Michelle's Big South Australia Walkabout

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1 532 km! Fair Dinkum!

This entry is a page about the trip that Michelle made to South Australia the 2nd week that we were here. The purpose of the trip was to meet up with Wendy Golder of the Digital Bridge Unit, a branch of the South Australian Government and to visit the communities that showed an interest in being part of Michelle's study. Wendy and Michelle covered over 1600 kms in three days and saw three very different areas of South Australia. First was the Yorke Pennisula and Point Pearce. This area is about 3.5 hours northwest of Adelaide. It is situated right on the ocean and has some beautiful beaches and jetties that stretch out into the ocean. At the jetty in Port Victoria, people were fishing for squid and the dolphins were jumping in the ocean. The next day it was on to Copley, about a 7 hour drive north of Adelaide. This region was dusty and desert like with the Flinders Ranges to the east. The ranges were said to once be as tall as the Rockies. There were emus running in the desert fields and lots of road kill, sadly in the form of kangaroos, never saw one live one. This trip even included a visit to a restaurant where there was feral antipasto including kangaroo meat, emu pate, goat cheese and camel sausage - yum! Copley was a very nice community with a railway that splits the middle of the town. The next day was a bit of a rest for the girls with a lovely trip through Claire Valley and a visit to some vineyards and wine tasting. The trip was rounded out by a trip to Raukkan, an hour south west of Adelaide to an area lush with green rolling hills and healthy cattle. It is amazing how different the scenery in relatively small areas of Australia can be! It was decided that Michelle's project will take place in Point Pearce on the Yorke Penninsula.

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Cheers,

RUN-DMG

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Photos

Wendy & Michelle
To get a real sense of the mood, copy and paste this link in a new tab/window and listen while you look. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUqeDPZZ80

Point Pearce Aboriginal School
This is the sign infront of Point Pearce Aboriginal School. This school is a K-2 school and then the children go to Maitland, a nearby town for Grades 3 and up.

PPAS
This is some beautiful art on the the side of the school.

Dancing On The Jetty
This is the jetty at Port Victoria. This town is about 8 kms from Point Pearce and Michelle will be staying here for her time in South Australia.

The Catch of the Day
There were many people fishing on the jetty. Squid was the catch of the day, caught using a barbed lure. A few minutes after this photo was taken, this little guy inked!

Copley, SA
Welcome to Copley... can you find it on the map?

Quilt of Copley
This beautiful quilt was painted on by a local artist and the detail of the subjects was amazing. Many of the people in the painted quilt are still alive today.

Feral Antipasto
Smoked kangaroo meat, camel sausage, emu pate and goat curd. Michelle was dared...

A Taste Of The Outback
... and she does it! It really wasn't that bad, washed down with a lemon lime and bitters.

Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges is South Australia's largest mountain range which starts approximately 200 km north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over 430 km. The first humans to inhabit the Flinders Ranges were the Adnyamathanha people
(meaning ‘hill people’ or ‘rock people’) whose descendants still reside in the area. Cave paintings, rock engravings and other artifacts indicate that the Adnyamathana people have lived in the Flinders Ranges for tens of thousands of years.
The first European explorers to the region were an exploration party from Matthew Flinders seagoing visit to upper, Spencer Gulf aboard The Investigator. They climbed Mount Brown in March 1802 . In the winter of 1839 Edward John Eyre, together with a group of five men, two drays and ten horses, further explored the region. They set out from Adelaide on 1 May 1839. The party set up a depot near Mt. Arden, and from there explored the surrounding region and upper Spencer Gulf, before heading eastward to the Murray River and returning to Adelaide.

Emus on the Range
Can you see the emus? This photo really doesn't give the Ranges justice... they are just beautiful!

One Tree Hill
Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy.

SevenHill Winery
The SevenHill vineyards were developed by Jesuit preists and still today over 70% of their production is for communion for churches. Michelle loved the tawny dessert wine, would be lovely with a bit of cheese and crackers!

the Vines & the Prayer for Rain
Michelle thought this was a neat shot of the cross protecting the vineyards.

The Casks of SevenHill
Some of the barrels of wine at SevenHill held over 1000 litres! They even make a wine infused with Blueberries... now image a couple of those barrels at Blueberry Festival in Sioux Lookout!

Raukkan, SA
A torrential downpour in the driest state on the driest continent. Go figure.

Adelaide From Above
A beautiful view of Adelaide to end a great trip!

Comments

[Jean Nowlan]

South Australia
You guys are doing a great job! We really enjoy all the pictures with comments. Love, D/J

[Jonathan Baum]

AweStruck
Don, Michelle and Gabriel: I always thought a little family adventure was heading north an hour for some fishing or if we were really daring, to drive through Saskatchewan all the way to BC. You guys are awe inspiring. I am getting fear chills just trying to guess at the logistics you went through to go to Australia. I am going to make your travel blog the home page on a number of our computers and see what our learners here think of your trip. Maintain your sanity. Jonathan