Day 21: Tue 31 May - Adelaide, 10-18 deg, fine in the morning, afternoon shower

It was not so cold for the early morning walk in the dark this morning. Saw some fine examples of the Federation homes around this suburb and many very flash and expensive new ones too. Have only seen a few for sale signs up and every one of them had "sold" pasted across them. 

We had a leisurely breakfast and then hit the bikes for a ride to Port Adelaide. The ride to the city was on one of our favourite off-road paths along the Torrens but the next 10km was on an on-road bike path down the side of a fairly busy road so not as pleasant. The Port itself has a great heritage area with many old fine buildings and a couple of ships. The oldest surviving Clipper Ship in the world is there awaiting funding for restoration; a huge undertaking. Had a coffee and headed home as the weather seemed to be getting a bit ordinary. Just made it home before the showers started again.  A 43km round trip so we could afford to take it a little easy in the afternoon doing admin. Wendy is off to Sydney early in the morning so she had some work to do online and iron uniforms etc. 

Anglican Church Walkerville

A nice federation style house at Walkerville

The Adelaide O-Bahn 

The O-Bahn rail system

Adelaide Botanic Garden HQ

Port Adelaide

Port Adeladie wharf area

City of Adelaide clipper undergoing restoration

New footbridge from the city to Adelaide Oval

Waterfall off the footbridge

The City of Adelaide in her hay-day

Day 20: Mon 30 May - Adelaide, 13-18 deg, morning showers followed by a mainly fine day

A quick early morning walk with the brollies kicked off the day. It was nice to see the rain has followed us; and we really don't begrudge them the rain as it's usually so dry here. After breakfast we decided to hit the shops whilst it was still raining, so we drove to Gepps Cross about 5km away where there's a stack of home stores. We needed to replace our electric frypan, which is only 26 years old; (one of Wendy's 21st birthday gifts) things don't last these days!! It was still going well although the non-stick surface had become very .. well sticky. Ended up at Harris Scarfe and picked up a stoneware Smith & Noble electric pan for $39.95 (down from $80). An amazing price given the one that it replaced would have cost over $100 at least, 26 years ago! We weren't through with shopping centres so we had a wander and tasty coffee, and a very nice vanilla slice at Westfield Tea Tree. 

The rain finally cleared just after lunch and some sun patches started to appear so it was time to break out the bikes and lycra.We followed the bike path along the River Torrens out on one side (going away from the city) and back on the other side. Great path, good facilities, parks and playgrounds etc, and feels good to be back on the bikes in relatively warm (18deg) weather. 

Dinner was a lovely lamb casserole done in the flash new frypan, it was good and not sticky. Life is good ja!!

What a great bike path

It had dried off for the afternoon ride

Day 19: Sun 29 May - Clare to Adelaide, 150 km, 3 (in Clare)-17 (Adelaide) deg, high cloud with occasional sunshine

As Wendy has to fly to Sydney for a few days on Wednesday for Army business, we are taking the opportunity to spend a bit of time in Adelaide. So we booked into the Levi Caravan Park at Walkerville (where else) for a week. We've been to Adelaide before, mainly for the Tour Down Under, and really enjoyed it. It will be a bit cooler this time as the TDU is in January and stinking hot, top 30s and into the 40s. 

We had breakfast, packed up and were underway by 9am. A good run down to the big smoke on pretty good roads. Hit a bit of Sunday market traffic in Adelaide but still made it to Walkerville about 11am. We've used this van park previously (we stayed in a cabin for the TDU) as it is only 7km from the city centre on a separate bike path. It's a nice ride too, follows the River Torrens; if you could call it that, it's more like a trickle most of the time. 

After setup and lunch Wendy got into the clothes washing as the weather hasn't been good for that recently and Greg got the bikes ready for our ride tomorrow. Then had a walk up to the shops at Walkerville (it has a Woolies, cafe, bakery, chemist, etc) to pick up a few groceries. Only 2.4km round trip so another reason the van park is very nicely located. 
Get your own dinner tonight (Sunday tradition) so it was leftovers for Greg and chicken noodles for Wendy.

Bike path long the Torrens

Levi Park Caravan Park

#55 Levi Park Caravan Park

Day 18: Sat 28 May – Clare, 4-14 deg, early rain and fog clearing to a mainly sunny day

Although the BOM said it was going to be "mainly sunny" today there was no sign of that initially; just fog and drizzle. So the bike ride was looking less likely. However upon finishing our hot breakfast the sun came out and it warmed up to 10deg!! So we gave the chains an oiling and jumped on our trusty steeds and off we went. With our noses pointing south we headed for Auburn on the Riesling Trail. The Trail guided us past a whole mob of cellar doors and other attractions in the Clare Valley. The trail is an told railway line so not as undulating as the road. The surface is gravel but smooth as, and very well maintained. There was a little food market in Seven Hill so we called in for a look. We eventually made it to Auburn around lunchtime so we found a little cafe and ordered a burger each. This was none of your pissy little McBurger, this was huge; everything homemade and just what we needed on a cold day's ride. The herb damper the burger ingredients were contained in was fantastic.

On the way home we called into Seven Hill Winery (only 3km from home) and checked out their wine. A few were good enough to drink so we went back with the car later and picked up a few bottles. Seven Hills was established by the Jesuits in 1851 (oldest in Clare Valley) and still supplies 80% of the alter wine used in Oz. 
Got back to the van just as the sun disappeared so the temperature was dropping fast. 55km - it was a good ride and nice that the sun stayed out for us. 

Nice smooth paths and bridges on the Riesling Trail

The back end of St Aloysius

Riesling trail informative signs along the way

Feral oilve tree laden with fruit

Rest stop on the Riesling Trail

Uniting Church, Auburn

Lunch

Lunch venue

Riesling Trail elevation profile

The Riesling Trail

St Aloysius, Sevenhill

Sevenhill

Sevenhill Winery Museum

Sevenhill underground cellar

Day 17: Fri 27 May - Clare, 6-14 deg (brrrrrrrr!!), cool & cloudy with showers

Welcome back to "the plains" where the temps are certainly a little cooler. Surely it is too cold to rain!!?  But we must remember this is not Qld so the weather does strange things down south of Mexico. To hear on the radio that there was a Sheep Graziers Alert for this region and a Flood Warning for Mt Lofty, (120km away), wasn't a good sign for our planned bike ride today. 

Instead of riding we walked into town for our caffeine and cake (we are on holidays after all) fix at the bakery - 10 out of 10 for both. But then it was a rush back to the van as a storm bore down on Clare. 8.5km round trip for the walk. We made in plenty of time, 2 minutes!! It bucketed down with even some small hail. The morning turned into a very wet and dreary afternoon which was spent catching up with admin. 

Dinner was pizza and wine tasting in front of a roaring open fire at the van park BBQ area. The pizza was compliments of the van park (with a donation to the local fire brigade) and the wine was compliments (only the tasting, a glass was $5) of a couple of local wineries. It's always interesting to talk to fellow grey and not-so-grey nomads, they've all got a story or two. The wine was drinkable, particularly the Riesling, but nothing to write home about.

Autumn leaves at Clare

Clare

Clare WW2 Memorial

Memorial to the Ninth Light Horse, Clare

Solid old pub at Clare

About to be rained upon

Yep, it rained, and hailed

Day 16: Thu 26 May - Wilpena Pound to Clare, 300km, 9-16 deg, showers throughout the day

It's not very nice packing up in the rain so it was nice to wake up with no pitter-patter on the roof. Although moving house with a van when it's all wet, is nowhere near as bad as doing it with a tent, especially if you're also carrying a pack and rifle. So with breakfast under our belts we packed up and were on the road at 8:20am. 

We stopped in Orroroo for mornos and as it was raining we didn't go wandering and had coffee and cake in the van. The wander was left till we reached Jamestown which was well worth the wait. What a lovely little town; and it looked busy too. And yes, the bakery has great potato and egg & bacon pies, and vanilla slices. 

Arrived at Clare about 1:45pm and were quickly set up. This park is a great van park, with nice big sites, clean facilities and even pizza ovens in the common BBQ area. Oh, and a jumping pillow for Greg. 

Had a quick cuppa and leftover vanilla slice (Jamestown bakery) followed by grocery shopping at Woollies. 

Clare, for those none vino drinkers, is a wine producing valley (since 1851) 93 km north of the Barossa Valley and 145 km north of Adelaide. It is known for its rather good reds (Shiraz & Cab Sav) and whites (Riesling) hence one reason for our stopover. There are about 40 cellar doors in the Valley so plenty to choose from. 

Paleo fish cakes & greens for dinner washed down with some wine from just up the road.

A parting view of the Flinders Ranges

Jamestown

UCA Jamestown

Jamestown

In the main street of Jamestown

Jamestown

#74a Clare Caravan Park