Back to the farm

Although today’s journey was not a long road trip as Australian road trips go, it took from 7.30 am until 5.30pm to get from Adelaide to Swan Hill. We found so many things to stop and take photos of! At the border between South Australia and Victoria in a town that has shrunk almost to a ghost town we noticed a fantastic mural on the wall of a now empty row of shops. The mural is three dimensional.

Can you see how the farm equipment continues into the painting?

When we walked across the road to the picnic tables we looked down and noticed that they were inlaid with colourful tiles that had been made to commemorate businesses and clubs in the town – the town of Pinaroo.

Above our heads was a clock – but not just any old clock, this was different to any that we had seen before. This was a war memorial clock.

At Ouyen, some kilometers further along we found many more things of interest including more murals. I include a photo of one of the sign boards to show you where we were!

Helpful?

Rather than continue showing the town’s artwork I will instead share a wonderful sight that was perfectly natural.

There must have been very strong winds way up high because we were all fascinated by the patterns of the high level clouds and all of us could not help but aim our cameras upward! That shot is only one of many and each is very different from the other.

And then we drove past our old farm. Some things do not change – this is the road past the entrance to the farm.

Yes, that is a salt lake - some days it is bright pink, today it was glistening white.

Now for a couple of shots of the land – wide open spaces with very little timber.

When we were farming we ran sheep as well as grew grain crops but there is now a dreadful weed/grass that has a seed with multiple barbed spikes all over it that cling to anything that touches it. Shearers would need leather leggings to be able to shear sheep raised here so it looks as if this is no longer sheep country. We saw no sheep.

Finally I am showing a photograph that shows the nature of the soil we were farming – it is fine and it can blow in drifts. Farming methods have changed since our time here and it looks as if they have overcome the problem of the paddocks blowing away in every puff of wind – but when we were farming every hill looked like this (this shot was taken on the side of a minor road near the farm). 

My memories of life on the farm was that  every mouthful of food felt as if it was sprinkled with sand. I am glad we live where we live now!

AJ

Adelaide City sights

After exploring the countryside around Adelaide over the weekend, today was spent in the city – not shopping but checking out the sights! After tucking the car away in a multi story car park (which cost us an arm and a leg) we sauntered across the road to the Museum. Since it was a few minutes too early for the doors to open we wandered around taking photos of the buildings and statues.

A water feature held our attention for a few minutes, the strange shapes, we found out, are supposed to represent segments of back bone of a whale.

The Adelaide Museum has a wonderful collection of Aboriginal artifacts; I was amazed at a small piece of almost decayed bent twig which was the oldest boomerang that had ever been found. It looked to be too small and light to have been of much use as a throwing stick and yet that is what it was. How the finder knew that it was an ancient tool and not just a very old piece of branch, I really do not know! A collection of decorated shields made for a good photograph – no flashes were permitted so this was the best I could do without a tripod.

Leaving the museum we walked down to see the river, on the way passing the Immigration Museum. We popped in for a very quick visit, I found the plaques on the wall that commemorated the movement of many different people from many different countries of far more interest than the stuff inside the rooms. The bronze statue of a family on the move was in the courtyard and of course fell victim to my camera!

Across the river was St Peter’s Cathedral. Since Adelaide is the city of churches I really wanted to visit at least on of the places of religion before we left.  It really is a beautiful building – and the inside is magnificent too. The organist was practicing some dramatic piece of music that shook the stone pillars with its deep and loud sounds! Colin had to leave because the sound was too much for him! There are some amazing stained glass windows too and I managed to take a couple of shots of them by resting the camera on the pews. This photograph of the Cathedral was taken as I walked from the river towards it.

Before returning to the car we had to take a walk through the Rundle Mall – the heart of the city where local shoppers and curious tourists mingle. We had refreshments in an island coffee shop (like a tent in the middle of the Mall) I had a mixed berry smoothie – I had never had a smoothie before and it was quite delicious!

My final photo for the day was taken in the Mall of one of the many street sculptures – there were four pigs but this one appealed to me the most!

Tomorrow we pack our cases and leave South Australia. We are taking my sister and her husband due east so they can see where we used to have our farm. We shall nor go into the farm – we haven’t made contact with the present owner and we don’t really have time to anyway. However we can give a reasonable idea of what the size of the land was just by driving around.

AJ

The Barossa

Umbrellas were loaded into the car – the forecast was not particularly good. However we didn’t need them. Today we drove to the Barossa Valley and we were not disappointed in what we found.

Our first port of call was the Yaldara winery – but it has changed hands and changed name. since it was coffee time when we arrived we made use of the picnic table outside the grand building and opened the flask of hot water.

The scenery in the Barossa Valley is stunning and we found ourselves stopping often to take photographs of the grapes and of the vistas.

Many of the grapes still have not been picked so the vines are covered with green leaves, the grapes are not so obvious from the road but the lines of vines make for many “wow” moments as you drive around.

One place I really wanted to visit was the Chateau Barrosa – a beautiful building with a huge rose garden. I remembered it from a previous visit. The place has changed hands twice since then the most recent change of ownership was only a few weeks ago. The place was a bit of a disappointment, the roses were no where near as magnificent – in fact they looked in desperate need of a rose expert, the pruning was all wrong and they looked very puny and small and a lot of bare patches where once there had been magnificent displays.

I managed to find a place where there were plenty of roses in bloom. I prefer to show something good!

Inside the Chateau the grand ballroom that was filled with antiques is still as magnificent with its huge chandeliers but since Sue and Keith were not interested in going in to have a look ($10 a head) none of us did.

A fascinating place we did find was a Sculpture Park. This is similar to the one at Broken Hill – but is a bit older (2008) and contains many more sculptures. The rock brought in for this Sculpture Symposium was a lot softer than that for the Broken Hill sculptures so there was a better finish to the works.

 Of course the majority of the sculptures were abstract but I did find a couple that were recognizable!

The Sculpture Park is high on a hill right beside a wonderful viewpoint. From here we could look out over the expanse of vines and farming land. It is a pity that the signage and maps are so inadequate – many people will miss out on finding many of the interesting place in this area because of that.

AJ

An unusual town

The little red car knew we had more passengers as it strained to climb the hills. I wasn’t able to fly today! Our day began in Hahndorf, a delightful little town that began as a home for German immigrants and was named after the captain of the ship that brought them to this fertile farming land. The town shed its German name, customs and language in the time of the first world war – there was so much ill feeling about the reliability of German Australians at that time. The name was restored many years later – but to learn about the fascinating history of the place you would need to do your own research!

We discovered a fascinating little place – actually, not as small as I expected, and every quaint building on the main street housed a shop that was worth walking into. There are lots of eating places too and there wasn’t a moment during the hours we spent there that we didn’t see a crowd of people eating and drinking!

Sue and Keith were tempted by a young lady offering free samples of strawberries. We bought a punnet of them to have for lunch.

 There was a sign for the Saturday Hahndoft market so we dropped in for a look.

It is always fun to look at the stalls – half of which were selling jewellery – and my eye was caught by the sight of a vegetable stall. Of course, vegetable stalls are a common sight at a market – but this one had multi-coloured carrots for sale! I was given a taste of them – four different coloured carrots had thin slices cut from them. I tasted the yellow and the purple and was so surprised to find that they tasted exactly the same and both of them tasted like . . . . carrot!

I just have to show you the fun that someone had with topiary. The sight of these two trees caught my eye! Aren’t they funny!

I wanted to kidnap these characters in the following photo. I think they would look terrific on my front lawn. Knowing the Gold Coast, I think I would have to anchor them to the ground or they would disappear one night! But they would look good!

The countryside around Hahndorf is a delight too. We had a wonderful drive around and even visited the Big Rocking Horse and toy factory. But that is another story!

AJ

Last Day with Graham and Nola

Today was another indoors day for Graham and me; we were busy making a “This is my life” video, consisting of voice to camera. There is a limit to how much can be covered in one session, no only because of time restraints but also because of concentration. A tired subject means many mistakes and rather more confusion than when fresh.

Graham had put the video we made yesterday onto his computer the evening before and when we played it back we could see that it was not too bad at all – only a little editing needed to be done. Noticing that Graham was wearing a different shirt this morning I sent him to dig out the one he wore yesterday from the laundry basket! We needed to have continuity so that the video gave the impression of being made all at the same time.

Thinking it might make things easier I told Graham what I was going to ask him about so that he could think about what he wanted to say. Mistake! Yesterday when the questions were asked while the camera was running the answers flowed naturally and interestingly, this time Graham was looking into space obviously trying to see the notes he had made and the story was a tad wooden.

Unable to help myself I edited the video for Graham. Some of the stories had been told out of sequence and needed to be slotted together. It was easier for me to move the clips than for me to try and tell Graham how to do it over the phone from home – I am unfamiliar with his editing program. I could do it with the program in front of me but I would have been stuck advising on how to use it, without it! (Premiere Pro 1.5) I made a simple title and when Colin and I were saying our goodbyes the program was rendering the video so that it was ready to be put onto a DVD.

It was with heavy hearts that we waved our goodbyes. We have no idea when we shall have the opportunity to be together again.

Driving back to the motel we were stopped at a rail crossing. First came the flashing lights to stop the traffic and then the boom gate descends. The car in front of me dashed through even though the lights were flashing and was on the other side of the tracks when the gates came down. Once the train was through the boom gate rose but the lights were still flashing.

The SUV in the lane beside me was gunning his motor and would have driven through. He moved but must have noticed that I was still stationary because he looked over and stopped – and waited until the lights stopped! I guess when you do this run every day and have to stop for trains you get a bit blasé about the road rules.

When Colin and I were exploring yesterday afternoon I just had to take a photo of the trams. I have seen trams before but these ones were nothing like the Melbourne trams I remembered from years ago. The Adelaide trams look more like trains.

This particular tram was running down to Glenelg through crowds of pedestrians that kept streaming across the road and traffic that was inching forward a couple of metres at a time. I am not sure who would have been more frustrated!

We pick up my sister and her husband from the airport this evening and if the weather holds we shall have a weekend of exploring and photographing.

AJ

Australia Day in Adelaide

There was almost a howling gale through the night but by morning the wind had blown itself out and all was calm for Australia Day in Adelaide. This was another busy day for Graham and Nola and Colin too as AJ cracked the whip and got everyone working.

Graham was challenged to demonstrate he knew what to do with his new laptop.

Colin was given a hose and cloth and instructed to remove the squashed insects from the car so we could see the true colour of the vehicle once more.

 Nola was given the task of providing refreshments to the workers.

Once all those tasks were done we set up Graham’s video camera on a tripod and made a start on his “life story” video. This was a project that had recently been suggested to him and I said I would help him by showing how to insert photographs when editing his videos. To do this we needed some video – which is why we did a mini interview. Nola was a great help because she managed to unearth some photographs from the garage.

Tomorrow, our last day with Graham and Nola, we shall play with the editing.

It is Australia Day today and after leaving Graham and Nola we drove to Glenelg to see what was happening down at the beach. Although Colin hates both crowds and the noise a crowd makes, I thought it was amazing fun!

The beaches were generously covered with beautiful people – I think we were possibly the oldest people in Glenelg this day; the average age was around 20.

There is a jetty at Glenelg and it seems to be one of the attractions of the place – it seems as if there is a magnet that draws people out to the end and releases them once they get there!

I dragged Colin to a park near the beach where we had spotted a big crowd as we drove in. We were in time to see the vehicles that had gathered for the “Australia Day Ute Muster” leaving the grounds. Luckily for me there were still a few interesting vehicles to aim the camera at. The first one I am including attracted me because of the amazing quality of the artwork both on the back and on the underside of the torneau cover.

The second photo taken here is also because of exceptional paint work. An extra addition to the painting is a dog that does not need to be tied up so that it cannot jump out of the back of the ute when it spots another hound on the side of the road.

There is plenty to keep me happy on this trip!

AJ

A Busy Day

Although our motel is quite close to one of the main entries to Adelaide it was surprisingly quiet during the night and I slept well and I am quite positive that Colin did too – he was unaware of me even coming to bed, so soundly was he sleeping!

This morning we drove directly over to see Graham and Nola. Our intention was not only to visit socially but for me to help Graham with his computers and for Colin to wash the car which has a thick layer of bugs over it from our long trip from the Gold Coast.

Graham was looking far happier today – maybe it was the thought of ironing out a few nagging internet problems or just maybe it was because it was Wednesday! Whatever the reason it was difficult to shut him up – but I did find a way . . . .

This morning I presented Graham with my 17inch Toshiba laptop with a jigsaw game installed and lots of pictures to work on!

I gave a lesson on how to open the game and get the picture to be worked on and then repeated the lesson so that the details could all be written down. It was with great annoyance that the laptop had to be turned off and put to one side when lunch time came around!

While Graham was happily (and silently!) playing with his jigsaw I went into his computer room and sorted out a few problems with his Gmail – removing duplicated names from his Contact list and adding others as well as organizing how his browser opened with multiple tabs.

Nola and Colin found plenty to talk about and the hot day effectively prevented Colin from even stepping outside, let along clean the car! Not to worry, he can have a go tonight after our evening meal! He wont be able to complain about it being hot then!

It was wonderful having time with our good friends and being able to make them laugh. We shall be back in the morning for more!

AJ

Adelaide for lunch

There was plenty of beautiful hot water for a shower this morning so “no complaints”! We woke up around 5.15 and started moving straight away and were on the road soon after six. We were not the first ones up and away early. The workmen in the rooms near ours were gone by 4.30 – but only Colin heard them, he complained that they started the truck up and let it run for a good ten minutes before they drove off! I heard nothing!

Once the car was loaded up we drove over the lifting bridge – that no longer is able to lift – and were instantly in the state of Victoria.

Again we defied the GPS, which wanted to take us to Mildura, and followed the signs to Ouyen via highway B12. It was during this drive that we saw our first wild animals – two rabbits! Even when we reached Adelaide we had not seen anything other than those two bunnies. We drove 2043 klm and didn’t see one kangaroo. Some of our driving was done at dusk and some at daybreak; these are times when kangaroos are the most active. Nothing!

One thing I just had to do and that was to stop and take a photo of some Mallee trees! I had spend ten years of my life in the Mallee and during that time had never taken a photo of a Mallee tree. When you see them every day, there is no need for a photograph! Mallee trees have multiple trunks and they have a very gnarly root system which, when dry, make the best fire wood you could ever hope to get.

One town we were to drive past was Manangatang. This was the nearest big town to us when we were on the farm so we had to take a tour of the place to see how it had changed – and it had. It seemed to have shrunk considerably from what we both remembered. The butcher that Colin so boasts about having made the best sausages ever – has gone and the shop is no longer a shop. It actually looks too small to have ever been a shop! Seeing the place after all these years brought back so many memories for Colin. More for him than for me.

The orange light came on just as we were driving into Ouyen to scream out that we could drive no further without finding petrol. Fortunately for us the very first business we came to was a BP Service Centre. The car breathed a sigh of relief when the hose went into the tank. There were only five litres of fuel left in the tank!

Once we were on the road again we found that we had left the main trucking routes behind. It was almost as if we had the entire country to ourselves. There were no other cars on the road. The roads were excellent and so much of the distance we covered had increased the speed limits to 110 both in NSW and in Victoria.

At one of the places we stopped for refreshments (we carried our own thermos of hot water) we noticed something very strange. I had to brush a few small snail shells of the table before I put things down and Colin noticed they were all over the seats and the posts of the shelter as well. When I looked around I could see that there were empty snail shells at the top of each of the fence posts too. We didn’t find any living snails, only shells.

On arrival in Adelaide the first thing we did was search for a park in which to have our lunch. It was while we were in the park that I rang the family to let them know that we had arrived safely and then tried out the laptop for internet coverage. Up until this time I had been unable to bring up my internet browser and was thinking that something was wrong – but this time everything worked perfectly so I could relax! There was no need to go in search of a computer whiz after all!

This evening we shall call on Graham and Nola to say hello. Good times ahead.

Adelaide and back, January 2012

What fun, we were on our way to Adelaide – no only that but Colin and I were “on our own”. It seemed an age since that was the case and we intend to enjoy this renewed experience for as long as we have it! The sun was shining when we left at eight in the morning on Sunday and the GPS, which had lost its voice for the past six months, decided to instruct us in a very loud voice on how to get from home and onto the M1 motorway! I think I prefer it silent! I had punched in the Adelaide address that we were to finish up at on Tuesday to see if it guided us along the same route that the RACQ Tour Advisor on the ‘net had recommended.

Although it was not a really early start, being a Sunday and also the last day of the school holidays, the roads were amazingly quiet and driving was a dream. The new Ipswich Road (so much easier to get onto) really threw Karen” (the voice in the GPS), There were lots of “Recalculating” and “Follow the highlighted route” commands until we eventually took the Toowoomba turnoff!

The new little red corolla handled well and is a real pleasure to drive. Colin and I both took turns and both drove for around two hours before we would stop for refreshments and a change of driver.

   Although this is not a Corolla. this little red car shows how I was feeling as I flew down the highways! Luv-it!

The first night’s stop was Coonabarrabran – and no, the GPS did not agree with the RACQ directions. Colin decided to drive the way HE wanted to so both the directives have been “thrown out the window”!

We were amazed at the price we were asked for the motel that first night.$72.00 ! I don’t think I have ever come across such a low price before. The room was excellent with a queen sized bed and en-suite plus complimentary tea and coffee making facilities too. The only downside was that in the morning I stood just out of reach of the shower while both taps delivered freezing cold water. I must have wasted gallons of water trying to get one of the taps to give me hot water. After about five minutes, one was slightly warmer than the other and I bravely had my shower – it woke me up! I found that in the hand basin the hot tap was the left one and in the shower it was the right hand one. Colin was luckier, I had done all the hard work – the water came hot for him! When we drove out (at seven ) we noticed that all the hot water services were at the very end of the block of units so the water would have had to travel quite a long way to reach our unit – hence the time it took.

Rather than drive across to Broken Hill Colin chose to drive to Dubbo and then across the plains to Hay and Balranald before turning off just before Balranald at the sign to Swan Hill. We will not visit Swan Hill until our return from Adelaide, once we reach Victoria we shall aim for Ouyen and Pinnaroo.

Our second night is being spent at Tooleybuc a little town on the River Murray on the very border of New South Wales.

After booking in to one of the four motels we found here, we went for a walk along the river. There is a unique lifting bridge between Tooleybuc and Victoria, this was last used in the days of paddle steamers. The lifting mechanism is still all there but since the bridge is all bituminized I don’t think it is possible for it to be lifted again. 

 A lifting bridge - only wide enough for one way traffic over the bridge

At last I was able to take lots of photos – during our long drive it had been too important to cover distance for me to even try to take photos. The river looked beautiful and the Red River Gums along the banks were so majestic. They would have looked just like this in the days of old when the paddle steamers plied the river with their loads of wool and other produce. The River Gums live for hundreds of years.

 Water in the River Murray - When Colin and I left the area 32 years ago the level was on the way down and getting worse.

We had our evening meal in the local pub and around the walls of the pub were some old photos of the bridge and of paddle steamers passing under it, so I used the Samsung point and shoot to take photos of the photos. No one minded! I think they were amused that I found these old faded and discoloured pictures interesting. I chose to use the point and shoot camera because it is less threatening than the Nikon. I did not want anyone worrying that I was a professional who was taking advantage of them.

It is now eight thirty in the evening and the sun is just dipping over the horizon. Unlike on the Gold Coast where the sun races away before seven!

Tomorrow should be an easy day of driving – only five hours to get us to Adelaide so we will have time to stop occasionally and enjoy the sights we find! I will enjoy that.

AJ

A day in the rain

After a full week of working on the computer and being stuck indoors I was determined to have a "day out". I have a beautiful little NEW car that I haven't had a chance to drive so regardless of the weather, Monday was to be a driving and photo day! (The weekends are when everyone else has a driving and photo taking day!)
Monday morning was grey and rain was threatening. I decided that the rain forest was the place to be in the rain, so my patient and obliging husband helped me to pack the car with picnic and camera bags and dug out a raincoat and umbrella and off we went.
The ISO was increased in the camera to 800 to allow more light into the camera - it is very dark under all those dripping trees.

f/9    1/5sec   ISO 800

So dark in fact that I still had to slow the shutter speed way below that for hand holding - which is why this photo looks rather shaky - it is! I have also brightened the picture so that it actually looks way brighter than I saw it! Maybe I should have left it dark and that way I wouldn't have to apologise for not having taken a tripod along with me! A tripod in the rain! No way!! As soon as the picture was taken the camera - supported on an over-the-shoulder strap - it went head first into my bag! I couldn't do that with the camera if it was on a tripod.
Rather than waste our time by walking to the lookout, (poor visibility) Colin and I went straight to the top of the falls. I took plenty of photos here but will share only two of them.

f/13   1/5   ISO 800

Again the shutter speed is very low for this shot even though it is in a brighter area than under the trees. This was to smooth out the water flow. I rested my elbows on a metal railing but this is still not as good as resting the camera on a tripod.

f/7 1   1/100   ISO 800

You will be able to see the difference in sharpness in this shot of the tree ferns beside the water. That is because of the faster shutter speed. As it was still very dull I left the ISO turned up high. All my photos were taken in full manual mode because the camera would over compensate for the poor light and make the shots all over exposed so there would be no detail in the bright areas such as in the water in the foreground or the leaves on the top of the fern.

f/7  1/100  ISO 800

Although it was still raining I asked Colin to stand against the railing so that I could show the beautiful clouds climbing over the hills and also show off my willing helper! Most of the time he was holding the umbrella over the two of us while I took my photos. He was quite concerned that I would get soaked if he went off like this - but I was quick!

f/7    1/60   ISO 800

There is something quite magical about the rainforest in the rain. In spite of the puddles on the path and the dripping of the trees after the rain had stopped it is alive with the song of invisible birds. I was a little disappointed that we saw no wildlife. I thought we might have seen a lizard or a brush turkey or even a carpet snake - but no, just raindrops!

One amazing thing caught our attention as we drove to our next location, there was such a mess all over the roads.

There was bark everywhere.

What seems to have happened is that the trees have enjoyed this big deluge after the three scorching hot days of last week that they have thrown off all their clothes to feel it better! 

AJ