Hi again – I can’t believe 4 weeks from today we will be home.  Our great adventure has whizzed by.  Conversation these days tends to be all about head winds, tail winds, no winds, litres per 100k, where to stop, how long to stay the list goes on…but don’t forget the navigating – that just never goes away and after 20 weeks it still stresses me out!!  So far we have traveled about 20,000k and taken 1800 photos.  My job has been to name the photos along the way so when we get home it will all make some sort of sense.  Traveling through SA has been very picturesque with the canola fields and wheat fields all looking very colorful due to the good rains they have had through winter.  After leaving the Flinders we headed for Melrose, then onto Burra where Tony’s great grandparents settled after arriving from Cornwell, then to Yorke Peninsula & Renmark where we caught up with some of Tony’s friends and we are now at Mildura.

Brachina Gorge was my favorite part of the Flinders because of its spectacular colours, creek crossings and amazingly, solitude. We wandered through this part of the gorge with our picnic lunch just soaking it all up.

This was our last morning in the Flinders Ranges.  We had very cold evenings and early mornings but luckily bright sunny days.

Finally then onto Melrose.  I don’t remember too much about Melrose because as you can see I was very happy to meet up with these three little delights (and their parents too of course).  The weather wasn’t so kind to us here unfortunately. By the time we packed up we were all ankle deep in mud around our vans but that didn’t stop us walking around the town finding a cosy little coffee shop with an open fire, lots of farm animals , going for hot rod rides, (there is a hot rod display held every 2 years to raise funds for the local school and this weekend happened to be it- the kids loved it).

In Burra you can purchase a town pass which gives you a key to access historical sites including the old goal, brewery and original cottages around the town and 3 museums. The main feature of Burra is their copper mining history in the early 1900s. After some searching in the local cemetery Tony found a couple of headstones belonging to his ancestors.

We were surprised to see these daisies along the highway through SA.  Made me think I should plant some when I go home to brighten up my world.

We certainly got lucky with this park right on the Murray riverbank –  NSW side.  We had decided it was time for a rest and seeing it is such a lovely spot we will probably be here 5 or 6 nights.  The van with the awning out is ours.  Tonight Tony lit a campfire and we had 10 people for happy hour .Most of them from SA or Melbourne just getting away from the cold for a few nights.   One of the good things about the weather improving is we can now start enjoying happy hour again.  In the colder weather everyone is tucked up inside by 5.30-6pm.   As you can see from the top photo Tony is getting into the relaxed mode.  He says he is not too sure what he will do when he gets home now that he has retired.

Jenny x