Waikerie to the Yorke Peninsular 3/3/12 - 17/3/12-

WAIKERIE   3rd March

Looking down over campsite amongst the trees

Picnic on Waikerie river bank

We arrived at a town called Waikerie (beside the Murray River) where we planned to stay 2-3 days before moving on to the Barossa Valley.

Our stay was extended, however, due to a problem with the car. Nigel heard a ticking sound which seemed to come and go, but it became more noticeable on arriving there. We decided to get it checked out as there was a Ford Service centre in town, hoping it was only a minor problem. Unfortunately, they discovered that the torque convertor needed to be replaced which meant the car had to stay there for 3 days, waiting for parts to be sent from Adelaide.

Waikerie campsite

We didn't mind waiting as the weather was glorious and we loved our camping spot along the river, even though there were no amenities, water or power. We knew we would manage, as the town wasn't too far away, but we only had transport by bike or kayak. We learnt to conserve our water by using the river water for washing dishes and bathing. The shovel came in handy for digging a few holes when necessary. A new experience for Carol, but she managed fine.

High cliffs along the Murray River

On our last day we used the kayak to transport 10 litres of water back from the town to our campsite to tie us over till the next day. The evenings were spent sitting around a camp fire, sipping milo under brilliant starry night skies. Wonderful! This made up for the pain we felt when we had to pay for the car repairs. "All part of the journey".

In 1956 the Murray River flooded and came through Waikerie. There is a line on the wall showing the height of the flood. A man kindly held up something to show the level of where the water came to on this old building near the banks of the river (photo left)

BAROSSA VALLEY  8th March

From Waikerie we travelled through to Tanunda which is right in the heart of the Barossa Valley.     This is a region of rich farm land, orchards and vineyards. The influence of it's early German settlers is still evident in the style of buildings, the names of streets and the family names of it's residents. The German Lutherans first came to this part of the country in the 1840's as a result of religious persecution in their homeland. They built their communities here and developed the land, which was very fertile, into rich farm land.

In Tanunda, we visited the mother of a lady (Sharyne) Carol used to care for, and has become a very good friend. Sharyne's mother (Linda, almost 95)  has lived in the Barossa Valley most of her life and like so many people in the area, her ancestory is German. 

Linda kindly prepared a lovely meal for us on our arrival. This was very much appreciated.

The Barossa Valley is a strong Christian community and no other religions seem to be evident. In Tanunda, alone, there are 5 Lutheran Churches, all within about 1 km from each other. As Sharyne's Mum attended one of these Churches (the oldest, built in 1880's) and we wanted to go to a Lutheran Church we accompanied her. There was a lovely atmosphere there as the church bells ran through the town. 

Langmeil Lutheran Church.

As we were unable to park the caravan outside Linda's house, due to an uneven footpath, we spent our first night in the camping ground in Tanunda and were told it was booked out for the next 3 nights as it was a long weekend. All days are the same to us so we didn't realise this. Where do we stay now, was the question? Fortunately we met a lady, who was visiting Linda, and she had a friend who's house was down a dead end street. This lady was contacted. Her name was Lill, and she was quite happy to let us park across the road from her house, even offering shower and toilet facilities. She said we could stay there for as long as we wanted to. Two nights was all we needed so we could spend the time there looking around. What a blessing! Not only did she allow us to stay there, but offered her beach house on the Yorke Peninsular for us to stay there also. It was right on the road where we were going to travel. We were truly blessed by people, who a few days before we had never met.

The Barossa Valley is well known for it's wine making and famous wines. As we don't know much about wine we joined a tour of the Langmeil Winery in Tanunda. It was very interesting following the progress of wine making, from picking the grapes through to fermentation. We then tasted the different varieties of wine. The tour guide was very generous pouring the samples, so we shared the same glass otherwise there could have been two very wobbly cyclists riding back to town. 

Grapes picked off vines 160 yrs old

Being non drinkers of alcohol, we won't be rushing back to sample more, but the $100 per bottle one (can't remember the name) was not too bad, but at that price we will remain abstainers. Still it was good to soak in the atmosphere. Some of the vines there are over 160 yrs old and still producing top quality grapes.

There was an old blacksmith's shop at the winery dating back to the 1800's which is used to show demonstrations of early blacksmithing. Nigel thought this was an interesting photo showing all the old blacksmith's equipment.

A vineyard near Angaston. Typical throughout the Barossa Valley

While there we visited Angaston, a little village near to Tanunda, where the Angas Park Factory is (dried fruit company) and Maggie Beer's Farm (cooking demonstrations). Also great views from the Mengler Hill lookout overlooking the valley.







German style hotel on main street in Angaston.
An Angas Park 1952 Bedford truck of Nigel's vintage.

The Tanunda Show was on while we were there. A real good country show with competitions for fruit and veges, flowers, cakes, scones, pies etc. There were camel and pony rides, brass bands, wood chopping. Very enjoyable, soaking up the country atmosphere.











The soil in the Barossa  is extra fertile. "A land flowing with milk and honey".
We fell in love with the Barossa Valley and would like to return sometime in the future


YORKE PENINSULA (from 11 March)

After the Barossa Valley we travelled towards the Yorke Peninsula (boot shaped peninsula west of Adelaide). Our first stop was Lill's beach house, right on the beach, near Ardrossan. Quite a few of the beaches are covered in seagrass (like seaweed) which has been washed in by the tides.  Not good for swimming. The sea goes out a long way,  there, as it is very shallow. Crabbing is a favourite pastime. Travelling around the peninsula we came across some very nice sheltered little bays and it seems that people from the Adelaide area flock into the peninsula during long weekends and holidays as we saw a mass exodus of caravans etc coming out as we were going in. Thank goodness we entered just after the March Labour Day weekend.


Sea baths at Edithburgh

We stopped at Edithburgh which is on the East Coast and enjoyed a lovely swim in the sea pool there. A bit easier than off the beach. Very safe for children.









The Innes National Park is right at the southern tip. It is set along a rugged coast line. Very impressive scenery (Kangaroo Island is clearly visible), lots of secluded sandy bays (some hard to get to) especially when you don't have a 4-wheel drive. Worthwhile driving down there. Lots of walks to do but unfortunately the weather was stormy with thunder and lightning. While there we visited the ruins of the old historic Inneston Village.;

Ruins at Inneston village

Innes National Park

We stayed at a small town in the southern part of the peninsula, Warooka, left the caravan there and drove around the southern section. Nigel took a photo of the brilliant sunset after the storms had passed.

One of the towns on the west coast is Moonta. The Cornish people from England were brought out to work in the copper mines because of their experience in mining copper in Cornwall. Henceforth the area still retains much of its Cornish character. Cornish pasties are very popular here, so of course, we had to have one. Very nice!

Photos of the inside of our caravan.
This has been our home for the last few months. We are still able to live with each other despite being together 24/7. What we didn't know about each other before, we certainly do now. It is roomy enough for the 2 of us with minimal cleaning required. Hooray!!!


After spending 6 days in this Peninsular we headed north to the Flinders Ranges National Park on the 18th March. We had been looking forward to this part of the journey for some time and we were not disappointed. The blog about this will be out soon.

To be continued