Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween.  When I was growing up, it wasn’t celebrated much around here in Australia.  Even though it wasn’t that common a holiday, my family and I used to go all out in celebration of it.  We decorated the house, made graveyards for the front yard, and even had a smoke machine one year too!  And every year I would go trick or treating with my brother and cousin and sometimes a friend from school or down the street. 

That pumpkin costume was awesome!  Mum made it from crepe paper and it was filled with balloons.  The balloons popped whenever I walked through a doorway. 

Of course you have to be a vampire on Halloween.  The white stuff is flour.  My Mum, Aunty and Nan used to hide behind fences and throw flour at us.  Was great haha!

Halloween is such a fun time. I love to decorate the house and fix up lolly bags for the little kiddies who come round, it’s great that the Halloween celebration is definitely picking up now.  

This year, we had the most trick or treaters ever!  Over 50 came visiting! Which is ridiculous considering we had only10-15 little ghouls previous years.  Needless to say we had to do some emergency trips to the supermarket!

 We had a great Halloween and hope every one else did too!

Happy Halloween from my little corner of the web!

(Do you know how long it took to get them to sit still enough to take a photo?? Little buggers hehe)

Day 22 - Swan Hill, Victoria to Home!

Today we were heading back home.
We got up early and headed to Spoons on the Riverside (again!) for breakfast.  It was very tasty. 

Breakfast trifle

Breakfast burger

Pancakes

After breakfast we had a look at the Murray River before leaving Swan Hill.  I met Woody again (he had aged somewhat since I saw him at the start of my holiday ;-) ).

We decided to have a look at Echuca before going home.  The drive there was uneventful.
We had lunch at Wisteria Cottage Cafe in Echuca and then walked around the town for a bit.  Echuca is a lovely town, with a lot of things to look at.  If we had more time we would have gone on a Paddle steamer ride on the Murray River.

This little visitor wanted a bit of my scone (I gave her some of course! :-))

Blacksmith shop - great place to have a look at

Giant log

I tried to pull it, it didn't budge ;-)

Before leaving Echuca, we had a drink at Oscar W's and watched the paddle-steamers on the Murray River. 

We also so a 3 person folk band playing.  They were very good.

Afterwards we headed home.  When we neared the city, the freeway became packed with cars which were being driven like maniacs!  I must say I didn't miss the traffic at all on our holiday!
We finally arrived home around 6:30.  We drove around 6,000km on our holiday and I loved every single km.  I had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again!

Day 21 - Waikerie, SA to Swan Hill, Victoria

Today we were heading to Victoria!
We got up early and started towards Berri, SA.  We stopped at Banrock Station Winery for a coffee and scones with quandong jam. 
We then reached Berrie and found 'A special place for Jimmy James', so of course James had to take a photo of himself with the sign!

Berri wasn't a very nice town so we continued on to Renmark for lunch, which was not much nicer, so we headed to Paringa.  We crossed the Murray River and cooked up sausages at the park on the other side.

 Crossing the Murray River

Murray River

Sausages!

Playing on the old tractor! ;-)

After lunch we headed on to Swan Hill.  We left South Australia and headed back into Victoria.

Leaving South Australia

Heading into Victoria

The drive to Swan Hill was long and uneventful.  We finally arrived in Swan Hill and it took a long time to find accommodation.  We were going to go to the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement Sound and Light Show, but it took too long to find somewhere to stay so we missed out unfortunately.
We had dinner in a lovely restaurant though, Spoons on the Riverside, which is situated on the Murray River.  My pork belly was extremely tasty.

Next stop tomorrow, home! 

Day 20 - Clare, SA to Waikerie, SA

We stayed in a lovely little B + B on the outskirts of Clare.  We woke early and packed up.  Mum hurt her back and could hardly move!  Just when she was getting over her cold, she hurts her back, typical! :-)
We headed into Clare to go to Mr. Mick's Winery, Dad had to have pictures next to the sign! (seeing as he has the same name haha).

After some wine tasting (and buying!) we went to the next little town over, Sevenhill.  Sevenhill has the oldest winery in South Australia called Sevenhill Cellars.  It was started and is still run by Jesuit Priests.  The winery makes red and white wines and as well as alter wines.  They also had a lovely cat that welcomes visitors into the wine tasting area.

There is an old cellar which is open to the public.  It was very cool to wander through.

 

There is a beautiful church at the Sevenhill Cellars, built for the Jesuit Priests.  Underneath the church is an old crypt (also open for the public) that had all the head winemakers since the start of the winery, which was cool to see.  The church itself was beautiful too.

Next we drove to Freeling, the home of McLeod's Daughters, the TV show.  Freeling was a bit of a nothing town, wasn't too much to look at. 
We went to the Gungellen Pub in Freeling, which was the main pub featured in McLeod's Daughters, and had a drink there.
It was a nice little pub, although I have to say I'm not sure why they picked this particular pub for the TV show, there are a lot more pubs that have more character inside and out around South Australia.  Overall though, it was quite nice.

We continued on to Nuriootpa (in the Barossa Valley), the home of the famous chef, Maggie Beer's farm shop.  I have been wanting to come to this farm shop for ages!  The shop wasn't what I was expecting.  I actually thought it would have been a bit better than what it was, but then again I did have high expectations.  It was still very nice though.  There wasn't too much variety on the menu.  The farm shop seem to be focusing on a picnic basket concept of food.  Most of the menu consisted of different pates served with bread and fruit in a basket. 
I ordered a game terrine, which was very tasty (Dad had the same), Mum had tomato soup and James had cheese, bread, fruit paste and an apple in a picnic basket.  I have to say the basket of food did look pretty cool.

Game terrine

Tomato soup

Cheese and fruit picnic basket

 After lunch we headed to Tanunda, also in the Barossa Valley.  We were going to stay in Tanunda but couldn't find anywhere to stay and the place wasn't very nice.  I wasn't too impressed with the Barossa Valley, the area we went to just felt like a suburb of Adelaide with wineries dotted through.  Clare Valley is much more nicer. 
We decided to move onto Waikerie where we found a lovely old B+B cottage to stay in, Amalie Cottage.  It was big, warm and comfortable.

Next stop tomorrow is Swan Hill in Victoria!
 




 

Day 19 - Peterborough, SA to Clare, SA

We packed up early and headed to the local cafe in Peterborough for breakfast.  The Take-a-Break Cafe was a basic little shop but they made the tastiest egg and bacon sandwiches that I've had in a long time! 

We started heading off to Jamestown.  James, of course, had to have his picture taken with the Jamestown signpost :-).

It wasn't a long drive to Jamestown and when we arrived, James had to take photos with the sign again.

We stopped at the local bakery and bought some yummy coffee scrolls.  We also had a look at the Jamestown Butcher, the oldest running butcher shop in South Australia, and bought some 'old fashioned bacon' (which was delicious!).

Jamestown is the birth place of the icon Australian R.M. Williams.  I was planning to buy some R.M. Williams stuff from Jamestown, but was disappointed to find that they didn't even have a stockist there!  So no R.M. Williams products for me! :-(
There is a R.M. Williams statue and information at the local park, so we had a look at that before leaving Jamestown.

We continued on to Spalding and stopped at the local pub to have a drink.

The publican was very friendly. He showed us a collection he is working on setting up in one of the hallways.  It was a work in progress.  It is a collection of barb wire from around the world, and is apparently, one of the only full collections of barb wire in Australia and is going to be featured on ABC Landline and the R.M. Williams magazine (according to the publican that is!).
Eventually the barb wire hallway is going to look awesome!  I felt quite lucky to be able to see it before it was finished :-)

After the little detour to Spalding, we drove to Mintaro, a lovely little historical town.  We were going to stay there but there was nothing available!  We did some wine tastings and then continued onto Clare, situated in the wine region of Clare Valley.

Next stop tomorrow, Waikerie, SA