| Barossa and Xmas Festivities - Dec 08 |
Eyre Peninsula & Nullabor Crossing - Jan 09 |
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Originally in 2006, South Australia wasn't even on our travel itinerary however due to our revised plans, it was our first destination after leaving NSW en route for WA in December 2008.This wasn't our first time to South Australia but it had been a while. In just 45 minutes we crossed three borders from NSW into Victoria and then into SA, following the dwindling Murray River.
Our first stop was the Barossa Valley and some essential shopping for the Festive Season. Home to some of Australia's big wine exports like Jacobs Creek, Hardy's and Penfolds, we decided to visit some of the smaller boutique wineries but did pop into Penfolds, to literally just 'stroke' the bottles of Grange, oh and pick up a few bargains for cellaring (currently in a box in storage!)
We also had a great excuse to stop in Adelaide, spending Xmas and New Year with our friends Dave and Sue, who live in the very pretty Adelaide Hills (yet another wine region, SA has many!)
After two weeks of eating and drinking and general merriment, which also helped pass the time whilst we waited for an essential part for La Dolce Vita to arrive from the east, (Xmas is a frustrating time in OZ if you want something doing!), we embarked on our onward journey to the SA/WA Border.
Our next stop being the Eyre Peninsula, which we by-passed in 1999. Now Linds is a much improved surfer there was no missing out on this little part of the country. Depsite it being out of season, we saw some legendary surf breaks working, stayed in some fabulous beach camps and Linds will be returning towards the end of 2009 to score it BIG time!!
We also commenced the infamous crossing of the Nullabor Desert (translated means treeless plain), which provides an essential road corridor between east and west of the country - 1300 km's of bitumen that keeps on going and going and going and boasts the longest and straightest piece of road in the world! Due to it being the height of Summer, temperatures exceeding 40c kept us hopping from one Road House to the next in search of respite from the heat. AC wasn't invented when La Dolce Vita was put on the road!
We intend to return to SA later in 2009, after travelling through the Northern Territory en route to Perth - again.
PHOTO SLIDESHOWS
We've visited many of Australia's wine regions and very much enjoyed tasting the Barossa's Big Red's and visiting the quaint towns, all influenced by Lutheran settlers. The german breads and cakes, were a draw card alone and this historic area is well worth a visit just to taste them! We'd also like to thank Dave and Sue for their superb festive hospitality. Although we sneaked in a steak and some prawns for Xmas Day, we thoroughly enjoyed being vegetarian for two weeks. If you haven't tasted pretend bacon before - it aint that bad! 
A surfers hideaway, Cactus Beach was our main reason for visitng the Eyre Peninsula. Although well known amongst the surfing fratenity, its miles from anywhere. 1800km from the nearest city, being Adelaide, so its a HUGE effort to get there. But OH so worth it. You don't even have to be a surfer to appreciate the beautiful beaches; great camp set up (that's if you don't mind looking at the stars when showering and visiting the toilet) and as for the surf....... Although the breaks didn't perform to their best whilst we were there, Linds surfed everyday for 10 days and the netted swimming enclosure provided a refreshing break for Claire & Kirra. We could have spent ALOT longer here but an impending event in March kept us on the move!!!