{"id":5789,"date":"2025-03-13T02:34:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5789"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:52:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:52:43","slug":"6-the-adelaide-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5789","title":{"rendered":"6. THE ADELAIDE HILLS."},"content":{"rendered":"

Glenda spotted this message on a T-shirt, and for some reason thought it would be suitable for me!\u00a0 I can’t imagine why!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We now have a few days on our own and have rented an apartment in Crafers in the Adelaide Hills.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our first evening meal out in the Hills was at the Bridgeport Tavern.\u00a0 But to work up an appetite, we first walked the Heysen Trail.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Although, to be fair, we only covered about five kms of the 1200 km total.\u00a0 It’s a long distance walking trail in South Australia.\u00a0 It starts at the Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges where we visited the Prairie Hotel many years ago.\u00a0 It then snakes south via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula.\u00a0 Apparently, hardy walkers who walk the track from beginning to end typically do so in about 60 days.\u00a0 We only had an hour before our fish and chips supper!\u00a0 So just the five kilometers!<\/p>\n

We have fond memories of the beaches south of Adelaide.\u00a0 So we spent a day in that direction.\u00a0 There’s one beach after another down here.\u00a0 And all crowded … with … with … us really!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From Christie’s Beach, heading south, we tried Port Noarlunga, Southport, Moana, Willunga and Aldinga Beaches.\u00a0 Looking for a really quiet one!\u00a0 Two of the beaches officially allow cars to drive and park on the sands, so we skipped those and ended up at Maslin Beach.\u00a0 Walking along under the cliffs, we discovered, quite by chance, obviously, that we were on a nudist beach – or should that be naturist beach?\u00a0 We later learned that Maslin was declared Australia’s first nude beach in 1975.\u00a0 The beach is three km long and is allegedly signposted so you can stay clear away from it if you prefer to swim with your clothes on.\u00a0 I’m sure we didn’t see the signs till after we left.\u00a0 Honestly!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But, it’s true to say the resident bathers were well spaced out (geograhically, not psychologically).\u00a0 They were hard to spot!\u00a0 Enough of that!<\/p>\n

Chris and Di West were colleagues of mine at ICI sometime during the last century.\u00a0 Chris was a vet.\u00a0 We kept fish at the laboratory.\u00a0 So, we needed a fishy vet.\u00a0 Chris filled the bill.\u00a0 He was, and still is, a bit fishy!<\/p>\n

Anyway Chris left the nasty chemical industry to join Chester zoo which allowed him to follow his real interest in conservation issues.\u00a0 Successive, transfers and relocation took him to, London, Adelaide and Edinburgh zoos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They have re-re-located back to the Adelaide Hills and now have lovely property where they rear chickens, and grow fruit and veg. …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and have koalas visit on a regular basis!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That’s by far the closest we have been to a wild koala!<\/p>\n

Another day we met my cousin Clare in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and later, spent some time in the area near Port Adelaide where we inspected some interesting old ships.\u00a0 Like the square rigger, the “One and All”, which\u00a0 was built in North Haven, Port Adelaide and is now owned by the South Australian Government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and the clipper ship the City of Adelaide which is under restoration …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… hopefully to look more like this …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… but in full colour, obviously!<\/p>\n

The City of Adelaide was purpose built in Sunderland, UK in the 1860s, to carry passengers and cargo to and from Adelaide.\u00a0 She undertook 23 return voyages between London and Adelaide.\u00a0 She’s the only surviving sailing ship to have given regular service between the United Kingdom and South Australia, and only one of two surviving composite clipper ships in the world – the other is the famous, but younger, Cutty Sark.<\/p>\n

Today it is said that almost quarter of a million Australians can trace their heritage to passengers and crew of the City of Adelaide.<\/p>\n

That’s enough history!\u00a0 Or is it?\u00a0 The next day we visited Hahndorf, a small town in the Hills.\u00a0 Settled by 19th-century Lutheran migrants, it\u2019s known for its original German-style architecture and artisanal\u00a0 food.\u00a0 North of town, “The Cedars” houses the studio and art of German-born landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen.\u00a0 He of the walking trail fame.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For us, the place was immensely over-rated by the huge numbers of visitors.\u00a0 In fact it was the huge numbers that spoilt the place.\u00a0 Very touristy – not for us.\u00a0 A far cry from the sleepy little place we first visited 30 years ago.\u00a0 We need koalas and kangaroos!<\/p>\n

At the Jurlique flower farm, about five kms southwest of Hahndorf, pink roses are harvested by hand and then dried.\u00a0 They are then converted into expensive perfumes and toiletries.\u00a0 As we rolled to a halt in their parking lot, a mob of maybe 20 kangaroos bounded across the field ahead of us and into a wooded area.\u00a0 Like I said, we needed kangaroos – and we got them.\u00a0 We also found one lone juvenile female relaxing amongst the rose bushes.\u00a0 Not exactly tame, but quite tolerant of onlookers!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There was a remarkable reunion while we were staying at Crafers.\u00a0 The last time Glenda had seen Chris Rawlinson was in the Geography Department of Newcastle University … in … 1970.\u00a0 To be fair, I don’t think either of them would have known the other if they passed each other on the street – or on the beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It should be noted that 1970 saw the introduction of the Boeing Jumbo 747!\u00a0 Other notable inventions of that era included: cell phones; hand held electronic caculators; the bomb disposal robot; Post It Notes; hybrid cars and digital cameras.\u00a0 To be fair they all came into being in the 1970s, not all in one go in 1970.\u00a0 And it should be noted that the cell phones in those days were as big and heavy as bricks with an extendible aerial and a battery life of about 10 minutes!\u00a0 Also, Glenda and I got married that year.<\/p>\n

Anyway we had a lovely time exploring the rural areas of the Adelaide Hills.\u00a0 An area we really, really like.\u00a0 We needed more time here!<\/p>\n

On the last day in the Hills, we met Vicky, Neil, again, and Gloria and had Sunday lunch at Auchendarroch House in Mount Barker.\u00a0 Sadly, we couldn’t dine in the old house because there was a wine tasting event in progress.\u00a0 We ended up in the more basic caf\u00e9 area.\u00a0 Followed by tea and cake afterwards at Gloria’s place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For the duration of our stay in Adelaide our hire car refused to connect to our phone.\u00a0 Navigation was limited to using Google maps on the mobile.\u00a0 And Europcar were delightfully unapologetic!\u00a0 For six days we were reliant on Glenda’s map reading skills!<\/p>\n

Time to head off north to what was going to become “cyclone-land”.\u00a0 As we were pushed back from stand 44, our neighbour at 42 was moved in unison.\u00a0 We were reversed to the left and they to the right.\u00a0 We ended up facing each other on the taxi-way.\u00a0 Stalemate!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After ten minutes staring each other down, our captain chickened out.\u00a0 The opposition was bigger than us, after all.\u00a0 We did an about turn and scooted off to the runway – just ahead of the opposition!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And just a few minutes later, we were flying over Glenelg.\u00a0 That’s the interestingly named Patawalonga River and boat haven in the centre foreground.<\/p>\n

The only disasters left to encounter would be a cyclone and a nasty snake.\u00a0 Surely they can’t both happen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glenda spotted this message on a T-shirt, and for some reason thought it would be suitable for me!\u00a0 I can’t imagine why!! We now have a few days on our own and have rented an apartment in Crafers in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thailand-and-australia-travels-in-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5789"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5816,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5789\/revisions\/5816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}