So Andreas and I were very happy when the weather started warming up. Our last full day in Clare we walked along the Riesling trail, and along some paved roads as well. In the end doing about 17 kms. My dogs were aching me then! We visited several wineries. Our favorite was the Sevenhill Winery, which is actually run and operated by the Jesuits. They started the winery in the 1800's for the creation of altar wines for mass. However over the decades they started creating table wines as well. We found their quality was exceptional and their prices were really reasonable too. They still do some fermantation in the wooden barrels so it's very aunthentic.
After we left Clare we drove down to Port Victoria on the Yorke Peninsula. We have become members of the Top Tourist caravan/camp grounds. So we recieved a booklet stating which towns had Top Tourist campgrounds. Well there had been one in Port Victoria but when we got to the campground office there were no logos up and I was hesitant. We gave them our membership card and the woman confirmed they were no longer with them. I was miffed that they had cancelled their membership with the chain after the booklet came out! Sneaky cheeky's!!
What was nice was the weather warmed up dramatically. Andreas and I found Port Victoria beautiful.
Port Victoria has a significant connection to the Åland Islands (where Andreas' mum is from). In the 1930's and 1940's huge four masted windjammers would sail from Europe to Australia to load up with grain to be taken back to Europe. An overwhelming proporion of these ships came from Åland although they carried their load mainly to England. There was a small maritime museum in town which Andreas found very interesting, in a documentary featured in the museum two of his grand mother's friends were interviewed. The era of bagged grain trade and windjammers came to an end in 1949 when the last two ships Pamir and Passat left Port Victoria and about 110 days later reached Falmouth via Kap Horn.
The same afternoon we had a beach afternoon on Marion Bay, Yorke Peninsula. It was great that the temp was in the high 20's and the lows were in the low 20's. Very comfortable to sleep in.
Then we headed to Port Augusta. It was hot there, with the temp in the 30's. But a dry heat so very pleasant. The second day there we headed to the town of Whyalla and went to the HMAS Whyalla museum. The ship was neat to explore and tour guide was fun. The actual museum was okay too. The ship was actually built in Whyalla as a mine sweeper/corvette during WW2. Today she is about 2kms from the ocean on dry land, quite a feat of transport to have her moved there.
From Port Augusta we went up to Flinders Range. We loved the Rawnsley Park campground. We did a short hike the day we arrived, about 5km along the low ranges. The gound was abit soft though, due to rain earlier that day. The next day we did a long 13.8km hike to Wilpena Pound lookout and Rawnsley Bluff. There was a very steep part for at least a km that was very challenging but fun too! The view was spectacular. We went for a swim that afternoon in the camp pool, so it was another hot day in the 30's. We loved this campground as it was quite quiet and few campers. The amentities and camp kitchen were incredibly clean and suitable.
Then we are on our way to Brisbane. Our first stop was Broken Hill in NSW. We had left South Australia, but Broken Hill is very west NSW. Anyways the weather was beautiful the day we arrived but that night was awful! The wind blew so hard and it was a total lightening storm and we ended up sleeping in the car as the tent sides w constantly caving into our faces was not condusive to a good sleep. It also poured rain so the tent got very wet. The only upside of that campground was the couple camping next to us were from Parksville, BC. They were in their 60's and really nice. We had a nice chat with them (before the weather had turned!) Well it made for a good memory!
That day we drove about 750 kms, (our long day of driving)to Dubbo. The weather was good in Dubbo and we were able to hang up some clothes that had gotten very wet. The caravan park was lovely as well, incredibly clean and pretty new. The camp kitchen was lovely! However the town had some major flooding going on....the Macquarie river near the caravan park had totally flooded its banks. Thankfully the park was fine but on the other side of the river another more lower level caravan park was totally flooded as well as the parkades of two shopping centres. This has been such a rainy year for Austalia, which is great b/c they've had drought for so long.....but now at this time of the year it has become too much! The couple from BC, Tom and Teresa were also in the same campground again and we stayed chatting with them for over a hour. They invited us to come look them up when we visit the Island, great connection to make.
We had a good night sleep and the next day we drove up to Goondiwindi just inside Queensland. We love being back in Queensland. Another beautiful campground. Very clean, we had a huge campsite for ourselves, good camp kitchen and clean amentities. The pool was the best though. We went swimming in it yesterday and it's slightly heated so it felt the same temp as the ocean in Fiji. So comfortable to swim and sit in.
Now we are on our way to Brisbane for our next housesit for 5 weeks. It will be great to be in a house again. Though we loved the camping that we've done for the last 3 weeks, we are ready to be in a house again......and work too!
