Tuesday 8th January

The weather forecast was a key player in our plans today. It started at 7am when I woke up, showered, made breakfast, washed up & had us ready to roll by 7.30. We needed an early start to avoid driving the car in the silly heat again & Adelaide was still 400km away.

We stopped first of all at Port Pirie, an industrial town mainly with an enormous port. We checked out the visitors centre for some information & had the guided tour of the Great White Shark exhibition. It was very interesting & educational. The shark called 'Shakka' was caught in Schnapper nets looking for an easy meal & never escaped. She measured 5.5m & they had an exact replica model of her in the museum. If anything that big with that many teeth came anywhere near me I'd be in brown water. Made us feel relief that we were priced out of the cage dive yesterday!!

We found it amazing how the library is such a well used & fundamental part of life over here, when they are dying out back home. People were booking to use the internet, coming in to read newspapers or just take out books. I did think to myself that this place will be deserted in 10 years when they get the cables down for ADSL. I thought the same about the independent music store on the high street too!

From here we drove to the world famous Barossa Valley. Most of you will have had a run in with Jacob's Creek, if not drinking it yourself then having your partners drunken backlash from it!! As it was the only winery we could recognise in the region, we drove on up & didn't disappoint. We got a full history of the region, the company, the different wines & the different techniques used for different varieties of wine. Carly sampled a couple as I was driving! We bought a bottle for $15, all the while I was thinking that it's 3 for £10 in Asda & that includes both companies profits, freight, tax & VAT. Worth it for the experience though.

The town of Barossa was nice too, very old fashioned, prim & proper. The drive in & out of the whole region was fantastic, vineyards everywhere & it was a huge contrast to the usual browns, reds & oranges that you get all over the outback.

We made it to Adelaide around 4pm & settled into another campsite, cooked & got to bed early. After the heat yesterday & lack of sleep, we needed an early night. We'll be checking out the city tomorrow.

Wednesday 9th January

We had a lie in this morning, I like to think it was intentional to miss the rush hour traffic but in reality we were just shattered from all the miles we've travelled. We caught the bus into the city which was more expensive than First Bus, I didn't think it was possible but there we go. We'd have walked had we known!

The city centre or CBD is very classical, it didn't have much modern architecture, it tried to retain the Victorian style that was introduced by the first settlers & it definitely works. The buildings are grand, there is a lot of green space & we didn't notice any skyscrapers. You'll have to take our word for it though as we forget to bring the camera along for the ride!

We trekked around town through the various shopping centres & markets, checked out the South Australia Museum, the Botanical Gardens & the National Wine Centre. All interesting enough & filled our day nicely.

When we returned to the caravan park, we met a Swiss couple on their last day in their campervan. They offered us some of their provisions & also invited us to eat with them that evening. We accepted & got very drunk & ate a lot of food!

Thursday 10th January

Wow, what a hangover. A combination of a nice red wine & a dirt cheap white wine was devastating. We woke up, showered & then took a very long time to feel up to driving anywhere. Check out time arrived & we had to vacate. We hardly said a word to each other all the way to Hahndorf, a town settled by 58 German families in the 1850's. The ship's captain that sailed the families over was called Hahn, they named the town after him.

It is pretty much in its original state along the high street, shops selling wursts, sauerkraut, cheese & beer. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day to be hungover. All we wanted was to do was sample the sausages, the salamis, the cheese & maybe even the beer. In reality all the smells were making us feel worse & had to retreat to a strawberry farm until we could face going back in! It worked, I had a foot long chilli dog which couldn't have disappeared quicker if I threw it in the bin & Carly had a jacket potato with sour cream & cheese. She hardly touched it though so I did the right thing & ate that too.

After a very enjoyable day in Hahndorf we headed South along the coast to Rapid Bay. It's a cheap campsite on the beach & we're going to spend a couple days here enjoying the weather & giving Terry a day off too!!

Friday 11th January

We did nothing but sunbathe, swim, read & eat today & it was amazing. The temperature was well into the 30's & the setting is great. Wherever we settle in this life, it'll be by the sea for sure.

The only disappointment about this particular site was the company. Drunken, rowdy, noisy 'bogans'. We didn't get a great deal of sleep.