Hahndorf

We made our way to Hahndorf Caravan park for the weekend. We were looking forward to spending some time catching up with Fritz and Viv and Sam and Jasmine who were on their way home from their trip to Tasmania.  The kids quickly became old friends and loved sharing stories and experiences from their respective trips.

On the Sunday we travelled into Adelaide to church at the Presbyterian Reformed Church, about 40 minutes from Hahndorf, for an 11am service. The service was quite long so I eventually went out with Axel and Rowan. The minister and group there were very welcoming.  Although we didn't know all their songs it was enjoyable to be able to be part of their service. Mars enjoyed the preaching.

Afterwards we met at the park with Fritz & Viv and Anson & Rachel and their children. The kids enjoyed the catch up with familiar faces - and the adults did too!

When we arrived back at Hahndorf Caravan Park the kids were keen for a swim so we headed to the pool.

and a quick bounce on the jumping pillow!

Enjoying the view while I put off the inevitable making-dinner chore!

After dinner we all played the 18-hole Mini Golf! The kids had a blast!

The caravan park is set on a hill, so has steep drives and terraced sites. Chad loved to get around on his scooter and really enjoyed the steep hills for the speed thrills!

Clare to Barossa

After a fairly sleep-deprived night we woke to a rainy morning so we decided to head into Clare and cross a few things off our to-do list; Chiro visit (which made for a remarkably happier and nicer Mum!), fuel filter for the Prado, new sleeping bags and a few other things for the caravan. We had planned to hire bikes and cycle through some wineries for the morning but the weather wasn't suitable for this!

Instead we found a bakery and had some lunch (and Axel had his first choc milk!) and headed out to a nearby winery. Until we got distracted by a really cool nature park and stopped there instead - how our priorities have changed!  We spent some time there followed by a quick wine tasting in Sevenhills, at a winery run by Jesuits.

Ooooohhhh! Chocolate milk!

We refrained from further wineries and headed back to the caravan, packed it up and drove through to Barossa. Here we stayed at the local cricket grounds, a beautiful spot! We slept well and woke on time as we had planned to head to the Farmers Markets for breakfast.

The markets were fantastic! Although very hectic with our tribe, we had our breakfast there and shared a table with a man from the Baptist Church in Adelaide.

We stocked up on cured meats and sausages and lots of fruit and vegies and a special parcel of Strawberry Ciders! Yummo! Wish we had these beautiful markets at home!

After the markets we went back to pack in our purchases and then pack up the van.  As we left we drove through the main street and saw HEAPS of old cars lined up - ready for the show that night.

We made a quick stop at the Barossa Whispering Wall - Chad and Brenton went to the other side of the dam and were convinced there must've been a speaker somewhere!

As we made our way out of the Barossa the view out the window was just vineyard after vineyard after vineyard!

On to Clare Valley

We woke and found ourselves in a beautiful location close to the inlet.  The boys quickly rigged up their rods and weren't seen again for quite some time!  Chad lost his float and it headed 'upstream' - he wasn't keen to jump in to swim for it.

The only down-side to this location was the ants, although only small they did still bite and between swishing flies and flicking ants off your feet it became a bit of a dance! The caretaker likes to feed the local kangaroos to be able to show them off to the overseas tourists. However, we couldn't keep still so we didn't stay for long.

While Axel slept Mars went down to the little beach where he could watch the boys fishing. Eventually we all joined him and then stayed long enough to set up the umbrella and all go for a swim. It was beautiful! The crabs were especially friendly, swimming right up to us on the shoreline! A bit too close with those claws!

While we were swimming the tide changed and began to head out. As we were watching the clumps of seaweed head out we saw Chad's float! With some encouragement he did go out and grab it.

We eventually managed to drag the boys away from fishing and the beach. We packed up the van in the heat and took the track back out to the main road. As we headed out we had an emu 'racing' us!

We took the scenic drive through the hills along Horrocks Highway to Clare. It was very picturesque and a mixture of vineyards and wheat farms.

As we drove we could see the clouds coming in and at one point the outside temperature dropped from 39 degrees to 29 degrees during a shower of rain. Once the rain stopped it quickly went back up to 39 again.

We camped at the Clare Valley Race Course.  We were looking forward to a nice hot shower but the water wasn't on so we didn't get to enjoy that! It was just a quick wash behind the caravan again.

... and they're off and racing!!!

Mars getting into the spirit of things! 

At about 8.30pm we experienced a massive thunder storm with lots of lightning and rain.  It was fantastic!  However the kids weren't as happy about the experience!  Eventually we all got to sleep, although it was a pretty average night all round!

Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

We packed up as quickly as we could in the morning - the heat was pretty intense quite early, we were hoping to do a tour of another old mine and then get driving early-ish.

As it turned out the mine was closed for a week so we stopped to do some noodling in the pit out the front. There was lots of colourful stones so we enjoyed this for a while - all waiting for THE ONE... Eventually Mars managed to pry us away and we started our long drive back to Port Augusta.

The trip back was pretty uneventful, we saw a few emus but not a lot of other wildlife. We were about 5kms out of Port Augusta when Mars noticed the car was losing power and he couldn't get anything out of the accelerator... So we pulled off to the side of the road and Mars had just popped the bonnet when another car pulled up (that we had just overtaken). Turns out to be a pair of German backpackers but the bonus was the guy had just been working as a mechanic in Uluru for the previous 3 months! Yay for us! He suggested it may have been dirty fuel - in Uluru the petrol stations water down the unleaded so it's not as appealing to 'sniff'.  Mars had a full jerrycan on the back of the car so he topped up the tank with that and we managed to drive into Port Augusta.  We were very thankful for this but I was already having visions of RAC picking us up and putting us up in a hotel for the night... haha!

Our view of the Flinders Ranges for a long part of the drive

I did some grocery shopping while Mars took the kids to the skate park. We had dinner at the park which was on the side of the wharf.

From there we drove about 30 minutes out of Port Augusta called Winninowie to camp on an inlet. We arrived in the dark so couldn't really see what our location looked like!

Back to Coober Pedy

We left the Campgrounds early and quickly ducked into IGA for some breakfast, then settled in for the big drive back to Coober Pedy.

As we drove and got approx. 50kms out from Erldunda, Rowan piped up from the back of the car... 'Are we going to see the emus again?' We were amazed at his sense of his direction and memory! We stopped at Erldunda for some fuel and to stretch our legs.

We stopped at the border for some quick photos and then again at the Marla Roadhouse inside the South Australian border.

The remainder of the drive got a bit loooooonnngggg and we eventually arrived in Coober Pedy about 7:30pm. We hadn't arranged our accommodation but were planning on parking in someone's backyard (Thank you Wikicamps).  After meeting the host (Gary) who gave us a run-down on everything that ticks in Coober Pedy we ordered some pizza and started setting up.

Gary made a few comments to Chad and Brenton that you could find opal ANYWHERE in town so the boys started scouring through the stones in the yard. They quickly found potch (the worthless part of opal) and from then on they sat down and were hammering stones apart and scratching them with their pocket knives.

We ate our dinner late and then got to bed.

In the morning the boys were up early again seeking their fortune in the yard looking for opals. At breakfast time we watched a documentary / movie from the local area of miners who had found some great pieces of opal.  From then on the boys were pretty keen to go looking through the whole town!

Coober Pedy is the source of 80% of the worlds opals. There are a few other mines in South Australia and Queensland but Coober Pedy provides the majority. There is no way to determine if there is opal present in the soil, besides just digging up the dirt. In Coober Pedy 50% of the population live underground or their house is dug into the hill. By living underground, the house is kept at a constant temperature of 23 degrees - a perfect living temperature!

At 10am we joined a tour at Umoona Opal mine. An ex-miner led the tour showing us through the underground house, then down the stairs to the many tunnels drilled for the mine. Our guide explained the process of mining, firstly to drill the hole down to the 28metre mark where the opal is found. This was always done by hand but now is done by drill. Then they would start a tunnel in each direction, North, South, East, West. To make the tunnels they used to use dynamite and a bit vacuum that would suck all the dust and loose dirt to the surface, then dump it in neat piles. Consequently, Coober Pedy has piles of dirt EVERYWHERE outside the town, as well as signs making you aware of the many mine shafts.

If they found opal - great... but if not, they would pack up their gear and start on the next hole!  Chad and Brenton were fascinated by the whole process, however, Rowan was very uneasy about being underground.

Opal vein in the rock

After the tour we had a quick look at the finished product in jewellery and then left to have some lunch and go see an underground church. It was called the Catacomb Church. The kids enjoyed looking through it.  Outside temps were around 45 degrees so inside the church was a nice cool change.

From there we went to another shop to look at some jewellery. Karli got a nice necklace and pendant and the boys each received a tube with opal chips in it. 

We spent some time feeding the orphaned kangaroos and joey at a Refuge place. The owner takes in orphaned joeys and birds and raises them to adults.

After this we had promised the boys that they could do some 'noodling' in town, where local miners dump their dirt for others to sift through looking for opals. It was extremely hot but the boys were very keen so they and Karli were climbing over the mounds looking for opal. Karli found a nice one!  We managed to get them back to the car eventually and we headed back to our camp for the night.

We had an enjoyable but definitely a HOT day!