We had a bit less on the agenda today, with the main object being to start our trip to the Yorke Peninsula. We left our apartment in the Adelaide CBD hoping to visit the Adelaide Central Market, but unfortunately these were closed, so we went to the Showgrounds for the weekend farmers markets instead, which took our pompous GPS voice in the car a little time to get right. After a loop around a very large block all was good.
I noted that many of the same stall holders from yesterday’s markets were at these ones, probably indicating that they weren’t all local farmers after all. This is a bit disappointing on one hand, but great that people can eke out a living doing something they hopefully enjoy. I overlooked this and bought a nice apricot slice for breakfast and Deb bought some cheese and cold meats for our dinner. The coffee queue was long, which is not ideal so we decided coffee would come later.
The next part of our plan was to wind our way along Adelaide’s beaches starting at West Beach, hopefully finding a good place to eat at Henley Beach. We didn’t know that Heart Kids were holding a fundraising walk which meant there was little chance of that plan working out. So we continued on to Semaphore Beach, which was much quieter.
An outstanding spring day really bringing out the best that this part of the world can offer. We were finally able to ‘coffee up’ before deciding to head north. Deb’s friend Julie advised us that the Port Wakefield highway was a bit of a mess due to roadworks and that a detour through Balaklava might be worthwhile. I was good with this because I don’t think I know of a more boring road that I’ve driven as the Port Wakefield Highway. There is little to see on the flat Adelaide Plains. So a pub lunch at Balaklava was our next stop. The barman / owner seemed a little grumpy, but fed us well.
Deb had the ribs, while I had a steak and pepper sauce (who knew) and then a ‘locally’ inspired chocolate and ice cream dessert. The town itself was once an important transport hub for wheat and sheep and has a number of historical buildings.
With lunch on board we rejoined the highway and headed through Port Wakefield to join the Yorke Highway and start our journey down the other side of the Gulf of St Vincent. We stopped at Port Clinton, which was apparently once a seaport, servicing the local copper mines until the railways were built in the late 1800s linking Adelaide directly with the mines. We had clearly arrived at low tide, because the water was a long way away and it is hard to imagine how ships were ever able to dock here.
This was the first droning I’ve done in a while, so expect the photos to improve. It was another 23 kilometres down the road to Ardrossan, which is our home tonight. The accomodations are in a motel room, and feature all the usual comforts of a country motel, which are not many. Some ‘man-sized’ towels would be a good start.
The town itself has a smattering of traditional stone buildings and some great views at the bottom of the main street.
Ardrossan is still a major grain handling port and is known for the loading dock that spans a kilometre to find deep enough water for the ships to dock. The docks are also used to transport dolomite for use in steel production at Whyalla and salt from the the town of Price.
Until tomorrow
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 