Had a couple of awesome days (god I sound like and aussie!). Started off with some more wine tasting in the Barossa - best was two hands which I had to refuse the half a glass of around 10 wines due to driving reasons, Helen was fine as per usual. Ended the day stocking up on around a further 10 bottles of wine and a few 4 packs of beer as we both anaged to convince ourselves that we might get bored when heading over to Western Oz and up North although obviously Margret River is on the way so we might not go short on the alcohol afterall - slight deliberate oversight I would say.
So the first day was spent tasting some wines in Clare, Reisling capital of Australia, then up to see the big Guana (not the best to be fair), mining town called Burra where there were too many miners to live there so they decided to build dug outs next to the lake which was interesting to see and then settling in for the night in Wilmington which was on the edge of the Flinders ranges.
The night was spent me trying to cuddle a possom after a couple of bottles of wine (shared) and I was quite successful as the possums were tame and I could actually not believe how fluffy they were. Next time I see some Possum socks I am going to buy some. I managed (and I say I) to work out our two burner gas cooker and we (mainly helen) knocked up a delicious meal for the evening.
In the morning we headed to the flinders, which I did not really know a great deal about until Helen started reading out one of the ten thousand leaflets that we have acquired on our way round. After listening about it for the ast week I was actually expecting big things, especially the Wilpena pound and the possility of seeing Talc Alf (see later) and spending the night ata proper outback pub (well not too proper as we know about it).
After a couple of hours and stops to see the Pichi Rici Railway which was the old Ghan railway heading up from Port Augusta to Alice Springs / Darwin and a couple of abandoned Homesteads, which were abandoned due to the harsh droughts that they early settlers encoutered.
We arrived at Wilpena and went for a bit of a walk, not acutally knowing where the pound was and what we may encounter along the way. We both still beleive that we should always be prepared when we go into the bush, probably sensible, however it makes me laugh when you see the people in their thong walking around. Anyway after lugging half a ton of kit up a few hours walk we we treated to some great views of the pound nad the rest of the ranges.
With a few hours before the night we decided to take the 100km trip up to Lyndhurst to see Talc Alf. Now I have built this guy up because we spent a couple of hours trying to find this guy in Victoria on Christmas day as we were lead to believe that this was just outside Melbourne. Apparently this guy is eccentric, but we intially thought we would brave some time with this guy, however after thinking about and getting to his house after travelling a couple k's up a dirt road we decided to turn around. Anyone interested in this guy then please read a bit more from this website, and I am sure you will understand why we turned around!http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/talcalf.htm
After seeing some abrorignal caves, a coal mine that provides SA with 40% of their energy and some ghost town, well not ghost town as it has 9 people in it, we ended up at a campsite in Parachilna. This is the home of the Prairie Hotel, a bit of an Outback Hotel, which sadly is a bit of a tourist trap now, however still has the masive sheep shearing Aussie guy who could kill me with hs bare hands pouring the pints and some large fire to sit outside and watch the stars next to. We ended up eating some lovely feral food, being Camel, Kangaroo, Goat and Emu. The menu was brilliant, and we went for a bit of a tasting platter - check out the menu and the hotel http://www.prairiehotel.com.au/. Not much else happend except that we had a good night and I personally had a few too many Farlagers, the local beer that they brewed on site.
Today was spent filling up the van at $1.79 (compared to $1.35 in Adelaide) and trucking down to Port Lincoln, on the way seeing the Big Gahla in Kima, which I learnt was the half way point across Australia and seeing the Arid botanical gardens in Port Augusta. Currently in Port Lincoln, after making headway in our cellar door stock, say happy fathers day to the fathers and listening to the Aggers on the Cricket - legend!
Off for a run in the morning, need to start burining off the chocolate that we purchased about 3 days ago - yes it has all gone
Steve & Helen
