South Australian Discoveries Pt 1

Thankfully, it appeared we had left the wet and miserable weather behind us in Victoria, however it continued to be cold. We travelled across the state border into South Australia near Penola where we drove through the wonderful area of Coonawarra, a great wine region of South Australia that includes Penfolds, Lindemans and many other big name wineries. It was then we continued through Narracoorte and onto Keith for lunch.

 As is our usual practice, we found the local bakery and had a hard time choosing from their extensive selection of what to have we managed though, then had a walk around and came across some characters out the front of the local butchers shop.

After leaving Keith we continued on through a tiny little village called Coonalpyn where we came across the silos that had been painted about 2 years ago - very impressive. They are actually pictures of some of the children of Coonalpyn, the artist wanted to paint 'the future' of the area, not it's history.

 After a brief stop here, it was onto Tailem Bend. Oh my gosh, what a lovely position to put a caravan park, right on the banks of the mighty Murray River. Our position for the night was around 20 ft from the bank of the river.

As the afternoon faded, we had a lovely sunset before scurrying inside our van - one could say it was a tad chilly.

The following morning we were awakened by an unusual 'alarm clock' in the form of a flock of birds in the trees right above our van.

Now it was time to leave the tranquil shore of the river and head for the 'big smoke' of Adelaide - actually I guess it was a 'ring road' of the city so we didn't have to go through the centre of it. Though the road down through the Adelaide Hills was a little scary - very steep.

Once we got through to the other side of Adelaide we had our morning tea stop in Dublin. Oh yes, Dublin - we have not gone mad and flitted over to Ireland, but to a lovely little town called Dublin between Adelaide and Port Wakefield. Not really a lot there, except a pub - always one of those, a green grocer and of course a bakery.

Now it was onto wandering our way through Port Wakefield and onto our night's stop over at Port Pirie. On the way though we passed by one of 5 (in the state) pink lakes - Lake Lochiel. I understand that they are very salty and with the overload of salt, it turns then pink at times. I believe Lake Eyre is another that on occasions turns pink.

At Port Pirie we did a 'shop' to replenish the pantry and fridge, and as we drove around looking for the Post Office we came across some beautiful old buildings that just take your breath away.

Yet again, we had a lovely spot in the caravan park at Port Pirie, right on the banks of the Gulf of St Vincent. Another great sunset.

The following morning we headed north through Port Augusta where we saw the sign we have been looking for, and the real beginning of the adventure of this trip. We were at the beginning of our crossing the country from south to north via the Stuart Highway - this is what we came to do.

The excitement with both of us was huge and we really looked forward to this adventure. We were but 20kms north of this turn off and came across an elderly German couple on the side of the road with a flat tyre on their caravan. We stopped and Peter helped the 82 year old change the tyre before we all pulled up at the next parking bay where we all had a cuppa and a slice of the lady's lovely German cake - oh yumm! They are on their way to Mataranka in the Northern Territory for a couple of months.

I have to confess that there is really not a lot to see on this highway, however we feel it has a beauty all of it's own.

The road just keeps on going. and some 270 kms later we arrived at Woomera. Oh wow, here we were at a place I had only dreamed of visiting thank's to Judy Nunn's book 'Maralinga'. It is set in the desert areas around Woomera where the nuclear tests were carried out in the 1950's by joint Australian and British governments.

Woomera is an interesting little place with rockets, missiles etc on display in the park.

After visiting the Information Centre which doubles as a canteen for the Air Force guys stationed here, we went across to the general store where we had an ice cream.

We were on our way back to the caravan park, when we came across a very unusual site - of course I had to take a photo of it, didn't I?

Wondering if this is what is called 'drop bears'.

Now we could head back to the caravan park which was the busiest place in town - goodness me, never seen so many vans packed in - other than at a caravan and camping show - and wandered over to an old container converted into a very stylish bar.

Heading back to our van at the end of 'Happy Hour' - or two - we were blessed with a great sunset.

 

Another day, and another adventure. We are off to discover Roxby Downs and Andamooka. The road is similar to all around this area - it just goes on and on. However, what a surprise Roxby Downs was, it could take out the Tidy Town title without any trouble.  It has it's own radio station, and the Information Centre is beautiful, as is the main shopping area. The jeweller in town (yes there is one) is actually closing down and I picked up a lovely silver pendant for a very reasonable price.

They also have a lovely modern War Memorial - I think to have an ANZAC Day out here would be really something.

It was another 30 kms out to Andamooka, another interesting little mining town, mainly for opals, however there are several commercial mines in the area.

Now I don't want you to think we are stark raving mad, but we had lunch at the Andamooka Yacht Club - I kid you not! Think about it, a yacht club in the middle of central Australia - it is something that only Australians would think up, right?

Ah, what a day, time to head back to Woomera and 'Happy Hour', and dinner before settling down for the night, tomorrow is another day of adventure.

For now though, it's goodnight from Woomera.