Barossa markets and a bonus!

Sheri and I set out this morning as I wanted to check out the markets, a craft place and a lavender farm. She made the decision  to come even though it wasnt her thing, she does not like lavender. We were going to take the Jeep and I unlocked it but it didnt unlock. Short story, the battery was flat as between us, we had left the fridge attached to the battery all night! Warren hooked the Jeep up to the battery charger in the van and by this afternoon it was ready to go again.

So change of plan, we took the Isuzu and motoring down the road and came across the markets quicker than we thought. Again much of the produce was there for the tasting, I bought some pickles, pear and fennel and two Cornish pastries ($2 each)  Warren and I had them for lunch and they were great, mainly carrot but they werent over sweet.

As we left the market, this was across the road.

It is an automated grape picker, the yellow machine went up the rows and shook the bunches off the vines and then shot them into a trailer towed behind another tractor which was travelling in tandem, fascinating to watch.

Aviation Museum

There was a small sign on the side of the road as we were going to the wineries this morning. Not in the brochures and not in the GPS.

It was one man's collection and it was brilliant, so well laid out.

I asked and he told me there were 1400 planes!

There was a walk way to follow and things were labelled and explained.

$5 each to go in but I would have to say that it was one of the best that I have been to see.

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop

We were only a few kilometres from here so we visited. Well, there were tasting of everything! Everything that was on the shelves to sell, had a small pot in front with either sticks or spoons to taste. One item had bread so that it could be dipped olive oil and then grains.

I had packed lunch but compared to what was on offer there, sandwiches didnt really cut it. We ordered a mushroom picnic set with an extra bread. It came in a small cane tray with two small wholemeal french sticks, mushroom pate, dukar? and a cheese. Oh my goodness it was good. Too good to even think about taking a photo.

There are two walks around the farm and we did both.

This is on the nature walk and the shop is in the back ground.

We came across these on the farm walk, these are breed for their colours.

We did have to tale home some produce, keeping in mind, my budget and space, we bought two lots of jam and two bottles of sauce to complement my cooking I hope. He chose Apricot jam and I chose raspberry and pomegranate, yum.

Warren says we will have my packed lunch for dinner. 

Seppeltsfield winery

What a nice place.

The surrounds were brilliant.

We didnt do any wine tasting even though we were in the heart of the Barossa. We did go to the Jam Factory which was a craft shop and they have arts and crafts people who work there at different times. Today they had a milliner and a leathermaker, both women.

Lovely hats but way out of my price range.

These were in the glass blower's workshop.

The leather maker had handbags, wallets shoes and belts. The bags were about $300, Warren bought himself a belt as when we lived in Canberra he bought one from a similar place and had about fifteen years wear out of it. He figured that $60 spent on a quality item was worth the money.

The boys found a tree to climb in a car park.

Leaving Adelaide behind

After nine days it was time to leave and Warren went against the GPS, she likes to take us through the quickest way and some of the roads in Adelaide were a little narrow. Luckily Warren's recall of Adelaide streets was working well and we were out of the city in pretty short time.

We took a short detour to the St Kilda Playground for the kids, being a school day there were only young kids there and not the crowds that there was on Sunday.

We arrived in Kapunda and set up, its a great park and most sports are around this area. We were disappointed to find that the NAB cup (AFL pre season comp) was not televised but we walked over to the local ground and watched the local team do their training. I'm sure they were wondering who and what we were doing but we enjoyed seeing a bit of footy.

Sheri and I went shopping at the local shops and both got some meat bargains. The meat that we have bought in smaller country towns have been really good so looking forward to our pork chops tomorrow. I bought sliced chicken that needed to be cooked tonight, I did a stirfry with vege as well, it was good.

Caravan and Camping show Adelaide

Five days of sales for vans and everything connected with caravans and travelling.

We had the Jeep booked in for a service today and we took ourselves us to the show, anyways seems to be something that one needs.

Firstly, we had to set the alarm as being on holidays, there is no real need to get up but we were required to have the car there by 8.45 am.As we had been in the habit of waking late then checking emails etc, often breakfast wasnt being taken until about 9am or even later.

Dropped the car, it was like a shopping centre car park but all the cars had numbers on top, my goodness, they were busy, it had taken all week to get the Jeep booked in and then I think they squeezed it in as we we moving on tomorrow. Very nice staff and they arranged for the yard van to take us into the city and they would have collected us as well but we said we would make our own way back. (Which we did by way of Son in law)thanks Chris.

Oh My Goodness, what a lot of nice vans we saw, many of them were way out of our price range but its nice to look. Interesting to see what is included now as standard features, very few did not have a shower and toilet and then for those it was roughly $12 to $15000 more.

We went to the tourism people and have a lot of brochures to study for our next few weeks which is good. We cant hope to see even half of what is on offer but at least we can make some informed choices.

Breaking Brakes

While attaching the chains to the car last week to leave Mannum, there was a trang sound and I saw a wire on the ground. It was our brake, it had fractured and given way. I had visions of having to stay there for a few days until it could be fixed.

Warren assured me that it was the brake for when the caravan was stationary not while driving so he tied it up with some bright yellow rope so that the cable didnt drag on the ground and we continued.

The park here in Adelaide is fairly level but he did need to choc the wheels until he could get to a hardware store.

Now we have a shiny new shackle? and all is well, ready for the next adventure.