Clare and Ross - a van, no plan.

Driving South from Norseman through places with interesting names....Salmon Gums (why their gums not their tails?), Grassy Patch and Gibson's Soak. Esperance is delightful...the sun was shining, the water looked inviting, the waterfront has been nicely developed with a path for strolling . We took up a perch in a bar over looking it all and out over to the mountains of Cape Le Grande.....such a nice change after all the dryness and emptyness of the Nullarbor.

Driving driving driving again today. We woke with the sun and have struggled with what time it was all day. Where we camped we were in the Eucla time zone 45 mins ahead of Perth time but all our electronic clocks do not know about Eucla time so as soon as we crossed the border they went back 2 and a half hrs from SA time....all very very confusing! Drove 600 km and then collapsed when we got to Norseman so decided to stop. At Norseman you can turn right for Kalgoorlie or turn left for Esperance after driving a straight line for 2 long days  Had a walk around town after all that sitting....established in the gold rush 1896....a strong horse and camel history evident in the artworks around town 

A big day of driving today. We left Ceduna early and had a good talking book to occupy us. Stopped at every Roadhouse to stretch our legs....we have worked out our petrol stops to avoid the most expensive spots. We noticed lots of dead wombats on the road... apparently they are in plague proportions....50 to 60 in each burrow.....paddocks are full of them. We have all our remaining apples and avocados to the staff at the Nullarbor Roadhouse....we were in a no man's land....people heading East have to hand in fruit and veg at Ceduna and those heading West have to hand everything in at the border. No issues at the border, the police were happy with our G2G passes and checked our credit card statement to ensure we had spent the last 14 days in SA. Quarantine man searched all the draws, cupboards and storage areas in the caravan.......we had forgotten the potatoes.....so handed them over. Off we went....went a further 200km and found a nice free camp off the roa...

We drove all day yesterday to get here and have spent today preparing to cross the Nullarbor again. We have decided we cannot go to Tasmania due to the Covid situation in Victoria, so we are returning to WA to explore the South West and Perth a little more. It is a public holiday today so everything is closed except the supermarket fortunately. We have restocked, cooked several meals to freeze and use up all of our vegies otherwise they will be confiscated at the border. We have washed everything, refueled, checked tyre pressures and water levels. We applied for our G2G pass so WA will let us in. Walked down to the waterfront, along the coast a little and out along the jetty.....we were nearly blown away.... hopefully the wind will be less in WA.

Left the Flinders Ranges today. The campground was overflowing with people and huge numbers more passed us on the road....it is the middle weekend of the school holidays. We stopped for a stretch in Quorn which had a fete atmosphere...lots of people and market stalls set up. This is one end of the Pitchi Richi railway...the other end is Port Augusta. It is the only remaining section of the original Gahn Railway and a steam train runs along it on weekends winding its way over the ranges. As we were driving towards Port Augusta.....along the train came  puffing up the hill with 4 or 5 carriages full of people. driving on we have stopped at Kimba.....halfway across Australia again.....heading West this time. The big galah was looking very fine after having a very nice paint job. Last time we saw it was looking very dull and shabby.

Walked up Wilpena Creek into the Pound today. An easier walk than yesterday. Enormous river red gum trees all along the creek....no water flowing but several good size pools. We saw a grandaddy shingle back lizard it was huge! nearly twice what the books say it gets to. Inside the Pound it was relatively flat but we walked up to the Wangara lookouts...one a little higher than the other.....great views over the pound from both and a different perspective from the view from yesterday's mountain. On the flat area was a recreated homestead...a family lived here in the late 1800's farming wheat initially but eventually cattle due to recurrent droughts. A lovely day for a walk sunny but not too hot... beautiful! Finished the day with dinner at our campfire!

Walked from our campsite up  Mount Ohlssen Bagge....uphill all the way to gain 450m and quite a rock scramble. On top it was freezing and blowing a gale but the views in all directions were expansive and amazing  The whole dish of the Pound was infront of us, surrounded by mountains. Difficult to show in a photo... We admired the view for as long as we could before turning into icicles  Then made our way carefully down.....a great walk.

We have driven 300km North today leaving behind the wheat and vines. They have been replaced by sheep, grazing on rather poor land. We had several stops to walk up and down the main streets of small towns. We saw a family of emus with about 6 metre high chicks. Crossing the road we saw a snake and several dragons. Arrived at Wilpena Pound and we were lucky to get a powered site. It's school holidays and all of Adelaide is here. Each site has a fire place so we were very happy sitting outside with our camp fire, cheese and bickie's and a glass of wine, as the very young bikies all whizzed by. Tomorrow we will do some walking to explore.

We have spent today back in the Clare Valley.....it is a good halfway point to The Flinders Ranges and we loved cycling The Reisling Trail  This time we started at Auburn and cycled to Waterford. It was a bit of a dismal day so an excellent way to spend it  Cycling again through vineyards, farmland with sheep, cattle and alpacas happily grazing. Nice lunch then back we went....again all downhill home......fantastic!

Horseshoe Bay at Port Elliot is beautiful, the sun was shining and it is Sunday. Lots of people were out enjoying themselves. A very nice cafe overlooking the bay for lunch then we walked up to the headland for a great view. went on to the Barrage at the end of the Murray River. It is a weir and a lock to allow boats pass through with a change of water depth. The Pelicans were having a ball catching so many fish and on the weir having a rest were many seals sunning themselves.

We drove around to the other side of the Fleurieu Peninsula for a very special lunch. The restaurant was in a historic mill that has been renovated. Lunch was amazing, courtesy of our lovely family.....Thank you.......Happy Birthday!! After our beautiful long lunch we went further down the valley to the coast....sandy beach on one side and smooth beach rocks on the other. Perfect rocks for skimming.....try as we might we could not get more than 4 skips. Look at these amazing rock layers in the cliffs. On our way back we called in to Cape Jervis.... pronounced as it is written rather than how we pronounce our Jervis bay. This is where the ferry to Kangaroo island departs ...the island was not far away....clearly visible.

Drove into Adelaide for the day with a stop on the way for a quick blood donation from Ross for a lucky person. Met up with Julia at her house, she has a nice spot with lots of open space despite being not far from the centre of town. We were able to meet Sweety the cat. We cycled along the Linear path....a walking/ cycling path along the Torrens river going for over 30km to the ocean.....we only did a short section but it was very nice. We were introduced to the local community garden and also met one of the locals trotting down the path ahead of us to find a new tree. Thanks Julia!

Paid this little town a visit today, it is on the coast just north of Robe. It has a very long waterfront but no beach....there are cliffs of seaweed. As we were looking at the seaweed there was a little movement and a little seal appeared on top...watching us watching it. As we walked up the jetty it hopped in the water and followed us out to the end. It was rolling around end over end and sideways then poking it's head up to check where we were....it only looked like a pup.....very cute! Walked on up to a lighthouse that used to be on a reef 8 km out to sea....it was constantly manned by 2 lighthouse keepers....they did 2 weeks on one week off.....how lonely! It is no longer used and has been dismantled and rebuilt on the shore as an exhibit.

Robe is a very popular summer holiday place with many beaches, cafes and nice shops. We rode our bikes along the cliff tops behind the beaches from the caravan park to town and on to an oblisk on the cliff top, built after there were 30 shipwrecks off the point in one year. After lunch we walked on Long Beach.....it is very very long....no end in sight. All over the beach were little balls.....like small tennis balls They were soft like a sponge, blew about in the wind and appeared to be made entirely of fibres.....what are they? Fur balls from a seal? Eggs from a strange shark? A wierd type of seaweed?

Explored the other volcanic lakes in Mt Gambia...the main one is Valley lake...again in an old volcano cone just next to Blue Lake. We walked up to the top of Mt Gambier and had a magnificent view over the lakes, the town and surrounding districts.....a very steep path up there  then drove 20km out to the coast at Port MàcDonnell.....it was blowing a gale with driving rain....the seas were huge...no surfers today. Nice cafe for lunch it was warm and the food was good. A pause in the rain and we went to Cape Northumberland....the most southerly point in SA....3000 Km to Perth, 1200 to Sydney and 5500 to the South Pole. It was a very narrow walkway out to the point...we were lucky not to have got blown off. The South Pole seemed much closer than in the sign.

Moved further south to Mt Gambier today. The town is quite large....infact it is a city....and right in the middle is a sink hole....quite deep leading to a cave.... apparently there are lots of them in the limestone around here. Steps led down into the hole and gardens around. Very nice and quite unique. After setting up the caravan did a lap of Blue Lake....a lake in an old volcano cone.....there is a path all the way around the cone....looking one way is the lake and the other way beautiful farmland out to the coast. The water was more grey today than blue as it was quite overcast. The nice looking house on the side of the lake is infact the pump house as the lake is the water source for the city....it refills from the water table.

The Coonawarra area joins the Pathway region so acres and acres of vines....all beautifully tended and just starting to bud. The area is famous for Cab Sav and Shiraz.....we are in our element. Walked the Coonawarra Wine Trail....a 5 km loop that includes 5 vineyards. We started well tasting everything on offer at the first cellar door.....at the second we had further tasting and a glass of our choice with a delicious Plowmans Platter to share. After that we rolled along the trail.....Ross decided to cut out the middleman and went direct to the source.... We completed the loop.... beautiful buildings....but no more tasting for us. You will be glad to know we got home safely.

Walked along the creek side and through a nature reserve for several kms. It has been a beautiful sunny warm day. Town is spread along 2 streets and all 4 big banks have branches here....this is very unusual....many towns have no banks!..... There must be a lot of money or massive loans in the area  After lunch visited the caves just outside town....world heritage listed. The caves contain the fossilized remains of megafauna that fell into them through shafts 500,000 years ago. They have recreated Diprotodons, ,Marsupial lions, giant short faced kangaroos that ate leaves 3 metres up and a monster snake.....all of which they found in the caves. Enjoyed exploring their display and one of the caves....The Tomato Cave!!

Started the day at the world's biggest rocking horse....a wooden toy factory. Just like a monster size Dobbin....the rocking horse we had as kids. Found the toys on offer a little disappointing though. Wound our way through the hills...past cherry, apple and pear plantations to Mount Lofty. Huge view from the top looking down on Adelaide and out over the coast....the CBD was quite clear with big parks around. Last stop was Stirling....not bad but the pick of the little towns is definately Hahndorf  We returned to our seriously sloping caravan....hoping it does not flip over in the night....we have survived 2 nights just one more. It is a very sloping site and we are not very good at wedges!

We have made our way to the Adelaide Hills along winding narrow roads....climbing high with wonderful views then wiggling down again. Fortunately we did not hit any rock walls or caravans going the other way. Sleet and a gale with a " feels like)1° greeted our arrival. Hahndorf is everything German.....Cookoo clocks, sausages, beer, wooden toys and Christmas decorations. We have had a lovely day exploring the shops along the main Street. It was cold, drizzly and windy so the open fires in the pubs was very nice.

Great trail that runs along an old train line from Clare to Auburn winding through the vineyards and beautiful countryside. Being on a train line the slopes are very gradual....it was very popular....lots of cyclist out enjoying the sunshine. We were swooped by magpies at several spots....no damage done  thanks to our helmets but it gives you a fright! Lunch stop at Watervale where the pub was very very busy....lovely outdoor area. When the menu arrived we discovered we had arrived at one of the highlights of the Epicurean Way...lucky us...tasty tapas type dishes...yum! Back home....coffee and cake halfway and mostly a slight downhill. A great day...thank you Clare Valley.

30 min drive from Burra to Clare through beautiful rural countryside. Clare is quite a big town and busy...it appears prosperous. There was lots of advertising for a French Festival at Auburn this weekend. Auburn is a little further down the Clare Valley so we decided to go and see what celebrations were going on. The village was decked in red white and blue banners but there were no stalls or market place....it seems it doesn't really start until tomorrow. Nevermind....we were sitting having lunch on the verandah of an old pub when Robyn and Tony appeared....friends who had been travelling with Deb and Les. Very nice to catch up and soak up some sunshine. We went on to a local vineyard and found some reds we liked in this centre renown for Riesling

Drove via Morgan which sits on a bend in the Murray. Nice riverfront Park where there used to be a railway station when the town functioned as a port....The railway station has been nicely renovated but no trains now. Another car ferry crosses the river here and was busy as we watched. Many houseboats! On to Burra, another old copper mining town where lots of people came from Cornwall to work as miners....the same as Moonta that we visited on the Yorke Peninsula. The cafes were all closed when we strolled around town but all were advertising Cornish Pasties....some a mix of neat and vegies at one end and apple at the other.....a gluten free option at one cafe.....had to opt for the pub for a drink. The town is full of beautiful old bluestone buildings including the one Julia was the owner of for a short time ( we think this is it) It looks lovely. Burru is bustling small town now, a far cry from the height of the South Australian lockdown.

Visited Barmera today which sits on Lake Bonney....very nice but absolutely no watercraft or people on the lake. Nice walking trail along the shore around town...many plaques commemorating local waterskiers who had broken world records and competed at various events representing Australia. No waterskiing going on today.  Lunch...of course in a well positioned cafe. Drove around the lake then back to Berri by a back road. Closest we got to a cruise on the Murray was the local car ferry crossing. Reminded us of home....but much shorter than Berowra Waters.

Tried out the natural grass tennis courts at the local tennis club....the bounce was very low. Walked along the river then through the wetlands next to the river ....pelicans in the trees, lots of tiny ducklings, red rumped parrots, yellow rosellas ( just like crimson rosellas....only yellow), a pond alive with frog mating calls. After all that time for a rest!

Happy Father's Day and happy 90th birthday Eric! Lovely to have a such a good chat yesterday. Walked along the river for lunch in a cafe overlooking the river then drive to Renmark a little further up river......discovered "The Big Orange" Huge fruit growing area. Renmark had several large paddlesteamers moored....a sign of a summer time activity but no-one on the water today....it is very cold and windy. Further down the river bank was a most amazing barge ......it must have taken years to assemble this amazing collection.....it had music going and a gold coin collection.