Last 2 days of the year.............

                                                      Saturday, December 30

After the drama of the last 2 days, it was now time to play at being tourists.                                                        We are staying in the Barossa region at Angaston, which is defined in the map below.........

                               

Note from the internet................The Barossa is one of the world’s great wine producing areas, boasting more than 150 wineries and 80 cellar doors. In fact, it's home to the world's oldest continuously producing shiraz, grenache, mataro, cabernet sauvignon and semillon vines. Rich reds are renowned here, as are fortified wines. When you’re not sipping the region’s top drops, you can admire the vines from a hot air balloon, dine at renowned restaurants and explore nearby villages and national parks.

This photo is representative of the countryside that we drove through...........                               

The Barossa is renowned for its wine as stated above. As Barry and I are not into the wine tasting scene,  we looked at other places to visit.

Our first stop was to the Mengler Hill lookout.

This hill and popular lookout in the Barossa Range, South Australia. The hill was named after an early wine grower in the area. The Barossa Sculpture Park is sited at the base of the lookout area. The road route from Tanunda to Angaston crosses Mengler Hill.

Below the lookout lies the sculpture park. Walk among the contemporary stone sculptures that were carved by nine sculptors in local marble and granite. This sculpture park was created by Australian, Japanese, American and French sculptors who were invited as a result of the Barossa International Sculpture Symposium held in 1988.

This Memorial is also situated at the Lookout.

From Mengler's Hill we drove through vine country via Tanunda, Rowland Flat, Lyndoch and Cockatoo Valley to the Whispering wall, which is near Williamstown.

                                  

If you stand at this spot.................

...you can hear the voice of someone speaking from the area in the blue mark in the photo below!! They say that even a whisper can be heard, but we found you have to listen carefully as there were a lot of people nearby having a conversation, which is rather distracting when listening for the voice at the other side. 

After we had visited the Whispering Wall, we travelled further to Williamstown, where we had lunch at the local Hotel.........

                                      

From the internet............Williamstown was essentially a farming area with sheep and cattle in the early days with fruit orchards, mixed farms and vines. Williamstown also sustained a forestry and lumber industry from the earliest days with three sawmills. Today only a small family-owned timber sawmill and Cooperage remains with the closure of the two larger mills by 1990. Many local residents work in the wine / viticulture industry throughout the Barossa Valley.

This painting featured on the wall inside the hotel..................

On the way back to the van we drove through Tanunda and stopped for a look at the local car yard. Barry has decided he probably needs to look for a new car. He has been talking about this for some time now as he has watched the kms mount up. (He has put off the inevitable, saying he is "emotionally attached to his Ford Territory".)

DS and family were at the block when we returned and we enjoyed coffee time and a play with the kids, before calling it a day.

Sunday, December 31

It has been a very lazy day today. The morning started with a serenade by the magpies outside the van.   We spent some time sitting out under the awning and I have started another book.

We had no intentions of ringing in the new year, but we ended up visiting some friends and sharing a meal and drinks. Now back at the van and will be asleep as the clock ticks over at midnight and the new year arrives. 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and may 2024 be one filled with many blessings.

Blessings, From Jude

Almost to the end of December.................

 As it is almost the end of December, and the end of another year, I need to update newsfromjude. I find it hard to believe that we about to head into another year. So much has happened in the last few months of 2023, and I wonder what 2024 will bring??

Since we arrived home from WA on December 15 life has been rather hectic. There was only a week from then until Christmas, so preparation for that needed to happen. The van was unpacked, cleaned and washing done, in readiness for the next takeoff. There was a few meals enjoyed with friends, family and work colleagues. I had appointments at the hairdresser and doctor. 

Another job that has been on my 'todo' list for a long time was sorting out the clothes in my wardrobe. I have taken everything out of the wardrobe (s) many times, and then ended up putting it all back again. This time I succeeded, sorted it all and took a few tubs of clothes and other items to the local op shop. What a feeling to finally have this done!! My size has varied over many years, so I had clothes in a few different sizes. In the last 18 months I have steadily dropped a few sizes and 25kg and hopefully I am not going back. It was time to clear the decks on stuff I no longer wear. 

                                 

And then it was time to head up the road again, although this time without the van. We spent Christmas in Melbourne with DD3, DS and families.

2 days after we returned from Melbourne, it was time to pack the van again. There was a few days of holiday time until after New Year so we took the opportunity to head off again. 

We travelled out of town on a different road (Cannawigara Rd) to normal and turned onto the highway further on. The highway was very busy with a LOT of holiday traffic.

As it is school holiday time and we had no bookings for anywhere, we decided to travel to the Barossa and camp on DS's block. 

All went well until we almost at Tungkillo when Barry noticed that the temperature gauge was dropping. He stopped as soon as was safe on the side of the road to check out what was happening. Opening the bonnet soon revealed the problem, and it turned out the the car was no longer driveable. The weather was stormy, with some rain, lots of thunder and lightening. 

It was fortunate that we were close to our destination and DS came with his car to tow our van to his block. The RAA was called and they came promptly with a recovery truck to load the car and take it to the block as well.

We were very thankful this did not happen during our 8,000km trip to WA or across the Nullarbor.

All the 'stuff' in the car was unloaded and transferred to the van. Here is our camp site for a few days....

......and the house in the process of construction.

(edit, it seems like i missed the photo of the house.....)

                             Decisions needed to be made about the next step. We were on the block, but without a vehicle to drive, and what were we going to do about the car? It was fortunate that the business has a loan car that we could use. So the next day Barry's brothers drove to the block with that car for us to use and also a trailer that took Barry's car back to Bordertown.

                            

So yesterday Barry spent time loading all the gear from his car, into the replacement vehicle which gave us space back in caravan, which had been very 'cosy' with all the extra things.

Now it is time to start our holiday and be tourist in an area that we visit often, but haven't taken the time to look around.

I will be back before the end of the year to post about the last 2 days of 2023.

Blessings, From Jude

Days 31 to 37 and home

 My apologies for the lateness of this post. It was my intention to update newsfromjude as soon as we arrived home, but life got a|"little" busy with unpacking, cleaning, washing and Christmas preparations which was only a week after getting home. And then it was Christmas and now it's Boxing Day, so here I am, before it gets to be New Years Day, which is just around the corner.

We left Fowler's Bay on the morning of December 9th, which was Day 31 of our trip. We woke to strong winds and rain, which had been forecast. We did wonder about staying at Fowler's Bay for another day or 2, but the forecast for the next day at Fowlers Bay, was heavy rains also. The decision was made to leave and see how far we would get. It wasn't much fun for Barry to pack up the cords, and water hoses etc in the rain, and to put down the pop top. By the time we left, the wind had eased slightly but it was still raining. There was some gravel road to get back onto the highway, and you can see how muddy it was getting..............

We had planned to head to Darke Peak and stay at my brother's farm for a couple of nights, but the rain kept falling, and we decided we did not want to drive with the van on their gravel roads. We decided to stay at Kimba for the night, and they would drive up to meet us for the evening.

We had to stop at Ceduna for the quarantine station checkpoint, and it was still raining!!

The next 2 photos give you an idea of how wet things were.............

.......we decided not to use this dump point as we had no rubber boots, and wasn't going to get wet using it!!

We set up the van at the free camp at the Kimba Oval, which was amazing. The facilities were outstanding, and there was a camp kitchen, and dump point all for free. A donation would be appreciated and we were very happy to do so. Their was no power, but we had a generator and gas for cooking. You can see below how wet the camp was, but it was all gravel, so not muddy.

We dined at the local hotel and enjoyed a catchup. I had not seen my brother or his wife for a couple of years and Barry had not met them before, so it was good to chat with them. Perhaps there will be a trip to their farm another time when it is not so wet. Kimba scored a total rainfall of 4 inches during a couple of days!! I know the rain continued for 2 days and 2 nights without stopping. We did not see blue sky for several days after crossing the border from WA.

These are the painted silos at Kimba.

A problem had developed with the van brakes while we were driving in the wet. A bit of detective work by Barry showed him where the problem could be, and he would have liked to get under the van to check out some things, but it was so wet, and there was no way he could get under. The mysterious part was it turned out to be an intermittent problem. We thought to get to Pt Augusta and find a repair place to check out some things.

When we arrived at Pt Augusta the next day (Day 32), we decided to keep going and hoped to sort out the issue in Adelaide.  We had a quick stop at the supermarket before heading further south.

It was still raining..............

It was late afternoon by the time we stopped at Crystal Brook. I have a nephew living and working at the Brook and tried to catch up with him, but it turned out he was away. Perhaps next time?? I had lived at Crystal Brook for the first year of my married life and was interested to see the house we lived in 50 years ago.

We stayed at the caravan park which was set among the gum trees lining the Crystal Brook creek. We were woken the next morning with very loud thunder and lightening, and still more rain, before packing up again and heading south to the city. We planned to catchup with many friends and family for a few days before heading home. 

Day 33..............This is the house were I lived in 1973, although it has undergone some changes since then.

The brakes were still an intermittent issue and Barry was hoping for the rain to stop so he could get underneath the van and check out the wiring. We were invited to park the van at the front of our friends house and here is our home for the next 4 nights.

Thankyou Ruth and Ashley for your hospitality, we enjoyed an evening out for dinner one night.

                                           

The rain stopped for a little while so that Barry was able to get under the van to check things out. He has eliminated a few possible things, (except one) that may have caused the problem, and is hoping things are fixed, but won't know until we get back on the road again.

                                                         

Day 34, 35 and 36...........

We caught up with many people over the next few days, including an evening with my family.........

Sorry, no photos, but we enjoyed time with some of Barry's family and work colleagues and Barry also had another work day in the van.

Day 37...............

This was departure for home day, (insert sad face here). After a late evening prior, we were off to a late start and did not get away until almost midday. We travelled north and east through the hills and stopped at Gumeracha for lunch in the van at a pretty park.

It was a lovely sunny day for travelling and all the rain, thunder and lightening had gone. The next few photos were taken as we headed through the Palmer Hills and down the plains towards to Murray Bridge.............

At Murray Bridge we stopped to visit with Mum, and then headed south east towards home. The sky was very pretty with the blue and the fluffy clouds. We had not seen much blue sky since leaving WA.

The sign posts showed that home was getting closer!!...........

..until we arrived at the town entrance..................

It had been 37 days, since leaving home, and we had travelled 7,973 km in that time. We left on November 9th and arrived home on December 15th.

It was an amazing experience, and I am very thankful and very blessed to have been able to go. We loved our time away, saw lots of this great vast country of ours and also had a relaxing, unrushed holiday. 

I was sad to come home after having such a good time, and it did not take long before reality hit and the unpacking, cleaning and washing took over. But the van is packed and still out the front of the house, ready for another little trip very soon. 

I will be back with another post of the week after coming home, which includes Christmas.

Blessings, From Jude