Caravan Trip Week 5

Just as we had packed up to leave Mount Barker some familiar people arrived opposite us from Esperance, Deb and Rod.  We got to have a quick chat but would have loved to have spent more time with them and wished they had come a day earlier. We drove through Hahndorf again and then through many pretty small towns before arriving at Nuriootpa where we set up camp. Lucy was pretty much over her trip by now and even after we had parked and set everything up with the car door open she wasn't the least bit interested in seeing where we were and just kept snoozing!...  

The men set up Dad's annex for the first time...

 We decided to have a day out exploring the Barossa Valley and took the dogs to a day care place.  This was a huge drive from where we were staying, Lucy desperately needed to do a poop and we couldn't stop and we got lost finding the place. We then disagreed on what we should go and see first and someone was having a bad day with his phone. So we went to a winery. When we got there that someone didn't want to taste wine before lunch so he got left in the car to play with the said phone. We went wine tasting...

We drove up the renowned Seppeltsfield Road and called into a few more wineries...

 Before stopping at Maggie Beers Farm Shop for lunch and tastings...

 We also got to watch a cooking demonstration in the kitchen used to film her TV show "The Cook and the Chef"...

 

 A few more wineries to visit and we were done with the Barossa Valley wine region - not anywhere as nice as our areas back at home...

We went to a neighbouring town called Anguston and spent some time exploring there - oh look a Lodge Hall...

I found a cute little fabric cottage and got some wine themed fabrics...

 

Before we left the Barossa Valley we called into an organic winery which was very nice...



 We were out of the grape growing region very quickly and soon back in the more dusty barron countryside. We drove into a town called Kapunda. Kapunda had a copper mine from 1844 - 1878 and was the first metal mine to achieve success in Australia. It relied heavily on Cornish immigrants for its operations. There is a 7 metre statue known as "Map the Miner" or "Son of Cornwall" commemorating the Cornish mining history of Kapunda...

We also found this lovely park to have lunch in...

 

next we went to another little town called Auburn. It had some very quaint old buildings and a fantastic little café for scones, jam and cream... 

 

 

Love the CWA "clubrooms"...



We continued on and headed back into wine region this time being the "Clare Valley" As it was a long weekend and school holidays in South Australia we couldn't get into the Clare caravan park so settled for a spot just outside called Leasingham. Mr Bean was following us but somehow went straight pass the turn off and eventually found us about half an hour later when he turned on his GPS! The caravan park was right next to the Riesling trail that you can walk or cycle on which connects wineries in the Clare Valley. It was a great place to walk the dogs...

We spent a day exploring the region and were much more impressed with this area than the Barossa Valley - so much prettier...

 

Another afternoon walk along the Riesling trail...

 Our caravan park backed onto the Claymore Cellar door and there was a hole in the fence to go straight to it. That is the building backing right onto our caravans...

 

We took a day trip out to Burra. It was the worst windy day with dust storms blowing all over the place.



Burra is a pastoral centre but back in its early days it was a huge copper mining town.  Today it is known as one of the best preserved towns of the Victorian era in Australia as a historic tourist cente. From the tourist info centre you can purchase keys to do the historical trail and gain entry with your keys to which sites you would like to look at...

 

We thought we would drive around and look at them all but bought a key to the Redruth  Gaol (which was the first country gaol in South Australia). It was also very interesting as our friend Gordon's Great grandfather was the first gaol keeper at this gaol!...

We found a windy dusty park for lunch...



Burra centre

Visited the train station...

On the way back we stopped in a cute little town called Mintaro and went to Reillys Wines and Restaurant - had yummy scones, jam and cream then did some wine tasting...

 

The drive from Leasingham to Clare to do some shopping was very pretty - loved this old cottage in the vineyard... 

 

One more walk along the Riesling Trail before we headed off again... 

 

We packed up and travelled to Crystal Brook and had a look around. Apparently my great, great grandmother got married here so we looked for an old church. Then we drove onto Port Pirie. This is a real industrial looking town on the coast. It was founded in 1845 and is the site of the worlds largest lead smelter. We had some lunch here and went for a walk around. We have had to look at so many railway stations on this trip but I have to say this one was very appealing!... 

And I loved the old photo showing it in a whole different era...

It was a nice drive along the edge of the Flinders Ranges as we made our way to Quorn...

Quorn is named after Quorndon in Leicestershire in the United Kingdom. Quorn was the crossroads of any north-south or east-west travel in Australia making it a very important town in the early 1900's. Many fine buildings were built as so many people passed through and the town expanded. Once the standard gauge railway lines opened Quorn was bypassed and by the 1980's all train services diminished. Today Quorn relies on tourism and the Pichi Richi railway. The street are very wide and have some great cafes, also quite a few movies have been filmed in the area...

The Quorn caravan park is an Eco based park in a beautiful native setting with so much birdlife. The owners have done a great job caring for the environment.