December 2010

Big Bertha and The Bulldozer (Nissan Patrol) have made it to Adelaide. I love Adelaide as the temperature is alway great and there is very little humidity. We moved out of Bertha into my Uncle Rons home. Bertha has been fantastic accommodation over the last 6 months but it is so good having a lovely home to stay in. We will stay here for 2 or 3 weeks and enjoy tram travelling for a while. We stroll to the Tram station and we are half way between Glenelg, by the water and the City of Adelaide.

Our five star accommodation at Adelaide

The first day we went to the beautiful town of Glenelg. This is a lovely bay by the sea. It is a fairly expensive real estate area where the 'rich and famous' reside.

Santa at Glenelg

Day two was a Tram ride in the other direction to Adelaide City. We purchased a travel 10 pass for $30 each as I'm sure I'll use it all. The city was quite busy with Christmas shoppers and lots of buskers.

City of Adelaide dressed for Christmas

Adelaide is known as "The City of Churches" and this is very appropriate.

Rundell Mall is the main shopping area with all the large shops like, Myers and David Jones. The mall has wonderful statues and lots of buskers there. There are 3 or 4 brass pigs that are my favourite.

One of my favourite statues in the Mall

My other favourite place in Adelaide is The Central Markets. You can buy the freshest of fruit and vegetables and a huge range of other produce food. The best I've ever seen.

Beautiful Adelaide

Next Sunday we are off to "Carols By Candlelight" staring Jessica Mauboy.

We wanted to see what the eastern coast was like on the Yorke Peninsular, so we made our way to Ardrossan. This peninsula is similar to the Eyre Peninsula except the towns are usually a bit larger. Ardrossan is 90k away from Adelaide directly, and 150k by road. So you could say if you had very good binoculars you could see Adelaide accross the water.

Coastline at Ardrossan

Coastline of Adrossan.

Adrossan is a sleepy quiet town where a lot of South Australians retire. There doesn't seem to be too many children around. The caravan parks also are quiet, this is unusual for school holiday time.

The main shopping centre has sufficent shops with a famous bakery "open 8 days per week". Hmmm Hmmm

Ardross main street

Ardrossan main street.

We went to one of the two hotels for a counter lunch on Sunday. It was very delicious and reasonable. Over the past six months since we have been on the road, I think we have been out for meals perhaps 10 times in total. In Western Australia, it was fairly expensive to eat out so it was out of the question. The prices are know beginning to be more reasonable.

This Peninsula is mainly grain farming like the Eyre Peninsula. You see lost of vast yellow country side with few large native trees.

Ardrossan Silos

There is also one great big jetty here. It has plenty of sqid ink painted all over it and lots of people crabbing on it. This town brags about the plentiful crabs and fish around.

Ardrossan Jetty

Ardrossan Jetty.

Ardossan Grain storage area

Aerial view of Ardossan town.

We will stay here for 2 nights as I'm eager to go to Adelaide and stay in a house with my Uncle for a few weeks over Christmas. We have lived in Big Bertha for six months now and I think I need the comforts of a bit more space. When the weather is really hot, vanning life is wonderful as you find a swimming spot and you know your on holidays, but the weather on the southern parts of Australia are weird. Raining one day, warm the next and it is the Christmas season and I love seeing all the shops decorated. I think Í'm getting a tad homesick!

After spending a few weeks in Adelaide, we need to be back in Newcastle by the 16/1/2011 as we are House and pet sitting for some friends for a couple of weeks. We have decided to do Victoria and The Great Ocean Drive another time. We will probably go home through Echuca, Vic. as I love that little town on the Murray.

Looking forward to Adelaide and tram transport for a while. Next blogg is Adelaide at Christmas, I can't wait!!!!

Main street in Port Broughton

Port Broughton is about 70km south of Port Pirie. It is a lovely little fishing town and the "Family First" caravan park is fantastic. It has 300 sites and is on the waterfront, 1km from town. It has a beautiful swimming pool and you can borrow crab traps and dvd's free from the office. It also has a great big jetty with running fresh water and electicity on it. You are garanteed to catch a crab here, even if it is a little small. The boats from the park go out to the Gulf of Spencer Gulf and catch huge snapper at the same place that the Cowell people do. This park is a lot cleaner than the Cowell one. We decided to stay here a week before we move on to Moonta (Port Hughes). I love the swimming pool and spend most of the day there.

Santa visited Port Broughton

We had lunch at the pub and it was very cheap and delicious. You only have the necessary shops in town, an IGA, butcher, chemist, bakery etc. The locals seem to support the local businesses well and rarely go to Port Pirie unless required. The locals are very friendly to travellers and happy to ask you about your travels and invite you for a Christmas drink.

Port Broughton Jetty

We are only 171 km from Adelaide. Port Broughton is a great place to idle away time watching Pelicans, dolphins and sunsets. This is a place we will come back to with a boat.

some of the houses in Port Broughton date back to 1880

Just up the road is a little "shanty"town called Fishermans Bay. The whole town is houses built by fisherman to holiday in. Most of the house owners live in Adelaide and come here for holidays.

Fishermans Bay Town

Today is the start of the school holidays and we are invaded by families. We have decided to stay one more week in the Yorke Peninsula and then head to Uncle Ron's house in Adelaide for Christmas. Let the families have the Parks to themselves for a while. The kids get up very early. Earlier than I have become use to........ What a good way to live.

We stayed for 3 nights at Cowell. It is a lovely town and is designed for fisherman. It has 2 pubs and fishing boats everywhere. The only problem with Cowell is it stinks of fish. The town is quite lovely and the main street is out the front of the caravan park. We met some old friends there who come from MacKay in QLD and we had camped near them previously at Tumby. Kerry and Ray invited us back to their van for a lovely red snapper dinner.

red snapper

The snapper was delicious. The weather here is too hot as there is no swimming pool, only the bay to swim in. The Jetty is also just out the front and the guys in the park caught a minimum of 6 huge red snapper everyday. They cleaned the fish in the park as the jetty had no cleaning areas. It cost you $4 per day to launch your boat at this jetty. hmm I wonder when NSW will catch onto this fee?

boat ramp at Franklin Harbour at Cowell

This photo is taken from the jetty looking back to the boat ramp at Cowell.

Cowell Town is quite lovely with an IGA, butcher shop, bakery and a few other shops. It is very adequate and the main street has Christmas carols playing most of the time with decorations as well. It is starting to feel like Christmas.

Tony in the main street at Cowell

Because fish is so plentiful, the hotel cooks a spit of lamb on the footpath for the fisherman. I must admit the lamb roast smells better than the fish smell everywhere.

dinner at the pub

Cowell was a great fishing town if you have a boat with you. As we have no boat, 3 days was long enough. The guys who paid $180 per day on a fishing charter always came back with plenty of red snapper. The guys who had their own boat often came back with nothing. Obviously you need to knwo where to go for the fish. We did meet a lot of lovely people there who plan staying for weeks. I just couldn't stand the fish smell all of the time in the 40c temperature. So we moved on......

We drove through Whyalla, Tony said it was too industrious for him. Also passed through Port Augusta and we moved down the Yorke Peninsula, through Port Pirie and stayed at Port Broughton for a while. This is a fantastic place but I'll tell you more next time.

sunset on the Yorke Peninsula from Bertha's door

It was with much regret we decided to leave Tumby Bay. We stayed 8 nights in this lovely quaint town. As it was the first official day of summer, we decided to go back and have another look at Port Lincoln. We needed to stock Bertha up with supplies and the weather was fantastic for a lovely drive on the coastal road back. Previously we drove up on the inland road. The drive was great with a mixture of wheat on one side of the highway and ocean on the other.

Wheat fields harvested on the Eyre

We went shopping at Port Lincoln Coles and whil looking for a jam to purchase, this gentleman told us that you can't get a better brand than "Anathoth", it is made in New Zealand and is preservative free. He has been to the small factory himself. So we purchased the jam and yes he is right, it is lovely. We bumped into Bruce and Bonnie a few times in Coles. After leaving Coles we drove to the fish warehouse, down towards the harbour. We wanted to purchase some Coffin Bay oysters and see if they were as good as the Ceduna ones we had before. Whilst in the fish markets, Bonnie and Bruce were there also shopping. They invited us back to their place for coffee and lunch. They live in Adelaide but they are staying on their yacht at the Marina. Well why not. So we went back on the "Freedom Now" and had a lovely time hearing of there sailing adventures.

Bonny & Bruce and Me dining on the Freedom Now

Freedom Now was built in the UK in 1985. She is a very luxurious and was purchased by Bonnie and Bruce, in the USA a few years later. She was shipped over to Australia on the "SS Tampa". Bonny and Bruce have sailed for quite some time and they manage sailing by themselves mostly.

The main bedroom on Freedom Now

The "Freedom Now" has 2 bedrooms both with ensuites, and has a great timber furniture throughout the living areas. Very cosy.

To view more about "Freedom Now"and Bonnie & Bruce's adventures visit www.bbmarriott.blogspot.com
visit

Freedom Now

After having a delicious lunch and great company, we drove back to Tumby for our last night there. The next day we moved up the caost to Cowell and the Franklin Harbour. This also is a great fishing spot and another quaint country town with great craft shops.