Day 60 / 2014 - Clare Valley to Port Pirie

We are currently in Port Augusta preparing for the next leg heading towards Alice springs. We had originally planned to spend a couple of nights free camping roadside somewhere but the forecasted temperatures of 38 degrees and Northerly winds had us looking for a caravan park to run the airconditioner instead. We plan to head off tomorrow when the winds are predicted to blow from the South which is more favorable for us.

Leaving Edithburgh we started up the eastern side of the Yorke Peninsula. We decided that we had just about had our fill of seaside towns for the moment as they were all starting to look the same and decided we would spend a bit of time inland so once we rounded at Port Wakefield we headed east towards the Clare Valley. The main area of the valley is between the towns of Auburn and Clare where most of the wineries are located. We arrived at Clare and booked into the caravan park. Being only 100 km from Adelaide Clare is popular on weekends and was busy.

The next day we visited several tourist spots the first being the Maze at Mintaro. Here there is a maze made from hedges which you can work out how to get to and from the centre. There is also an number of games you can play and there is a gnomeville similar to the one near Dardanup in WA except a much smaller version. From here we went onto Martindale Hall which is a grand manor which could be best described as Australias Downton Abbey. Martindale was used in the filming of Picnic at Hanging Rock and was used as Appleyard College for girls.

From here we went back towards Clare stopping at Annie Lane winery where we sampled some of the wine and ended up buying a bottle of Muscato, Reisling and Shiraz. The is a museum showing the history of wine making at Annies Lane. After spending another night at Clare we headed off back over the Flinders towards Port Pirie where we had an appointment to have our aircondition fixed and an oil change on the Patrol. We were about 2 days early so decided to free camp at Redhill for the 2 days. There were plenty of trees to park under with a toilet only 200 metres away.

 After the 2 days we moved onto Port Pirie where we met up with the Aircondtioner Tech who fitted the replacement condenser fan. We really appreciated Air Command for covering the replacement under warranty even though the unit was more than 12 months old. Once this was completed we then booked into the Rangeview Caravan Park about 6 km out of town on highway 1. At the caravan park we ended up next door to a couple who were also travelling around Australia. The car pulling the van was also Nissan Patrol around the same era as ours unfortunatley had caught fire in the engine bay stranding them untill the insurance company sorted out whether they were going to repair it or not.

The next day we took the car in for its service and went for a walk through town while waiting. We visited the Tourist bureau to find out what was available. Port Pirie has a lead smelter and a tour is conducted 3 times per week through the plant. We booked in for Fridays.