Snowtown, S.A. - 14 Jan 2013

Scary town. This is the town of the barrel murders!

I walked into the bakery to buy some bread only to be told the only had one loaf of bread. I asked if I could have other sliced. The sales clerk inquired with the staff at the rear of the shop and I was told no! I couldn't get sliced bread from here. I said i thought this was a bakery? She said, If I wanted sliced bread I would have to go to the iga down the road......what the? She looked rather scary so I wasn't going to temp murder!

Also had a windmill farm that they had established and some information about it.

Brighton, Adelaide, S.A.'

Found a nice site on the beach for 4  nights. Would like longer here but were hard pressed getting the 4 nights :-(

Today we've decided to get the kayak out ;-)

Whilst we were out kayaking, I used the kids snorkel and goggles to have a look around in the beautiful clear water. I saw a whiting and lots of jelly fish. They were tiny translucent with red spotty tentacles. We were so excited. Jenna had a look. Then, shock, horror some of the little critters stung Jenna :'( she was jumping around, whilst I'm trying to tell her to start swimming away from them on the top of the water. Anyway, Paul to the rescue pulled her on the kayak, and all was well. A couple of very small welts but otherwise Jenna survived the trauma.....lol!

Some face painters were in the park and were happy to paint the kids faces for free. Just one catch it was a Spider-Man theme. So,  Jenna got Spider-lady.

The following day, we met up with Crash (Craig Cranston). We haven't seen him since before we had kids.
We met his new wife, Kym,  who is lovely send seems to love all things that Crash loves.

Crash took us on a tour of where he works....a winery! Lucky him!  He told us all there is to know about wine making. Considering he is an IT nerd...he did a magnificent job of it.  A bit of wine tasting, a couple of purchases and off we went to lunch. Had a wonderful day! Kids were pretty well behaved too.

Rained on our last day in Adelaide, so the kids watched movies for a good part of the day and Paul searched for a new place to camp ;-)

Adelaide, S.A.

Came into Adelaide to get the caravan serviced. All good there. Now just have to organise a service and smash repair for the land rover :-)

Whilst we were in Adelaide, waiting to pick up the caravan, we did a cruise around port Adelaide. Saw a couple of dolphins too.

After the cruise, we checked out the lighthouse.

Mildura

Stayed in buronga riverside caravan park. Lots of shade, right on the river. Good place to stay while there was a heat wave. Right on the river.

Dubbo

Dubbo was a busy place. We spent the day cruising round the zoo in the comfort of airconditioning as it was so very very hot outside.  All those people on bikes, crazy they were!  At the end of the day you could see the heat had taken its toll on the bike riders :-)

Lots of animals you don't normally see in an Australian zoo.....like giraffes, zebras, hippos and rhinos. Didn't see the cheetahs, he was hiding or not even there when we went to look at him :-(

We went to the dubbo gaol. Kids reckon that the gaol was better than the zoo. Lots of information about criminals trying to escape and how through such efforts, they had to redesign certain aspects of the gaol.  There was a very dark (pitch black) room. Solitary confinement! No wonder they went crazy in there. Tried out the stocks, and wouldn't you know it, I needed to scratch my nose while I was in them. That would drive you crazy too if you couldn't get out of them. Fortunately I could scratch my nose......lol!

Mannum, west of Adelaide

Our first free camp (well, $10 anyway).  On the Murray river. Wrong had to cross the Murray river with the caravan. So we boarded the ferry and away we went.

The camp we are staying at is right on the river next to the ferry. Town is on the other side.

Kids found a rope swing into the water. They tried it and quickly got changed as its a very low 23º today. Surprisingly cold. Another hot one tomorrow.

Bathurst

Arrived day before yesterday (sat). Took a drive around mount panorama. Kids enjoyed that. So much so, we had to do it again after dinner.  Wonderful view from the top.

Checked out the Australian fossil and mineral museum yesterday.  Very interesting to learn which minerals are in which products we use on a regular basis.  And the different stages of life cycles for dinosaurs and the like.

For new years eve, we went to Victoria park. Bathurst goes all out when they have a function. There were rides for $1 , bargain!  Face painting, free!  Food, balloons, music and fireworks. It was a smoke free zone instead of an alcohol free zone......bizarre!

To top our visit of Bathurst off, I caught up with my friend, Karen. Whom I have not seen in at least 12 years. It was a great place to visit. So far, I think Bathurst is a place I could live. Relaxing lifestyle with all that u need.