Adelaide to Burra

March 6 to March 13

After relentless winds Sunday night (6^th), we were happy to hit the road Monday, and head into Adelaide. Our mail is being redirected to Leah’s Dad’s place while we’re away, so Steve Maney kindly bundled it up and sent it to Pack and Send Adelaide for us to collect Monday. This will probably be a (roughly) 6 weekly task, even though we have pretty much changed all our important correspondence to electronic versions.

Spectacular coastline south of Adelaide

It is a very pretty drive up the coast to Adelaide, initially headlands plunging to the ocean, then sandy beaches further up the coast. We had a beach walk at Christies Beach, lunch at Brighton Beach, checked out Glenelg before dropping in to see “old” Pack and Send friends John and Sue in Adelaide. We overnighted in Torrens in the Adelaide Hills. A warning light on my dash decided to come on, and after much investigating (over two days) it was found to be a faulty brake fluid reservoir indicator. 

This 40cm example is the best so far Marky!

Our couple of days in the ‘Hills was well spent visiting the early German settlements of Lobethal and Hahndorf and tasting chocolate, cheese and vanilla slices (can’t be all wine and beer). We had 35 degrees on Tuesday so we didn’t miss all the heat wave Adelaide has been experiencing.

Heading north we entered the Baroosa Valley (yay, back to wines) and did a bush walk through the Jacobs Creek vineyard. We overnighted in Greenock just north of Tununda. The local council has done a great job in opening up all the small town’s footy ovals (they all have one, even tiny towns) for self-contained RV’s to overnight at. Very quiet, flat and spacious. We had a call from Leah’s dad that he was having shortness of breath, they admitted him into Kawana Private Hospital to do tests. It appears to be a chest infection, he is on antibiotics and they are keeping him in for observation. Hopefully he will be recovering quickly and discharged shortly. Mitchell is visiting frequently and getting him what he needs.

The plan for Thursday was to get another x-ray of my wrist so a doctor could give me the go-ahead to remove the cast and start rehab. A false start at the Kapunda Hospital when they didn’t want to do it so they sent me to Gawler, who also didn’t want to do it, but after a bit of negotiating they were very helpful! The doc gave me the all clear, and a few tips for our trip, not many doctors take the time to write a list and draw sketches of places to visit and surf!

Tide out, Port Parham

We travelled to Port Parham for the night, to a free camp on the gulf coast. The two photos show you the tidal movement, we literally couldn’t make out the waterline at low tide, more than a kilometre from the dunes. As we have experienced most of the way from the South Australian border, masses of sea grass washes up on the beach.

Tide in, Port Parham

Back to the wine regions, this time the Clare Valley. Did a nice “climb” to Neagles Rock above Clare, then an historic walk through the town. Many of these towns were settled in the mid 1800’s, and because their primary construction for buildings is stone, many are still in use (or fairly complete ruins) today. Many of them have self-guided walks so you can wander the streets and read about their history. It certainly gives you a better appreciation for the area, we very much enjoyed the Clare Valley and Plains. Tasted wines at Mitchell Winery (the wine maker is Andrew Mitchell, thought for Mitchell and my benefit I should check it out), before heading north to another town oval at Farrell Flat.

"Creek Street" Burra, mining accommodation 1800's style

Saturday we travelled 20km further north to Burra, an old copper mining town, and more recently known for a discovery of bones of extinct mega-fauna (big marsupials the size of small cars, that died out some 100,000 years ago). Had an awesome day walking the historic town and learnt how they managed to accommodate large numbers of miners, 300 metres of the creek in the town had "homes" dug into the banks! We walked the old mine site ruins and open cut, visiting displays of recovered mega-fauna bones, then dining at a restaurant recommended by my travel guide doctor. 

Morning coffee at Burra historic mine

La Pecora Nera (The Black Sheep) was opened by an Italian chef, he only cooks a couple of pasta dishes each night and makes his own pasta, offers authentic sparse pizzas, and cooks in a large Cob (wood fired) Oven. For the benefit of Tomas and all my Community Centre friends I couldn’t resist the photo, a great night.

Cob oven pizza, La Pecora Nera

Another night at Farrell Flat before heading to Mintaro, another (very) small service town established in 1849, which has been recognised with the whole town receiving State Heritage listing. Back to Clare for some supplies and then out 10 km west to (another oval) Blyth for Sunday night. It’s a long weekend in SA, so we’ll let the holidaying locals leave the Yorke Peninsula on Monday before visiting this coming week.