Adelaide, the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills

We left the Port Augusta area and headed back to the big smoke of Adelaide. I’m not sure whether it is a bit of culture shock, but we found the traffic in Adelaide to be a bit of a nightmare almost every time we stepped out! But we made it to our new spot at Brownhill Caravan Park. It’s a fabulous spot – backing on to a reserve, but only minutes from all the shops down the hill. Only problem is that it sits in a valley so is not only cold, but has zero internet and phone range. Not something we planned for when heading for a capital city. So already I was a bit stressed about that. Of course it was raining when we turned up too so our record of carrying the rain with us continues!

But we got into it, and after finding two bars of internet (outside where I had to wear all my layers at once), I got a bit of work done. We popped into Adelaide itself and I showed Jim and the kids where I worked for a bit and we had a wander around town. We then drove out to Glenelg and looked around there. Jim managed to pick up some new running shoes at a bargain price so he was happy with the trip out to the coast.

The next day Jim took the kids on various train treats and tram treats in and around the city. I was back at camp minding the dog and chasing the internet as the car was in for its second service of the trip (the first being in Melbourne). It cost a bomb, but we’ve got to keep the old girl going as she’s imperative to the whole show.

I was highly motivated to get the work done as I had friends arriving from Brisbane (Shoes, JJJ and Storm) for a long weekend in the Barossa. So after packing my supermarket freezer bag with my clothes (it’s all I have – all my clothes live in a box usually!), we went to pick up a rental car, then on to the airport to pick up JJJ and Storm. After leaving the family behind, we then went to collect Shoes from her friend’s house. Unbeknownst to us, this would actually be our first stop on our wine tour as they make their own wine! They also make fabulous Italian donuts and coffee so it was an excellent start to the trip.

On we went in our little Suzuki Swift up to the Barossa. I can’t remember all the places we went (and there were only five wineries!), but we enjoyed them all, and the extra visits in-between to Maggie Beer’s farm, the chocolate factory, the farmer’s markets and a lavender farm (except Shoes, she hates lavender for some reason). We ate, drank and spent our way through the Barossa and it was wonderful, but by far the best bit was the house. Shoes had selected a fantastic Air B n B. Besides the solid walls, roof and internal heating the owners had left us a fantastic amount of food and drink which we steadily worked our way through.

It was so nice to see faces from home so I was a bit sad to drop the girls back at the airport on Sunday afternoon. But after returning the car, we went back to Shoes’ friend’s house where we were treated to a lovely BBQ dinner. Jim and the kids enjoyed being inside and playing with the kids, and Jett had a great play with Luna. It was very nice to socialise a bit and very generous of Shoes’ friends to feed four people they didn’t know.

I’m pretty sure that weekend was also the coldest we’d endured on the entire trip. Temperatures dipped below zero and we had a frost so I felt very sorry for Jim and the kids back at camp (while I was in my nice toasty house). But we are heading towards winter so it is going to get colder I suppose!

While I was away Jim also packed up a couple of shipping boxes of stuff. Seven months in and we’ve worked out what we are (and aren’t) using, or don’t need for the next bit so we managed to collect up about 50kg worth of stuff to send home. We also took possession of Starlink (bye bye terrible internet) so I’m quite excited about that. Need the sun to power it of course, and Adelaide was not the spot for that!

Our next stop was in the Adelaide Hills which is really not very far from Adelaide. So close in fact we popped back there once to do a Bunnings and Clark Rubber run as we needed to sort out a storage solution for Starlink. Our new home was on a farm owned by Harry and Ann, who are extremely friendly people. The kids took a shine to them immediately and took off multiple times per day to feed or pat horses or play with their puppy.

Even though we were in a paddock we had excellent internet – so much so we didn’t need Starlink, but we got it out anyway because we also had sunshine! Days of it in fact! Not enough to break the record of four days in a row, but enough to shake off the stress of our cold and wet time in Adelaide. We could also have a fire, which we did every night, cooking a roast chook on it on the last night.

There’s heaps to do in the Adelaide Hills too, so we went from one end to the other seeing the sights. At the far end (just outside the Adelaide Hills) is Murray Bridge, where we saw the Murray River again. Back towards Adelaide, we explored Mt Barker (where we were also sending our boxes home from Jim’s old work), Hahndorf and Stirling. Hahndorf has a very strong German influence so we had an obligatory lunch of German sausages and wandered through the town. The autumn colours are in full flight at the moment so it was lovely to see all the leaves – you don’t get much of that in Brisbane.

On another day we drove a bit further to the north to a large toy rocking horse that you can climb up. “Naff” is the word Jim used to describe it, but the kids enjoyed it. On the way back we stopped in at the chocolate factory and cheese factory, both of which yielded snacks for later.

The only fail we had was an attempted visit to Mt Lofty summit and Mt Lofty botanical gardens, both of which are not dog-friendly so we had to give them a miss. It turned out well though as we drove down to the nearby Mt George where we had a picnic and then walked to the Bridgewater Inn where we had a lovely few hours in the sun watching the kids play in the rocks in the creek right next to the beer garden. And we saw our first koala of the trip! Very exciting to spot one in the wild.

On another day Harry the farmer took the kids for a wagon ride pulled by his two Clydesdales which was quite a treat for them both, and for us (an hour and a half of kid-free time!). 

All good things must come to an end and we were sad to pack up and leave Harry’s farm. But things are starting to get interesting as we make our way further north into the great unknown of the outback. Next stop Peterborough though for a week where we’ve treated ourselves to a bit of power to run the heater – a few zero degree mornings ahead!