Day 122 - Saturday April 29 - The Adelaide Hills Revisited

Day 122

Saturday

29 April 2017

Mount Pleasant – Palmer – Birdwood – Hahndorf – Mt Pleasant - Woodside

It was damp and drizzly when we woke. We read for a while and then knowing there was the possibility of a cooked breakfast, I got out had a shower, dressed and was ready to head across to the farmers market.

The caretaker of the park had given Paul a flier last night, letting him know the breakfast was worth getting up for and oh by was it! We did a walk around the market first, checking out the fresh produce, baked goods and other delights, sampling where we felt like it, all the while the strong smell of bacon was calling.

We joined the other eager locals and campers in the cue ordered our feed then sat at a table waiting for our call. It was so worth the wait. We finished off every morsel, bursting at the seams by the time we had completed our meals.

We returned to the van, sorted our plan of attack and then jumped in the little car heading to Palmer, a small town we had passed through yesterday. We returned as it was home to Bear Rock. We found the pull in bay before the rock and took in the views over the Torrens Valley. The land is not only lumpy, but covered in large and small boulders

Once I had taken all the photos, we made our way to Birdwood, this town is home to the National Motor Museum of Australia. We did a walk up the street first and popped our head in to a small bike mechanics store that had a number of old bikes on show. We then crossed the street and entered the museum. 

The place is huge and has a wide variety of old cars, trucks and motorbikes in immaculate condition on show. A lot of the vehicles have strong Australian ties. 

We wandered the showroom floors admiring the vehicles and reading the small boards explaining their significance. Paul went around pointing out the cars and bikes that he or his dad had owned at different times. 

It took us a good couple of hours to make our way through the displays, there was even a wedding taking place amongst it all. When we had completed the circuit, we returned to the car and moved on.

We returned to the very tourist spot, Hahndorf, so that Paul could drop into Gulf Brewery, one that was closed when we were here last time.  As is typical, the town was full of tourists, but unlike last time, it was more Adelaideans getting here for the afternoon, not busloads of Chinese tourists. 

The name of this beer amused me

We entered the brewery, took the 10 glass paddle and proceeded to complete the review, all while talking to the brewer and laughing at the groups coming through on beer crawls.  When Paul was done we were on our way.

On request of the Facebook “We Love Craft Beer Australia” owner, we returned to Prancing Pony to pick up a mixed pack of brews to send his way. We didn’t hang around, just grabbed the brews and made a speedy exit. We then continued on to Mount Barker to check out the small town. Ike many around this area, it is quaint and picturesque through it is one of the bigger centres. We parked and then did a walk around, noting a long queue at the 50sixone store. We couldn’t believe so many people would line up outside a café. I was intrigued and looked it up on the net. Turns out it was opening day today and they were giving away free shakes and not just any shakes. If you want to see what I mean check out www.50sixone.com

The old flour mill built in 1844

We continued our loop of the streets, admiring the old buildings and then we jumped back in the car, set the gps to home and were on our way. We made a couple of quick photo stops when interesting scenes jumped out at me. 

We did stop at Melba’s Chocolate factory, doing a quick taste, a wander of the shop front and then leaving armed with plenty of the good stuff. We were finally home by 4.50pm ready to unwind.

We packaged up Nigel’s beer as best we could and then we sat down to do our homework for the day. We opted for soup again, as the breakfast had kept us going fairly well all day.

I did some checking on tomorrow’s destinations only to be disappointed that the two breweries we wanted to check out most (Pirate Life and Big Shed) were closed on Sunday. I did some call outs on Facebook and received a few suggestions, so we decided we would still head into Adelaide tomorrow and begin our journey to the centre on Monday.