south australia: the nullabor, WA border,

How's this for a view? We lucked out with the weather too! 

This free camp is called Peg Stop 13km as it is 13km east of the South Australian and Western Australian border. 

Please if you are travelling and intend to use free camps, remove your rubbish and ensure you are self-contained. The saddening part of so many stops on this pretty stretch of road is the damage people have inflicted on the scenery. 

south australia: the great australian bight

The guide books will tell you that you must stop at the Head of the Bight. I have two pieces of advice:

1. If you do, take a fly net with you, and

2. You get amazing views from the following three look-outs and they are free. 

The Head of Bight is a stunning and accessible spot with a boardwalk to the cliffs edge. 

The three look-outs give you expansive views along the sheer coastline. It would be amazing watching whales from these vantage spots where people have bragged at having seen them frolick in the waters below. 

You can see we had clear skies! 

Look out at Great Australian Bight

Look out number ? 

south australia: fowlers bay

We met this shingle back lizard on the road in to Fowlers Bay. He was not too pleased to see us! 

Remember Bob from Napperby? He suggested we stay in Fowlers Bay as he's visited many times over the years and  fishing for squid off the town jetty is popular. We didn't catch any squid but we did stay for two nights. 

View of Fowlers Bay from the sand dunes. 

I've never seen sand dunes like the ones at Fowlers Bay and it seems they're slowly encroaching on to the town as the towns main road was where the dunes now stand. 

It's an interesting town of only a few houses and feels so isolated given that the town's water supply is from an aquifer. What look like garden hoses run from the aquifer amongst the dunes to the homes of Fowlers Bay. The town uses solar energy and a generator kicks in when that runs out. 

If you're intending to stay at Fowlers be sure to fill your water tanks beforehand as you can't fill from the caravan park. There's also no dump point. 

We enjoyed sitting by the camp fire at night at the caravan park and the kids enjoyed meeting other kids who were staying too. 

south australia: perlubie beach

Pandurra Station to Streaky Bay is a decent drive with the kids so we made sure we stopped for a play in the park at Minnipa! And there was Tully and his folks again! Now we don't know who was following who but it was nice to see familiar faces!!

If we'd had the time we would've visited Pildappa Rock. Apparently it's a delightful place to stay. Our list of places to visit on our next trip is getting longer! 

We stopped in at Streaky Bay which was our last stop at a supermarket before hitting the bitumen across the Nullabor. I made sure we stocked up on fresh veggies (including carrots, sweet potato and corn which can be taken across the border) and frozen veggies because I knew we'd miss them in the few days from the WA border to the next supermarket. 

Oh and another tip. Fill up with diesel at Poochera. Streaky Bay was an extra 20c litre which adds up!

If you can free camp then Perlubie Beach is a place you'll want to stay. If you have the right gear you can even camp right on the beach. We arrived at Perlubie late in the afternoon and found ourselves a spot in the carpark just behind the beach. J remarked "I reckon we could get the van on to the beach. Might be an adventure." As we were planning to leave as early as possible the following morning it wasn't really an adventure I was comfortable with. We settled with a compromise and ate dinner on the beach after the boys explored the caves on the western end. What a spot!

south australia: nuttbush retreat, pandurra station, iron knob, kimba

You can stay in Ceduna on the SA end of the Nullabor but we opted for the sheep station of Pandyrra also known as Nuttbush Retreat. I love staying on stations. There's a welcoming sense of staying at someone's place. We were lucky to meet a really lovely family - Mum, Dad and 3 year old Tully - at Nuttbush and we've kept in touch and stayed with them a number of times across the Nullabor. It's really special meeting like minded travellers on the road and we kept a look out for each other as we drove that long stretch. 

We'll be seeing Tully's family along the WA west coast too. I'm looking forward to more campfire laughs! 

Seeing our first Sturt Desert Pea was pretty special. 

The Big Galah in Kimba. We love big things. 

south australia: napperby

For as long as I can remember my family 

spoke of my grandmother's uncle, Cyril, who enlisted at the outbreak of World War One and was killed on ANZAC Day at Gallipoli at the age of 22. My grandmother's mother, his sister, was only one and a half years old when he died. 

This photograph of Cyril atop a camel in Egypt was displayed in my grandmother's home. (It turns out that copies were sent home and distributed to each of Cyril's siblings from Cyril himself in Christmas 1914).  

Leading up to the centenary of the Gallipoli landings a group of West Australians made it their mission to identify each of the West Australian soldiers who died at Gallipoli. They have also identified many of the men of the 11th Battalion who were photographed at the pyramid in Cheops. Cyril is #587. 

Articles have been published in the newspapers and, as a result, more family has come out of the woodwork. Who would have thought that, one hundred years on my great, great uncle's death could bring the family's branches all together? It's been particularly overwhelming for my cousin, who now lives in Switzerland, as she has recorded  so much of our family history & genealogy. 

This photo surfaced in an old album and the people have been identified as the grandparents of Cyril at the Napperby Store. My cousin flicked this photo to me so that I might be able to visit the town. As it happened Napperby was a short detour for us - not far inland from Port Pirie. 

It only took a few minutes to drive through the streets of small town of Napperby. We found a playground and set about getting lunch together when a local, Bob, pulled up asking if we needed help. 

I showed Bob the photo and, intrigued as he was, he stayed a while and we discussed the history of Napperby and its townsfolk. Obviously we didn't expect the Napperby Store to exist nowadays but Bob suggested some of the older folk in town might recognise others in the photographs - and may well have photos of my family too. 

Bob is now on a mission! And it's pretty exciting for us!! 

south australia: tanunda, barossa, nurioopta

We were lucky enough to have a somewhat unplanned stay in the Barossa - at Tanunda. Our solid Land Cruiser Workmate needed a service so we stayed in Tanunda so J could take it in to Adelaide city for the day.

The CP was great for the kids with a playground in view of the caravan and a short walk in to the pretty town. We love the original stone buildings in South Australia. 

I fell in love with an antique shop in town (there are a few) and packaged up some amazing green Pyrex dishes and sent them home. 

One morning Miss P and I had a drive, mainly to see Maggie Beer's Kitchen but P insisted I pull over when she spotted these horses feeding by the road. She loves horses. I think someone will be wanting riding lessons soon! 

The samples of Maggie's peaches didn't last long! Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I left my wallet back in the caravan so when it came time to make a few purchases I had to go through the car to find some coins. 

Dear little P decided she'd like to buy us some peaches by herself. She came back to me on the verge of tears and i could see she was upset. The tears poured down as she said the man wouldn't let her buy any peaches. 

A few weeks later it occurred to me that poor P had taken the sample bowl to the counter, rather than a packet. I assumed she didn't have enough money! 

We made the most of the beautiful weather and rode the rail trail from Anguston to Nurioopta. This is a superb ride through the wineries. There were a few stray grapes (not in the wineries but creeping on to the verge) so we tasted a few grapes along the way. 

What a great way to finish a ride! Local wine and tapas at Home of the Brave, First Drop Wine Bar. The kids loved the Brie and the olives. The prawns were delicious. 

After tapas I took the kids across the road to the local library while J Ross back to fetch the car. 

There are various roads from Nurioopta to Tanunda past big properties so we took the dirt roads back. 

south australia: the easter bunny, adelaide

I was lucky enough to get a leave pass in Adelaide which gave me the opportunity to food-storm (a brainstorm over food) with a fellow foodie and family friend Sue. What better place to meet than the Adelaide Central Market. Being the Saturday before Easter the market was buzzing and good food was in abundance. I rode my bike in, which was a great ride through Adelaide parklands and streets. 

 

Sue and I met at the famous Lucia's and there was a loooong queue that inched towards the counter. It was over breakfast that we food-stormed just what we could do with the Coorong bunny from Shane. 

Sue has the same approach to fresh good food and being able to partner ingredients and flavours. If you've ever cooked rabbit before you'll know it is lean and needs to be cooked slowly over a long time. Sue suggested I buy some speck for fat (and Lucias was the perfect spot to grab some) and serve it with polenta. 

I rode in to town which limited what I could bring home but it didn't stop be stocking up on goodies - think really hippy low-go muesli, salami, Stephanie Alexander's curry paste, spray-free Aussie grapes, the list goes on. Needless to say my backpack was full. 

Sue and I decided that the bunny had to be cooked with the usual - garlic, onions, carrots, capsicum, water, a tin of tomatoes and a generous splash of wine. 

I'd add speck, pepper, salt, sage, native pepperberry (from Diemen Pepper in Tassie), two cinnamon sticks and yummy, yummy quinces from our host's tree right at the end. 

This bunny was cooked on 120°c over six hours. I threw in the quinces in the last forty minutes and cooked creamy polenta in the Thermomix (but you can do it over the stove). 

adelaide for Easter

We've just had the most relaxing few days with friends Christina and Will who we met Elizabeth Bay in Sydney when our oldest children were only a few months old. 

We used to swap babysitting and now we have 5 children between us. It was still enjoyable to just hang out and chat, play cricket, cook and read, while the kids played and played and played. 

We saw little of Adelaide really but sometimes you just have to stop racing around. Considering we've done a lot of sightseeing we appreciated the chance to relax. 

And what's an Easter weekend without a hunt? 

Christina raced down to her local fish monger in preparation for fishy Friday only to discover that people had put in orders and there was little to choose from. She settled on some pippies from Goolwa on the Fleurieu. We weren't sure what they'd be like but Will cooked them on the barbie before dousing them in a garlic, herb (all from the garden) butter and they were so, so tasty! 

This is a shocking photo. I dislike dinner pics as they're always dark and it doesn't do the meal justice.

south australia: fleurieu

Every day is a new adventure when you're on the road. You can plan ahead (we don't really) but you just don't know where the day will take you. 

Remember we mentioned staying at Old Mac's Farm in Launceston? It was there that we met a lovely couple who were travelling with a group of friends. They mentioned that their son loved with his family on the Fleurieu peninsula in South Australia and to drop in when we were in the neighbourhood. 

Well we got in touch with Andrew and he put us up for the night - in his olive grove! Andrew runs a small business - Seaview Grove Olive Oil - and runs a few cows on his property. When he and his wife bought the farm from the previous owner they'd initially thought they'd take out the hundreds of olive trees because they hadn't been a successful crop. 

We obviously talked about the amazing produce available in the Fleurieu and it was pleasing to hear so many small producers were getting their goods out there allowing people to buy fresh and local. It's a exciting time in the area. 

Andrew has done his research and has packaged his olive oil in casks. These casks ensures that the unused olive oil doesn't not come in to contact with air keeping it fresher anymore nutritious for longer. 

Not only that but Andrew can boast that he's selling a tasty all-rounder oil - beautiful for cooking and great for with bread and dukkah. It's also grown organically and is really reasonably priced $15 for a litre cask and is available online. Postage is free for orders over $40.  

http://www.seaviewgrove.com.au

Those gnarly old branches of the olive are beautiful. And the colour of their leaves. They aren't a showy plant for one that has so much to offer. 

It was a pretty amazing camp for the night and waking up with views to the ocean was special. Thanks again for having us!