Baaarrrrr, maaarrrrr, baaarrrr! All bloody night! The written word can not describe the variation of sounds that was coming from the paddock of sheep behind the council caravan park. It was not a very restful sleep. I got up at one point in the night to go to the toilet, and was totally blown away by the sight of the old school building just over the paddock. It looked like something out of Harry Potter, especially with the full moon just rising next to it. Our poor camera could not capture it, but Wow!
Hogwarts is in Burra..... Built in 1877.
Our little camp, with Peter and Wendy's big rig in the background.
So we had an early rise, but took our time with breakfast in the camp kitchen, chatting some more to Helen, who was newly over from New Zealand, and camping her way around our beautiful country, and also to Peter and Wendy, from North Queensland, a couple of renegade Grey Nomads. Helen was heading off today, so we waved her good bye, put our washing on, and relaxed some more. Once the jobs were done, we took the key and map we'd scored off Helen, and hopped on the bikes for the historical tour of town.
First stop, the Unicorn Brewery Cellars
Inside,
Heading into the cellars,
Tunnels to the storage rooms.
Old bridge over the Burra creek.
Town views,
Next stop, the smelting works, which were total ruins....
Then we're onto the old Police Lockup & Stables...
The lockup, which was temporary, first built in 1847, then rebuilt in 1878.
The police force consisted of 3 mounted police and 3 constables, in1851.
The pub in Burra North,
Gorgeous town hall,
Another beautiful Cornish church,
Miners dugouts in the creek. Over 1800 miners lived in this creek, cheap rent.
Many died of Typhoid and other horrendous diseases.
Luxury, spacious hole in the creek, going for a song.
After our eight kay tour, we re-found the Burra pub, and assumed the position. It was a warm day, with a light breeze, and perfect for chilling out, watching people. Before we got silly, we headed back to camp to make use of the cooking facilities and BBQ. I'd bought some local lamb chops. Yummy, yummy.
Was once a pub, but up for lease now....anyone?
Another pub, can you believe we didn't even go inside this one?
When we arrived back at camp, we noticed a couple of huge eskies and a big trailer. Hmmmm, what is this all about? Then a coaster bus pulled in, and about twenty kids, of various ages, scrambled out and assembled on the lawn. The main man got them all organised, and before long there was a mini tent city erected, and games had begun. These were students from Kingston-on-Murray school, which has a total of 28 students. Cool, I thought all those schools would have been closed by the government by now. But, the Principal and the two teachers (let's not forget the bus driver and chief cook), had the kids well sorted, and they caused the rest of us no trouble at all.
Little tent city going up in record time. Kids were from grade 3, to 7.
Hiding away from the kids with Peter and Wendy. They travel in the beast.
Those kids are really good. They had a great time.
30/10/15
There they are, the noisy little blighters. Yummy lamb chops is what you're gonna be!
Bllaaaaarrrrr, bbbbbaaaarrrrr, mmmmeeeeerrrrr, bloody hell, you sheep, what is your problem? Again, the sheep carried on all night, but none of the cute little "ba ba ba ba", that we all expect. Some of them sounded like they were being strangled to death, by hand. I was picturing myself doing just that at one stage, but it was ear plugs to the rescue, and a better nights sleep.
Up nice and early, thanks bloody sheep, we ate our cereal in our little chairs, on our nice patch of grass, while the school kids ate bacon and eggs taking over the kitchen. Bugger, I would have liked bacon and eggs! Then as we were almost ready to head off, the kids all came over for a question and answer session on the crazy old cyclists from WA. It was a bit of fun, and after a couple a group pics, they got onto the bus and carried on their excursion. We did the same, and headed out of town to try find the Mawson trail.
This is is Will, I can see the marker.
Two kays out, I spotted the first marker, and we followed it off the main road onto the Pistol Club road, a dirt road. Yay, this is more like it. The Mawson trail goes from Adelaide to Blinman, 800kms, like the Mundbiddi, it uses rail trails, dirt roads, and tracks. It was a pretty hot day, but the riding was great. No traffic, except for a Bobtail and a stray sheep. Probably followed us from camp.
Collecting the hay bails....these guys are flat out now.
This Bob was fully heated up, and doing the full Gene Simmons.....so funny.
Get back to the paddock lamb chop, you are freaking out...
We passed wheat crops everywhere, but a couple of odd things out here, like a random patch of vines, and some bee hives. Davo GPS had our back, and for a change, was on the same route as me. We passed many cross roads, but didn't have to deviate off our road. At one of these crossroads, Will was busy negotiating some potholes and rocks, when a little baby snake thought he was done for, and whipped up trying to attack Will's ankle. He tried to do the old "legs up" but his feet were clipped in, so just kept pedalling. Ha ha ha ha, it was funny, cause it wasn't me!
Very random, experimental? Did not expect vines next to wheat on the other side.
Amazing out here, we are only 130ish kms from Adelaide.
Wah, Wah, Wah, help me Will! Poor Becky fell off, lucky Will spotted her, or she'd be abandoned again.
It is great riding out here.
I wonder how old this wagon is?
Bees! The paddocks were planted with some flowering scrub stuff. I don't know what, but believe it is for the bees.
About now, the road developed into a goat track, or should I say camel track, as we climbed up and over Camel Hump Range. I kid you not, that is it's name. It was a tough ride, but the views behind and in front, were brilliant. There was an old dry stone wall running along the ridges, which did add to the "Camel Hump" look.
Hmmm, less road, more track....still, a bit of fun.
Starting to climb a bit now, views behind a cool.
Is there even a track now? We're just cutting through the grass to the top.
Made it, and great views all around, from behind....
And to the front, (Camel Hump Range) with old dry stone wall...
Down the other side had us riding through a couple of gates, one with an electric wire, and past a small heard of young cattle, who were a bit shocked to see us. Then we were back on a proper dirt road, and into a bit of a headwind. After our effort getting over the ridge, we were feeling a bit hungry, so we found a spot off the road, well actually on a farm property, where we sat and ate while watching the hay bailer at work.
The gate wasn't hard to figure out,
Just had to watch the electric wire bit!
Some parts of the wall were in ruins, but some were in great condition.
Young cows in the shade. I was a bit wary of them, but they were more wary of us.
Relaxing, eating lunch, watching other people work. Interesting machinery.
On our last bit of dirt road riding, we had a couple of little pinch hills, before rolling down straight into vineyards. Literally from the wheat to the wine. We turned onto a sealed back road, and Davo kept telling us to do a U-turn to find a cycle path. Then I saw a path running parallel to our road, so we diverted onto it, finding our Riesling Trail. This is a rail trail that goes for 33kms to Auburn, through the Clare valley wine region. We rode 6kms into Clare on the trail, which was great. Clare was heaps bigger than I expected, and we struggled to find the information centre. After asking at the library, we realised we had to ride south of town 3 more kilometres to both the info centre and caravan park, so we did some food shopping, and rode out.
We came over a hill and burst out of the wheat and hay to this greenery.
We found the Riesling trail. Looks great.
Goes all the way to Auburn, off the road, through the wineries.
Welcomed to Clare by this sheep sculpture. They better keep quiet.
The caravan park is huge, but had a lovely, bushy, grassy area for unpowered campers. It had a great camp kitchen, a bit far away from us, but we made good use of it all. There wasn't much chatting with other campers here, it seems to be common in these bigger centres.
The kids chatting to some locals, they were a bit snobbish.
Trees and grass, very nice!
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