Well, it absolutely bucketted down overnight, but when we woke, it was all sunshine and tailwinds. You beauty! We couldn't rush off, as I really wanted to check out Maggie Beer's Farm shop in Nurioopta. With this tailwind, it would only take us about an hour or so, so timing was everything. The shop opened at 10:30. I'm sure you have all heard of her, she has a cooking show on ABC called "The Cook and The Chef".
Nonuts and Beckie are very happy they came inside for the night.
So we left about nine, and had a bit of a ride through the main street of town to check out some of the old buildings. Kapunda is famous for Sir Sydney Kidman, who left home at 13, and became the greatest pastoral landholder in modern history. The Kidman family (yes, that is Nicole's family), are still one of the largest land owners in the world. Turning right to head out of town on a short cut, it turned to red dirt, and after last nights rain, we were grateful that it wasn't real muddy. We had a couple of steep little hills, then down onto the main road to Koonunda.
Great old buildings are really cool.
Another one, pretty nice hey?
Another pub we only saw from the outside...bummer!
Where is that rain we were expecting? Oh well, happy days!
Yesterday, while Will was in the shop getting groceries, a local cyclist came and chatted with me, and told me about this route to "Nuri" (local name for Nurioopta), with two big hills, but then down hill on sealed road for the rest. Shortly after I spoke with Bob, Brenton started chatting to me, and I mentioned the plan to him. He was very exuberant and all waving arms and rolling eyes, telling me how treacherous Koonunda hill was, and oh dear, that was a big one! (We believe he had a brain injury, but was a very funny guy.) Anyway, as we started to ride up a slight gradient, at about the 8km mark, I looked up at the hill in front, had a little chuckle, and told Will to prepare himself, this is it, Koonunda hill! We cruised up in 7th gear, and sped down the other side at almost 60kms/hr. That was fun.
One pinch up hill, phew...
Two pinch ups........
And down....down......down. Great fun.
Loving our tailwind now.
At that speed, we very quickly came to Belvedere road, so turned onto that, with the wind at our backs, and cruised to Nurioopta, passed many famous Barossa vineyards. Penfolds being the most notable, with no photo as we were going about 25 and didn't want to stop. Davo navigated us to Pheasant farm, just as the farm shop was opening, and we'd caught up with two other cycle tourers. Cool! Ken and Linda were from Melbourne, and doing a short week tour from Port Augusta to Adelaide, where they had a conference, before heading home.
No, team Fluro hasn't expanded, that is Ken and Linda.
Inside the gorgeous shop, we could taste everything, which I did, and Will ordered us a couple of coffees and some yummy cake. There were so many delicious goodies, I wanted to buy one of everything. We chatted briefly with Ken and Linda, and discovered there is a rail trail from here to Gawler. Perfect! Thank you guys, now we know how we're getting there. So I took the camera to get some pics of the shop, and hopefully of the kitchen where the show is filmed. I asked one of the staff if it would be OK to sneak a pic through the doorway, as Maggie was in there doing tastings and stuff, and I didn't want to be rude. She asked me about where I was from, and if I could hang around, so I explained about our adventure, at which point she told me to wait. She disappeared, only to return and usher me into the kitchen to meet Maggie Beer! How cool is that? She was super friendly, and let me get a photo with her, while I jibbered like a crazed fan. It was great, and I couldn't help but buy a couple of goodies to remember the day.
Look at all those goodies....you can taste them all.
The kitchen from the show, The Cook and The Chef.
The lady herself, thank you so much Maggie Beer, you made my day!
There were heaps of these guys in the lake. So cute.
Continuing on to Tanunda, we managed to find the rail trail, all sealed and separate from the road. It is the Jack Bobridge trail, named after an Australian, Commonwealth and World Champion cyclist, from South Australia. Prince Charles and Camilla are visiting Tanunda in a weeks time, and I was wondering why they'd be visiting here, it looks (on the map) like a pretty small place. It is Not! The trail joined back onto the road, so we rode through the main street of town, and it goes for ages. It is a bigger centre than I thought, and more famous. It has German heritage, still highly present today, and is also famous for the oldest continually producing Shiraz vines (planted in 1847) in the world. Oh and the name is an Aboriginal word for Water Hole. Sweet.
Just a great picture, coming into Tanunda.
I think Tanunda is ready for royalty.
On the other side of town, we found the trail again, and we relaxed, and got ready to enjoy the gentle rail trail. Huh! I did not realise it was named after a champion track cyclist, with steel legs and hydraulic calves, at this stage. This trail had steep pinch ups, tight, steep switchbacks, that I was not prepared for, and they almost undid me (I was in the wrong gear), I had to stand up and push hard not to fall off. But it was great. Suddenly, the rain was coming, and we started to push harder and look for shelter. Out of the blue, we came to a small creek crossing......Jacobs Creek! Just up the hill was the visitors centre for The Jacobs Creek winery. No way, this is crazy. We ducked into the centre, parked our bikes under shelter, and went inside to escape the rain that had started. While we waited, we thought we might as well try some wines, and ended up buying a nice bottle of red to have with dinner. After an hour, we were back on the trail, when the rain had stopped.
It's actually a real trail, that is great.
Riding through a gorge, with vines everywhere.
Weird, but groovy sculpture along the trail.
Holy cow, it's The Jacobs Creek.....ripper.
Shelter in the nick of time....great off chance .
This is the gallery, it had a brief history of the brand, but where can we get a taste?
Storm is past, let's get going again, we've tasted and purchased.
We're all good now the sun is shining.
There were only a couple more steep bits, and one ram to overcome (dodge), and then we were in Lyndoch. We stopped here for some lunch, finding a nice park to make our rolls and enjoy our little Maggie Beer brownies. From here, the trail followed the train line, and was a very pleasant ride through to Gawler. Ending with an awesome, very speedy (like over the 50km speed limit), downhill into the town centre, before heading a kay and a half North to the caravan park. We very quickly organised a cabin and somewhere safe for our bikes, before the rain started. Unfortunately, we had no food, so had to walk 500 metres back to Coles, in the rain for food. Never mind, it's only water, and we could have a nice warm shower and dry off in the cabin.
A nice view on the way out.
Another vineyard with a very fancy cellar door.
Following the rail line, racing the next storm.
Rail, pipelines and storm escapers.
Doesn't quite show the traffic as it was, but the busiest we've had for a while.
Hiding from the rain. Shopping done, dinner is on, wine in hand.
What a great, amazing and surprising day. What's more, tomorrow we will make Adelaide, and reach another one of our goals. It is sometimes difficult to believe we have ridden our bikes this far. Pretty cool.
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