blog four: South Australia

---

Blog Four: South Australia (the state)
For a day and a half we drove through the vast countryside and long lonely roads from Melbourne in Victoria to North of Adelaide in South Australia. We were heading for the Barossa Valley Wine Region, a colorful patchwork of picturebook villages, historic churches, stone buildings, and cottages beckoning us to explore when we happened upon Suffield's Winery in the Eden Valley. Long story short....our arrival corresponded with harverst time. We found ourselves out in the vineyards, witnessing and being a part of the eleventh-hour harvest. It was so interesting to see, up close, how the harvester shook the vines to extract the grapes. Later into the evening, we helped (mainly by drinking their "reserve" Shiraz) with the crushing process. A young Swede actually did the shovelling of the grapes from the holding bins into the crusher (as we did some less physically demanding tasks - picking the stems out of the vats, emptying the wheelbarrow into the fields, and sipping on that Shiraz) late into the night. The amazing evening culminated BBQing with Nick and Lynne (the owners) and sharing dinner and stories at midnight. An experience we'll long remember!
On a recommendation from Nick, we detoured north to the Flinders Ranges. After driving in through river crossings, we spent a couple of days hiking, camping, BBQing, and watching the animals. Here we experienced the tranquility of the "outback" deep within the rocky outcrops of Bachina Gorge. The gorge boasts geological formations and rocks from 600 million years ago. While "bush" camping, we marvelled at the millions of stars, the peacefulness of our surroundings, and the abundance of wildlife---beautiful white and pink cockatoos, parrots in all colors and sizes, herds of emus standing eight feet tall, and luckily got glimpses of the endangered "yellow-footed" wallabies (which sports a long-striped tail like a raccoon-he was cooperative enough to jump up onto the sign for us to photo him and send to you).
From there we got back on track and headed south for Adelaide, passing through the Claire Valley Wine Region. Needless to say, we did our share of wine tasting. Once in Adelaide, we played tourist and saw the sights of the city for a day. Adelaide is a clean, proper city filled with shopping and eatery streets as well as museums and churches-a known art center-no comparison to the vibrant city of Melbourne.
Then we began our southern migration to the Fleurieu Penninsula. We strolled along the shores of the quiet and quaint beach towns, visited more vineyards in the McClaren Vale, and hiked in the Deep Creek and Newland Conservation Parks. We camped in primitive campgrounds with no other people- only us and the kangaroos. Looking out of our camper we saw families of kangaroos looking in on us. Here the weather turned south as well---blustery, showery, and colder - as we made our way (quicker than expected) along the southern coastline of Victoria Harbor and Port Elliot. Michael hoped to get wet as we rolled through the surf towns near Middletown, only to find mixed-up swells and rough seas. See surf school pic. We had a few days of rain (on and off) and wind.
Next we headed down the Limestone Coast, first through the Cooronga National Reserve, 100 kms. of inlets, lagoons, and sand dunes separating the coast from the headland. We broke up the drive with a couple of short hikes to witness the flora and fauna of the region. The diversity of bird life kept our attention looking skyward. Our last adventure of the Limestone Coast was the Naracourte Caves. This world heritage site made for a fascinating visit underground. We toured the subterranian caverns and tunnels decorated with stalagtites and stalagmites.
Although the weather is turning cold, we are finding that travelling this time of year is less crowded every where we go. We are enjoying being the only ones in campgronds, wandering along beaches alone, and having tours all to ourselves. The only crowded place was the laundromat. The trees have turned color and the leaves are all amber, gold, and red. Absolutely beautiful! We are enjoying camping, getting back to nature, and slowing down our pace. People are friendly and want to indulge in conversation. Whether we're stopping to ask directions, in a marketplace, or getting a cup of coffee, it's a "no worries, g'day, or how ya goin".
This ends our time in South Australia and we are heading back to Victoria. We're not sure where our travels will lead us, but we'll let our morning decisions over a cup of "french press" lead us forward.

---