Obviously we are enjoying ourselves too much and have been somewhat lax in updating the blog, hence this 7 day update.
On Saturday 5 May we left Port Pirie and headed to Wallaroo, a town on the Copper Coast of the Yorke Peninsula. Lo and behold: another town filled with lovely old stone buildings. We did, however, come across the first high rise since we left Brisbane - a 5 storey unit block in the new marina development in Wallaroo.
On Sunday we drove through Moonta on our way to Edithburgh. Moonta has a great heritage of Cornish copper miners with many cottages and mining relics around town. It has a lovely main street and we took the opportunity to buy a traditional cornish pastie at Cousin Jacks. Delicious. Edithburgh was just an overnight stop in a small coastal village before heading down to Innes National Park and Marion Bay on Monday.
On our way to Innes NP we went via Corny Point for great coastal views near the lighthouse. Innes NP also has spectacular coastal views and good bitumen access to most parts. We travelled over less than 5 klm of dirt roads in the park with the worst road being to Pondalowie Bay. There were a couple of other roads that had too much dirt to risk rattling the motor home over. After a good look at the National Park we headed to Marion Bay for the next two nights. It is a quiet van park in a very small hamlet and we spent Tuesday relaxing and strolling up to the good tavern for a seafood lunch. Barbara was a bit more energetic and went for an afternoon walk around the Marion Bay coastline.
On Wednesday we were going to stay at Ardrossan on the east coast of the Yorke Peninsula but after the very reasonable lunch at the pub we thought we would head over to the Barossa Valley for a couple of nights. The Top Tourist van park at Nurioopta is to be recommended - plenty of room and in a quieter location than the park in Tanunda.
We woke up Thursday morning to a thick fog which cleared before our wineries trip. Christine kept count - 6 hours, 7 wineries, 23 wines tasted and 3 bottle bought to enjoy on the road with dinner. Barbara had the same number of hours and wineries with only about 7 wines tasted. The tour was with a local company, Tour Barossa, and incuded a lovely antipasta style lunch at Yalumba Winery. We were fortunate to be the only two on the tour and our driver, John, checked on our wine tastes and tailored the tour to suit. Christine particularly liked the Eden Valley riesling from Elderton Wineries at Nurioopta, the Alma Schild Reserve Chardonnay at Lyndoch and the Grant Burge Kraft Sauvignon Blanc at Tanunda. The Gert Sparkling Shiraz from Seppelts was also tasty.
Before heading out to the Riverlands district and Loxton on Friday we drove around the Barossa Valley scenic drive passing through many small towns. Of course we had to find time for lunch at Maggie Beer's Farm Shop and purchase some goodies to stock the motor home fridge. Interestingly Maggie Beer's was the only place we visited that was crowded. It seems that week days in late autumn are a good time to visit the valley if you want to avoid the crowds. On Friday afternoon we drove to Loxton. Our van park was in a bend in the Murray - a lovely peacefull, clean park (Big 4).
On Saturday we spent some time around Loxton. This small town has a lovely feel and was filled with people doing their Saturday morning shopping. The main street is divided by a pretty park and it is just a short stroll from the main street to the beautifully scented memorial rose garden. Before heading off to Mildura we visited Berri, Barmera and Renmark. Whilst each of theses towns had something to offer, Loxton is our pick in the Riverlands. Of course there was always the mighty Murray running beside and crossing our path along the way. It is a grand old river at the moment and filled to the brim.
We have arrived in Mildura and treated ourselves to an ensuite site in the Big 4 Deakin van park for 4 nights. It is a great park filled with autumn folliage, situated in close walking distance to a good bakery, a large shopping centre and the bus route into town. So now all that is left to do for the day is to cook our filet mignon for dinner and set the alarms for an early start tomorrow on our Mungo National Park day trip with Harry Nanya Tours.
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