The Joy is in the Journey

Tuesday 26th Nov We arrived in Moonta (pronounced like the lunar moon-ta) and have absolute water frontage sites. It is beautiful but hard to enjoy it when the SE wind is gusting at over 30 km/h and not expected to abate until 9pm. The tide is on the way in. At midday it was 0.4 m and will be at a peak high of 1.8 m at 4:40 am which means right at our doorstep. First things first, time to get a load of sheets and towels washed. At least it dried quickly.  Once that was dry we drove into town and found the Tourist Info centre located in the beautifully restored old railway station. Moonta is known as 'Little Cornwall' because in its heyday it was a thriving copper mining town with a big Welsh influx making up the population. Eric first sourced the local outlet that serves the best cornish pastie. Unfortunately it is closed for the day. Tomorrow we will do the mining history in detail but for this afternoon we were satisfied with getting some groceries, a book and, as an un...

On our drive to the Barossa we travelled through Echunga, a small town in the Adelaide Hills, where one of Eric's golfing mates from home owns a vineyard. I was keen to stop for a pretzel morning tea in  Hahndorf but  there was far too much traffic in the narrow streets, this being  a Saturday morning. Then  we came down the steep M1 and through a tunnel where heavy vehicles are speed limited to 60km/h. All of which had me very stressed with our van on behind but Eric negotiated us safely through it all.  Now we are set up at the Centenary Park in Greenock. Unlike the well known German influence in the Barossa, this area was settled by Scots. After lunch we went for a stroll to have a look at some of the historic buildings. As well as wine offerings, we found Greenock Brewers housed in an 1860’s wheat store. Across the road is the still functioning Laucke grain mill. It was originally built to produce flour but these days it produces and store...

Thursday 21st Nov How bizarre. After that 40+ deg day we went to bed and listened to the wind howling through the olive trees and felt it rock the van at times. It was a hot blast too, no relief until early morning. It had dropped back to about 14 deg C by the time we were rising. We pulled on the fleecies again as we packed up and moved on. Normanville was once the area's main port but most of the original jetty has been washed away. The white sandy beach stretches for more than 7kms, and the caravan park we are camping in, sits just behind the heritage listed sand dunes. Right now hooded plovers are nesting there.  The park sits on either side of the Bungala River and plenty of birds are enjoying the surrounds.  We went for a walk along the beach to the jetty and beach cafe at the Surf Club. Looking at the state of the sea today I would think the members here get as little experience of surf as those at Darwin Surf Club but Glenn assured me that when there is a sout...

Mon 18th Nov I read last night that Kangaroo Island is the third largest of Australia's islands. Straight away I knew that Tassie would be No.1 but what would be in second place? Asking the nearby brain's trust we all came up with different possibilities so I had to call on Google for the answer. What would you have voted for? Answer at end of post or you can just google it too. We've spoken to a number of people seeking suggestions for how long to stay and what to see and do. The answers have ranged from 'Don't go at this time of the year, go in autumn', 'You can do it all in a day', 'You need at least a week'. In total, not very helpful. My biggest concern was to have a rough crossing and then have to get into a car and continue moving - my worst nightmare. We've taken the plunge and booked to stay for 2 nights. All four of us will travel in one car, leaving the vans at Jervis Bay. Shane, a friend of ours who loves fishing but suffers f...

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...