Sweet Wayfaring

It was the weekend so we could take a drive to Lincoln National Park, it was blowy and cold, not surprising I guess given how far south we were.

We are now down almost to the end of the Eyre Peninsula.  Beautiful farm land and fishing in these parts.

We went for a short walk on the board walk - made me a little sad because I realised how little time I had on this trip to enjoy photographing the detail of vegetation and lovely old towns.

A couple of days beside the sea.

Today we are heading down the centre of he Eyre Peninsula, passing by Iron Knob and farming country.  Our original plan was to stay at Kimba but in the end we moved back the coast to Arno Bay.

It was the weekend so we were able to take an outing on Pitchi Richi railway where we saw a little of the famous Flinders Ranges country.

Quorn is an interesting old town at the foot of the Flinders Ranges.  I would have loved to have time to revisit them but there was not time on this trip.

The landscape is fascinating changing from flat semi-arid land to green rolling hills in the course of a morning.  We have visited these places on our last trip to South Australia so were not tarrying for long in each of the towns.  Talking of the lovely old town of Burra, I said remember the big wind farm - it didn't look at all impressive on this day as most of it was enshrouded in cloud. We couldn't resist a quick visit to sleeping town of Terowie which so fascinated us last time we were here.  The photo of old cars is still the most visited post in this blog.

In South Australia there is a distinct change in architecture and certain arid feel to the landscape - you can tell these places are hot in summer but were beautiful in the winter. Winam asked to know more about this town so here is a quick summary - according to the web population is around 2000  but it felt smaller than that.  It has mostly old homes and shops similar to the above.  It's close enough to Adelaide to attract weekenders, in newer homes on the other side of the river.  There is a ferry crossing the river, an old wharf similar to that at Echuca (but not in great condition) and a historic railway station.  The town is very neat and tidy and the locals seem to take a lot of pride in their history.

I picked Morgan on the map just because it was midway between where we were and where we wanted to go.  It turned out to be a delightful old river town beside the Murray, a lovely spot to spend a couple of days.

We threw out fruit to enter Victoria and restocked only to find out we were going to have to throw it out to enter South Australia and this time they were checking vehicles.  Fortunately we had been warned and ate up what we had. This landscape shot is deceptive.  We saw plenty of vineyards and orange groves.  But as you move through South Australia the landscape constantly changes.

We are back in river country, this time the beautiful Murray River which forms the border of NSW and Victoria.  Mildura is in Victoria.

Hay Plains We are crossing the Hay Plains, one of the flattest places on earth and pretty much treeless as well.   The image you can see on the car video is from the rear view camera on the van.  Looks the same back and front, the same whatever direction you turn.

Murrumdigee River, Hay Do you remember at school drawing all the inland rivers on the map and the stories of explorers having trouble crossing them or dying of thirst depending on droughts and flood. We are in the Riverena.  You'll see more of rivers before we're done.

It was the weekend so plenty of time to explore. The Shear Outback centre was good.

We don't stock up much, preferring to have an excuse to explore the town to buy our food. We are going to stay a couple of nights at Hay ... it's blowing a gale and very cold ... though according to the news it was much colder back home.

I wondered, what's that yellow I can see over there ... seems a bit early for canola?.  Turns out it was bales of cotton

We've been out walking today.  Move on tomorrow.

Licorice Factory Junee We've been wayfaring in Junee before.  It's an old railway town with lots of buildings with wide iron lace verandahs.  We stayed for a couple of nights so had time to visit some favourite spots.

Somewhere been Canberra and Yass Around Canberra I usually think of the blue hills in the distance but today it's all about green hills -- the countryside is an amazing green from all of the rain.   Let me mention that the photography on this trip is a lot different from the old Sweet Wayfaring days.  Now we have the big caravan it is simply impossible to pull over a my every whim so most shots are grabbed from a moving car and often through the tinted glass window. Add to that the frustration of the extension mirrors required for the caravan and it's mighty hard to get a good shot out of the window so I pretty much gave up in the end. Also I am working as we go having to fit in 30-40 hours a week of work, as well as travel and a little sight seeing at each destination - this leaves little time or energy for much photography.   However, I'm resisting looking at email as we drive along so we can enjoy the journey.

Black Mountain Tower - Canberra The sky is still grey but the sun has decided to shine.  We had a day or two of work to do in Canberra before pushing on.

Federal Highway We sure are off to a soggy start.

We depart on a misty mountain morn.  I'm glad to be getting away from this.

Our travelling home and office is all hooked up and ready to go.  We've planned an overnight stop in Lawson to load up with food, clothes, computers and books before the trip begins in earnest. Goodbye Mount Vincent.  We will see you when we get back.  The weather isn't looking too good today, let's hope it improves as we go along.

Summer had long departed the garden (though it was a nice long summer this year), the Autumn glory was fading quickly and Winter chill arriving.  It was time to getaway. And that's why I have been missing for weeks and weeks.