Monday 27.2.2012: mid 20’s - mid 30’s hot - sun and cloud. We are now in Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley and rang Andrew and Yvonne Amos, friends from St Pauls at Terrey Hills who had moved to Kapunda, about 20 minutes drive away and arranged to meet them for lunch. We had a lovely catch up and couldn’t believe they have been in Kapunda for 4 ½ years, they took us on a cooks tour of Kapunda and showed us their lovely home, very spacious and lovely, they have quite a few fruit trees and a large vegetable garden and hens, it is on top of the highest hill in the middle of a big valley, so the views are lovely looking out over pasture lands, wheat fields, cows, farm houses, part of the town and the hospital where Yvonne works when she is not at the other hospital or at the practice, she is a very dedicated doctor.
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| Andrew and Yvonne's house is on top of the highest hill |
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| Kapunda Township |
It was lovely to catch up with them and spend time learning about the town how the people have successfully blocked Woolworths from building a large supermarket and how the people all grow their own vegetables and fruit and share all their produce, I had thought all the places were quaint but I could understand how they have all retained their old ways of working and sharing what they have with each other.
We were invited by Andrew and Yvonne to a Rotary BBQ in the local park for dinner, so it was a treat to meet more locals and get to know them.
Tuesday 28.2.2012: 23 degrees - 25 degrees - cloud. Spent the day driving around the Tourist Scenic Drive, stopped in Tanunda for lunch, it is a lovely old style town with lots of German flavour around, with five Lutheran Churches in the main street, all beautifully maintained.
We ended the tour at Sepeltsfield Winery which is really big and has an avenue of large Palm trees for over a kilometer before you reach the cellar door, it is quite spectacular, there is even a mausoleum for the original family among the avenue of palms with lots of steps leading up to it, very regal.
We ended the tour at Sepeltsfield Winery which is really big and has an avenue of large Palm trees for over a kilometer before you reach the cellar door, it is quite spectacular, there is even a mausoleum for the original family among the avenue of palms with lots of steps leading up to it, very regal.
Checked the prices on Para Port - a 375ml bottle of 100 year old Para is $975.00 and a 100 ml bottle of 1944 vintage Para is only $275.00 - needless to say Lloyd didnt buy any this time.
We had thought of doing a tour of the winery, but unfortunately we were the only ones interested in the grand tour and they needed four, so they told us to come back tomorrow morning and they could sort out a tour then, all the other visitors were only interested in wine tasting.
Wednesday 29/2/2012: 19 degrees to mid 20’s - rain. Rang Sepeltsfield Winery to cancel the tour of the winery as it was far too wet, then we left Nurioootpa and traveled to Adelaide on the A20 Motorway then took the southern freeway to Bedford Park which is south of Adelaide and booked into the Marion Tourist Park for three nights. We were glad to park the bus and forget about the city traffic, it gets a bit nerve racking after being on country roads with not much traffic around. There were lots of people staying in the Park who were going to the Clipsal V8 Car Racing in Adelaide.
Thursday 1/3/2012: 18 degrees to 28’ degrees - sunny. Woke to sunny weather, so we picked up bus timetables from the reception and caught the bus into Adelaide, the trip took one hour but we saw Flinders University and lots of houses on the way. A lot of the older homes are built of stone with brick door and window surrounds. In Adelaide it is Festival time. We walked along Rundle Mall and saw lots of buskers playing musical instruments such as a guitar, a violin, a concert flute (this guy was a tatoo’d bikey type -not your usual flute player, but played beautiful classical music) , a balalaka as well as people performing for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. We then walked down to the river past the tents set up for the writers festival, along the park on the river edge then up through the Adelaide University where the noise from the V8 supercar racing was very loud and back to Rundle Mall and found the right bus back to the Tourist Park.
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| Rundle Mall |
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| St Peters Cathedral |
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| Scotts Church |
Friday 2/3/2012: 18 degrees - 23 degrees - sun, cloud & wind. We drove up into the Adelaide hills and went to the Mt. Lofty Lookout , it was very cold and the view was a bit misty, but a good view of the way Adelaide is laid out with parkland all around the city.
We then drove on to Hahndorf which is a lovely quaint German style village with quite a few shops, we had lunch and checked out all the shops, then headed back down the Princess Highway to Bedford Park.
We then drove on to Hahndorf which is a lovely quaint German style village with quite a few shops, we had lunch and checked out all the shops, then headed back down the Princess Highway to Bedford Park.
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| Barvarian Humour? |
Saturday 3/3/2012: 18 degrees - 25’s. Sun, cloud, strong winds and showers. Drove to Glenelg which is on the waters edge and saw the marina and waterfront apartments and trams going down the main street, had coffee at the marina then continued on south along the coast checking out all the towns, we booked into Normanville Tourist Park for two nights.
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| Glenelg tramway |
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| Glenelg Marina - nothing small here |
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| HMS Buffalo replica - a floating restaurant |
Sunday 4/3/2012: 18 degrees - 25, sunny and very windy with a lot dark clouds. Had a quiet morning walking into the little town of Normanville, the wind was so strong the water in the Gulf had lots of white caps, then came back to the Coaster and sat inside out of the wind and caught up on the blog. Late in the afternoon the wind dropped and the clouds thinned out a bit, hopefully the crossing to Kangaroo Island tomorrow will not be rough.
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| at Normanville |
Monday 5.3.2012: 17 degrees - 25 degrees - cloud then sunshine. Left Normanville and drove down the coast about 34 kilometers enjoying the little bays and hillsides with a few large sheep or cattle properties. The hills seem to be a continuation from the Adelaide Hills all the way down the coast to Cape Jarvis and further south. Stopped at Lady Bay for a cuppa and found that the HMAS Hobart had been scuttled out in the bay.
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| Lady Bay |
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| Fishing shacks at Lady bay |
Arrived at Cape jervis and now have to wait till the ferry leaves.
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| Cape Jervis - Kangaroo Island in distance |
We had lunch and watched the vehicle ferry come in and unload.We were on the 3.30pm ferry to Kangaroo Island, and as we were almost last to drive on the ferry we will be one of the first to leave the ferry on arrival at Kangaroo Island.
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| They even take semmi's |
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| Reversing the bus onto the ferry |
The next edition of the blog will be our experiences on Kangaroo Island where we will be for the next five days.
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