Australian Walkabout October-November 2020 Part 2

 Walkabout, Part 2

The second part of our journey took us to the Coonawarra region of South Australia.  We drove from Clare to Coonawarra and the Bellwether Winery. This is an old woolshed turned into a tasting room and sometime restaurant.  They have accommodation in the homestead, “glamping” in bell tents and a few caravan and camping sites.  There is a Maremma named Mable to look after the chooks, sheep who graze through the campsite, a donkey, and some Highland Cattle with a cute little calf.  We explored by car, as there are no really nice biking trails here, just riding on the edge of a 110km /hr highway.

We started with a tasting of Bellwether wine with nibbles from the garden.  Very pleasant. Cheese, hummus, chutneys, crackers, dips, broad beans and artichokes from the garden.  We bought a Rosé, a Cab Sav and a Malbec, but had so many “nibbles” that we ended up having soup for dinner.

Our next two days were taken up with wandering around the Coonawarra and enjoying tasting wine and accompanying snacks.  Our favourite winery was probably Balnaves, where we had a lovely rosé and enjoyed lunch in their beautiful tasting room overlooking the gardens and a large duck pond.  We also visited two wineries we had enjoyed on previous visits, Rymill and Redman.  By the time we left every spare space was crammed with bottles.  The tasting room employees were so friendly and knowledgeable, and frequently entertaining, that we felt guilty if we didn’t buy at least one bottle.  And there were many tasty bottles to buy.

We also tried to have lunch at a restaurant we had enjoyed some years ago in Coonawarra, called Red Fingers  It was still restaurant, but now called Otelia with new owners and a different style.  We had a wood fired pizza lunch there. It was very good, but I think the previous incarnation had more adventurous food.

 

We had planned to stay longer in South Australia, but Tuesday the 17th was when the Covid crisis in Adelaide was looking very dicey.  After much online hassle, we got a permit to transit Victoria by the Sturt Highway and re-enter NSW without quarantine as we had not been near Adelaide or any hot spot. This made for a very long day’s drive until we finally crossed the border at Mildura and camped at Buronga, just across the Murray River.

 

From Buronga, we took an organised day trip to Mungo National Park.  Very glad we did, as it was a long, boring drive on gravel roads to the visitor area of the park.  We saw the remains of Mungo Station, with the old Woolshed and various outbuildings.  We also took a tour of “The Walls of China”, one of the main features of the park.  This is a huge sand dune and rock ridge on the edge of (dry) Lake Mungo.

The area is very stark and beautiful.  We visited at sunset, when the sand dunes and rocks take on coloured tints from the sunset.  As we were on a guided tour, we were allowed to walk through the dunes and look at the geology and remnants of early aboriginal habitation.  Lake Mungo is famous as the site where the remains of “Mungo Man” and “Mungo Woman” were found.  Their bones are estimated to be 30-40,000 years old, some of the oldest human remains found on the planet.  We got to see some more recent inhabitants, when an eastern brown snake made its way across the dunes in front of our group.

As an aside, Mungo is not an aboriginal name, but comes from Mungo Castle in Dumfries Shire, Scotland.

After leaving Lake Mungo and Buronga, we travelled via Hay and Wagga Wagga to Canberra.  The drive was notable for the massive amounts of irrigation farming, including huge rice paddies along the highway and orchard plantings that stretched for kilometres.  We think they were almonds, but not too sure about this.

Bill had not visited Canberra for some time, so we decided to be tourists for a couple of days.  We camped at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) the major showground and racecourse that also allows camping when nothing else is going on.  It is on the new light rail line that runs into central Canberra, a clean, quiet and efficient way to get around.  Also cheap.  A senior unlimited, all day ticket was just over $4.00.  You can also take your bicycles on the tram, which we did the first day there.

 Canberra has an extensive network of bike trails and routes.  We took the bikes on the light rail to the city and did two loops around half of Lake Burley Griffin.  We rode out to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, a nature reserve with bird hides surprisingly close to the city.  We also stopped at the Canberra Glassworks and the outdoor Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery.  Rainy weather for part of the day slowed our progress but gave us an excuse to stop and sample local food and beer for lunch.

 Our second day included a tour of New Parliament House and the War Memorial.  We were a bit disappointed at Parliament House as due to Covid we could not go up to the roof underneath the giant flag.  Bobbie did this in May 2019 with her sister and it was the highlight of the tour.  The War Memorial has a massive museum dedicated to the history of the Australian Armed Forces.  The experience is intense and far too big for the three hours they allow, although more than half a day would be overwhelming.  An excellent presentation, but very sad when you realize that despite the long history of conflict, we still haven’t learned to live in peace.

We have moved on to Wollongong where we are spending a couple of days camping near a beach, something we haven’t seen for weeks.  We plan to visit some friends in Moss Vale, then head back to Yamba.  Looking forward to some warm weather.  It is cool and rainy here at the moment.