Paj and Heather's Big Adventure 2008
Part Eight - Adelaide and surrounds
Well, we have done it! We have
a new caravan – a Supreme Territory, 19.6 foot with an ensuite. Solar
panels and dual battery were already in it so nothing needed to be
fitted which was good. There were a few things needed fixing up as it
had been sitting on the shop floor for a while so we explored Adelaide
and some of the surrounding area while waiting for parts. We are really
pleased with it. It seems to cope well with the hills and tows very
well. It is little worse on fuel than the old one, being 3 tonne, but nothing major.
We went down to Second Valley
for a few days hoping to catch some squid. The weather was not good,
very windy and the sea very rough so we only got one. As we couldn’t
fish we decided to go and explore Victor Harbour. It is a lovely
seaside town about an hours drive from Adelaide. We went to Goolwa first
and over to
Hindmarsh Island. There is a huge new marina development
there. Apparently, it is the largest freshwater development in the
country. This is the northern end of the Coorong National Park, well
known for its bird life. We had a walk round the Goolwa weekend Market
and bought a few bits then went on to Victor Harbour. We came across a
Classic Car Meet in the town square near the waterfront and took a few
photos there. The waterfront area is very historical and they have a
horse-drawn tram which takes you across to Penguin Island, over a
causeway. After having lunch we went round the harbor to The Bluff and
walked to the lookout at the top. The view from up there was quite
spectacular. The country side round here is very much like New Zealand.
Very lush with green rolling hills, farmland.
Our next trip was down the Limestone Coast towards the Victorian Border. We drove through the Southern end of Coorong National Park and based ourselves in Robe. From there we took a day trip down through Beachport, Millicent and across to Penola. There is quite a large winery area round Penola so we visited a few and had a lovely Lunch at the Horrocks Vineyard before making our way back to camp. We bush camped in the Coorong National Park for a couple of nights before heading back to Adelaide. There were lots of birds to watch and the sunsets were amazing.
We really like the Adelaide Hills. There is so much history there. There are quaint little villages with a very obvious European influence, especially in the architecture. We visited Harndorf again and went up to the Mount Lofty Lookout for a view over the city.
We decided a trip round the Borossa Valley vineyards was worth doing again (see last year trip). We stocked up on Port, and a few other tasty bits at the Chateaux Barossa and visited another couple of wineries before having lunch at the Murdoch Vineyard. It was a nice day out.
We have spent just over a month
in the Adelaide area and really enjoyed it. The city has a lot of
character. Lots of parks and the river through the city makes it very
pretty. There are a lot of old historical buildings in the central city
and inner suburbs. The beaches are lovely. There are so many things to
do within a day trip of the city. It is a great place for a holiday if
you want variety without having to go far. The only thing we have a
problem with is the traffic. The old inner city roads are very narrow
and cannot cope with modern day traffic flows. The weather has been a
bit up and down. We had a wall of hail pass over us one day. I have
never seen anything like it.
It is now the 7th October and time we moved on and did something different. Next we head up the River Murray
