Adelaide to Wistow

 Another extraordinary day has unfolded. Just as we think we are winding down in the last leg of our journey another day of surprises and delights happens. 

We had a late start as we arranged to meet Marion an old friend from NZ visiting her family just a few km away. We spent an hour with her and son Bede chatting over coffee at the seaside resort of Seacliffe. 

One thing I forgot to mention yeaterday is that there are several beaches along this coast and some beaches acrete sand and others lose it. So they have installed an underground pipe connecting the beaches and they then mix sand and seawater together at the beaches with surplus sand and pump it to those that have lost it. Genius but it must cost a fortune. 

So we then set off to find a car museum I had heard about. Our route took us into the hills behind Adelaide, winding up and up on very narrow roads. The views were good, looking the city but there was nowhere to stop for pics. Some pretty nice real estate all set in bush settings.

The city is in the background.

 We then moved inland a bit through lovely rolling country, lots of vineyards on the north facing slopes. 

The roads were very narrow and very windy, there was even one called Corkscrew road.

After a bit more of this we entered an amazing gorge area which lead up to a dam which I think must be the main water source for Adelaide. I have to say it did not seem very full but I think they pump water from the Murray river to top it up. 

They shift a hell of a lot of water around this country. We have seen massive water pipes in many many places. 

We stopped at a giant rocking horse that was the entrance to a kids farm animal experience and fun park. We had a bite to eat and a drink. 

A few km’s up the road we arrived that the delightful town of Birdwood which is very picturesque with old stone buildings but more importantly it is the home of the National Motor Museum. An incredible collection of cars amd motorcycles. Most marques were represented and some very rare vehicles but as you can imagine it is dominated by Holden. There is the very first Holden to come off the production line, the 10000th, 20000th, 30000th etc etc. There were also some fantastical prototypes that never made it into production. Interesting to note the timeline shrink between the milestones. 

Then when we’d seen this collection we wandered across to road to an old motorcycle shop with many fine and not so fine old bikes, many of which were for sale. The guy offered me an unrestored Panther complete with a spare parts bike for $7000. I’m thinking on it. 

So then we headed to our host for the night, another of the siblings we met in Undara. Steve (Hairy) lives just out of Wistow on 20 acres of bush covered hill country. He had a couple of other guests, Lee and Budgie and after we settled in we wandered down to a firepit where we chatted over a couple of beers while Steve cooked damper in a Dutch oven. 

There was an abundance of birdlife and an occasional visit from a kangaroo. Such a cool Australian setting and a privilege to be here. 

We then adjourned inside for a lovely dinner and another couple of cold ones. We have ridden about 150km today but we are still only 36km from Adelaide.