Ginger and Ed's Excellent Adventures

We spent 6 days in the area, but three of those we were pet sitters in Mount Barker. Much of the rest of the time we were kitting out the latest addition to our traveling family, a camper trailer. We saw a number of classic cars on the road and there are hills with twisty roads in the hills that reminded us both of southern California. Not to mention the proximity of beaches, the vegetation, and the climate.

The trailer is mostly lockable storage and a rooftop tent that is much more comfortable than what came with the Prado. We wanted more space to be able to stock up for the outback and to be able to carry more fuel and water. I spent time adding a fridge and fridge slide, a battery kit and solar panel to run the fridge.

We stayed at a lovely caravan park in a narrow canyon of Brownhill Creek.

We took walks in the neighborhood as well as up the canyon.

There were beautifully carved benches that were just outside the park with native fauna carved on the solid log benches.

We took an evening drive out to the beaches south of downtown. It was calm, with small wavelets and a nice place to wade in the water one last time before heading in to the outback.

There was an interesting memorial with names of those whose ashes were scattered at sea. It provided a place for loved ones to visit as there is no burial plot.

We also took a day to see the city, and spent a good part of it exploring the South Australia Museum. Entry was free and they hold the largest collection of aboriginal artifacts in the country.

There was also a collection of Ediacharin fossils. We plan to visit mountains where we hope to see them in situ. These are the earliest known marine animals, from about 600 million years ago.

There were interesting sculptures and murals all over.

We walked around the area looking at the architecture.

No Australian city would be complete without a war memorial. You will find one in every town, no matter how small.

There was a moving memorial to the Vietnamese boat people in a park along the river.

Adelaide is known as the city of churches and St. Peter’s Cathedral did not disappoint.

We learned that easter here is a big event, mainly because they have easter Monday off and many shops are also closed for good Friday. And that long weekend means everyone goes camping!

Part of the consideration moving forward to do with the war and likelihood of fuel shortages affecting the rest of our trip. Diesel prices have doubled since last month to about $3 per liter, and some servos were running dry. Things seem to have stabilized a bit, so we’ll be having a good of it and see what happens. Fortunately our tank has a range of about 600 miles and keeping it topped up means we have enough for an escape route if need be.