Coober Pedy and Adelaide

Adventure’s with mum (Dave’s mum – Dave being my partner of nearly 15 months now) contined…..

Saturday, 3 October

Kathy (mum) and I got up bright and early to catch the ferry from Kangaroo Island to Cape Jervis – where we would catch a shuttle bus to Adelaide.

Due to a slight mix up in reading schedules, we were a good hour or so early to the ferry terminal. Which worked out well – as it gave Kathy the opportunity to take a picture of the ferry arriving – LOL (laugh out loud). It also gave me the opportunity to donate to the good cause of sending kids to camp, by eating a lovely bacon, egg, and onion sandwich fresh of the barby!!!

It was a short trip between the island and the mainland (the body of water has a great name…. something passage, or backstairs, but I can’t remember), and I got this great photo of the green hills, small town, and the charming wind generators. I, personally, don’t see anything that terribly ugly about wind farms. While they aren’t terribly attractive, wouldn’t you feel great just looking at them and knowing that you are using clean energy? During the drive into town (4 days earlier) the windmills could be seen on and off through the hilly drive, but overall I didn’t find they detracted from the scenery – even when viewed from the sea…. But that’s just my opinion.

I really tried to stay awake on the bus ride between Cape Jervis and Adelaide, it is beautiful country with green hills and flowing creeks (thanks to the recent rain). However, I’ve always had a tendency to fall asleep in moving vehicles (not when I’m the driver though!!!), especially after waking up super early. Soon the drone of the engine and the constant jostling movement of the bus had my eyes sliding closed. It was a struggle to wake again when I saw that we were coming into the city. However, I did wake up and was even able to be somewhat excited about another day of exploring Adelaide.

At the bus station, Mum and I stuffed of our gear into one locker – using EXACT change for the time we would be gone (I learned from my mistake of expecting change, and Kathy knew all along! LOL). We then set out on the town. I’m not sure how we chose the direction we chose or if we wanted to go straight to the Central Market, but the market is where we ended…. And wow, was it great! I haven’t been to a permanent market in years! (since Seattle sometime?). I really enjoy the weekend farmer markets of small towns, but this was GREAT. There were stalls set up with lovely displays of breads, cheese, meats (ick, I’m not sure about the smell of fish at a market though), veggies (of course), coffee, and – my favorite – CANDY!!!! Talk about a kid at a candy store! The displays were fantastic!!!!

Though, honestly, I can’t speak highly of any of the candy – I actually didn’t buy (or taste) any! The whole chaotic experience was lovely though. It truly made me want to live nearby – come down every week to try a new vegetable, spice,

or cheese to play with in the kitchen. Have coffee and a fresh pastry while browsing through naan bread, salami, and goats cheese! Oooooo how lovely would that be???

Anyway, we eventually tore ourselves away from the noise and people of the market, a naan bread in my bag and a few tasty bits in our bellies for lunch. We walked down to Victoria square, where I took heaps of pictures of the churches, clock towers, and – of course – the fountain.

After strolling through the square we continued towards the galleries and museums. It was an enjoyable walk. I quite like Adelaide – there are lovely buildings everywhere, ornate and simple churches of stone, theaters and festivals, statues here and there, plus a river running through it! Not that we ever got around to seeing the river.

On this day, we were distracted by the museum! I was enthralled before we even entered the building – the oldish

architecture and nice square courtyard was very pleasing to the eye. I also loved the foyer of the museum – a glassed in area built off the red brick of an older building, with a dinosaur skeleton perched over the information/bag check desk. Is he saying hello or thinking of a snack?! Skeletons were everywhere in the entrance; marine mammals and reptiles hanging from the ceiling to create a desolate ocean.

We arrived just in time to browse the Aboriginal section before catching a tour – and it was fantastic! The tour was the best way to see the museum – it was informative, interesting, and not to slowly paced. I was actually quite impressed with how our guide asked us to look and think about the animals in one section of the mammal exhibit when compared to another group of animals (sectioned by continent).

This place had everything – meteorites, Egyptian mummies, stuffed lion (that wag it’s tail), gems, minerals, and many examples of opalized fossils! The opal display and information was the perfect introduction before heading to Coober Pedy (“opal capitol of the world”).

After the delightful tour, we meandered our way back to the bus station. I was dying to see the ANZANG nature photo exhibit, but we didn’t have the time it would require to appreciate the works (especially since it was a $5 entry fee). So, we headed back to the station, had some lunch (with our naan bread and left over groceries from Kangaroo Island), collected our bags, and settled in for a LONG, overnight bus trip to Coober Pedy.

Sunday 4 October

After a horrible sleep on the overnight bus, we arrived in Coober Pedy. During the trip, we switched our clocks forward an hour for daylight savings. When we arrived in the outback town the sun was on its way, but not yet on the horizon. Kathy, well prepared, got out her map and sorted out which direction to go. We navigated to our accommodation, Radekas, and found it closed, of course. Luckily there were tables, chairs, and lamps on the patio for a semi-comfortable wait. We hadn’t even been settled for half an hour so, when someone came out of the front door. He asked if we were waiting to go to the bus, we said no – we’ve just come from the bus. He was surprised and said he must be late, he got in the shuttle bus and drove away….. He returned shortly, with no passengers! He couldn’t figure out where they were, but they weren’t there. I wondered if we were the ones he was supposed to pick up!

I had expected to hang out on the patio for a good few hours, waiting for checkout, cleaning, and check in. However, the man invited us inside and checked us in. After a bit of a chat, he gave us our key and we set off to find our underground room!

The big draw of Coober Pedy (besides being the “opal capital of the world”) is that a lot of the residents build their homes underground (a bit of mining with your house expansion, anyone?). The cool, constant temperature of the earth shelters the resident from freezing in the winter and baking in the summer. I had read that the pink tones of the limestone walls prevented most people from becoming claustrophobic, instead making them feel quite at home. I was greatly looking forward to having a room underground.

However, the twin share we had felt less underground than plastered over in an underground feel. We were, in fact, underground – but just barely. Our room appeared to be where the building started going into the hill. Not that I am complaining – after a decent walk from the bus station I was pleased not to deal with stairs (which is where the dorms were I believe). After settling in a bit we opted for a short lie down – after all, at 7am nothing else was open.

I never did quite get to sleep and was still tired as, but by 9am we were ready to have a walk about town and find some brekkie. While the temperature was still chilly enough for layers, the sight of the sun – after days on the overcast kangaroo island – was delightful. We ended up backtracking to the convenience store where we were dropped from the bus. I opted for an iced coffee to wake me up and the granola bar I had left over from Adelaide. Mum picked up some yoghurt to go with the cereal back in the room. On our way back to the motel, I suggested we take a detour to see “The Big Winch”. I had no idea what the big winch was, but since the sign pointed in the vague direction that our motel I figured we might as well explore. Kathy was game, so we headed off.

It didn’t take long before the heat of the sun had us shedding layers as we walked. The intense heat of the sun, after the cold winds of Kangaroo Island, was absolutely delicious. After wandering past many above ground homes (more than you would think for an “underground city”), we found “The Big Winch”.

We never found a sign ABOUT the big winch or why it was there, but there it was towering above the town. A couple of noisy galahs came and sat on the top for a bit. I got a decent, if not distant, shot of the beautiful pink coloring under the wing.

The outlook point gave a great view over the city and across the desert, broken by “the breakaways” - a short bit of mountain that is said to have broken away from the Flinders range (I think it’s the Flinders, I want to say Stirling range but I think that was back in WA….?? It might even be the Stuart Range… to bad I don’t have time to google when I post this!).

The whole town definitely had a mad max feel to it – piles of dirt with non-descript buildings and corrugated iron fences running into and around the dirt. As we took it all in, the rumble of a motorcycle rolling down the main street added to the Mad Max feel.

At the end of the lookout stood a metal sculpture, about which I did find a sign; the “first tree” in Coober Pedy….. made from a burnt out automobile!

We followed the road down from the lookout past our first close up look of houses built into the earth.

After a relax back and freshen up back at our room (and breakfast for Kathy!), we headed back up the road again. We stopped at the information center to book a tour to the breakaways, stopped at some opal shops, and did a bit of grocery shopping. After another short break at the hotel we headed back to the information center for some internet before the tour bus pick up.

The Breakaways and surrounds…..

We booked our Breakaways tour with Stuart Range Tours, rather than from our accommodation. Kathy had asked which one the information center guy recommended. He said they were both similar in what they saw – different churches, but both underground, and the same view points. Kathy then asked for the better guide…. Stuart Range it was (we really didn’t want to have our check in guy as our driver either – he seemed a bit sketchy, drunk or tired? Was the alcohol smell him or the motel bar?).

So – off we set on our grand Coober Pedy adventure. We were both disappointed not to be able to get a sunset tour – but daylight savings had screwed us on that! Our first stop was Umoona Opal Mine and Museum. Here we browsed through the gift shop before sitting through a very informative and pretty interesting film about opals and the discovery that brought about Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is apparently aboriginal (I’m sorry, I don’t remember, and would never be able to accurately spell, the particular aboriginal group’s name) for “white man in a hole”. Imagine being a transient group out in the desert and all of the sudden out pops some white, ghost like being from the side of the mountain or a hole in the ground! LOL

I could go into all sorts of detail about the ancient seabed and how opals are made – but to be honest, I’m struggling to just write the events that happened to me; I don’t think I have the stamina to recall the events of 50 (?) million years ago! I even went and made myself a coffee despite the lateness of the evening (only 5, but a bit late for caffeine – especially for a non-morning, night owl).

The museum was pretty interesting, despite being on a crowded tour – apparently the non-bus tour group got to join the tour bus group. We were shown a modern day underground house and how it’s wired (dig a small trench in your wire, run your extension wire, putty over trench to hide wiring! LOL How simple is that? Ha – it’s not like your house is wood and going to catch fire if there is a short anyway!

The walls really are a pleasing pink/brown color and have really cool patterns created by the digging machine. (but my picture doesn’t do it justice, so I wont’ include it). We were told about life in the old days, had the lights turned out in the bedroom and exposed to the darkness of caves (and then told that the ceiling was carved to slope up towards the door so, in the event of a black out, a person could find their way out in the dark!). Supposedly opal mining is now forbidden in the town, but expanding your house isn’t… we were shown a nice vein of opal that can be found during these careful expansion procedures! We were also told stories of people expanding their house only to merge houses with a neighbor! You can imagine the uproar that caused! LOL

All rooms in an underground house has a vent to the outside and the whole house has a large main draw shaft (I think those are the terms?). So, from outside you may be looking at a mound of dirt with anywhere from 3-15 pipes sticking out of the top!

After the museum we were shown a couple of left over movie props (the spaceship from Pitch Black along with another item of the movie…. I can’t be bothered posting the picture though!). We also saw THE wind generator for the area – the rest of the electricity is from diesel!

Next, we stopped at the Underground Serbian Orthodox Church. Lovely place – it had a few sculptures that were actually carved into the wall! The floor is tiled, but the walls are the rock (limestone I’m sure).

After visiting the small church, we then went over the parish hall. There were a couple people eating some yummy smelling food (sauerkraut maybe?.... since when did sauerkraut smell good!?!!). The rest of us all went to the bar and ordered a beer (me) or a wine (mum… she didn’t have to drive, unlike on Kangaroo lsland!). Apparently those Serbians like their Johnny Walker scotch…. The biggest bottle (box in the background) I’ve ever seen! (wish I had checked the volume on the label).

Sufficiently refreshed, we headed to the local golf course (yes, people were playing)…..

…. And to the opal mines…..

Ah crap – I can’t remember the name of the leftover tailings! It has a specific name – and it makes up the various colored mounds that have come out of the holes where people with opal fever hope to strike it big. I do remember that combing through these mounds for missed bits of opals is called “noodling”. Our tour guide recounted that several tourists have died in the opal field (on other tours of course) when noodling or taking pictures, as they either slid off the mounds and into the deep holes or took that dangerous step backwards into the hole… Or just stood to close looking down and had the edge give way. So – we didn’t get to get out and look around (which was good for safety, but boring for the photo opportunity - I wanted to capture the never ending landscape of rubble pyramids across the flat plain.

I did get this shot from the bus…. If you click and enlarge you should see 4 bits of machinery hovering over the mounds of rubble. These “blowers” are the creators of the rubble pyramids. Only in Australia would something that sucks the rubbish out of your mine be called a “blower”! It is neat that the “blower” is a Coober Pedy invention (as we learned the next day at another museum/mine).

Our next stop was the Breakaways. We didn’t spend much time here – again to my disappointment; I would have loved to walk about a bit and enjoyed the place. Oh well, it’s another reason to come back with Dave someday…. (my other reason…. Well… While Dave reckons that an engagement ring should traditionally have a diamond, I reckon that a large opal would be much prettier…. I’m not saying I’ve got opal fever, but they sure are fun to look at!).

The Breakaways themselves were beautiful, even without the extra added color from sunset. They were fairly small, but broke up the flatness of the plain nicely. It’s fairly easy to see why such sites (including Australia’s iconic Uluru (formerly Ayer’s Rock)) are considered sacred to the aboriginal people. Imagine endless days of walking the desert, and finally seeing off on the horizon something that’s not flatness! Something that might provide shelter or water or just spiritual inspiration…..

Our next stop was “The Dog Fence”. I have pictures, but can’t be bothered posting them….. To visualize it, think of a desert (much like the flat planes around the breakaways above). Now, think of a wire fence (a bit like “chicken wire” in the US) stretched for miles and miles and miles (2,250 kms actually). Now join this “dog fence” with other barriers (I’m not sure how they differ, the sign I photographed doesn’t elaborate) to create a 5,300 km long barrier through South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland! This fence was constructed to keep the native dingo from getting to the sheep on the southern farms.

After stopping at the fabulous fence (where over half the bus didn’t get off to look), we stopped briefly (where maybe 4 of us got off) to enjoy the sparkle of the sun reflecting off small bits of rock that look like glass… for some reason I want to call it fossilized salt! That sounds asinine though. It must just gypsum, or really old salt?... Hmmm, it was beautiful though – like looking at a valley full of diamonds.

Our next, and final, stop was the moon plains. Basically a very flat area covered in rocks – most of which appeared to be flat also. I think the big thing with these rocks is that when you tap two together they sound a lot like glass. It’s quite neat, but also extremely annoying when people don’t get over the novelty! LOL.

While we could have had the tour bus drop us back at Radeka’s, we opted to go back to the caravan park (from which the tour operates) and cash in our 10% tour coupon for some pizza! It was a lovely outside patio where we enjoyed the shade and flowers while having a pre-dinner ice cream bar. The two pizzas we split were delicious also – though now I don’t remember what they were (one had feta cheese, one had chili peppers I think). It was decent walk back to town, but flat and easy.

Monday, 5 October

I’m afraid Coober Pedy begins to blend in at this point. Mum and I walked about town several times this day…. And I forgot my camera BOTH TIMES!!!! Unbelievable huh? I really kicked myself the second time, because we were off to see baby kangaroos!

I also would have loved to play with my camera at the opal mine and museum to see if I could get some more good pictures (I’m impressed with how well those fossilized shells from the Adelaide museum came out… lots of color!). Not to worry though – Kathy had her camera (hence the pictures in the next paragraphs….. Thanks mum!).

The first part of the day wasn’t a major loss of photo opportunities; we wandered through a few shops – either picking up tidbits of information or souvenirs. We wandered through a massive hotel area with a great basement display area – about opals, the area, mining rescue, and tunneling equipment. We had tea/coffee and sweets at the hotel café before heading to “The Old Timer’s Museum”.

It was a great visit, took us right through an old mine – where they’ve left several veins of opal for visitors to view and ponder (how much it’s worth (a sign on one said $20-40,000!!) and why they haven’t pulled it out). Due to low ceilings, hard hats had to be worn. They had mannequins in various places of the maze-like area, some of them were descending down the narrow holes that would have been dug to get underground, others were hauling huge bags of blasted rock down the shaft to be hauled out.

The museum also had a couple of wonderful statues created from the walls. The self-guided tour then took us through an old “dugout” (underground home), past the only ever underground post office, and into a modern dugout (well modern as of 1970s-80s).

We perused the gift shop, of course, and finished up just in time to go outside for some machinery demonstrations (out in the open and under a very intense afternoon sun – but we were still soaking it up and ridding ourselves of the chill from Kangaroo Island). I must admit, I pretty much zoned out and don’t remember the first presentation! I think it was on digging or tunneling? I was to busy putting a thin shirt over my bare arms and getting my cap out (I am SO glad I took one of those free beer caps from the pub!). I was, however, paying attention when the big machine was demonstrated….

It was the blower! The guy told us how it worked – sucking the rocks up into a holding tank. When the tank was full it cut off the air shaft that was creating suction, therefore releasing the bottom and allowing the collected rocks to fall out. Without the rock blocking the valve, the suction was created to pull the bottom tight until the holding tank was full again. The suction of the blowers is very great – and the guy let us all pick up some rocks (some were rather large too) to put in the blower. So yes, of course I picked up some rocks, got in line, and waited my turn to watch the rocks literally fly from my hands – and feel the force of the vacuum as it tried to take my skin too (it was a funny feeling, but weird to watch my skin wiggle and wave).

After all that excitement, we headed back to our place for some lunch – I maybe off on a day, but I think mum whipped up a fantastic meal with supermarket ravioli – using pumpkin and sweet chili dip to create delicious sauce!

We were killing time before heading back down the street to an art gallery/kangaroo rescue; the babies were being fed at 5! To kill the time I decided to do some practice noodling. We had stopped in at a store the day before (on our way back from booking the tour). The shop keeper gave us each a little box of ….. (dang, I STILL can’t remember the name of the opal mine debris…. Let’s just call them tailings…… (an hour later – is it mullock?. I think the tailings might be mullock heaps)). This little box of tailings could possibly hold an opal or two! Kathy had peeked through hers and reckoned it didn’t hold much, but I couldn’t wait to get mine into some water and see if the colors of the opal were brought out. I found one bit with a beautiful purple! Watching me, Kathy decided she best check hers in water just to be sure…. Dang did that woman get some hits! She got some lovely (even if small) bits of color! Lucky girl!!!!!

Eventually, it was time for us to visit the roos. We left early enough to have a look around the gallery before feeding– and boy were there some great works! Sometimes I wish I was rich just so I could buy art…. Well, and a house to put it all in!





The kangaroo feeding was excellent – of course! I still can’t believe I forgot my camera a second time (I even had it out after taking that picture of Kathy noodling). However, mum got some great pictures – even getting a baby roo being fed behind me as I hold Flat Eli (see old post for explanation).

Before the babies could be brought out though, the old roo had to be fed. The people that run this refuge specialize in taking baby joey’s from pouches of females that have been hit on the road and raising them to be returned to the wild. There is a certain point at which the kangaroo cannot go back to the wild, they become habituated to humans. Apparently, this older kangaroo was attacked by a dog while it was being raised (?). I’m not sure if its injuries alone kept it from being returned, or if it was the habituation to humans while healing – but it will be part of the family from now one. And part of the family it definitely is. Josephine regaled us with story after story of her adventures in raising kangaroos while she fed the big one. She talked of having it in the house, taking it for road trips, and his tucking her in at night!

After the older one was fed and happy, he was put in the house and the little ones were brought out. I believe there were 4 baby joeys. Each had either a pouch or a bag that it was kept it – to simulate it’s mom’s pouch. They had a French couple living and helping them for a few weeks (much like the WWOOFing I do, but called HelpX (help exchange)). We listened to many stories and facts while the joeys were bottle fed or let down to hop around.

It’s the funniest thing to watch the little things get back into their pouches – they basically do a somersault!!!! LOL It’s great. It was even funnier to watch how excited the French couple and Josephine got when they found one of the joey’s lying down! Apparently lying down is difficult for young kangaroos – particularly ones as young as these – as they are so used to being in the pouch.

After everything – they offered a couple of the kangaroos up to be held! Of course I raised my hand when she asked!!! I wasn’t first, but I paid close attention to how the girl was being instructed to hold the baby (basically one handed with a firm grasp on the base of the tail while the body rests in the crook of the elbow). We all “oh”ed and “aw”ed as the girl was told to blow across the little one’s nose and was rewarded by the joey putting his nose to hers for a kiss! Of course – when it came my turn to hold the little thing, it wouldn’t cooperate! Not once did it even think to sniff my breath! He just hung out and looked like he was about to sleep! Nearly all the pictures of me have my lips puckered aiming a breath at his face!!!! LOL.

Obviously - that was the highlight of my Coober Pedy trip! On the way home we made a side trip to the public noodling area (apparently all the shops have to provide some debris for tourists to sift through (hmmm, maybe that’s why the lady boxed hers up). I was so excited to noodle….. until I realized how incredibly boring it is!!!! LOL. Mum has the patience of a teacher and crafter – that’s for sure! She sat in one spot sifting bit after bit, setting aside anything vaguely interesting (she washed them off on our last night in Adelaide and kept a piece of gypsum or pretty rock). I, however, couldn’t sit still. I’d work one area, get annoyed at not finding the finger sized opal right off and dealing with all the dirt found an inch under the rock layer. Then I’d try another area. Eventually I gave up and called Dave (we are trying to get things sorted for me to work in NZ again).

After a long, long hour or so of noodling, we headed home. I was a little jealous of not having a camera. Kathy thought I’d think her crazy for taking pictures of dry mud, but I only wish I could claim it as mine! I also wish I could have captured the way the mud curled up as it dried! It was really neat! LOL

Tuesday 6 October

On our last day in Coober Pedy, I dragged mum all over the desert. We started easy enough, checking out the catholic church next door to Radeka’s. It was small and simple, with the stations of Christ affixed to the walls and what looked to be like opalized fossils still embedded the walls. We then wandered down the road to the underground book shop. They had a fantastic selection of many things, but I think Kathy bought one of each in a series of kids books! She loved the artwork and knew they would be well used (as she does have several grandkids – 2 more on the way – and a classroom). Ha ha, we had been seeing the Stuart Pea flower in artwork and photographs, yet it was on the way OUT of the book shop that we found a pot sitting near the ramp!

Since arriving in Coober Pedy we had been seeing signs for the op shop (opportunity shop = thrift store). I had kind of wanted to check out the local op shop just to see what an outback town would have. In the same area as the op shop was “The Catacomb Church”.

We had already been to two underground churches, but I was intrigued by the use of the name catacomb. I envisioned a large, maze like building. So, we walked a really long ways to get there! Turns out, the church was just inspired by the catacombs in Rome, where Christians met in secret during persecutions in 100-200AD. They had pictures of the Roman graves on the wall and very naturalistic motif’s – a pulpit made of a tree trunk and decorations appeared to be from sticks. Very simplistic, and very small.

On the way back to the main road, where – if we went a bit further – the op shop would be, I told mum that I really didn’t care that much about the op shop. I hadn’t for a bit, but just now told her – after walking her all the way out in the sun! I figured that I wasn’t buying anything (no room in my bag for any garments) and that the outback clothes were going to be pretty worn and definitely out of date! So, we walked all the way back into town.

On our way, we came across a couple of birds yelling at us from the telephone wires. Kathy is the one that spotted the baby birds they were trying to distract us from…. The babies were on the ground, so I’m guessing their ground nesters?

We finished up our Coober Pedy tour by taking pictures of those same “Pitch Black” props our tour had introduced at the beginning. (Sorry, still not worth bothering posting!)

On the way to the church (or on the way back?) we stopped at another art gallery. They had lovely aboriginal paintings, but mum couldn’t stop thinking about the ones at Josephine’s (the kangaroo place). So we swung by there and browsed until mum decided – WHY NOT, I’ll buy one! It’s really cool too!

Afterwards, we hung out on the patio of Radeka’s waiting for the shuttle to the bus station. We picked up some dinner at the takeaway shop near the bus stop and then loaded up. The bus was a bit more full on the way out of Coober Pedy than on the way up, but it was still pretty empty. There was a decent movie on for entertainment at the beginning. When the dinner stop rolled around, I opted for staying in my seat and going back to sleep. On the way up, I had gone and gotten food – it woke me up to much to get back to sleep quickly! LOL I slept most of the way back to Adelaide, but it wasn’t a restful sleep – I was on a bus!


Wednesday 7 October

Adelaide Again

I don’t recall what time we arrived in Adelaide this morning, 7? 8? I again figured we would have to wait until afternoon to check into our accommodation (a swank little place downtown – the Hotel Ambassador). However, when Kathy called to ensure that there was no shuttle to pick us up she found that we could come right down and check in! Wow! Lovely.

So, we walked the 3-5 blocks (depending on the definition/length of a block – it was far closer than the train station had been when I arrived) to the hotel. We had scouted out the location on our last day trip to Adelaide, so we knew we were looking for the white building between large stone ones. I had hoped to have a lunch or dinner on the balcony overlooking the busy street, but it was only open on Fridays and weekends. The narrow entry way had several crystal chandeliers and a desk before steps led to the lounge, elevators, and gaming room.

Our room was minimal – 2 twin beds, a tv, a fridge stocked with creams for our tea/coffee, and a table a couple of tables. I opened the curtains to find the glass was textured. I opened the window to find a narrow, brick shaft surrounded between buildings or wings. I assumed the window over the TV opened likewise – only that shaft had pigeons that settled in for the night and took off, softly cooing, in the morning. The bathroom, however was HUGE. It was a like a maze, with the sink/mirror on one side, the toilet portioned in the middle, and a massive bath/shower area. The wardrobe for settling in was located along the lovely tiled dressing area that linked it all together. Very nice, must have been a grand place in its time!

To continue the atmosphere of high class; the information sheet in our room asked us to drop our key at the desk when we left the hotel. I took this to mean when we left in a few days time, but Kathy informed me that some places have you leave the key for safety while you’re gone! Wow – first time for me!

After settling in and browsing through the brochures from the library, we headed out on the town. I think we first hit the information center first. We sorted out a tour to the Barossa Valley – famous for its wineries! After booking our trip for the next day, we headed down Rundle Street. Two long blocks of Rundle Street are a pedestrian market, with sculptures, a fountain, and lots and lots of stores. We used a tourist map to make sure we caught all the art – but the first one, a group of bronze pigs, was the most entertaining!

After wandering through Rundle Mall, we headed to the art museum – arriving in time for a guided tour! Much like the regular museum, the guided tour was a great way to see everything. The place was getting an a green upgrade to its environmental controls, so all the “good” art pieces were stored; but there was still heaps of great work to look at and hear about. After the tour we wandered around a bit more, but eventually we were both good on looking at non-moving objects. We sat outside in the sun (though there was a bitter breeze making us slightly miss the intense heat of Coober Pedy – where I wore a singlet (tank top) everyday!), and watched the pigeons and kids play in several pool fountains.

It must have been after this that we decided to hit the nature photography exhibit that museum? I don’t recall the timeline – but the exhibit was FANTASTIC. I loved it so much I had to buy the book so Dave could see the pictures too (we both like photography). Mum took it home to him for me.

We wandered back through town, stopping at “Peterspan” travel where I can get half an hour free internet a day (turns out I can stop in as many times a day as I want for free internet!). We then headed back to the hotel for an early night (much needed after a not-so-relaxing and restful night on a bus). We had dinner in the marble bar and then went back to Rundle Mall. We had to witness, first hand, the building lined with LCD screens to show a nightly light show. I have quite a bit of video – people running on the building, flames, circles, baby face, etc…. but here’s just a picture…. ;-)

Thursday 8 October,

The Barossa Valley!

Mum and I had a free breakfast in the Marble Bar at the hotel and then headed down the street to meet our tour bus. There were 4 others on our bus for the day. The driver for the “Groovy Grapes” tour was pretty nice and turned out to be fun too.


First stop on the long drive: The giant rocking horse at a town I can’t be bothered to look up right now!
There is a FANTASTIC toy store that makes all kinds of toys – most of them wooden. I couldn’t resist having a look around - and I ended up grinning like an idiot! There were so many things I wanted to buy for family and friends. However, my rapidly diminishing bank account told me to stop splurging so much – so… I didn’t get anything :( (ha ha, if only I had remembered that Monday (the 5th) had seen my last paycheck from the pub put in my account! It was very, very nice surprise when I checked my account on Friday!)

Our next stop was the Whispering Wall. A concave dam creating the lovely Barossa reservoir. The curve of the dam was such that if someone talked at one end, a person on the other could easily hear them. Kathy and I had a small conversation on opposite sides of the dam!

Our first winery of the day, which must have been a semi-respectable time of around (11?), was Jacob’s Creek. I had sold many Jacob’s Creek bottles at the pub – with the delightful Chardonnay Pinot Noir sparkling wine being most popular. Jacob’s Creek is a very large producer of both bargain priced and expensive wine. I came close to buying a bottle of bubbly to ship home, but we then decided we could get it in NZ.

The property was lovely and building was gorgeous – having been built with lots of space, floor to ceiling windows to look over the vineyards, and being designed to use passive solar techniques to keep heating/cooling costs minimal to non-existant.

Our next stop was a boutique winery – you could only buy their bottles at the cellar door; it was very small (and new) place…. VineCrest

A short drive away was Richmond Grove winery. This was a medium production winery that had been around for a while. We got a tour of the wine making process – well, sort of. We saw empty grape crushers and heard about the process, but since the vines were just starting to show signs of green we were far out of season for seeing any production!

By the time we finished our grounds tour and hit the tasting bar, I was over it. I like wine. I can drink quite a bit of wine in a night, but what I have found is that I don’t thoroughly enjoy drinking a lot of different wine at a time! When I had started tasting in the (mid) morning, I couldn’t fathom pouring out any wine (and no, I never spit out wine like a proper taster). However, at Richmond Grove I poured out several tasters after my first sip. I was over the changing flavors and my stomach was ready for food – which we had after the tasting.

Our “Groovy Grapes” tour guide had set up a nice picnic on the Richmond Grove lawn while we were touring. He barbequed up some chicken, beef, and kangaroo. It was lovely and fun. All of us on the tour finally really talked to each other (well, the only other girl had started talking to me at the rocking horse, and the three guys were chumming about at the front of the bus… but we all finally found out where we from and what we were doing there).

After the picnic and a stop at a viewpoint overlooking the valley, we had a nice drive to our final winery – Speltsfield. The wine was as good as the other places, but after trying 4 or 6 different varieties of ports and sherrys I was having second thoughts of helping mum with the bottle of port she’d bought on Kangaroo Island (and is saving for my return to NZ)! LOL I’m more than certain that the bottle she bought really did taste better than these others…… After all that, I was happy to have a refreshing glass of raspberry cordial! The cordial was also made on site. The three boys debated for a bit, but in the end couldn’t resist spending the money on trying a 100 year old port! I can’t remember how much they paid for the small amount of drink (and souvenir glass!)- $50? $100? But they had a great time chatting and “enjoying” it (I trust it tasted better than the 10 year old port, because two of them had been making faces the ones we had been tasted! LOL).

I don’t recall the ride home. It’s possible I had a “nana nap”…. I’m pretty sure I did actually! Mum and I had hoped to catch a drum and didgeridoo performance that evening, but after rushing our Korean dinner it turned out that there was only ONE ticket left! So, we headed back home and had a very lazy evening of organizing (yes, I certainly could have – and one might say SHOULD have – started this train of blogs that night, but……. ;-)

Friday 9 October

Bright and early we got up, had our free breakfast (I helped myself to several serves of coco krispies!) and then trekked our packs to the bus station. Mum wasn’t taking the bus anywhere, but she was catching the airport shuttle. We didn’t have long to wait before we were hugging goodbye. After seeing her onto the bus, I packed my gear down another block or two to Annie’s Place – waving to mum as the bus passed by.

I spent the day around Adelaide – I finally visited the river! Had a nice long walk down it too – seeing many Adelaide parrots. I did some internet…. Only to discover at 6pm that the hostel had free wifi!!!!! LOL!!!!! I spent the rest of the evening bumming around the net---doing everything I shouldn’t (catching up on FB etc) and nothing I should (checking for tour prices and blogging) be doing. Ah well, that’s the way it goes!


I was off to my WWOOF host in Aldgate early the next morning. It’s been a lovely time, but I leave Julia tomorrow. I never did get a picture of her. I tried on Sunday when we walked up Mount Lofty. But she said we should get the two of us…. We didn’t do that either! Oops. I’m back to Annie’s place tomorrow night. One night and then I’m on the train to Sydney Friday morning!!!!! I arrive on Saturday, mom arrives on Sunday!!!!!! Oh, I’m so excited!!!!