Peter and Christine's Australian Road Trips

We had a full day in Adelaide on 26 April, for a few reasons, the most important of which was to visit Peter’s cousins and his Aunt Ena. She is the last of the Calabrian family from the generation, still going strong at 86. We had a delightful evening with a group of the family over dinner which she had cooked for us.

During the morning, we visited the U-Gears distributor, except he had forgotten Peter was coming and he wasn’t there. However, his offsider, Janelle, was equally able to show us all around their business site. Some of the models are absolutely incredible. They also have a new craft that has me fascinated – a cross between counted cross stitch, diamond dot art and Lego – watch this space!

Peter was also supposed to meet up with his contact at South Australia Water but he had gone out to Berry – ah well!

With time on our hands, we decided to drive up into the Adelaide Hills and we spent a few lovely hours in the quaint village of Hahndorf – I promise I didn’t spend too much, although a hand-carved Nativity made its way into my bag!

We also discovered an interesting and very different Gin Distillery called Applewood in Gumeracha. Peter really enjoyed the windy drive through the hills from Hahndorf to this distillery.

Back home later in the evening, we packed everything up ready for a very early start.

Leaving our Air Bnb by 6.20am the next morning, 27 April, we set out for Wallaroo on the Spencer Gulf. When I was planning our trip, I discovered that getting from Adelaide to Port Lincoln did not necessarily mean a drive to Port Augusta and back. So just because we could, we crossed Spencer Gulf by ferry. It was an interesting experience. We were fortunate to score a beautifully calm sunny morning for this adventure. It was very relaxing and although it took about the same amount of time as it would have to drive, it was lovely to just sit back and relax and watch the sea streaming by. I can highly recommend the experience.

Once we reached the other side, we travelled into the small village of Cowell (just to view the Silo Art), then we backtracked to a small town called Kimba. I have included quite a few of the Silo / Water Tower Art sites on our journey and the one in Kimba was definitely worth the nearly three-hour detour. It is exquisite. Sometimes with these artworks, it is apparent that they have been specifically designed for a silo. However, the one at Kimba is an artwork in its own right and does not need the silo to be displayed – it is a masterpiece! I was awestruck. We also had lunch at this delightful little café called Eileen’s on the recommendation of an old school friend of Peter’s – thanks, Kay!

Returning to our original route, we drove back through one of the largest grain-growing areas in Australia in the municipality of Cleve. It was over 100kms of horizon-to-horizon grainfields, most of which were fallow, hopefully, because it is coming into winter. The last few years’ weather has not been kind with droughts.

Just an aside – Peter has really been enjoying the driving here in South Australia as even the rural roads with their ups and downs and winding sections still have a speed limit of 110 – hang on there everyone!

We travelled on to Port Lincoln via Tumby Bay – I’m going to devote a separate story to this amazing small seaside town – it is another Sheffield, Tasmania success story.

Of course, we had fish and chips for dinner – what else would you have in Port Lincoln – I had Nannygai, Red Snapper – local Bight catch – appropriate for a Nanna! We stayed in another interesting place. It’s called Shark Apartments. It’s bright yellow, it’s right on a marina in Port Lincoln where the fishing fleet is moored, and its exterior looks just like an English Beach Cottage. The interior is very well-appointed as well.