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Our Princess
Lizzy showing her true coloursA year off to sort out our new home and now we are back at it!
On Sunday the 2nd May we hitched up the van started the new adventure. “Go West Young Man” …….as they say in the classics. And Barb, no stats on the car this time!
There is one very important issue we had to address though. We have a little Princess in our lives now and we will miss Elizabeth Georgia Pretty very much. However, she is young enough not to miss us at this stage so we are doing a quick 4-5 month dash around the ‘paddock’ so we can be back in time to see her learn to walk. By then she may even get to really know Nanny and Pa even though she loves them both dearly now .
BALLARAT
We had an easy trip out of Melbourne and arrived at the Windmill Holiday Park located out past the Arch on the Horsham Road. The park was nice and quiet.
There were two objectives in Ballarat. Firstly, we wanted to catch up with our long time friends Max and
Mt Arapiles
The Victorian floral emblem. Epacris impressa or Floral Heath growing in difficult circumstances. Glenda Palmer. We all went to the same secondary school in Maryborough, did the football club social outings, and the girls knitted and yacked whilst max and I slogged it out on the footy ground. We enjoyed the catch-up and planned a country visit to the city in October.
The other objective was to visit the two Mums in Maryborough and assure them we were just a phone call away if they needed us. They were both well and look forward to our calls along the way.
After two nights we were on our way to Horsham.
HORSHAM
Our last port in Victoria, the Horsham Caravan Park was very good. There was no one there when we arrived so we rang the number and Shirl sorted us out on the spot. We had a nice Thai dinner in quick time. Out in twenty five minutes! They don’t mess around in the bush.
Mount Arapiles is situated 25klm from town in the Tooan State Park. It is a venue for rock climbing as well as sightseeing. We saw at least half a dozen different climbing groups.
Mt Arapiles
A rocky outcrop Apparently they come from all over the world to climb there. It is a significant Aboriginal site in that for thousands of years it provided food and shelter.
MANNUM
It took five and a quarter hours to our next destination. Mannum is a compact historical riverside town on the Murray in South Australia near Murray Bridge . We opted for Mannum because when Bob Hayter and I went to the Caravan and Camping show at the Caulfield Racecourse, he said ‘that’s a good spot to visit’ when he saw the stand. We had a chat to the park owner who naturally suggested it was the only place to stay in the area. We really enjoyed it although it took a fair while to get our van on site.
We were so close to the Barossa that we took a day trip to Tanunda. The Chateau Tanunda buildings were ornate and the gardens spectacular. We found a special place in the sun to have a platter of local produce at the Grant Burge Estate in Krondorf. The platter was beautiful.
PORT VINCENT
Our next port of call was way down
Mt Arapiles
Climbers at the ready into the Yorke Peninsula to Port Vincent. The caravan park was excellent and we had a large site that allowed us to set up in a very convenient fashion across it. When we visited, we thought that the caravan park and town of Edithborough would have been a better choice even though we were happy where we were.
We did a circuit of the Peninsula over a six hour time frame. There was not a lot to see. The peninsula is a significant grain producing area. However, there are a number of small picturesque towns on the coast but with very few facilities. If you live in Marion Bay , you had to drive about 80klm to shop. Although we got there, we missed a full discovery of the National Park and that was a mistake. Make time for it if you visit.
Our next stay will be at Port Pirie. By the way, the weather has been pleasant. Temperatures have been in the low to mid twenties although that is about to change. Forecast for the next few days is 17-19 deg.
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Adam Tweedie
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On The Road Again
Pete, Good to hear all is well, look forward to reading about your new adventure Work maybe taking me west soon also so will keep in touch Safe Travellin, Tweedie Family