Thursday 14th Nov
The drive to Mt Compass this morning took us on meandering country roads surrounded by rolling hills. Five minutes out of town and on the edge of the highly rated golf course (top 40 in Aust) is the small caravan park with the biggest sites we have come across so far. The facilities are first class and the camp kitchen even has a pizza oven! To top it off there were birds diving in and out of the flowering proteas at the gate when we registered.
After some lunch and a load of washing we drove into town. First stop the Op Shop and what did I find? A fabulous pram in top condition but.... how do you collapse the thing? I asked the people in the shop but they knew as little as I did. If it wont fit under the bed I cant buy it. Next thing we have everyone offering advice but we were still getting no where. One suggestion was to wait until school was over and those mums would be able to do it single handed. Eventually I googled and there was our answer. So simple once you know how. We are now the proud owners of a grandparent's pram. And I got at least half an hour of free entertainment from it.
In the small township I found this lovely mosaic cow and calf. Love all the details in the surrounding tiles and bricks too. Mt Compass used to be the home of Australia's only Cow Cup race but after almost 50 years that has been discontinued. This is prime dairy producing country. You would expect there to be loads of flies about but it must be too chilly for them.
We went to have a look at the golf course; a traditional links course with lots of rolling fairways so you never have a good lie, lots of water, lots of bunkers and lots of thick grassy rough where I will certainly lose lots of balls. Oh I can't wait to play!
On the way home we took a stroll through the Mt Compass School Area School Swamp wetlands. There is a boardwalk to follow and interpretive signs along the way. There were even some students working to trim back the growth for easier access. It was so good to see the school has this fabulous resource and runs a Swamp Ambassadors program. They also have a farm with chickens, sheep, pigs and goats as well as fruit and veggies.
Friday 15th Nov
The golf course was so picturesque you didn't really mind if your score was lousy. On a course like this you can smash a drive right down the middle of the first and when you go to play your next shot you discovered there is no ball to be seen. I'm talking from experience now. It must have kept rolling on that indiscernible slope you could not even see from the tee, and finished in the thickets of grass to the right. Unless you actually stand on it in there, you will never find it. We found a lot of other people's balls but rarely mine throughout the course of play. So right from the outset I decided that if you were going to be penalized for hitting a good shot there was no point in getting upset about it. And I haven't even mentioned yet the slopes on the greens. No tears today! Eric smashed many a drive out of sight, mostly on the fairways and was pretty happy with his round. There was a lot of walking; we all achieved our daily step counts well before we completed the round. I could have done with a soak in a hot bath when we returned but that is one thing this caravan park does not make available. This chilly weather and all that balancing on slopes was hard on the knees.
We made delicious pizzas for dinner and ate them in the camp kitchen which we shared with a number of other travellers. The kitchen, not the pizzas, though they did offer to join us. It was good to chat with some locals from the peninsula who confirmed our plans for the trip to Kangaroo Island next week when the weather is due to improve. We are all over this cool, windy weather. You need so many layers of clothes everyday!
Saturday 16th Nov
Just received a call from Sandy and all the students at the Alawa Farm Working Bee. They are all very excited about the win announced this week and happy to have a break from sweating their hearts out pulling weeds and mulching veggie beds this morning. Sweaty weather; I'd take a bit of that right now. Here it has been 8 deg overnight but looking brighter as the morning progresses to a top of 20 deg.
After a slow start we went for an afternoon drive to McLaren Vale, home to some of Australia's best wineries enjoying the Mediterranean climate of this peninsula. We drove north via the historic township of Willunga first surveyed in 1840. At the time they were growing a lot of cereal crops around here and so the port was established to move the grain efficiently.
Soon after came the wineries and the district is now dotted with them. From the township of McLaren Vale we followed tourist route 60 which took us past so many but we aimed for just two, d'Arenberg and Wirra Wirra. At d'Arenberg our attention was first drawn to the sculptures. There are 23 authentic Salvador Dali bronze sculptures and graphic artworks in an exhibition at the cube. We only saw a few of them but the setting was fantastic.
The two artworks at the bottom of that picture don't belong to the exhibition but are permanent. The one on the left is made from rubber boots, the one on the right represents each of the generations of the family who own the winery, their care in handling the soil and the grapes.
We sat in the gardens and enjoyed a glass and the view. You could be in Italy except there would be church spires dotted across the landscape. Love the armchairs fashioned out of old wine barrels.
Then we arrived at Wirra Wirra who are also enjoying recent wins at the Melbourne Show for their Riesling and Catapult Shiraz. A very different atmosphere at this establishment but just as pleasant. I've learnt that the roses so often found planted in vineyards are there for a reason, not just aesthetics. Originally, they were planted as an early warning system. Roses and grapevines are both prone to infestations of downy and powdery mildew. If these fungi appeared on the roses, the vines were sprayed to prevent the grapes from succumbing. More recently vineyards use modern methods to monitor the soil and health of the vines. Rose bushes are no longer required, but they do provide pollen for bees and habitat for insects beneficial to the vineyard. And they look lovely.
Continuing the drive, we hit the coast at Maslin Beach, noted as Australia's first unclad beach. Too cold to consider that today surely! We headed south to Port Willunga to see the cliffs. Here the white sand of the beach contrasts with the yellow-gold of the cliffs and the blue of the sea. We haven't seen the sea since Port Augusta, 6 weeks ago. Today the seas are placid but the timbers of an 1888 shipwreck still remain upright in the sand, reminding us that the sea is not always so gentle. The ship was called Star of Greece and above the cliffs at this point there is a cafe of the same name where we paused for a break.
Completing the journey we followed the coast up Sellicks Hill and stopped off to have a look at the 18m tall statue of the Goddess of Mercy constructed on the hillside overlooking the gulf. The statue arrived in 23 shipping containers from China and is just part of a religious retreat being completed by the Nan Hai Pu Tuo Temple of Australia which will also include a 35m high pagoda, a temple and Chinese gardens. The whole area is a construction site at the moment. Finally we visited another wetland in Mt Compass before returning to our van and sharing a bbq dinner.
Sunday 17ht Nov
We were on the road again this morning, just a short but lovely drive over to the western coast of the peninsula and south to Cape Jervis. We've followed dramatic limestone cliffs that follow white sandy beaches to finally finish in a setting very similar to Mt Bundy Station at Adelaide River. This is the old Cape Jervis Station and the Homestead, Shearers' Quarters, Ringers' Cabins and a number of other cottages are all converted into visitor accommodation.
Caravan sites are slotted between the old olive trees. We have been entertained all day by the antics of the crimson galahs, little corellas, sulpher crested cockatoos and the odd crimson rosella. These are all particularly raucous birds so it has not been so much a symphony of birds but a cacophony. In a short walk around the grounds we also found crows, emus, magpies, welcome swallows, ducks, guinea fowl etc but thankfully no peacocks.
Today the sun was warmer and some of us, but not all, dragged out the shorts and t-shirts. We sat at our site overlooking expansive views to the ocean to the south west with Kangaroo Island on the horizon. As the sun dropped lower and the shadows lengthened we kept shifting out chairs to catch the last of the warmth. The sea looks calm.....
Eventually the sun dipped below the horizon and we all scampered into the vans to retrieve more layers. Everyone contributed to produce a 3 course meal that we enjoyed in the outdoors, something we haven't done for sometime.
Monday 18th Nov
Roused from our sleep by those very social cockies and galahs we were greeted to clear skies and warm sunshine. Yeah! Have we seen the last of the chilly weather? Best not speak too soon, but the forecast for the next couple of days on Kangaroo Island looks good.
The drive to Mt Compass this morning took us on meandering country roads surrounded by rolling hills. Five minutes out of town and on the edge of the highly rated golf course (top 40 in Aust) is the small caravan park with the biggest sites we have come across so far. The facilities are first class and the camp kitchen even has a pizza oven! To top it off there were birds diving in and out of the flowering proteas at the gate when we registered.
After some lunch and a load of washing we drove into town. First stop the Op Shop and what did I find? A fabulous pram in top condition but.... how do you collapse the thing? I asked the people in the shop but they knew as little as I did. If it wont fit under the bed I cant buy it. Next thing we have everyone offering advice but we were still getting no where. One suggestion was to wait until school was over and those mums would be able to do it single handed. Eventually I googled and there was our answer. So simple once you know how. We are now the proud owners of a grandparent's pram. And I got at least half an hour of free entertainment from it.
We went to have a look at the golf course; a traditional links course with lots of rolling fairways so you never have a good lie, lots of water, lots of bunkers and lots of thick grassy rough where I will certainly lose lots of balls. Oh I can't wait to play!
On the way home we took a stroll through the Mt Compass School Area School Swamp wetlands. There is a boardwalk to follow and interpretive signs along the way. There were even some students working to trim back the growth for easier access. It was so good to see the school has this fabulous resource and runs a Swamp Ambassadors program. They also have a farm with chickens, sheep, pigs and goats as well as fruit and veggies.
Friday 15th Nov
The golf course was so picturesque you didn't really mind if your score was lousy. On a course like this you can smash a drive right down the middle of the first and when you go to play your next shot you discovered there is no ball to be seen. I'm talking from experience now. It must have kept rolling on that indiscernible slope you could not even see from the tee, and finished in the thickets of grass to the right. Unless you actually stand on it in there, you will never find it. We found a lot of other people's balls but rarely mine throughout the course of play. So right from the outset I decided that if you were going to be penalized for hitting a good shot there was no point in getting upset about it. And I haven't even mentioned yet the slopes on the greens. No tears today! Eric smashed many a drive out of sight, mostly on the fairways and was pretty happy with his round. There was a lot of walking; we all achieved our daily step counts well before we completed the round. I could have done with a soak in a hot bath when we returned but that is one thing this caravan park does not make available. This chilly weather and all that balancing on slopes was hard on the knees.
We made delicious pizzas for dinner and ate them in the camp kitchen which we shared with a number of other travellers. The kitchen, not the pizzas, though they did offer to join us. It was good to chat with some locals from the peninsula who confirmed our plans for the trip to Kangaroo Island next week when the weather is due to improve. We are all over this cool, windy weather. You need so many layers of clothes everyday!
Saturday 16th Nov
Just received a call from Sandy and all the students at the Alawa Farm Working Bee. They are all very excited about the win announced this week and happy to have a break from sweating their hearts out pulling weeds and mulching veggie beds this morning. Sweaty weather; I'd take a bit of that right now. Here it has been 8 deg overnight but looking brighter as the morning progresses to a top of 20 deg.
After a slow start we went for an afternoon drive to McLaren Vale, home to some of Australia's best wineries enjoying the Mediterranean climate of this peninsula. We drove north via the historic township of Willunga first surveyed in 1840. At the time they were growing a lot of cereal crops around here and so the port was established to move the grain efficiently.
We sat in the gardens and enjoyed a glass and the view. You could be in Italy except there would be church spires dotted across the landscape. Love the armchairs fashioned out of old wine barrels.
Continuing the drive, we hit the coast at Maslin Beach, noted as Australia's first unclad beach. Too cold to consider that today surely! We headed south to Port Willunga to see the cliffs. Here the white sand of the beach contrasts with the yellow-gold of the cliffs and the blue of the sea. We haven't seen the sea since Port Augusta, 6 weeks ago. Today the seas are placid but the timbers of an 1888 shipwreck still remain upright in the sand, reminding us that the sea is not always so gentle. The ship was called Star of Greece and above the cliffs at this point there is a cafe of the same name where we paused for a break.
Sunday 17ht Nov
We were on the road again this morning, just a short but lovely drive over to the western coast of the peninsula and south to Cape Jervis. We've followed dramatic limestone cliffs that follow white sandy beaches to finally finish in a setting very similar to Mt Bundy Station at Adelaide River. This is the old Cape Jervis Station and the Homestead, Shearers' Quarters, Ringers' Cabins and a number of other cottages are all converted into visitor accommodation.
Caravan sites are slotted between the old olive trees. We have been entertained all day by the antics of the crimson galahs, little corellas, sulpher crested cockatoos and the odd crimson rosella. These are all particularly raucous birds so it has not been so much a symphony of birds but a cacophony. In a short walk around the grounds we also found crows, emus, magpies, welcome swallows, ducks, guinea fowl etc but thankfully no peacocks.
Eventually the sun dipped below the horizon and we all scampered into the vans to retrieve more layers. Everyone contributed to produce a 3 course meal that we enjoyed in the outdoors, something we haven't done for sometime.
Roused from our sleep by those very social cockies and galahs we were greeted to clear skies and warm sunshine. Yeah! Have we seen the last of the chilly weather? Best not speak too soon, but the forecast for the next couple of days on Kangaroo Island looks good.
What a fantastic photo of the New Holland Honeyeater in the proteas! Enjoying your travelogue.
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