A circular bike ride

We have two new cycling paths by us, and we are loving them.   Safe and speedy!    Plus from Aldinga Beach we can cycle on a circular route with out riding on the road, although we do have to cross many of them, and need to pay close attention to the traffic as we cross over.    Cyclists and pedestrians have to give way to traffic unless there are lights or crossings.    

The route takes us east to Willunga, then north via McLaren Vale, cross over South Road, then head south to Aldinga Beach.    I think it is about 33 km in total.

Although I have used the bike paths often with the cycling group I thought it would be a good idea to ride it on my own so that I could stop and take photographs.      This makes for a much slower trip.

I also had to complete the ride twice as the phone ran out of battery on the first trip.    And it has taken me two months to finally put the photographs on Blogspot.

I rode from home on the bike path along Quinliven Road, Aldinga Beach, and crossed over the South Road overpass at the lights.    I always find I need to walk on the overpass as the cycle/walk path is quite narrow with a sharp turn before the slip road.    This path was not planned by a cyclist!   No photos, as I forgot!

A smooth stretch along Flour Mill Road, named after the two flour mills that operated here.  Well I think there were two flour mills.

One of the flour mills is still there, now a mostly fallen down wreck.    It is by the line of trees on the right.   

Around the corner on Free Lane, there are two old buildings.  The house in the photo below was once a maternity home, which is currently being restored into a family home.

Next door are the ruins of an old church.    

The new bike path on Aldinga Road, which leads to the little town of Willunga.  A gradual uphill ride, thank goodness for electric bikes.    There are some orchards but the land around here is mostly used to grow grapes.

The old railway station in Willunga.   The railway line, to Adelaide, was opened in 1915 and closed in 1969.    

Luckily the land that was used for the railway was made into a bike/walking path, with rest stops along the way.   I must add that it is a very scenic path, and travels through vineyards, and farming land and the town of McLaren Vale.    It is also lined with trees, and passes a couple of creek beds.

A lovely sunny rest stop on the edge of a hill, with a wonderful view over the vineyards.

The bike path with steep sides, and a bridge in the distance.    This part of the path goes through McLaren Vale, which has numerous restaurants and cafes.     McLaren Vale is known for its wine of course.

McLaren Vale Visitor Centre, the perfect place to have a rest, plus coffee and cake.    It is here that my telephone faded on the first trip, but two weeks later the weather had improved somewhat, with plenty of sunshine.  This makes such a difference.

On the second occasion, Emma rode with me, and we met up with Walter and Andreena, plus Trudy and Lindsay, family from New Zealand, who were visiting us.

Emma, looking very professional, on her electric bike.    

The new South Road bridge, with its fish sculptures, over the bike path.    Once past the bridge there is a turn off on the main bike path which leads south along the edge of the new expressway.

The new bridge over Pedler Creek, with the bike path on the western side of it.

There are two areas on the new bike path which display Aboriginal sculptures and boards explaining the Indigenous stories and life in this area.    Sadly most of the Aboriginal people died when Europeans settled in the area.

The new expressway on the left, with the bike path on the right, which is the western side of the road.  Plenty of valleys and hills to negotiate but easily managed with an electric bike.   At the moment the path is very exposed to the wind but hopefully once the trees have grown there will be some shelter.

Another Indigenous area.

No more photos sadly.   Not sure why this was so.

Once the path reaches Aldinga, then it follows a street to the area that we call Old Aldinga.  I take a short cut through the Eco Village, and then back onto the Quinliven bike path, and home.

Altogether a very scenic bike journey.

A short pre Christmas holiday

A short holiday before the Christmas rush, at our favourite close destination, Port Elliot.

Schoolies Week.     This turned out to be Schoolies Weekend I think.    The few end of Year 12 students still around are having a quiet beach holiday, the same as us.

Yet we were warned about coming down here during this week, due to the bad behaviour, the fights, drug taking and general anti social behaviour.   All called letting off steam after the final year of hard work and exams.

On the Gold Coast, Queensland they were expecting 30,000 young people over two weeks, and I must admit I would avoid holidaying there at this time of year.    The volume of people collecting in one area does not appeal at all.

We arrived at the camping ground on Sunday afternoon and one half of it was closed off for the general public.    There was a first aid tent, plus a church group offering support, but other than that it was just full of teenagers camping and socialising.   All very quiet and sedate.  And then they all left Monday morning.

I think the state government has stepped in and provided back up, with police, ambulance crews, first aid tents, counsellors, drug support and activities.   Plus free buses between Port Elliot and Victor Harbour and buses from Adelaide.   It all helps.

We have a perfect spot by the beach.    Except for the current strong winds, whipping around our caravan and making everything flap.   

On Monday morning the beach was deserted at 6.30 am, except for the group of early morning swimmers.

There was not much room for Piper to catch her ball, as the breakers were quite fierce, and not much wet hard sand.

The grassed area between the camping ground and the bowls club, cafe and Surf Life Saving Club, used to be the old camping ground, 

Another view of the old camping ground, now a grassed reserve.

Morning coffee at Victor Harbour on Monday.    Now where are all those wild 'Schoolies'.   Perhaps sleeping after a wild weekend.     Walter and Piper are definitely interested in something else, other than me taking a photograph.

A distant view of the central activities area for the Schoolies in Victor Harbour, which was being dismantled on Monday morning.   I have a feeling that this is now a very expensive week for young people, or their parents, as the activities looked expensive, plus accommodation or camping fees.   Unless they have parents with holiday homes here, or parents with extra cash.    

A view of Port Elliot beach, and the camping ground at the end of the bay.   
 

Another view of the beautiful beach.

Coffee on Tuesday morning was at the cafe on the wharf at Goolwa.   Perfect weather, and a perfect spot to view Lake Alexandrina. 

Plus a pelican posing for me.

This morning the breakers were huge, although the photograph below makes the sea look idyllic.   It was difficult trying to take a photograph of the largest breaker with Piper returning the ball quickly and then jumping up and down in anticipation of the next ball throw.

The next beach, only available for anyone who is willing to walk through the large reserve.

A lovely walk around the edge of the hill, with plenty of rocks below.

Only one more day in this beautiful area.   So we must make the most of tomorrow.    

Hopefully the wind has calmed down!

A visit to a beautiful garden

Today we visited Andreena and John's beautiful house and garden in Gawler.    It is also a very peaceful place, with no traffic noises, just the sound of birds in the trees, plus us talking of course.

The back garden with lovely olive trees framing the mixture of healthy looking shrubs at the front.

The lovely cool outdoor area, with comfortable seating and a view over the surrounding garden.   The shrubs and lawn are lush and green.

The feature area with statue and wall hanging.

The fountain, framed with two pots and a hedge..

 The driveway with immaculate hedges on both sides.   A difficult driveway to reverse a car out of as it has a bend in it, but gorgeous to look at

I have forgotten the name of these shrubs with little purple flowers.   We have two at home as well.

The side hedge framing the garden bed

                                         

And at the top back corner a shady nook under the olive trees.   A perfect spot to sit and look out on the garden, and relax.

This was a perfect end to our nearly three weeks away, both with catching up with Andreena and spending time in their garden.    

Reluctantly we drive back to Aldinga Beach, 127 km away.   Still it will be lovely to be home.   But it has been a great and relaxing holiday.

Copper Mining at Kapunda

I spent two hours early this morning with a very frightened dog.    A thunderstorm, but very little rain.   It started in the distance at 1.30 a.m. and faded in the opposite direction at 3.30 a.m.   Most unexpected.   Piper was unimpressed, and would not be comforted, and I must say I was not a happy bunny either.

However, the day improved after that, and we ended up with a cool but sunny day.   Perfect for the walk around the mine, 1 1/2 km of part brick and part bitumen path.    

Kapunda was a copper mining town, together with Burra and Moonta on the York Peninsula.  Kapunda was the first place to start copper mining, followed by Burra, and the two mines contributed to the colony's recovery from economic crises in the early 1840s.

Mining began here in 1844 and continued until 1879 when world copper prices fell.   However, by 1863 the main lode at Kapunda had been mined out,  Initially 100 tons of ore was produced each month.   The workforce was made up of the Irish who were the labourers, the Welsh who were the smelter specialists and the Cornish, who were the miners.  The people in charge were from England, and they controlled the mine and the town.

Unlike mines in Britain, only boys and men were allowed to take part in the mining of copper.    Boys aged 8 and older where used to break up the pieces of lode with hammers.    This was hard work.   The boys were often poorly dressed and poorly fed, and worked in areas that were very cold in winter and very hot in the summer.    They also had to attend school after they finished work.    Many of them died before they reached 12 years of age.

In fact life was very hard for most people, with infectious diseases causing many deaths.

The chimney still remains upright considering how old it is.

A model of a horse driven whim used to pull the copper ore to the surface.

Piper enjoying the walk, especially as many dogs had walked this area before her, so there were lots of doggy smells around.

A view over the open cut mines, now fenced off due to the many deep mining shafts.

The metal frame, from one of the processing areas.

The blue water at the bottom of an open cut mine shows that there is still copper there.

It is difficult in the photograph to see the areas where copper shows up against the white chalk.

A walk into one of the open cut mines.   The blue copper can be see in the rock on the right side of the photograph.

The big miner.    The very large statue that stands on the edge of the main road into Kapunda.  

                                         

This afternoon was definitely nap time, after a disturbed sleep last night and a walk around the mine.   

A day of history in Kapunda

After our coffee and cake at the local bakery we set off to follow the Heritage Trail Drive, with me driving and Walter following the map and giving directions.   Piper contributed nothing except throwing a look of boredom at us.

First off, the local hospital.    A beautiful old building, with a lacework verandah, sitting at the top of the hill.   There is another more modern building to the right of this building, which holds the Emergency Department and wards.

What we have found on our little tour is that all the small towns we have visited have hospitals, which have included Emergency Departments.   So Crystal Brook, Boolerroo Central  (20 minutes from Melrose), Quorn, Burra and now Kapunda all have hospitals.    They also have helipads to take people to Adelaide if they need further treatment.    People in these towns are more fortunate than where we live in Aldinga Beach, where our closest emergency hospital is a forty minutes drive away.   We do have one 20 minutes drive away but they always appear unwilling to attend to anything more than a minor complaint.  

There were lots of churches, most of them on the hillside, and with commanding views.   The Catholic Church of St Rose.    

Christ Church.  An Anglican Church.

Lots of beautiful white lacework on this house.

Renovated cottages.

A beautiful old house, surrounded by many trees and lawns.   It probably was part of the Baptist Church that was next door.

                                         
The Kapunda Museum, which was once the Baptist Church, built in 1866, in the Romanesque style of building.   It was quite impressive looking.

Once inside it was even more impressive, and stacked with exhibits which included everything that made up life in Kapunda.   The two floors depicting the social and commercial life in the town, plus an extensive display of agricultural machinery and motoring memorabilia.    So much stuff there, I found it hard to take it all in.   Also I was the only person in the museum, other than the man taking the money, and I found it all a little spooky, so I did not linger too long.

I was fascinated but very spooked by the dummies that were very lifelike.

The dining room.

The bedroom.   

The school room.

The church fittings from the Congregational Church, with the Minister standing at the pulpit.

The very steep stairs leading to the basement.   It took much courage to walk down those stairs.   

Some of the motor bikes and a car, with models of course.

The horse and carriage, with two passengers.

Now these two models were sitting on a two seated outdoor toilet.   Just too scary for words.   You had to open the door of the toilet to see them.    And then it had a latch at the bottom, which you had to unlatch to close the door again.   

It would have helped if Walter had been there too, but the stairs at the front were too steep, and he most certainly would not have managed the stairs within the building.   So it was a case of visiting on my own.   I think it was worth it.   

I hope I don't have nightmares about dummies tonight.