The Great Ocean Road Trip 4 - Adelaide to Mildura

Brighten Beach Caravan Park was situated right on the beach, and when we turned up at 2pm it was very, very crowded. Unknown to us at the time of booking, we encountered a long weekend, and due to the mess up with Kangaroo Island we were lucky to get in for three days. We found our site not far from the beach and only a road between us and the very large surf club. Of course Sat.night meant there was a very noisy function, children running riot first up, and then loud music which kept us awake to 3 am.

Brighton Beach - Adelaide.

It also became very hot and windy. By this stage with all the driving, putting the van up, taking it down on a nearly daily basis, we were exhausted. I washed everything, I could find. Read, slept, did Tai Chi on the beach, and John photographed amazing sunsets. Basically we did nothing all day.

Tai Chi Routine at sunset.

Sunset over The Gulf of St. Vincent. - Brighton Beach SA

Monday was a much quieter day in the caravan park, after 185 vans/cabins went home. Next day we drove to Tanunda, via The Gorge Road, a curvy, and pretty drive along the Gorge and up  the Adelaide Hills, then via the wineries.

The Gorge Road Weir.

  
 The Summit overlooks Adelaide, so we went and looked at the fabulous view.

 The Summit -  Adelaide.

 Our lunch stop on the way to Tanunda was Cuddle Creek. It had some lovely mosaic furniture in the park. A great idea, very serviceable and looked pretty. Would make a great project for unemployed or youth groups.

 Cuddling at Cuddle Creek

  Just before Tanunda was a lavender farm so we went and had a look. Not much lavender as it had been cut. Really nice shop full of lavender things.

Lyndoch Lavender Farm.

First Winery was Jacobs Creek.

Display Table - Jacobs Creek Winery

 Then on to  Wolf Blass, with its famous eagle wing symbol.

John at the Entrance of Wolf Blass

They are also very famous for their Black Label and have the only complete collection in the world.

The Only Complete Collection of Wolf Blass Black Label in the World. This Wall is a Fridge.

Grant Burge Winery  with its fabulous views of the vineyards at the Cellar Door. One of them reminded me of France. 

The Vineyards lined the roads either side driving through this area, belonging to all different wineries. The amount of grapes they need is huge

Amazing 2 litre bottles

I had a coffee at Grant Burge in the outdoor cafe, waiting for John tasting everything. Wine in the middle of the day, makes me too sleepy.

Tanunda was a very nice town and we only stayed one night, but I would like to go back to the area. Very lush and lots to do. So next day and quite early, off we went again.

On the way to Mildura you go through lots of citrus farms, also olives, avocados, peach,apple,pear farms to name a few plus vegetables. It is known as the Fruit Bowl of Australia. The Murray runs through Mildura and was used for shipping with large paddle steamers, up and down carrying goods  people, and wool. The Sheep industry is also big in this area.

Holder Bend at Waikerie

 One winery John was very keen to visit, was Banrock Station, as part of their sales goes into the regeneration of the wetlands that is on their vast property. They are out of the Tanunda area and just before Renmark,  at Kingston on Murray.

Note the Black Grapes

Vines go for Miles.

View of the Wetlands from the Cafe Balcony. 

 So lunch we had at Renmark, then by early afternoon,  after another long day we settled at Mildura for two nights.

Murray River Paddle Steamer P.S.Melbourne, passing by where we camped.

Next Day

We stayed an extra day in Mildura so we could visit this National Park., which I consider on the edge of the outback and not far from Broken Hill.

Photo from MurrayRiver.com

 It is a large area, all red sand and the long gravel road in of 85 km, which had very soft sand in some places. If it had rained we wouldn't have been able to visit. This area is famous for its Great Wall Of China. A set of hills eroded by the sand.  Nowadays though, it can only be seen if with a guide by the local tribe, and at $50 a head a little steep for our budget, but we found enough of the erosion to satisfy our curiosity.

Guided 2 hour tour just beginning. Here they would be looking at Shells from thousands of years ago.

The Great Wall cannot be seen at all by the wooden path way that is now in place for you to walk on. Tour only takes you over the sand dune to where it is.

A typical road around the park and natural bush regenerating.

 This area of land was once a sheep farm and donated to the National Parks, so they are eliminating the wild goats and dogs, and letting it go back to its natural state. 

Native Emu are all around

Saw quite a few kangaroos

Shingle Back Lizard not often seen.

This was a lake thousands of years ago and settled around by aboriginal tribes.

 The lake slowly dried up over many years, and campsites with tools and bones are found all over this area. A Road now goes through the middle of it. The oldest foot prints  ever were left in the mud. When discovered, copies were taken then the original prints were covered in sand to protect them. A tracker identified them as a male first, then women and children at a later date.

The Male footprint.

 

Typical Erosion done by the Wind.

More Erosion

Sand Layers

Looking down from a sand dune

  The original owners built the  shearing shed as only updated the shears to mechanical but left everything as is. It was a very large shed for its day.

Original Shearing Shed, thousands of sheep were shorn every year.

 

Yard where the sheep were kept. Timber from the area, used to built it.

  Other than the tour party in the distance we didn't see anyone else all day. John climbed the sand dunes here to get a better look.

One lonely car - ours.

By the end of the day I was really tired. It had been very hot in the mid 30'sC, and all gravel and rough driving, wears you out. John had a lot of fun using his 4WD gears, slipping and sliding all over the place, while I just hung on. Early to bed that night.

Suddenly in the middle of Mungo was this. Wonderful Aussie humour.

Till next time and the last episode of this big trip.