http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/SA-hiker/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from SA hiker en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:35:15 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:35:15 +0000 Today Dan and did a local adventure. We took our bikes for a ride and revisited Port Adelaide. This has been the site for a new development NewPort which has seen the construction of mutistory accommodation and marinas. It is interesting to compare this trip to our last blogged Port Adelaide visit in July 2005. We called this the 3 bridge tour the Jervois the Birkenhead and the brand new T http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Port-Adelaide/blog-412753.html IntroductionWe were up early so we committed to a big walk today Onkaparinga. This is a long and tough walk and as it turned out it was the toughest and scariest walk we have had for some time. What happenedWe started off well on the Sundews track making our way down into the gorge. Instead of turning left we turned right and rock hopped down the creek for about an hour. We had some seen some http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Onkaparinga/blog-268216.html Today we visited Warren. It was a lovely Autumnal day with clear skies and light winds. I really like this walk as there are no 'too steep' sections lots of different terrain and it is really well marked.You can find out more about Warren at our earlier blogs and . http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Williamstown/Warren-Conservation-Park/blog-279956.html We made a 2 34 hour walk at Anstey Hill this weekend see map for detail. It was nice as it was a cool day to walk some of those steep sections. Plenty of birds particulary rosellas. Some frogs croaking as well. You can see some of our other Anstey walks here . http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/Anstey-Hill-Recreation-Park/blog-285381.html IntroductionThe hikers are normally silent over summer as SA is way too hot to walk so this year we headed off down South to Tasmania. Peter decided to drive which meant we had an opportunity to catch up with Tom and Kate in Mount Gambier and also visited their family at Beachport.If you want to read more about our Tasmania holiday then you should have a look at this web site My Tassie journ http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Mt-Gambier/blog-261942.html IntroductionNot far from Adelaide just behind Flinders University is a very special area the Sturt river. We went there for our Sunday walk and enjoyed a different experience taking in sea views a dam a creek gorge and waterfall. Quite magnificient. As there are some steep climbs and creek crossings we would not recommend if walkers are under 8 or have limited bush experience.How to ge http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Sturt-River/blog-263505.html IntroductionToday we headed to the Barossa for a Heysen trail walk near Tanunda.How to get there ...From Adelaide travel north to Gawler and once in Gawler turn right up the Barossa way. Follow this road through Sandy Creek Lyndoch and on to Tanunda. Maggie Beer's farm shop is 4 km North of Tanunda see Pheasant farm route map. The walk is south of Tanunda on Rifle Range Road See 'From Maggies http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Barossa-Valley/Kaiser-Stuhl-Conservation-Park/blog-261182.html Introduction This blog is about our two recent visits to Black Hill. The first walk was a guided tour on the Southern side of the hill. Dan is part of the CSIRO Double Helix science club. This club is very well organised and has a stack of events to choose from and this was one of them. It was a Herpetology field trip to check out the Cunningham skinks a long living lizard 30 years that is http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/Black-Hill-Conservation-Park/blog-220562.html IntroductionThis was a shortish walk in the Adelaide Hills called Jupiter Creek. The loop trail takes in a piece of the Heysen trail. The walk is 5 minutes away from Hahndorf a German 'touristy' town where you can see all manner of quirky germanic things. How to get there From the city head up Glen Osmond road to the freeway. Continue on the freeway until the exit leading to Hahndorf. From the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/Mylor/blog-218665.html A few pictures from last Sunday's Walk for the cure which was organised by the Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation. A huge thanks to all the blog readers who donated our team raised over 600 before the walk which will go towards research into curing Diabetes type 1 a disease that Dan has had since he was two. It was a lovely day 22 degrees and bright and sunny. After doing our warm up e http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Glenelg/blog-212241.html Peter Dan and I went to Mt Bryan last weekend to attend Kym's 50th birthday celebrations on the Sunday. On the Saturday the boys went out on sheep duty with Tom and I decided to make my own walk around the homestead. I was only out for about 2 hours and took a few pictures as I walked near the Razorback at Mt Bryan. There are not many trees in this area and according to the original maps the cou http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Mt-Bryan/blog-211104.html IntroductionToday's walk was a new take on the Peters Hill walk described in George Driscoll's 50 real bush walks around Adelaide. The one that George describes as Walk number 1 in his book took ages when we last went in 2005 this is a modification that takes in a little bit more of the Heysen Trail and we were able to complete in 3.5 hours. we also visited the town of Kapunda in particular m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Kapunda/blog-207191.html This week the hikers headed for a delightful walk through Chambers Gully. We took the walk in the opposite direction to last time and enjoyed it very much. The creek was in full flow and the frogs were very happy about it. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/Cleland-Conservation-Park/blog-194015.html IntroductionThe hikers went to visit Scott Conservation Park this Sunday and had a very pleasant albeit slightly muddy 3 hour walk. We did a section of a large walk published in the walking guide 'Push the Bush' rather than some of our earlier visits to Scott. While our earlier blogs about Scott were in fullblown spring see Scott walk and Silver mine this walk was a winter one although yo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Scott-Creek-Conservation-Park/blog-189245.html We made another trip to Hale with weekend. If you would like to know how to get there I have included a route map.It was delightful to see water flowing in the creek and waterfall again after the last time we visited when it was bone dry. You might remember our previous blog about Hale but this was when it was bright and sunny today's snaps are from a cool windy day that threatened but di http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Williamstown/Hale-Conservation-Park/blog-190863.html We returned to Para Wirra after the summer fires to witness the regeneration of the bush. The trees were fuzzy with regrowth and the grass trees abundant and flowering. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Barossa-Valley/Para-Wirra-Conservation-Park/blog-167584.html IntroductionIt was back to the bush for the Hikers this wekend and we treated ourselves to the Barossa. Just outside of Tanunda we picked up the Heysen trail as it traverses the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park. The last time we went to this park was July 2005 and the contrast between the two visits were striking. There were only a few thin kangaroos this time when there were many breeding kangaroo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Barossa-Valley/Kaiser-Stuhl-Conservation-Park/blog-143979.html The Hikers spent some time with family during Easter and exploring parts of the mid North and Riverland.Our first stop was Burra and a visit to the copper mine.We then headed to Quinn central to see Peter's family. One of our drives included a visit to the first wind turbine built at Hallett. There was also millions of hoppers around that were really easy to catch.We drove a little further and did http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Mt-Bryan/blog-146720.html IntroductionHi everyoneIt was an amazing walk today amazing spectacle and amazing serenity and amazing painThe location Onkaparinga gorge.Five grueling hours.What a way to spend Mother's Day.You can find out more about how to get there at some of our other blogs about OnkaparingaOnkaparinga gorge Echidnas waterholes and ruins at Onkaparinga Awesome Onkaparinga and also the route maps one http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/Onkaparinga/blog-157924.html Finally the rain came and the week after we headed to the hills to see the colours of Autumn. You really can't go past Mt Lofty Botanical gardens it has a large number of northern hemisphere trees that put on a stunning display and it aslo includes part of the Heysen trail. You can revisit our last blog about the gardens Apple picking and Mt Lofty Botanical GardensWe saw numerous glimpses of s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/Mount-Lofty/blog-157940.html