The time had finally arrived to
head to Kapunda to meet up with the Woods’ family – new friends that we’d met
on the road – and we were really looking forward to seeing them all again! However, as they were all at work and school,
we had some time to spare so on good advice, called into Martindale Hall at
Mintaro. Martindale Hall is an authentic
19th century Georgian mansion which was built in 1879 for a 21 year
old sheep farmer – how lucky was he.
This home, which was built for sporting activities (boasting a cricket
pitch which was actually used to host the English XII, a boating lake, a race
course and a polo field) and entertainment, is nearly in original condition and
is a live museum due to the fact that you can stay overnight. One of the major claims to fame regarding this
house is that it was used in the 1975 film Picnic
at Hanging Rock – not that any of us have seen the movie. We were greeted by Annie the new resident dog
who was more than welcoming, and upon entering the house we were all amazed at
its size but also its grandeur with the stunning staircase leading to both
sides of the upstairs level, the magnificent cornices and high ceilings and the
library / billiard room – amongst every other aspect of this place. Well worth the visit if you ever get to the
area. Our next stop was in Auburn where
we’d heard about a newly opened Brewery so had to check it out. We parked outside “Oma’s Bakery” (which was
unfortunately closed) and headed across the street to taste the local brews;
and we didn’t leave after just one – they tasted really good and we were in no
hurry to leave. There was a couch inside
and as we were the only ones here we of course made ourselves right at
home. The kids even pulled out their
little computers for some play time and the host supplied them with some chips
and drinks… another lovely little place.
We finally made our way to Kapunda (which lies between the Clare and
Barossa Valleys) and further made ourselves at home at the Woods’ beautiful
household by setting up our van in their backyard and our kids were immediately
drawn to the boys’ trampoline. We did a
quick set up and went into town to check the place out. We had a wander down the main street admiring
the gorgeous old buildings and past the Sir Sydney Kidman bust and mural. Sir Kidman is best known as the “Cattle King”
in this area. He was a horse dealer who
amassed a fortune and became the largest land holder in Australia’s
history. He married a school teacher
from Kapunda and was a very generous man even donating one of his homes,
Eringa, after his retirement in 1921, to the Education Department. We called into the local information centre (also
the local library) where they also had a great little museum downstairs beneath
ground level. This had some great
history on the town as well as showing how important the sporting teams of the
area were to build their foundations. By
the time we got back to the Woods’ home, it wasn’t long before Mick and the
boys were all home and we were catching up on the events of the past month or
two and swapping travelling stories once again.
Susan wasn’t coming home for the night but, nonetheless, Mick made a
great meatball dinner and the kids were all fitting in together famously as was
the case on the road.
The following day, Mick went off
to work and we had the pleasure of walking the three boys to their school. It was only up the road, and we were
impressed that the older kids of the school have the job as “lollipop” people
to assist in the kids in crossing the busy street – a very important role. We ventured into Lachlan’s room and listened
to him do his morning reading before saying goodbye to the boys and heading
back home. We turned today into a school
day for our kids also and played a bit of catch up; not that any of us enjoyed
it. At the end of the day we went to
pick up the kids from school, stopped in town for an ice-cream and then stopped,
on our walk back home, for a play in the local “train” park. It wasn’t too late when Mick and Susan were
both home from work and we were enjoying a few drinks together and previewing
some photos from our trip that we’d shared together – good times!
Saturday had finally arrived and
the boys had a cricket match this morning.
Josh went with Mick and the boys to help set up while us girls remained
behind. Zoe and Sami had a lesson on
baking a cake from Susan (clever cookie, she was baking one for the family as
well as one for her mum’s 70th birthday which they were going to
later tonight). Us girls eventually made
it to the game and watched each of the boys have their go at batting (we’d
missed their fantastic fielding efforts).
After winning their game it was back home for us all for a sausage
sizzle and Toby had a birthday party to attend.
That left 8 of us ready to get a bit of fresh pedalling around town on
bikes for a ride around town which was a lot of fun. The kids were pretty much all racing each
other to begin with but then our girls got a little worn out and fell behind
the boy brigade. Mick and Susan took us
to some great places, including along the route of the Kapunda mining trail,
visited the art studio of Jacqueline Coates and then to the studio of Roger
Murcott, well-known for his sketches and paintings of Australian birds. We made a detour past another cricket game
that Mick should have been part of and then past Kapunda High School, also
known as Eringa. Back at their house the
Woods had to do a quick pack and head towards the city for the night for
Susan’s mum’s birthday so we had a quiet night chilling out with a movie and
enjoying the comforts of a real lounge and the kids had a hoot playing with the
boys dress-ups.
Sunday morning we headed towards
the city of Port Adelaide and into the Fishermen’s Wharf Markets. These are great markets with a fantastic
variety of stalls – not that we need anything for the van but it was a nice
place to wander about. We then found the
Port Adelaide Nautical Museum and went in to add more pieces to our puzzle
about the boating history of Australia. The
first thing that stood out to us was the many ship figureheads all lined up
down one of the walls. Josh and the kids
had fun going incognito and trying to blend in with them before exploring all
the other exciting things in the museum.
There was a great section about the emigrants that came to the country
and the very limited comforts they had in their boat trip. Some of the other highlights in this museum
was the original bell from the Protector
(South Australia’s first and only warship), the original anchor from Matthew
Flinders’ ship, the Investigator and
the remnants of the original plaque placed at Memory Cove (near Port Lincoln)
by Matthew Flinders during his circumnavigation when eight men perished after
attempting to return to the ship from the mainland after searching for fresh
water – all very interesting! Upon
leaving, we walked down to the water’s edge to climb up Port Adelaide’s
lighthouse… it isn’t very high but you do get a good view of the town and the
port. After lunch we went for a drive
along the coast and checked out the beaches further south. It is a pretty area but by golly gosh it was
windy – we were feeling sorry for those competing in life-saving events at Grange
as the water must have been freezing! Just
a little up the road is a gorgeous old Victorian style building (circa 1884) which
consists of 8 three-storey terraces built similar to the home built for Captain
Charles Sturt, Surveyor General of South Australia. We had planned to pull into Semaphore a
little further on but they obviously had some kind of festival going on and
there was no parking in sight so we continued back north to St Kilda. The kids were excited when we jumped out of
the car and there is a massive playground here with big slides, a huge flying
fox, lots of different styles of swings and see-saws and much more. We only spent about an hour here but the kids
had a ball as did we (apart from the swing that rotates in circles
anyway). Back at the Woods residence,
they too had only just returned home so we enjoyed a bite to eat and more photo
and story time, the company is wonderful.
So, Monday rolled around, and the
boys enjoyed a day off school to spend with the Scheffers, we were very
excited. Susan spent the day today
playing personal tour guide and we had a brilliant day out. Our first stop was at the Barossa Dam
enjoying the fun of “The Whispering Wall”.
The kids raced across to the other side of the dam wall to see if they
could hear us whispering… well of course they could. It took us a while to get them back to our
side as they were having a hoot, especially when Josh began to play them some
music through the “sound system”. Next
we pulled into Jacobs Creek winery and enjoyed a bit of wine tasting. Yay, I had found someone to taste the wine
with – unfortunately though Susan was also driving – it was fun anyway. The kids enjoyed a bit of playtime outside
while we were here and while Josh joined us up on the mailing list. It was about lunch time by now so we headed
to the Barossa Pioneer Memorial where we had a stunning view over the Barossa
Valley. We made up some sandwiches and
enjoyed the view and it was a good spot for the kids to run around the sculptures
nearby. Next point of call was in
Angaston where Susan and I tasted some lovely local soft cheeses at The Barossa
Valley Cheese Co. followed by a fantastic coffee. Josh took on the job of taking the kids to
the park where they enjoyed exploring and hiding in the forest – seriously, I
think it really was a forest as it took them so long to come back when it was
time to go! Upon driving on, we were
taken to Maggie Beer’s and Josh was in his element tasting just about
everything on display including pates, cheeses, olives, dips, sauces and a
glass of wine. We finished up here by
grabbing ice-creams for the kids and enjoying the view out on the deck looking
over the dam and turtles. Our final stop
for the day was at Seppeltsfield, Josh again in his element organising the five
kids in age order for a race up the path to the building, and then joining
in. He’d given them all a huge
head-start and surprisingly still beat them all… don’t know where he gets his
energy. Susan and the boys left us here
to get home and get ready for swimming tonight while we continued in to the
vineyard to have a look around. Again,
the grounds were lovely and really well maintained with many stunning old
buildings scattered around for exploring; there was even a bit of an art
gallery in the “jam factory”. Upon
arriving back at Kapunda, we packed up a few things and hit the local pool with
Susan and the boys for their weekly swimming lessons. Zoe and Samantha even got in to enjoy the fun
with all the other kids. We wandered
back down the street to “home” and enjoyed our last night with the Woods family
– they have been so much fun to hang out with and hope that we can return the
hospitality one day soon.
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