Gismo Queen and her King

The day started with clear skies and the sun rising among the gum trees on the banks of Poocher Swamp. All quite lovely, but it wasn't too long after our 9am departure that we started to see evidence of rain. At the service station in Keith, the puddles were gigantic! Fuelled up, we headed north west into big black clouds that opened up, just as the winds started too. Stopping in Coonalpyn for elevenses, the sun came back out so we thought we could enjoy our coffee standing outside but the bitterly cold wind drove us inside. And so was the rest of our day. Wind, rain, sun - sometimes all at the same time! Lunch was in the thriving metropolis of Palmer - again, inside the vans due to rain and wind.

After lunch, we entered the Barossa Valley. Such pretty countryside, and the wines from here are pretty good too! Rows of grapes, green farmlands - some with paddocks already harvested for silage or hay, beautiful flowering rose gardens and of course, the ubiqitous stone buildings this area is famous for. Greg and I were talking about the reason so many old (ruined) stone buildings don't have roofs - they were removed when the farmers/owners left the land because they didn't have to pay as high rates if the property didn't have a "dwelling" - and a house isn't a dwelling if it doesn't have a roof!

We had been planning to stay at World's End campground at Burra Gorge but with the rain still falling and temperatures dropping as low as 8C, Neill's suggestion of camping at the back of the Bon Accord Hotel and having dinner inside seemed a lot more appealing. So we pulled up here in the rain, heated up the vans, and walked into the pub at 6pm. The meal was OK and we enjoyed our catch up chat in our small private dining room. Talking to the owner on the way out - and especially after he heard that Neill and Jude had stayed here back in June - he offered to show us his newly renovated Coach House, now used for accommodation. Built in 1874 at the same time as the pub - all which was to stable horses etc to meet the trains, it had fallen into disrepair. He has done a wonderful job restoring it and adding a modern extension with kitchen, bathroom and laundry. So a very interesting end to our driving day.