The Big Pub Crawl

This is only in the dreaming stage but since we'd divested ourselves of 'the beast' caravan, we are now footloose and fancy free with no restrictions. This leaves us free to choose accommodation on the road and in chatting about it, I had the romantic notion of staying in Pubs. Bob having experienced a few when he did his long motorbike trips to Cairns and Perth with his blokey mates, tells me I'm not going to like it.

But, I read " Gastro-pub " for "Counter Tea"; " Heritage" for "Using all grandma's old junk" and am undaunted at this stage. Qualify that - the odd B & B might be considered.

Now which way to go? I've experienced the Nullarbor "accommodation" thanks, so going west will be a long days drive! This is the sort of pub I mean - the Wilmot Arms in Tasmania. Before we decide when to take off, probably July, we might visit a few pubs in the state and check out the accommodation. They will either smash the dream of interviewing fascinating locals or leave my fantasies intact.

Homeward Bound

We are now back in Victoria on normal time ( except Daylight saving applies). We can tell it's Victoria because there are no road signs or at least they are worse than TomTom! We spent 2 hours looking for Treloars Roses in Portland to no avail - might find them tomorrow when we head for Warnambool. These pictures are rock formations that are caused by water and wind erosion. They look like petrified forest. How incongruous is the one with the eroded rocks that have taken thousands of years to form through natural energy and the windfarm that lies about a km behind the rocks!

Message to Olivia - hope the party goes well and you don't get too much sugar! See you soon, for big hugs, love Grandma and Poppy.

Limestone Coast

South of the Coorong is an interesting area which is coastal on the one hand and very fertile land on the other. The red soil is covered with a layer of decomposed limestone which produces a quite lovely selection of wines. New vineyards around Robe and Kingston SE mirror the narrow strop of soil that creates some of the better wines in the Koonwarra, only a short distance away. We found a lovely biodynamic winery as well as a few others with some noteable wines. Add to this the crayfish that seem to about in these waters and you can guess what we've been dining on. Girls - Poppy didn't get a crab but look at this dude!

We will stick around here for a few days, head for Warnambool on Sunday then arrive Melbourne on Tuesday night. On the Spirit on Sunday night 19th. I may not get a chance to blog again, but you never know....

Coorong Crisis

Well we left the Barossa, reluctantly, and decided to have a look at the Coorong since it's 10 years since we were last there. Wish we hadn't. Despite it still being beautiful, it's apparent that the salt is taking its toll. The balance between salt water, fresh water, ground water and rainfall was buggered up 75 years ago when the barriers were erected to stop the salt entering the Murray River. This resulted in intense salination of the Coorong, the gradual death of ish and many of the birds. We saw one sea eagle and 3 pelicans. Very sad state of affairs. Politics apart I wonder whether anything can be done to effectively resurrect this unique area.

Beautiful Barossa

We've had 5 days in the Barossa, we'll have enough wines to last a year - some beautiful new releases on the way, if you read this Jeff! Have had some lovely lunches out not least of which was lunch with our friends in the Adelaide Hills where we had Wagu (sp) Beef for the first time and spent a lovely day on their small farm. Bob went a bit sillywith the Amex at Yalumba and today we found a lovely family estate called Whistler who make a great wine or 7. Also visited Maggie's farm and stocked up on a few nice things. Here is picture for my Grandies who reckon I cook like Maggie. Click picture to see a bigger picture.


This is a beautiful part of Australia - seems to have gotten plenty rain, we've had three nights where it rained and two where it got down to one degree! So much for coming to SA to get warm! We have had a really nice trip - even the Flinders Flies were an experience ( not gourmet). We are at the turn around point now and tomorrow will head for the south coast - Mount Gmbier and all the places were were going to 'do' on the way here if the TomTom hadn't had a few blonde moments.

Message for Olivia - Have a lovely lovely birthday party, there is a pacel in the mail but it might be a bit late because the Post Office was closed for a long weekend. Will blog again before we ome home on 20th.

Hello Grandies !

We left Port Broughton and headed for HAWKER in the southern Flinders Ranges. Hawker is a dusty and hot place but a good base for the Flinders. We visited Wilpena Pound - very Tourist - then went on to Blinman and toured the gorges. There is some magnificent scenery and we saw lots of emu's and swallowed lots of flies before we bought hats with nets! I can't imagine living where there is so little water. We crossed about 15 dry creek beds, lined with fantastic gum trees, but unfortunately many were falling over because they are not getting any rain. We still have a tank full of Wynyard water, so have not left anywhere having used water. We arrived today in the Barossa Valley.


We did see a lot of Kangaroo but they are very shy and fast to run away when they hear the car.

Next Stage

Click the pics for bigger view.

Headed North to Port Wakefield then South to Stansbury via Ardrossan and Port Vincent where we based ourselves for a few days. The famous blue crabs didn't reveal themselves. Very windy but pretty. This peninsular is monoculture cereal and grain growing land cost to coast oats barley and wheat. Lots of serious fishing going on. We met up with Sam and her family one day for a hair raising trip from Edithburg to Troubridge Island in a small catamaran, bounced my broken rib a bit bit it was fun. Saw lots of penguins in their nests - bob got some excellent video. We also toured around the Innes National Park which has scenery to die for and clif edges that could make it come true! Had a nice day out with Sam and her family and Fred and nn who are locals full of interesting information. We all went to the Barley Stack Wine Cellars, the only one on the peninsular. Interesting wines, if it survives the trip home, there's a Shiraz even I can drink!

Edithburg has a fantastic wind farm where you can get close up and personal with the turbines. Hypnotic things, I could stare at thm for ever. The blades actually distort as they go around.

Just to the north is a grain loading facility = enormous. The parking bays are 6 deep for trucks marked Oats, Barley, Wheat and taking 6 or more trucks at a time. There is a long loading bay out to sea where your porridge ship comes in!

Travelled on through Kadina, Moonta and Wallaroo were we decided nor to head further west. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon at Belladonna's place - my word gardening in this dry climate is a challenge. We are now at Port Broughton, getting a tyre fixed doing some washing and internet acess for the first time since Adelaide. We're going to head north on Wednesday to the Southern Flinders Ranges, via Quorn, to Hawker there we'll stay a few days and look at Wilpena Pound, Brachina Gorge, Blindman, Parachina, Bunyeroo Gorge then on to Burra in about a week's time. Not sure when we'l have internet access again.

Finally in Adelaide

We are spending tonight at the Brownhill Creek CP. This is a very pleasant site in bushland where we have lorikeets, wood ducks, magpies and have seen one koala fast asleep in the top of the tree. Tomorrow we will head for Stansbury and spend a week there. Click on the picture to get a biggr one.

Round and Round we go

Leaving Naracoorte we headed for Tailem Bend in time for lunch with the intention of getting to Adelaide that day - bot traffic circles have their own way and we ended up heading for Victor Harbour through the McLarenvalle wine district. Victor Harbour hasn't changed since we were here 10 years ago and we enjoyed a bit of a relax after the traffic traumas. Even had a ride on the horsedrawn tram!

Message for Carmen - how was camp?

Left Right Left - Not that Left!!

After a very good crossing we were third car off the boat, heading out at 7 am. Make a left turn says Tom-Tom - Oh no says the driver - it is left. So after an hour tour of the MCG, Docklands, and assorted roadworks, a $11.50 one km ride on the toll way we gt back to stage one and make a left. Excellent drive t Ballarat, where it started to rain as soon as we got there. We did manage a tour of the Eureka Stockade where ancestral Ike evoked a revolutionary uprising in my psyche, then the weater really cracked up. We didn't make it to Sovereign Hill - yet again - hail, wind, sleet and freezing cold saw us confined to the van and the promised forecast was for more of the same. Change of plans as Warnambool looked like being too drastic. Wih the weather atrocious we struck west along the Glenelg Highway, an excellent road with hardly any traffic. Amazingly green, sheep and wheat belt, we topped for lunch at a pub in Hamilton, but not before we managed to get lost at Lake Bolac and head south for Warnambool ( Oh No!) for a few k's. We headed for Casterton with the intention of going to Mount Gambier but yet again, Nort and South get confused and we ended up in Penola and on to Naracoorte. Beautiful Koonwarra wine area we decided to stay a day or so. There's a lot of wine out there!

One of the Goals

This tempting photo was sent to me by Sam and Brian and is one of the reasons we are heading for Stansbury - I'm not sure we'll know what we are doing, but thanks to Colin on Caravaners forum, we have explicit instructions. Click to enlarge the photo.

The Inside

We just took the van for a drive to Penguin and back and apart from a couple of squeaks that need lubricating, it performed very well, in fact the bucket I left on a bench top was still there, so not so rocky. Here are pics of the inside. The nets have to go! I'm not a nets kind of person.

The Habitat

While Bob did Boy things I took a couple of shots. Tomorrow will be the test drive -we will head for Crayfish Creek near Stanley and have a picnic lunch then home again via a few winding roads to test's ability to corner and my vocabulary.

Gremlins, Goblins and other Greeblies Strike again!

This venture has had a series of delays and upsets along the way. First the new tow bar was fitted and turned out to be too long on the car end, so had to be shortened - this took a full week during which time we were not able to hitch up the van. The additional transmission cooler was booked in to be fitted and when the engine had been dismantled it turned out half the parts were missing from the kit we bought. On a Friday of course. This was all set up to happen because the car was booked in on 27th August to be converted to dual petrol/gas. The booking was made in April. On the day it was supposed to happen the phone rings - sorry, no tank. Dramas with the reversing camera cost a further $350 - don't ask, I didn't! The water tanks are incorrectly hooked up and the additional one that the previous owner installed is not useable because water just doesn't run uphill - at least not in my world. So we still haven't test driven the van and have exactly a week to take off. A few wines with neighbours should put things right tonight! At least the quilt I made for the bed turned out nice.

Getting underway

This is the first post in our new travel blog. We are preparing to leave Tasmania in two weeks time for a 5 week trip to the mainland, heading for Victoria and South Australia. We have done trips previously along the Murray River, and are told that the condition of the river is appalling at present. We might have to avoid spending too much time where it is depressing, as the objective is to be cheerful. We are very concerned however, as the Coorong is one of our favourite places. We have just bought a new second hand caravan to replace the mistake we bought three years ago. Because we both need double beds, we have converted the lounge area of this one to enable us to quickly erect a second bed and Bob test snored it the other night and slept like the proverbial log. So I guess I gets the bedroom! At present I am struggling with moving out of my comfort zone but I anticipate once under way I'll be fine. Have made a few quilts for the van as nights will still be cool. So today we are on countdown and will do an overnight trip somewhere to test things out before we head for the Spirit of Tasmania and away. The van needs a name - something will occur.