The Clare Valley and up to Christmas

Port Augusta crossroads

This is the parting of the ways

Turn right for Darwin

Turn left for Perth


This is not a motor home accident

Just someone's weird South Australian sense of humour

Just a new motel accommodation idea in Melrose










This is more normal for Melrose, this is the backyard of the Blacksmiths shop, charming and peaceful as you can see.









A Melrose inhabitant, Fauna amongst the Flora on Mount remarkable near Melrose.








Mount Remarkable hotel, the only one of 2 with Water!!
The meal was something to remember in size, quality and price.

Oh and Christmas spirit as you can see.





On arrival in Clare we found this spot to overnight, needless to say more than one pleasant night was spent here.









This is the Burra overnight stop.

Unfortunately the spectacular Christmas decorations provided by the couple behind the station did not photograph well, but another interesting evening.




Maybe the Preservation Society will success in renovating the station as advertised, but they have a challenge.









This demonstrates how the Welsh steelworkers lived when they first arrived, basically holes in the banks of a river- and that was progress .

What was Wales like then ??






This tells the story of the early western colonial life in Burra

The Itinerary from Perth

Details on previous Blogs


1. Albany
2. Esperance
3. Norseman
4. Eucla
5. Ceduna
6. Port Lincoln
7. Whyalla
8. Port Augusta

Trip Details

• Distance Travelled from Perth = 3644 Km's


• Number of days travelled = 37
  

The next stage

1. Port Augusta
2. Melrose
3. Clare
   
   

Stage Comments

Port Augusta was a surprise, it was still “the outback” but the town and and it’s surroundings were very pleasant with reasonable shops and a very impressive museum/ information centre. The Wadlata Centre provided the best description and illustration of how the area had evolved from Aboriginal times right through to the European settlement. There is no doubt if settlement had been up to to our generation then there would have been no Australia has we know it today. The other good thing was I played golf at the local course – 17 points on the first nine led me astray because 9 points on the back nine brought me back to earth.
The current problem is the lack of Telstra Modem for the Internet, a replacement has been 3 weeks in coming, which means no Internet – Bugger!

Christmas Eve and the modem arrives, at last we are back in the real world.



In retrospect Melrose was the start of a new Australia - more like an olde world UK. The area is prosperous and they seem to have renovated the older buildings rather than knock them down.


A delightful evening meal at the Melrose Hotel, well there was actually 2 Hotels, but one was closed due to no water - This follows Mike's record for closed eating establishments.


The other fact here is the prices and quality of food each of which is better than Perth. From fellow travellers the common consensus is the most expensive place in Australia is WA.



From Melrose we drifted down to Clare and found a very pleasant Apartment overlooking a creek and set amongst the tree tops.



Mike played golf at the local course, best course yet but still only 28 points - however that was better than the local partners, so it is a step forward.
Christmas Day was the Spa Bath and champagne, however there was no family except on the end of the telephone and web cam and would you believe it the sound on the web cam failed on Christmas Day. So we could see and hear Jo in Perth and Alan in Taiwan but they could only see us. Technology is not proving stable. The new wireless modem is now working everywhere which is a treat.
Clare the Town was a quiet and peaceful place where we managed to receive 2 lots of mail from Jo, this avenue for correspondence is a boon, thank you Jo.
We found a delightful place to overnight whilst in Clare, overlooking the Hillview Valley, there was no Spa but the view was unrivaled.