Back to Wally

After a big breakfast, Bob drove us down to the gate and backed our car and van out onto the road for us...the road was pretty muddy and backing through gates is not one of our favourite things!

We had a pretty good drive across to Wallangarra...it rained on and off but we made pretty good time, arriving at Wally about 6.45pm. It was great to sit by the warm fire and relax and read. After dinner Dave went outside and fed one of the possums in a tree near the back door.

Coonamble

Today was still wet. We packed up Rosie and headed for Coonamble where we spent the night with Bob and Bev. It was a huge drive, through Wilcannia and Cobar...the roads were prettty good so we made good time. Bev cooked a delicious curry with a yummy fruit pudding and custard for dessert. Because of all the rain, the road into their farm was very muddy, so Bob picked us up at the front gate in the 4 wheel drive and took us up to the house....accompanied by their cute little dog Misty.

Broken Hill

This was the only Sturt's Desert Pea we saw, as it was the wrong time of year. It was in a pot in Pro Hart's front yard.

Today was our last day in Broken Hill. It was a pretty cold, wet and windy day. Being Saturday we went and had a look at some garage sales, where we got a couple of good bargains. In the afternoon we went to the movies and saw Beneath Hill 60. It's pretty horrible and ugly, being a WW1 movie, but nonetheless a must see. We went and had pizza for tea which was delicious!

The houses in Broken Hill are quite different from anywhere else. It's a mining town, and I don't think home maintenance and gardens are a high priority generally. The majority of the houses are clad with corrugated iron, even the new ones.

Silverton

Before returning the key, we went for another look at the statues on the hill outside Broken Hill. It had been pretty cold and was getting dark last night when we went.

We then drove out to Silverton. It is about 12 kms out of town. it was originally the major mining town until Broken Hill was discovered, so they moved most of the buildings from Silverton into Broken Hill, Some were towed on trailers pulled by camels!

There are only a few remaining buildings which are made of stone. There is a pub which has been used in a lot of ads and for a few movies, the most famous being Mad Max. The black car is parked outside the pub. There are a couple of pretty good art galleries and a museum as well.

When we arrived back in Broken Hill, we went to the main public art gallery, which also had some pretty great works.

Broken Hill

This morning we did a bit of shopping, then after lunch we went to a couple of the major art galleries in town....Jack Absolem and Pro Hart. They had some pretty amazing works. At Pro Hart's gallery, there were 4 Rolls Royces parked in the front yard, in garages. One of them had been painted all over...even ants painted around the hub caps.

We picked up a key from the Information centre which gave us access to The Sculpture Symposium. It was done by a group of artists from all over the world. The sculptures are on a hill overlooking Broken Hill...they're pretty awesome.

Hawker to Broken Hill

Before we left Hawker, we went to have a look at the Aboriginal paintings at Yourambulla Caves. It was quite a walk up the rocky hills to the caves, but well worth the trip. It took us about an hour and a half to go up and back down.

We then went down the R M Williams highway through Peterborough to Broken Hill. We booked into the Lake View Caravan Park, set up Rosie, then went into town for a delicious Chinese meal.

Strezlecki Track

This morning we went into Hawker to see the Wilpena panorama. It is a huge painting done by a local artist, plus 3 more huge paintings of local scenes.

We then drove up the western side of the Flinder's Ranges, through Parachilna to Lyndhurst...the end of the sealed road. The Strezlecki track begins here, so we drove a short way onto the track and had a picnic lunch in the car...it was too windy and cold to eat outside.

Wilpena

This morning we set out for Wilpena Pound. The scenery was spectacular, so we had quite a few photo stops. We drove on past Wilpena to Bilman where we had a picnic lunch.

We called again at Wilpena Visitor Centre on the way back, to go on the bus trip, only a couple of kms, to where a walk into the edge of Wilpena Pound begins. We were driven to the beginning of the track, and dropped off about 3.10pm. The driver said he'd be back to get us in 2 hours, and gave us directions for the walk. We had a lovely walk up to an old homestead, and then further up to a lookout, then back along a differnt track. The scenery was spectacular, we took heaps of photos. We arrrived back at the pick-up spot at about 5.10pm....the bus was suppose to arrive at 5.15pm. We waited until 5.25pm, still no bus, so Dave suggested we'd better start walking. It was 2kms along a dirt road, and getting darker by the minute...still no bus. We eventually came to the end of the main road and found our way, in the dark by now, back to the info centre. It was of course closed by this...about 6.05pm. The girl who was just closing up in the cafe gave us the number of the fellow who'd driven us up, and he apologised profusely. I think the info centre needs to have a better system in place for such events. All-in-all it was a pretty good day...great scenery.

Flinder's Ranges

We were woken this morning by strong winds flapping the canvas on Rosie, so we decided to pack up and have an early start. It also looked like it could rain, so we packed up straight after showers and had brecky at Macca's in Port Pirie. On the way out of the caravan park we could hear the singing swimmer again. Dave took a video of him, but it was so windy the sound didn't work too well. As we drove north it continued to be extremely windy, creating huge dust storms. We needed headlights on. Once the wind and dust stopped it started to rain, and by the time we reached Port Augusta it was pouring. They only get about 3 inches of rain up here p.a. I reckon they had it all today! Hopefully tomorrow will be fine and we'll see the true colours of the Flinder's Ranges.

The Flinder's Ranges are different from any landscape I've seen in Australia. Even though it was a wet, grey day today, you could still see the colours and shapes of the place. We eventually arrived at Hawker where we found a nice caravan park and set up. The rain stopped long enough for us to set up, then started raining again. There was a beautiful rainbow this arvo, and the rain seems to have stopped now, and it's a bit breezy.

Late this afternoon we went for a short drive. When we left the sky was very grey, but it started to clear in the west on the way back, and Dave got some nice shots of the sky.

Port Pirie

Friday morning we went and had a look in the museum in the old railway station. The railway line used to run along the centre of the main street.

Friday afternoon we had a tour around the smelter works. It was really interesting. it is the largest smelter works in the world. They supply lead for car batteries plus zinc, silver, copper, antimony and sulphuric acid. They are very aware of environmental issues. All the kids are checked every 6 weeks for levels of lead in their blood.

This morning we woke up and could hear a person singing at the top of his voice. By the time we'd had showers and went to investigate, the singer was getting out of the water...the river near the caravan park. Apparently he goes swimming most mornings and sings as he goes so he doesn't feel the cold. We'll see if we can video him tomorrow morning. We could hear him way over the other side of the caravan park.

Saturday afternoon we went for a drive east of Port Pirie. We drove through Crystal Brook to Spalding. When Dave was at uni, he spent a couple of weeks at Broughton Park, Spalding, on work experience, crutching sheep, etc. We called there and he caught up with Ian and Jan who are currently on the property. Ian, the brother of Colin, who Dave went to uni with, had a diary going back to 1974. On 22nd May 1974 (exactly 36 years ago to the day), Dave helped to paint the hall in the house there. We continued on to Burra, where Dave enjoyed the antique shops, then on to the Clare Valley, another grape-growing area of SA.

to Port Pirie

This morning we left Hahndorf and drove north towards the Flinders Ranges. On first leaving Adelaide the landscape was pretty flat ,dry and scruffy with lots of glasshouses. Some of them appeared to be ok and had stuff growing in them, but many looked unused. Further up there were quite a few chook farms. As we got nearer to Port Pirie the landscape became much nicer, with lots of farms, growing wheat, raising sheep, etc. We arrived at Port Pirie about mid-afternoon and booked into the caravan park for 3 days. At the information centre on the way into town we booked in for a tour of the Port Pirie Smelter tomorrow. The town is quite large, population about 15,000... there's even a Macdonalds!!!

Adelaide Zoo

Today we went into Adelaide Zoo, after having Turkish Pide and coffee near the David Jones Food Court. It was interesting watching the passing parade of people while we ate. The university is not far from there, so there were lots of students around. The uni is well-situated. It is walking distance from the museum, the art gallery, the hospital, the zoo, the library, the botanic gardens and the shopping centre.

The zoo has been re-vamped, and the enclosures are pretty good. There are 2 pandas that have only been there since November, and you can only go in and see them at certain times. Their enclosure looks great...lots of bamboo around and panda info.

Barossa Valley

After a sleep-in this morning, we eventually headed off to The Barossa Valley. We stopped at a bakery and bought rolls for picnic lunch and yummy cakes. There was a big rocking horse out the front of a property, so we stopped for a look. They made wooden toys...expensive rocking horses, kits of various trucks, similar to what the boys made at high school, and lots of other toys, mainly from China. I don't think I would like to go in there with a child...you'd never get out!

We stopped at Jacob's Creek winery and had a tasting. Their vineyards are pretty huge. The tasting and sales area is in a lovely well-kept setting. We bought some Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.

This afternoon, we visited Maggie Beer's farmshop (ie Maggie from the Cook and the Chef). We saw a cooking demo, tasted various foods, and bought a few, as well as Maggie's book on Verjuice. The place is amazing. They stared out with pheasants and quail, then teaching people how to cook them. It's a pretty amazing success story.
The painting of Maggie and Simon was entered in The Archibald Prize.

Tonight we went to the movies at Mount Barker and saw Vanessa Redgrave in Letters to Juliette. It's a beautiful movie.

Mount Lofty

This morning we set out for Stirling, not far from Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. It is a beautiful village with lots of autumn trees. We bought coffee and pastries and sat in a park and enjoyed them. There was a second-hand bookshop nearby, so we had to have a look. There were a couple of bins out the front with freebies, so we scored a few. We then went inside where we bought a few more. I think we now have about 2 shopping bags full of books so far. We continued on to Mount Lofty, but missed the correct road, but ended up somewhere with great views. Eventually we found the right road and went up. The views of Adelaide are spectacular. We had a late picnic lunch while we were there, then drove on down to Mount Lofty Botannic Gardens. The daffodils and jonquils were starting to flower already.

When we got back to Hahndorf we went to Chocolate@No 5, a cafe that we heard has the best hot chocolate...we just had to try some...it was delicious, Dave had hot choc and I had iced choc...yummmm!