MURRAY RIVER TRIP 2007
Friday 23 November to Thursday 29 November
Adelaide to Port Fairy
Blog 5
Leaving our home base of Adelaide we headed north on the A20 to the Clare Valley. We decided to go to the furthest point and then stop at the places on the way back.
The countryside along the way was mainly wheat and grain farming land and nothing like the vineyards we had seen in other winery regions. Once we got to Auburn, the beginning of the Clare valley the scenery changed and was the beautiful green colour of vineyards.
We took the scenic detour to Mintaro which is a picturesque town established in 1849 and the village is now part of a state heritage area.
We drove to Martindale Hall, a beautiful Georgian Style home built in 1879 by Edmund Bowman. Some of the rooms were used by Peter Weir in the movie at Picnic at Hanging Rock. Martindale Station was originally a merino sheep property.
One of the brothers who inherited the property from their father built the home when he was in his 20s, the brothers spent a lot of the money and then a drought struck the country, the price of wool fell and he had to sell Martindale Hall for a mere 33,000 pounds when it was worth 90,000 pounds.
William Tennant Mortlock bought it for his wife as a wedding present and it was kept in the family until 1950 when the last John Andrew Mortlock died and left it to Adelaide University. The rooms inside were beautiful with most of the furniture belonging to the Mortlock family. The floor timbers were Huon Pine, the formal dining room table was mahogany, there was a pool room, drawing room, a great kitchen and lots of bedrooms upstairs. Unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken inside.
We drove into Mintaro and strolled down the street with all the little old bluestone cottages. From Mintaro we took the scenic drive to Clare, the main town for the region, stopped at Brooks Lookout before having lunch at the Slat ‘n Vines Bar and Bistro which of course included the speciality of the region, a glass of Riesling wine.
We continued travelling south and stopped to look at the work and studio of Murray Edwards at Watervale. It was in a magical spot; we chatted for a while and had a look at his paintings and sketches.
We then stopped at Sevenhill Cellars which is the oldest vineyard and winery in the Clare Valley. The winery has been owned and operated by the Jesuit Priests since 1851. There is a beautiful St Aloysius Church which has its own crypt. It was very beautiful inside and most peaceful. We tasted the wine but only bought some fruit cake. We stopped at the last town of the Clare Valley, Auburn, with its old blue stone buildings and wandered through the old Rising Sun Hotel. It had fantastic old rooms and a beautiful dining room with white table cloths.
Today was the day for our Barossa Valley trip.
Again we drove to our furthest point, Kapunda, a beautiful old copper mining town which is Australia’s oldest mining town. A huge statue of a Cornish Miner was a lovely welcome to the town. The Cornish miners formed the backbone of the community. Kapunda dates back to 1840 when copper was first discovered in a paddock just out of town. Even though the copper industry lasted a relatively short time it saved South Australia from bankruptcy and bought immense wealth to the region.
We drove the 10km heritage trail and enjoyed the history of the old mine, mine stack, hotels, cottages, convent and many churches, particularly the Lutheran Churches as the Germans came out to escape religious persecution.
After the mining boom was finished the town was kept alive by Sir Sidney Kidman who supported many of the local enterprises. Sidney Kidman was born in Adelaide in 1857 and ran away from home when he was 13 years old. He built up a stick and land empire and owned or leased 100 cattle and sheep stations including the largest cattle station in the world at the time. Around 1900 Sidney Kidman purchased a house in Kapunda to use as a base. He named the house Eringa and lived there for 40 years.
Eringa is now the main building of the Kapunda High School. The history of these places is wonderful.
We sampled wines from Seppeltsfield and Penfold’s Winery and ate bread and pate at Maggie Beers Farm.
The countryside and scenery were lush green beautiful vineyards and we enjoyed our drive.
We drove into Nuriootpa and into the Bush Gardens which were nothing to write home about so we headed to Light Pass to try to see a particular straw cottage which we couldn’t find.
Friday 23 November to Thursday 29 November
Adelaide to Port Fairy
Blog 5
Leaving our home base of Adelaide we headed north on the A20 to the Clare Valley. We decided to go to the furthest point and then stop at the places on the way back.
The countryside along the way was mainly wheat and grain farming land and nothing like the vineyards we had seen in other winery regions. Once we got to Auburn, the beginning of the Clare valley the scenery changed and was the beautiful green colour of vineyards.
We took the scenic detour to Mintaro which is a picturesque town established in 1849 and the village is now part of a state heritage area.
We drove to Martindale Hall, a beautiful Georgian Style home built in 1879 by Edmund Bowman. Some of the rooms were used by Peter Weir in the movie at Picnic at Hanging Rock. Martindale Station was originally a merino sheep property.
One of the brothers who inherited the property from their father built the home when he was in his 20s, the brothers spent a lot of the money and then a drought struck the country, the price of wool fell and he had to sell Martindale Hall for a mere 33,000 pounds when it was worth 90,000 pounds.
William Tennant Mortlock bought it for his wife as a wedding present and it was kept in the family until 1950 when the last John Andrew Mortlock died and left it to Adelaide University. The rooms inside were beautiful with most of the furniture belonging to the Mortlock family. The floor timbers were Huon Pine, the formal dining room table was mahogany, there was a pool room, drawing room, a great kitchen and lots of bedrooms upstairs. Unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken inside.
We drove into Mintaro and strolled down the street with all the little old bluestone cottages. From Mintaro we took the scenic drive to Clare, the main town for the region, stopped at Brooks Lookout before having lunch at the Slat ‘n Vines Bar and Bistro which of course included the speciality of the region, a glass of Riesling wine.
We continued travelling south and stopped to look at the work and studio of Murray Edwards at Watervale. It was in a magical spot; we chatted for a while and had a look at his paintings and sketches.
We then stopped at Sevenhill Cellars which is the oldest vineyard and winery in the Clare Valley. The winery has been owned and operated by the Jesuit Priests since 1851. There is a beautiful St Aloysius Church which has its own crypt. It was very beautiful inside and most peaceful. We tasted the wine but only bought some fruit cake. We stopped at the last town of the Clare Valley, Auburn, with its old blue stone buildings and wandered through the old Rising Sun Hotel. It had fantastic old rooms and a beautiful dining room with white table cloths.
Today was the day for our Barossa Valley trip.
Again we drove to our furthest point, Kapunda, a beautiful old copper mining town which is Australia’s oldest mining town. A huge statue of a Cornish Miner was a lovely welcome to the town. The Cornish miners formed the backbone of the community. Kapunda dates back to 1840 when copper was first discovered in a paddock just out of town. Even though the copper industry lasted a relatively short time it saved South Australia from bankruptcy and bought immense wealth to the region.
We drove the 10km heritage trail and enjoyed the history of the old mine, mine stack, hotels, cottages, convent and many churches, particularly the Lutheran Churches as the Germans came out to escape religious persecution.
After the mining boom was finished the town was kept alive by Sir Sidney Kidman who supported many of the local enterprises. Sidney Kidman was born in Adelaide in 1857 and ran away from home when he was 13 years old. He built up a stick and land empire and owned or leased 100 cattle and sheep stations including the largest cattle station in the world at the time. Around 1900 Sidney Kidman purchased a house in Kapunda to use as a base. He named the house Eringa and lived there for 40 years.
Eringa is now the main building of the Kapunda High School. The history of these places is wonderful.
We sampled wines from Seppeltsfield and Penfold’s Winery and ate bread and pate at Maggie Beers Farm.
The countryside and scenery were lush green beautiful vineyards and we enjoyed our drive.
We drove into Nuriootpa and into the Bush Gardens which were nothing to write home about so we headed to Light Pass to try to see a particular straw cottage which we couldn’t find.
