So, we left Port Augusta and headed towards Adelaide. Having stuck to the Stuart Highway all the way down we felt a little overawed at the volume of traffic we encountered and even more by the fact that we had to choose a route!

Darwin is easy, one road in or out (I don't count Tiger Brennan really) and all you need to do is find the appropriate turning off the road, left or right, and there you are! Here, we were faced with choices that were just a little daunting.

It was here we had our first little mishap. I forgot to wind up the jockey wheel on the HTC and when I hit a speed bump I ended up bending the clamp. I couldn't remove the jockey wheel so I ended up driving around to a welding company to get them to apply a little heat and bend it back into shape for me.

The end result isn't perfect, but it will do.

Anyway, we took the B route and instead of sticking with the freeway we crossed the South Flinders Ranges and stuck to the quieter country route.

What a difference! All of a sudden SA became a really nice place to be with undulating country roads, country towns and well cared for farmlands. Of course, above the Goyder Line there were still those old farmhouses that have been abandoned, but they add a piquancy to the picture that looks so much like a Heysen painting. A magic drive through small towns, starting at Wilmington and ending (for us) at Freeling having seen the glories of the Clare valley.

Melrose was one such small town - a nice place (pun intended) and it had a fair bit of history associated with it.

Paradise Square may have been a cemetery in the past, but it is a beautiful little park these days

It may take a little concentration to see in this picture, but across the road the trees were filled with corellas,

Another place we came across was Laura. We had to include this as our daughter's name is Laura!

At Freeling we dropped in on some friends of ours from Darwin - they had returned home to SA and when we knocked unannounced on their door we couldn't have had a nicer welcome. Dinner was held at the local pub (and a delicious affair it was too) and far too much beer drunk all through the night.

Thanks Jenny & Ross - we appreciated it!

For those people who are fans of Aussie drama series, the pub we ate at was the one that featured in McLeod's Daughters. Called the Gulgellan Hotel it served great food and beer.

Here's a picture for you!

Inside they had little reference to the TV series apart from this signed poster.

All nicely understated and all pretty good.

We left Jenny & Ross this morning and worked our way around Adelaide through places like the Barossa Valley, Birdwood (motor museum and home of a great bakery) and on through Padthaway and all those other wine growing areas. On the recommendation of a couple that we helped out on the road (flat tyre and flat spare - they needed a compressor which we just happened to have!) we called into the Rymill winery and we ended up buying a half case of their Sauv Blanc. Beautiful wine and excellently priced.

Aside from that though, we were really just making klms today and tomorrow we'll be heading off towards Geelong!

One last thing, staying here in Mt Gambier (we'll check out the blue lake tomorrow) I have been reminded of something that I didn't realise I had missed - the smell of eucalypts! What a shock to the system to suddenly smell them again - it is quite like coming home again!