Port Augusta, Clare, Gawler

Having been rejected by Cowell, we decided to spend a couple of nights at Port Augusta instead. On our way through Cowell we understood why the caravan park there was full - they had their annual 'Ute Muster' and every second car we saw was towing a trailer with a fancy vehicle on the back. This is our third visit to Port Augusta, so we didn't really do anything except have a game of golf and stock up on supplies - the general store at Elliston was fairly limited.

Next stop was Clare for a couple of nights. We arrived and had the caravan set up before lunch, and spent the afternoon doing a walk at nearby Spring Gully Conservation Park. The Clare Valley is well known for its wineries specialising in cool climate rieslings and sparkling, so we also visited a select few to stock up the van. After a game of golf the next day we did a scenic drive in the area, including a few lookouts. We could have spent longer in Clare, as the area is quite historic, but we managed an extra item of interest by stopping in Auburn to do a local history walk on the way to our next stop at Gawler. The photo at left shows an old mounting stone, used by the ladies to get into their carriages.

Gawler is only 45 km from Adelaide, and in fact is the end of one of the suburban rail lines. The station is only 5 minutes walk from the caravan park, so yesterday we caught the train into town. Things were pretty chaotic, as unbeknownst to us it as the first day of the Clipsal 500, a Super V8 car race carnival, and it was also St Patrick's Day. We carefully avoided the race goers and fake Irishmen in green felt hats, and stayed away from the pubs offering green dyed

Guinness. Instead, we walked around the city sights, admiring the many attractive old buildings. We also strolled around the Botanic Gardens, including a visit to the Australian Wine Centre, which had displays showing the history of wine making.

Yesterday also marked 2 years since we first left Melbourne on our Grey Nomad adventure, so we walked to a local pub for dinner and celebrated. The time has certainly flown, when we look back on all we have seen and done we marvel at just how much this big country has to offer. And we haven't even started on the north-eastern part yet!