleepy little town with a population of 250 on the coast.  The caravan park is right on the beach with grassed sites (again unusual for the Eyre Peninsula).  It is a busy park and obviously very popular.  The jetty is about 50m away and good for catching squid apparently.  It is still really stinking hot so we quickly get setup and hibernate under the air conditioning until the temperature drops.  Later in the evening it is cool enough to go for a walk so Coco and I walk along the beach which actually has waves and is not too shallow and has white sand (amazing for this part of the world it seems).  There is a cafe next to the park, a kind of old world pub that serves cheap meals and 500m away is a mangrove boardwalk which we will explore when it is cooler.  There are a lot of holiday homes here some new and old shacks.  Town is probably 1km away.

Today is much cooler, down to 23, windy and raining.  This weather is so erratic, but at least we can get out and do things.  Walked into town, not much there except a supermarket and post office.  Did the mangrove walk.  Very impressive when you consider it was built entirely by volunteers, even more amazing given the population is so small.  There are two parts to it, one is a loop through the mangroves and the other heads off to the estuary both walks about 700m.  It is very well done and was only finished recently.   If the weather was nicer it would be nice to kayak in the creek.  Maybe tomorrow.

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