South Australia

Penola SA

We drove in through the Coonawarra wine region and saw an abundance of vineyards and wineries everywhere, plan for tomorrow...visit some of them.

After getting settled at the very ordinary caravan park we drove around town to familiarise ourselves with the area and found it to be absolutely gorgeous with the loveliest old world charm. I'm thinking walking and taking lots of photos will be the order of the day for tomorrow.

 

The old railway station, now a private home

Just making sure its really gravity fed water!!!

Old Bond store 1901 with the Presbyterian Church 1870
 spire in the background

Renovators dream...with power laid on

 

Today our walking tour took us through the main street, back streets and lanes around Penola. Wow what a gorgeous little town so full of beauty and history.

 

Adam Lindsay Gordon

Molly is friendly with statue dogs

Al;exander Cameron the founder of Panola

Gourmet lunch

It was so easy to while away the hours here with so much to see.

The local historical society has put together a fantastic museum with both the old and new history well represented.

 

This cocktail dress was worn by
Miss Australia 1963.
Tricia Reschke

Bonus of the day was that the young lady there invited us all in... that is dogs are allowed into the museum, so instead of our usual tag teaming at attractions we were able to go together and spent a lot more time and not worry about leaving the other outside or leaving Molly in the car.

The main street has many old shops and buildings although not many were open on this Tuesday, they are probably busier on the weekends. The shops we did see were great and the people very friendly. One Ladies wear, jewellery and gift shop had been owned by the same family for over 150 years and still going strong.

Leisurely shopping strip

The Royal Oak Hotel can only be described as a gracious elegant old lady and is one of the stand out buildings in the town.

Stunning lace on the verandahs

 

Grand foyer

The highlight of our day was the walk from St. Josephs Church at the Saint Mary MacKillop centre along Petticoat Lane.

 

The stone building is Saint Mary MacKillops first school room

Saint Josephs Church

 

We browsed the tiny houses and gardens, imaging life back in the 1860's and rather glad of all the modern conveniences we enjoy today.

 

Gammon Cottage
4 roomed stone cottage with a weatherboard
detached kitchen

A good day for washing

Sharma's Cottage

Best room

Detached kitchen in the original house

A nice touch for tourists

I think this must be the Butchers back yard

 

We will go back over the border to Victoria tomorrow, we will overnight somewhere before arriving in Geelong on Thursday.

When we leave Geelong sometime next week we will be going home and planning our next trip...WATCH THIS SPACE!

South Australia

Renmark SA

We are staying right on the river and have a great view of the historic Painga Bridge which opens twice a day to allow the house boats to travel up and down the Murray River.

Viewed from the caravan park

Once again this area of the river is a paradise for tourism and house boats. We imagine this would be a very busy place to be during the warmer months and school holidays.

A lovely walk took us along the wharf past some interesting attractions like this outrageous house boat or is it a pirate ship?

 

madness or cleverness

Friendly man loving the passing tourists

 

We past an old Anglican church with called St Augustine of Hippo, I wonder who he or she was and what they did to be canonised. And where is Hippo?

This man, David Ruston is famous for his roses and now Renmark is famous for its rose festival in October. This sculpture of him is in a beautiful garden setting by the river.

We drove out to Berri and again loved the beautiful Murray River setting of the village. Back in the day this too\ would have been a bustling commercial port.

"I don't know what it is, but it's green"

Oh...

I couldn't resist taking a pic of this BIG Orange on the way back. The attraction is now closed and neglected.

 

Sort of looks like a big round racing car

 

Painga SA

Driving across the bridge we discovered another township and lots of fairly new looking houses. We saw gorgeous views of the Murray Basin/ Catchment and then saw this majestic river and its red cliffs at the Heading Lookout.

Murray Catchment

Amazing view from the Heading Lookout

Continuing along the river we found the Woolshed Brewery, Homestead and the original cottage.

Original Homestead

This must have been a luxury

"New house" is close by

It was lovely wandering around the property and brewery, tasting what was on offer...we had the “Hard Lemonade” which looked and tasted a lot like a soft drink but at 8.5% alcohol was definitely more hard than soft.

 

 

Its been great to have a day here to relax, we are off again in the morning travelling southward to Bordertown and Penola. We will still be in South Australia for a few days yet.

Loxton SA

This township was fairly large and spread out, and very obviously a wine town. There are huge vineyards all around and an enormous winery.

Large Winery

Lots of drinks here

Loxton

Huge vineyards

Pinnaroo SA

 

A tiny settlement with gorgeous old buildings which was deserted on this Sunday. It almost looked like an old time theme park. We were fortunate enough to stop right beside a park filled with amazing flowering gum trees.

 

Stunning place

There they are, my darlings under the trees

 

We pushed on toward Bordertown along a long road which has the Ngarkat Conservation Park on one side and the Big Desert Wilderness Park on the other side. We were in our element and loved watching the changing scenery, we enjoyed that 1 ½ hour drive.

Bordertown SA

We found the caravan park, booked in and then discovered that we are right beside the main highway going to Adelaide. Oh well its only for 1 night.

Bordertown looks like a nice little place that has a local theatre and arts culture.

 

 

Oh Bob Hawke's house is also here...not to be missed!....oops, sorry we missed it.

 

We are going to Penola tomorrow and will probably stay there for 2 days.