Wednesday 25th March 2015 – Adelaide to Burra - Cool - Overcast

We landed around 1pm and decided to have lunch at the airport, so when the shuttle picked us up, we could collect the car and trailer and do a quick shop and refuel and drive to Redbanks Conservation Park.  It is amazing just how quick the time goes and it was an achievable destination that night.  We were familiar with the camp site which was an added bonus.  Everything went smoothly, on the road out of Adelaide we stopped at Churchill to refuel at $1.13 per litre and found a double park for the car & trailer in the shopping centre car park and did a shop to last us into the Flinders Ranges.  It was quite late by the time we were on the freeway past Gawler on our way to Burra.

Less than 40 kms out of Burra, the car jumped out of fifth gear on a bridge bump and gave up a noise which was not good.  We realized that 5th gear was gone.  We drove the rest of the way to Redbanks in 4th gear, arriving at 7pm (we still had twilight to set up).  We decided that we would not risk the rest of the trip knowing that we had a gearbox problem. 

Oops

Believe it or not – the Patrol getting a ride.

Thursday 26th March 2015 – cold, overcast. 

We really noticed the difference in the weather and surroundings since we left two weeks ago.  The autumn colours are there and the temperature has dropped considerably.

After the car sat overnight, the cold morning start up was with lots of noises that were not there last night.  Glen phoned our mechanic at home for advice and we decided to call RACQ – we have the ultra package which includes recovery of both the car and trailer, loan car and accommodation.   We were extremely fortunate to have a RAA service operator at Clare approximately 40 kms away.  Phillip was there within the hour and towed our vehicle & trailer back to Clare.  More exciting was that the Masters Games are on this weekend in Clare and there is no accommodation whatsoever in the the town.  Phillip also has a B & B at his home and although the apartment was booked out, they keep a couple of rooms for RAA emergencies.  He was so helpful in making sure that we are settled and comfortable.

We could not be with more hospitable people or in better hands mechanically.  Nothing is too much trouble and everything has been taken care of.  We are happy (yes our glass is half full) that this has occurred before we tackled the Flinders Ranges and the Birdsville Track -  otherwise we would have probably just shipped our car and trailer home for repair and then continued the trip north to Cairns from there.   Expensive – yes – but, what happens, happens – so just move on from it.  We have a theory, never let a Patrol sulk.  We missed Clare on our original day drive trip from Burra and abandoned  the Patrol for a week alone in the undercover car park and this is payback for leaving it and not visiting Clare.  The end result bearing failure in the gearbox.

We have spent the past week in Clare living in luxurious surroundings guests of Phillip & Patricia and having a lovely time on their ranch – 25 acres.  We have been entertained by three cats – one kitten (Grey Russian Blue), one 2 yrs old (Black Russian Blue)  and 19 year old (Moggy). – Two Dobermans – total sooks and a few horses and sheep.   Patricia has a large (I mean HUGE)  under cover area for show horses.  I have discovered cleaning out a horse box is just like cleaning a kitty litter tray but on a larger scale.  I was quite envious of watching a barrow load of horse manure leave the box – what I could do with that on a garden.   It’s a pity we live so far away.  I would clean out the horse boxes for the manure alone.  So through this hiccup we have met some lovely people.

The car will be ready today (31st March) and we will start again for the Flinders Ranges tomorrow.  The temperatures have risen and the days are lovely and warm.

We have done a few drives around the district.  Below are photos of Clare buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The publican was trimming the ornamental grape at the front of the hotel and I now have several cutting to strike.  I am going to suspend them in moist sawdust until we fly home at the end of May.  This is the perfect time as the plants are now dormant over winter.

This is “Booleroo Centre” – we drove up for the Fixed Engines and Tractor show.  Yes it is a strange name for a town

We actually had a couple of spits of rain at the show – just threatening weather.

Just love these country shows.  The characters that you see.  I just wanted to photograph them.  It’s funny listening to the commentary as they all know each other and it takes on a quirky style. 

We did a couple of loops drives visiting new towns and revisited some of the towns that we had previously been through and even dreamed of a another pie at Marrabel, but the pub was closed :(

Monday 16th March – Adelaide – fine sunny warm

Today, we pack up the camper trailer and car and take them to undercover car storage for the week we will be back on the Gold Coast.  We are moving into a cabin overnight at the Caravan Park and flying to the Gold Coast on a early flight tomorrow.

After leaving the car and trailer, we are heading into Adelaide City precinct for a look around Rundle Mall and the Adelaide Museum.

We caught the free city tram to the old Adelaide Gaol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gaol entrance

Simple system to alert the guards if anyone was going over the top.  The bricks are loose lay honeycomb style and anyone climbing up would knock the bricks down causing a noise to alert the guards.

The gaol closed in 1988 is the longest continuously serving prison in Australia. 

 

 

 

A copy of the dietary scale allowance for the several classes of prisoners are as follows.
No. 1. Hard Labour - l.5 lb. bread, l.5 pound of meat, 1 lb. potatoes, l.lb peas, 1/2 oz Angar, 2 oz rice, 2 oz salt, l oz soap, 1/2 oz tobacco.
No.2. Light Labour - l lb bread, 1/2 pound meat, 1/2 lb potatoes. 1.2 oz tea, 2 oz sugar, 2 oz rice, 1/2 oz salt, 1/2 oz soap, 1/2 oz tobacco.
No.3. Solitary - l.5 lb bread. 

When the gaol was being built, the decorative towers were so expensive that it bankrupted the state.

We then caught the tram into the city centre to visit the museum.

Inside the museum annex.  It is a beautiful Victorian style building. It was wonderful to see the full displays of many items and not minimal displays and story boards which a lot of the museums tend to do today.  Douglas Mawson had a large display.  He came from Adelaide and taught at the University.  Mawson was famous to most Australians for his trip to the Antarctic but primarily his trip was geology based.

 

 

 

This display of rocks was colour graded.  Above right – huge displays of meteorites. 

Just excellent displays.  Above a couple of the dogs from the Mawson exploration.  Above right a desert display.

We headed back to the caravan park via the free bus service – now smarter to ride the shorter way home.  Very early start tomorrow for our flight home. 

Monday 17th – Wednesday 25th March – our visit home to welcome our new grandchild and start of our house build.

Sunday 15th March – Adelaide – fine, some cloud, warm, little breeze

The weather is still holding for us -  We spent the morning sorting out what we are bringing back home – We haven’t had the cold or wet weather we expected on the trip so we are halving our cold weather gear and bringing it home with our purchases bought en-route.  Glen has been working on our new table top as well.

After lunch we walked down to the Botanic Gardens and had a wander around.  The gardens and park attached to it cover 125 acres and it is right in the city centre.  We visited a couple of hot houses and the Diggers Club shop which is also there.  It is the only one outside Victoria.  I bought some snake bean seeds – my favourite bean and very hard to come by.  I also bought a packet of Echinacea (Cone Flower) another favourite.  They had Amazon water lilies growing, but they were so small compared to the ones in Brisbane Botanic Garden.  However, in their tropical hot house, they had the largest pandanus I have ever seen.  It was incredibly tall.  The aerial roots were as tall as the trees on the Gold Coast.

This is the road and car parking between the Botanical Gardens and the Botanic Park. 

This is the massive hot house for tropical plants – as you can see they have reached the very top of the roof line.

Spider heaven – not a single predator to get you.

The rose garden is an experimental rose garden.  These are roses brought to Australia on trial to monitor their suitability for growing here, so don’t fall in love with any of them as they are not available for sale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of tea roses (very simple) and some really weird and ugly ones as well.

Wood Ducks were prolific and I saw one being ushered out of the kiosk kitchen.  They are quite tame and taking advantage of the food and accommodation.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trees have been here since the early 1800’s – they are massive and a lot of variety.  It was impossible to be able to step back and get the full tree in without being underneath another tree.

A view of the city skyline and the Amazon Lily hot house.

  A Blood Lily – I have not seen one of these before.

 

 

 

 

 

The original hot house from the 1830’s.  They had to convert it to a desert environment as the heat and humidity was causing damage to the glass

A favourite – Cone Flower – I grew these at Kaffia Court, but the petals were larger and pinker.  I bought the sunset collection of seeds which will have yellow, oranges and deep sunset colours.  These flowers are a favourite with the bees.

 

 

 

 

Rainbow Lorikeets: There are only two places on the very top of the fountain.  Sitting on the water outlet and next to it.  This pair defended their spot from all comers and enjoyed have a bath.  The fountain was about 7 metres tall.

 

I actually think that is a smile on the face of that lorikeet :)

 

 

The parkland and large trees make the gardens special.  The flower gardens are either overgrown or bare (which could be the time of year)  It is certainly a lovely retreat from the city  and would be lovely cool and shady on a hot day.  Adelaide certainly has beautiful parks and gardens and tree lined streets. 

Saturday 14th March 2015 – Hahndorf - SA – fine clear sunny

The weather is magical, we are certainly having a good run.  Our destination today was Hahndorf situated in the Adelaide Hills.  We had a side trip to Bunning's to get a new table top for our aluminium folding table.  The elastic has finally given up after 10+ years, so Glen is replacing it with a plywood top – which will just store on top of our bed.  It will save fighting with the individual slats which have come apart.  We then visited Officeworks and printed out copies of our final house plans to look through. 

I can’t believe how close everything is here.  Hahndorf famous for wines and German origin is just 30 kms from the centre of Adelaide.  We took the M1 to the hills and went through a couple of tunnels and suddenly we were at the Hahndorf turn off.  We wanted to visit the historic town, but more importantly our visit to “Cedars” the home of Hans Heysen.  He was a very prolific painter and conservationist.  His home and studio were just fantastic and time has stood still.  There were Rembrandt drawings (yes original!) hung on the walls.  Every space on the walls was filled with his paintings.  Although he is known for his Australian landscapes including the Flinders and Gum Trees, the paintings of flowers and fruit were absolutely out of this world.  The house was filled with priceless antiquities and artworks. 

Cedars was the property name before Hans Heysen bought the property.  Hahndorf was named after the Danish Captain (Hahn) (dorf meaning village) who assisted his German passengers to buy the land and settle there. 

The autumn colours were just beginning to show.  It is a little higher and cooler than Adelaide.  Busy, Busy, Busy – lots of people, lots of cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.  We accidentally found a hidden car parking area behind the main street with a thorough fare to the main street.  There were plenty of car parks there but everyone was looking to park in the main street. We had called into Cedars around lunch time and the next tour involved a bus group, so we booked a tour at 3pm and went into the village for lunch.

 

 

It was very tricky trying to get photos without cars and people blocking the view, so don’t be fooled by the lack of people and cars in my photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was no parking outside this hotel – lots of yellow lines.  You could enjoy your side walk lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed back to Cedars to do the tour.  The tour was of the artists studio and residence.  Unfortunately no photographs were allowed inside the buildings.  Hans Heysen’s daughter Nora was also a famous portrait artist and was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize.

Below are some photos from the garden at Cedars

We ran out of time, I would have liked to have done a walk around the property.  They had marker boards showing paintings and the position that he sat to do the sketches.

We both enjoyed our outing to Hahndorf and Cedars.