Coward Springs via Lake Eyre

We headed off from here toward Coward Spring, via Lake Eyre. Well, to be completely honest, I wouldn’t say that it was the most exciting part of our trip. We could see the water from the lookout but it was miles away. To top it off, I opened the back door of the car to get a snack out for the boys and the damn fire extinguisher fell out onto my foot…. Holy Crap it hurt.

We got in late and had to bribe the children for good behavior with the promise of a swim in the “spa”. We couldn’t disappoint, so at only 29 degrees the 3 boys plunged into the natural spring. The kids had a ball. They didn’t care about the temperature until it was time to get out!! More marshmellows on the fire. The boys are so cute, they don’t like their marshmellows cooked so we just put them on sticks and they just eat them off.

Before we left I decided that 3 days without a bath was probably long enough for Milla so out came all the "stuff" from the box and in went the warm water and the baby. Not to be left out, after Milla had her bath (which she LOVED!!), in hoped Casey Jack.

They kids had a ball playing with the water. Gee I am blessed to have children who can keep themselves amused.

Flinder's Ranges & Farina

Today can only be described as breath taking. We hit the Flinder’s Ranges Brachina Gorge and were completely blown away. Every where we looked one of us was exclaiming, “Oh wow.” We saw emus, kangaroos and rock wallabies. This kids loved it.

We found our way to a little homestead in the old town of Farina. The camp site is accessed by driving through the ruins of the old town. There was a shower that was heated by an old donkey heater. The queue for the shower was huge and we decided we could wait til the next day. I braved the toilets with the kids and had to wait until Nath had finished weeing before I pointed out the 4 baby frogs that were calling the toilet block home. I decided I could wait…

The boys finally seem to be settling into life on the road and are brilliant at keeping themselves amused while the van is set up. Today they rode their bikes around and around and around. Well, actually Nathy did. Casey just likes to push his!!

The next morning we went for a drive back to the ruins and had a look around the old buildings. It was so interesting. In it’s hey day Farina was a thriving town. Farina is Latin for flour and someone in their wisdom thought that it would be good land for growing wheat. Unfortunately it was not to be so. The town was one of the main stops on the Ghan Railway line. It had 3 police stations, 2 general stores, bakeries, a pub. The town would have been amazing. It’s last resident moved on in 1982.

Wilpena Pound

From Peterborough we headed to Wilpena. I had no idea what we were in for but the Flinders Ranges are magical.

We stayed in the caravan park of the Wilpena Pound Resort. We pulled in about 5pm which is starting to become the trend. Once we drove around the camp site about 10 times we found our site and started setting up.

Talk about a small world, the family we were next too were related to a bloke Neil works with. (see picture)

Not long after we had set up a caravan arrived and pulled into the spot behind us. Out piled 4 kids aged between 11 and 2. Don’t you think the boys were excited. Casey and the little 2 year old Jemima became instand friends and before we knew it we were all sitting around our camp fire chatting. They were such lovely people, it was about 11 when we decided to pull the pin and go to bed. Anyone who knows me knows that this is unheard of! We arranged to have a breakfast date for pancakes the next morning.

Sure enough, true to their word, we awoke to pancakes being cooked. These pancakes were the best we have ever had and Richard was kind enough to s

hare his recipe. Mmmmmmmmmm pancakes…

We got ourselves organized, packed a picnic lunch and headed off to catch the shuttle bus up the mountain to a different part of the pound. I pointed out to Case the beautiful scenery and he replied, “Yes, the bus is beautiful Mummy.”

There was a 1km walk at the end of the shuttle bus which was alright for most of it but toward the end it became very rocky and hilly. The kids and I called it quits a couple of

hundred metres before the end as Case is not known for his

mountain goat prowess. The view was magnificient none the less.

Back home for a rest before preparing dinner for a BBQ with our neighbours and

another lovely couple we met from Germany. It was a huge feast finished off with a marshmellow melt off.

The next morning, the friendly German’s cooked us all up a feast which translated to “Emporor’s Crap”. Didn’t matter what it was called, with it’s rum infused sultanas it was a big hit.

We sadly packed up and eventually managed to get on the road. We had the most amazing time with such a brilliant bunch of people. If this is what the holiday is going to be like then bring it on.

Peterborough - The Boys are in Heaven...

We arrived at the local caravan park and wondered what we were in for. It was surprisingly brilliant. There were a lot of grey nomads all of whom were very friendly and a bit shocked when we explained what we were doing. They all wished us luck!!

We had dinner in the camp kitchen and they even had a bath so the boys had a wash before bed.

The next morning saw drizzle yet again…. When will it end??

We went into town and checked out Steamtown.. It was fantastic. We did an hour and a half tour which managed to keep the boys attention the whole time. It was a tour around the old rail works which included the roundhouse, turntable, work shops and the chance to climb aboard a huge array of old trains. Of course DS1 & 2 were in heaven.

From here we went to lunch and had “The best chips ever” as declared by Nathan.

The Barossa Valley

We decided that the weather was beating us so decided to stay in a hotel for the night. We headed to the Barossa Valley and Neil couldn’t resist going to Seppelfield’s Winery. I stayed in the car with the kids and Neil came back with a rose, a port and red. The funniest thing is that 2 out of the 3 wines actually come from Rutherglen and not actually the Barossa…. DOH..

From here we found the Weinert Motel which was brilliant. Ah, a hot shower in our room. We went out to dinner at the Motel Tavern which was pretty average. The boys decided to help some kids who were in the middle of a championship game of snooker. They ran past and swipped the balls all across the table and into the holes….. The kids were lovely about and one declared, “Oh, that sucks.”

The next morning we were met with rain again, but at least this time there was minimal packing required. We went to the local supermarket and stocked up on groceries as we were on our way to the desert. The lady packed all my things into a cardboard box which I then went to move to my trolley. Just as I was lowering it in the bloody bottom gave way and all of my items crash landed into the trolley. The only casualty was a container of pasta sauce. Messy….

From here we went to Peterborough on the recommendation from Di. It is a town that thrived in it’s day thanks to a MASSIVE rail network. With our two little train buffs it was a big hit.

The Big Rocking Horse - Gumeracha

It has been way to long since I last blogged and I hope you are all in for a HUGE post... We have been out of range for a while. I hope you enjoy catching up.

We left Hahndorf with the crappiest weather. Neil decided that he loved the Merlot Jelly so much that we had to go back into town for another jar. I was thewet pet that got to run in, trying to avoid floating away. It truly was such a change to the beautiful day we had before.

We made it to Gumeracha just in time to see a huge branch fall from a large gum, narrowly missing a new Landcruiser. Secretly I was hoping that one would fall on the T-Van…

We had a fantastic time at the “World’s Biggest Rocking Horse”. They have a fantastic toy shop with the most beautiful wooden toys. Some of which they make themselves. We tol

d the boys they could have one thing each which thankfully didn’t turn out as bad as it could have. They both chose these cute little robot things that are held together with elastic. You press a plate on their base and they collapse. I am sure you all know what I mean.

We were there in time for lunch so had a great feed and the kids had a play on some of the toys they had set up in the café. I just love this photo of the 3 of them on the rocking horse. Casey is actually holding Milla, he did a great job.

The rain then stopped long enough for the littlest boys and I to climb the Rocking Horse. Casey came with us to the first platform, Nathan then decided that we were going to climb to the head!! Yeh, goodcall kid. Don’t you know that it is blowing a gale and your Mum is petrified of heights??

Anyway, I dropped Case back with Neil and put on my brave face. Nath climbed like the monkey he is and did a great job with his slippery gumboots and frozen paws. I thought he would be satisfied with getting to the horse back. Who was I trying to kid!! Nope, I am met with “C’mon Mum, let’s go to the head. You’re not scared are you??”

The view was beautiful from what Nath tells me. I was too busy peering through my fingers!!

Eating Our Way Through Hahndorf!!

OK, this trip is definitely all about eating at the moment. I am sure that is going to change once we hit the desert!!

That pizza I went off to order last post, well, it was the biggest bloody pizza I have ever seen. Nath was so excited. It was the funniest thing. Tasted good toowhich is always a plus!!

We had set up the whole annex and family room for the stay at Goolwa so needless to say it took us HOURS to pack the whole lot up yesterday to hit the road.

The weather was awful as well which made things a lot less enjoyable. I had the fun task of taking the kids off to mini golf while Neil and Dad pulled the annex down.

Once we were packed we left the van at the caravan park and headed into town for an awesome lunch at a local cafe. We walked the streets of Goolwa before saying goodbye to Dad.

We decided to head over the bridge to Hindemarsh Island where we could see the mouth of the mighty Murray. We could see some cars on the beach on the other side so decided to give the 4WD a bash. The patrol has never seen beach 4WDing. Neil had to get out and touch the water. Hillarious...

It was such a beautiful drive and the Patrol was in it's element. Casey was excited, he fell asleep after about 5 minutes!! We saw a HUGE piece of rope which had washed up on the beach from a ship and lots of other strange things which had been washed up on shore. I stopped and collect some cuttlefish which bought back memories of being a kid and going to the beach with Mum and Dad to collect cuttlefish for our birds.

We went back to the caravan park to collect "Tommy" and it was the first time that I felt we were on holiday together. As much as I enjoyed "riding solo" it was nice to join the family.

We drove for about an hour to Hahndorf and arrived here around 5.30pm. We sat the boys in front of a movie, I got some food on the go for Milla and we proceeded to set up the van AGAIN!!

We then made the mistake of deciding to go into the local pub for dinner. It was about 7pm by this stage, WAY past DS1 & DS2's bedtime. It was schnitzel night of course and the place was packed. Nath proceeded to chuck the biggest wobbly when we served him up vege's and schnitzel and not chips!! Anyway, lesson learnt.

Home to bed for a good night sleep for all.

Today would have to be the BEST day of the trip so far. We got up, had breakfast and decided to spend the day in town. It is just over a km walk and was lovely. There are some gorgeous houses and buildings along the main drag along with animals galore which kept the kids happy.

Our first stop was Hahndorf Produce Haus and Chocolate Shop. Talk about nice country folk. The lady in this store was amazing. We ended up buying Chocolate Rocks (thanks Laura!!) and white chocolate rocky road and then some cashew mustard, merlot jelly and some huge sausage thing!! We knew we were in trouble after leaving here as she pointed us in the direction of the cheese factory and a cellar door.

Walking past the Post Office and another lovely local came running out to tell us about a magic cave further down the road that the kids would just love.

We decided to stop for lunch and of course had to order something German. I would try and write it but I don't think I would get it right even if I tried to do it frenetically. I am a little scared about here, I took the boys to the toilet and found this old dude just sitting in the toilet, door wide open, pants down on the ground. EWWWWW.......

We found an awesome Fairy Garden where a lady hand makes all her own ceramic fairies. I cannot wait until we have a house again and Milla is a bit older. I already have plans for a half pirate / half fairy garden. Hmmmm, what can I get Neil to make?

While we were hot on the trail of fairies we came across the Magic Cave that the postmaster had told us about. From the front it was a very unassuming toy store but through the back door was the most amazing cave with various scenes, moving animals and narration. The kids thought it was amazing, actually we all did.. No photos were allowed unfortunately, we found this a lot throughout town.

As if the kids weren't exhausted enough we found a park for them to burn some more energy. More walking bought us to the cheese factory which was amazing. We love all of the cheeses they had but settled on a brie, a blue and some goats cheese thing. They also did an amazing red onion dip.

It was a huge day so decided to head back to the caravan park. Neither of the boys would sleep so when we got back to the caravan park we decide to run every last ounce of energy out of them and Neil took them to the playground!!

After dinner the kids were straight into bed, I am sure they were asleep before their heads hit the pillow. Neil and I have been pigging out on 5 o'clocksies.. ie, cheese, dip, biscuits, meat and red wine. Ah, this is the life. We both agree that today is the first day we have really felt settled and really enjoyed the whole day.

We are packing up early tomorrow to try and avoid some really nasty weather that is coming our way. We are hoping to get to Peterborough via the giant Rocking Horse.. photos to come.

Goodnight xoxo