Committed Travellers

We had breakfast at Forth cafe on Jetty Rd Glenelg. Our food was good, but our coffees were awful. I left half of mine, but Bluey didn’t mind his taster. Anita caught a tram to the city to visit the Adelaide Central Market, while Bluey and I explored Glenelg.

The beach here is still off leash all day, so I took Bluey for a run near the jetty, but there were no other dogs for him to play with.

My interest was in the many historic buildings in Glenelg, from the grand Town Hall and St Andrews by the Sea Uniting Church, to privately owned mansions and smaller homes.

This Georgian mansion at number 14 S Esplanade was a stand-out. It is called Stormont and was built in 1886 for grazier, Simon Barnard, but he lost his home in a poker game to his neighbour William Pile, who owned Albert Hall at 16 S Esplanade.

Albert Hall has 20 rooms over three stories. It became the Oriental Private Hotel in 1930, and in 1982 was used as backpacker accommodation. In the 1990s it was restored as a private residence, but is now divided into three apartments. It is a very ornate building.

Further along the Esplanade, these two buildings will need extensive and expensive renovations if they are to be saved. A second application to build a 10 storey apartment block and demolish the Seawall Apartments has been rejected.

Shoreham is an elegant three storey apartment block in the classic 1930 Art Deco style. The curves contrast with the angular lines of the new apartment blocks each side. I spotted two other buildings with curved walls, and a couple of shops with their original curved glass front windows, which are very expensive to replace if broken.

My favourite building along the Esplanade is Glenara, an 1873 Italianate structure that has been beautifully restored.

In the residential streets behind the Esplanade, surviving historic homes range from Georgian, Victorian, and Federation styles, to Californian bungalows.  Sometimes I could only see part of the building because of high fences.

Jetty Road Glenelg still has many historic buildings, but most have been “modernised” in a way that detracts from the original architectural style. The 1911 State heritage listed former post office is lost behind signs and road fencing, and is now used as a yiros house selling fish and chips. The former Savings Bank of SA is a real estate office with prominent advertising.

To the north of Jetty Road is the Patawalonga Boat Haven. There is a series of gates designed to stop floodwater from damaging surrounding buildings, but in 2003 the gates were kept closed, presumably to protect the boats, causing flooding of 150 buildings. The rusty gates are to be replaced with stainless steel versions that should last 50 years without a lot of maintenance.

The Glenelg Library and Dymocks book store both have large murals.

We met Anita when she arrived back on the tram and drove back to Brighton, refuelling on the way. Tilly was very glad to see us! I took her for a long walk, interrupted by the many pats she gets along the way.

We decided to try the Marino Rocks Restaurant for dinner as it was only a 4 minute drive south of our caravan park. The landscape changes dramatically from long flat beaches to a cliff with rocks at the waters edge. Dinner was edible but not brilliant. I brought home two chicken satay sticks for the critters. Anita was convinced they wouldn’t eat satay flavoured chicken, but they both ate everything!

I drove to Glenunga for errands, but still need to refuel the Toyota. Adelaide drivers are mostly good at adhering to the 60kph speed limit. Many four lane roads allow parking on the kurb for certain time periods each day. I really don’t like this as cars are constantly weaving into the right lane to go around parked cars, then back into the kurb lane. There are also lots of bike riders in Adelaide, so we regularly have to go 1m wide of them, but realistically, this also means moving into the right lane.

We walked Bluey north along the beachfront path, past the Sea Cliff Hotel. I let him off his lead onto the beach, but unusually there were no other dogs for him to chase.

This afternoon I drove miles to visit my niece and her family. The kids are all well, highly interactive, and clever. The four year old was thinking carefully about how I am connected to them all.

In the Bushtracker, Bluey can look over my shoulder to see what I am eating. I eventually told him to go away, but I took a close-up photo of him first.

We needed to buy some groceries, so went back to Westfield Marion to the Aldi store. This is located near the food hall, so we explored those shops first.

Dog coats were on sale at Aldi, but only one that would fit Bluey, so we had no choice in the colour.

We have driven past this Art Deco building a couple of times, so I asked Anita to take a photo. The bottom level is unattractive, but the top level is well preserved with classic geometric lines and bold colours.

This afternoon I noticed a Facebook post by my niece who lives in Broken Hill. It was a photo of the Brighton Beach jetty. When I contacted her we discovered they are staying about 2kms from us! They are in Adelaide to support a relative in hospital, so I had a quick catch-up with them late this afternoon.

This morning there was a very low tide, revealing hundreds of small rocks. Bluey had another run with one of the many poodles and oodles that visit this beach.

We spent the day at home in the Bushtracker catching up on odd jobs. The only clothes line in the park is 120m away. I carried the washing while Tilly walked, then carried her home in the laundry basket.

Another of our plastic drawer catches has cracked on both sides, so I replaced it from our spare parts department.

The critters had lots of attention during the day, before being left alone in the evening. Tilly used my chair as a scratching board. She loves scratching mesh but doesn’t tear it.

Bluey walked up the 100 steps with me as far as historic Kingston House at the top of the hill. I didn’t try to go inside this 1840 building as on Sundays it is open for devonshire teas.

We left for the city about 6.40pm and arrived home 4 hours later. Both critters were crazy with worry they had been abandoned. There were no traffic problems on our drive to or from the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and we were glad we had done our reconnoitre in daylight.

Melissa Etheridge is a spectacular live performer, and we had excellent seats where we could see her facial expressions and guitar skills. She changed her guitar for every song, played a harmonica in a couple, and joined the drummer in a fabulous display of her talents.

This morning the sky was cloudy, but it soon turned into another sunny day. Sadly for farmers, this has been South Australia’s driest autumn for 100 years.

As we enjoyed our cup of tea lying in bed, we saw lots of walkers and runners on the beachfront path. There is an organised Park Run every Saturday morning. I took Blue to the beach where he kept pace running with a Golden Retriever.

We drove to Jetty Rd where there are several cafes and restaurants. We will walk along the jetty another day.

We chose A Cafe Etc but Anita did not like her piccolo as the coffee was bitter. Bluey and I enjoyed my decaf flat white. The building is one of about three shops with Art Deco curved glass windows. The original timber ice chest is still in use, but not as a fridge. The cafe is decorated with lots of photos and pictures of Marilyn Munro. There is a courtyard out the back where dogs are welcome, but we sat in the sun on the footpath.

This mural is on a laneway building in the Jetty Street preccinct.

he Brighton Civic Centre is a striking Art Deco building. It is regarded as being one of the finest surviving examples of this period in South Australia. The colour scheme doesn’t accentuate the many vertical and horizontal lines on the building exterior.

We are going to see a Melissa Etheridge concert tomorrow night, so drove to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre to understand where we should park. On our way home we stopped at the very busy Marion Shoppingtown to buy a few groceries.

This photographic mural on a toilet block shows the caravan park in the 1960s. The cliff is now protected as a conservation area.

It was high tide with a reasonable breeze that suited this windsurfer. The kite surfer was having trouble holding onto his kite.

The sun sets in the west over St Vincent Gulf. The waxing crescent moon is just visible in the second photo.

We packed up and left our Hahndorf caravan park at 10am. Our drive to Brighton Beach would have been less than an hour, but we could not check-in at Brighton until midday.

We diverted to Mylor, a small historic village popular with hikers and bike riders. Wikipedia notes there is no pub and attributes this to the early settlers being strict Methodists, who back then had temperance beliefs.

I walked along the two blocks of the main road where the local primary school has this coloufull mural.

There are only three retail shops in Mylor. Coopers Rural and Hardware Supplies has been in operation for 125 years, selling all things needed for animals. This historic photo is from their website, and there has been little change to the front of the building.

I didn’t visit the General Store, but the website shows photos of sourdough bread baked on site in a micro bakery. It is a small family-run business selling household essentials and local produce.

Verté Kitchen is very popular. It is run by a mother and daughter duo, with lots of female staff. The building was once the home of the Mylor Bakery. It has character and well-preserved historic features, and the food is very enticing. I bought an excellent sourdough loaf and a slice of slow cooked tomatoes and basil pie. Outside, there is a rack for bicycles and a toolbox to allow riders to make necessary repairs.

Also on the main street is a local hall and country fire brigade building, and a few older homes. Newer homes are located in the three back streets. Multiple new netball courts have been built near the school.

After we left Mylor, the roads were very windy and narrow, so our progress was slow. We didn’t need any further delay and arrived at Brighton Beachfront Holiday Park just after midday. I was given a map of the park with directions to drive around the amenities block onto our site, and not reverse onto it, which would have been simpler! As we approached our site, access was blocked by two small clotheslines pegged down onto the ground. I rang the office and a worker moved the clotheslines. When the owners returned, one of them glared at Anita, so I told them we didn’t move their clothes lines.

After manoeuvring onto our site and unhooking, I took Bluey for a well-deserved run on the beach. The whole beach is off-leash all the time when daylight saving is not in force. He found another dog to run with and to chase. There is a great kiosk very close to our site. Anita ordered a serving of fish and chips while I was on the beach with Bluey. Both the fish and the chips were delicious! Bluey and Tilly loved their samples.

I liked this park poster as it includes a cat. There is at least one other cat here, and his owner was delusional in thinking Tilly would like to meet him! Tilly chooses people to talk to on her walks, and is not interested in other cats.

There is a nature reserve behind the park, with 100 steps up to a lookout – I counted them! There is a good view over the park and the arrow shows the location of our Bushtracker.

Tilly was busy killing the blanket, while Bluey was hungry after all of his exercise. He stood on my coat, pleading with his eyes for Anita to feed him.

Anita used the stove and oven in the camp kitchen to cook our delicious pork chops. I supervised!

We drove to Crafers to have breakfast at the Crafers Bakehouse, but the offerings were very disappointing, and nothing like the reviews. Bluey waited outside while we were in the shop, secured to the big table.

The town is very close to the M1 S Eastern Fwy, and has a lot of truck movements thanks to ongoing roadworks. There are a few modern shops with parking, but the nearest supermarket is at Stirling, only 2kms away.

The Crafers Hotel was built in 1880. It offers accommodation, food and of course drinks. I found a photo online of one of the bedrooms in the hotel.

Anita did three loads of washing in our small machine, and I put a load through a large machine in the laundry. The clothes line behind the laundry was in shade and likely to stay in shade for the rest of the day. I discovered there are two laundries, and there was some hope of sun filtering through the tree canopy at the lower laundry. I lost track of how many times I walked down to the clothes line, moving clothes on the lines to chase a little sun. Everything did eventually dry.

Tilly likes being carried around in the laundry basket, so I took her on one trip, and she walked back up the hill on her lead. We are in the Adelaide Hills, and this large caravan park has lots of hills.

While the washing was drying, I subjected Bluey to a grooming session. I used new clippers to trim his paws before cutting his claws, then tidying his face. He tolerated all of this but was glad when it was over.

I have been trying to add a plugin that would allow me to apply a password to my whole blog site. After many emails and several wasted hours, I discovered that I would have to upgrade my WordPress account, and this would cost nearly $500 per year! I gave up and the money I paid for the plugin will be refunded.

This afternoon, we spent some time organising where we will go after spending a week in Adelaide. Our friends will join us for some of these activities.

I have a collection of photos capturing the colours of autumn trees, and flowers planted around Hahndorf, so I created these collages.

We woke to a foggy start in Mannum. After breakfast in the van, we hooked up and drove the picturesque route to Hahndorf through small villages.

We are staying at the Hahndorf caravan park where this mural on the side of a building reminds us where we are.

Reception gave instructions about which way to drive to our site and reverse in. We stupidly followed those instructions! The site behind us was empty, so we could have driven through. Instead, we contended with a drop off on one side of the narrow road and managed to get on the site but too close to our neighbours. We then came in from the other direction, avoiding a fence and the taps. We levelled up, put Tilly on her lead, connected power oʻand hoses, half an hour later than we should have!

There is a large function centre in this park, with props for events like weddings.

We took Bluey for a drive to Hahndorf for lunch at the German Spoon. Anita enjoyed her German sausage, as we watched the owners of a motorhome across the road cause traffic chaos. It had a flat tyre on the driver’s side, and hubby tried to change it while his wife watched on. They copped some abuse for creating a dangerous situation and blocking traffic. Eventually they gave up and called the professionals.

We walked along the main street viewing historic building, many with a German theme. The Leathershop was determinedly flying an Australian flag. Business was slow at the ice cream shop.

On our way back to our caravan park, we stopped to buy supplies at the large Hahndorf Fruit and Vegetables shop.

One of the local Thai restaurants was awarded the 2023 winner of the AGFG Readers Choice award. We decided to try it, but were disappointed, especially with one of our favourites, pad Thai. Bluey and Tilly were happy to see us come home early.

Golly Gosh it was cold last night! Officially the temperature bottomed out at 3.2° at 5am, but the “feels like” temperature was colder. I turned the heater on low at 4am, but should have set it a bit higher.

The highway west of Keith is much better than the eastern section. For most of the drive, we followed two semi trailers adhering to their 100kph speed limit. There were plenty of overtaking lanes and average speed cameras to keep the wannabe speedsters contained.

While we were refuelling at Tailem Bend, an idiot raced onto the service station forecourt, skidding to a stop. Fortunately, nobody was walking towards the shop at the time. While inside paying for our fuel, Anita noticed the person at the checkout write down the idiot’s number plate.

We crossed the Murray River at the town of Murray Bridge on the road bridge built in 1879. The bridge height was initially set at 20 feet above the flowing river, but it had to be increased to 30 feet to allow the funnels of paddle steamers to safely pass under the bridge. The bridge has recently been painted and looks brand new.

We tried to stay at the Mannum caravan park, but cats are no longer allowed, even if they are kept inside the caravan. The area is a bird sanctuary, but a confined cat can’t hurt birds. Our second option was to stay at the golf club for $25 for the night, with power and water. Only four vans can stay overnight.

After we had unhooked and set up, I walked Bluey to the nearby fenced dog park. He does tend to walk if I tell him we are going to a park. It was in reasonable condition, but a larger dog arrived, so we left.

We had arranged to meet up with a couple of Roadie friends and their little Leo. Bluey has poor eyesight, but he recognised them from a distance of more than 50m. A couple travelling in the boat in this photo have a one year old Spoodle, and the dogs all met in the garden of the Prettoria Hotel where we had lunch. The plaque on the tree marks the 2023 flood height of the river.

I found this old photo of the Prettoria Hotel online. The following photos are of other Mannum hotels during floods. During the 1956 flood, people rowed small boats along the main street and were served drinks from the top floor verandas of hotels.

We had a very enjoyable evening with our friends, and the dogs had a great time playing together.

As we had hooked up last night, we  only had to find a tap in the showground to top up our tanks. Two RVs stayed at the showground by the river, apparently avoiding paying for their overnight stays.

Our chosen route was the A8 Western Hwy through Nhill and Bordertown. The speed limit on the Victorian side of the border is 100kph, but in SA, it is 110kph without any upgrade to the highway. At least six vehicles overtook us while we were driving at 100kph in Victoria. Except for one vehicle, each car that overtook us drove at the speed limit after racing past and stayed within 500m of us.

This former hotel is in the small community of Kiata. It was established as a hotel in 1882, but was sold last October for $235,000 as a private residence.

We stopped at the overflowing quarantine bin to dispose of a couple of pieces of fruit. There was no inspection station such as we have experienced at other border crossings. SA wants to keep out Victorian diseases affecting fruit.

We picked the town of Keith for our overnight stop and have been impressed by the caravan park. It has been refurbished and is very spacious. One drawback is that both clotheslines were in afternoon shade. We did a load of washing in the clean and tidy laundry and dried it all successfully on lines tied to the van. Despite her cross look, Tilly enjoyed some time in the sun.

We walked the short distance to the small town where the local butcher was advertising on the footpath. I prefer not to think about the origin of meat!

There is a simple mural on the wall of the local IGA and I liked this part of it.

A more detailed and clever mural of a bookshelf is very realistic, but the book titles are humorous references to local places. The magpie is part of the mural.

A couple of historic buildings in the town centre reflect the unusual way homes were built in SA in the early 1900s. There was little timber growing in SA, so readily available limestone was used as infill between stronger brick corners. The last picture is of an 1899 building, which at times, was used as a school. Since 1949, it has been occupied and maintained by the local branch of the CWA.

For dinner, we walked back to town to eat at the Keith Hotel. This is a large facility comprising the original hotel, a motel, and a purpose built dining room with an outdoor dining area. A lot of roadworkers and other contractors passing through stay at the motel.

Part of the caravan park is surrounded by a fenced conservation park. At dusk, I spotted the lone goat that lives in the park, and a pair of rock wallabies.