Monday, March 13, 2017

Road Trip 2017 – Day 5 – Broken Hill to Leasingham (Clare Valley)

Big travel day today so we were up fairly early, packing up the Deluxe Suite ready for our departure. Gary took the car off to the car wash as it had got pretty dirty with the dust and showers combination yesterday. A lot of bugs were plastered at the front and bizarrely he discovered that baby wipes can get them off very well. 

We set off about 9:30am and waved goodbye to Broken Hill, a truly amazing place. We spent a little while dodging goats that seemed to line the highway for the first hour or so, and then we stopped after about 200km at Yunta, a very small spot with a pub and 2 service stations. Luckily we had packed our lunch as the pub was closed and, when Gaz wandered in to a service station to buy a treat or two for us he discovered a wagon wheel was $3.50. Needless to say, we only got one and shared it! (What is the go with the size of wagon wheels these days? They have definitely shrunk over the years…but that’s a discussion for another day.)



After our brief stop for lunch, we agreed to meet again at Burra, a small town about another 200km down the highway. Before we got there however, we were stopped and searched for fruit and plants. Who knew? Not Marion who had stocked up with fruit & veg yesterday. Certainly not us who lost our stash of oranges. Anyway, we surrendered it all. I was confused and asked the guy if this was the border with South Australia. He said, ‘Oh, no, that was about 300km back – they just can’t get anyone to work there!’

Burra was a lovely little town. We wandered around, predominately looking for fruit and veg to buy (lol) but found many stores closed. Adelaide Cup and therefore a public holiday. Once again, who knew? We did find a beautiful coffee shop and enjoyed an awesome afternoon tea – with real clotted cream. Mmmmm.



It was then off on the last leg of today’s trip to the Clare Valley. We stopped briefly at Clare to shop as we found a Woolies open, and then about 16 km on to Leasingham for our caravan park. We ran next door to a Cellar Door at a winery and tasted (and bought) some wine, prepared our dinner – another awesome effort, and then Marion & I took a ride along the Riesling Trail on our bikes. The bike ride was hard work but a good way to end the day.








PS - we finished our audio book as we drove into Burra and both agreed it was a great idea and helped pass the time very well. It was over 10 hours - The Traitor's Story by Kevin Wignall - and Gaz and I both enjoyed it immensely. 4/5 stars! We might start another one tomorrow!











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