Clare, South Australia

Clare, South Australia.
We stayed in Clare for one night at the Caravan Park.
The map of where Clare is, is on the previous post.

The town itself was established in 1842 by Edward Burton Gleeson, and named after his ancestral home of County Clare in Ireland.
The layout of the town's road system was apparently designed by a draughtsman in Adelaide, without any knowledge of the local geography. There are several roads in Clare that end abruptly at a cliff face, only to continue again at the top of the cliff.
 
As one of the larger towns in the region, Clare is an administrative and service centre for the surrounding area. It has two supermarkets, many other specialty stores, two public and two private schools, three hotels, two motels, a caravan park and showground.
Clare has become recognised for its 'experiences', including the Riesling Trail walking and cycling route from 9 km north of Clare to Auburn (25 km), on the former railway alignment, so named as it weaves past vinyards and wineries, and continuing to Riverton as the Rattler Trail. The Clare Valley wine region continues within the same line of hills as the famous Barossa Valley, and also produces some excellent wine.
Wikipedia

A few facts regarding The Clare Valley.
The Clare Valley Wine Makers were the first in Australia to invent the screw cap closure for Riesling bottles.
27% of South Australia's high quality grain is produced in the MidNorth region.
The Reilsing Trail was originally part of the railway line, which ran between Riverton to Spalding, but was abandoned after the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires.
The Clare Valley is home to the only remaining Jesuit-owned winery in Australia, Sevenhill Cellars, which to this day, produces sacramental wine for religious ceremony.

One of the many Vineyards on the way to Clare

Clare Hotel

The Clare Courthouse

The Town Hall

ANZ Bank

A phone Wallpaper

A change from holiday photos of last year.

Occasionally I like to make digital graphics.
Recently I had time to quickly make the below digital wallpaper for my Galaxy Samsung Notebook 4.

I should imagine it would fit most smartphones.  Resolution is 1080 X 1920

 

Below is a photo of the Wallpaper on my phone.

A coloured comparison of Australia and Europe.

We passed this sign on our way up the middle of Australia.

Lunch at Crystal Brook, South Australia

Always good to arrive in a town and look for something different to eat.  Crystal Brook has a wonderful bakery with all manner of foods.  It's here be bought lunch and took it back to a rest area near by.
It's a lovely clean town.

Crystal Brook is a town in South Australia, named after the spring-fed creek next to which it was founded. It is 197 klms (122 mile) north of Adelaide and in 2006 had a population of 1,185
Crystal Brook is situated on Goyder's Line near the border of two climate systems. While apparently cold semi-arid, the town benefits from a temperate Mediterranean climate zone near to the east, making possible slightly more intense farming in the region. To the west and north-west lies some marginal, semi-arid farmland. The local farming community still supports many small businesses in the town.
Crystal Brook (or creek) supplied water to the town until 1890 when the Beetaloo Reservoir was completed, which at the time was the largest concrete dam in the southern hemisphere.
Wikipedia.

The bakery

Post Office

The Butcher 

The main street

The rest area where we ate the lunch in the Caravan.

Furthur down the Road, South Australia

Left Port Augusta for Clare in South Australia on our holiday in 2015
A few photos along the way

The water pipe that carries water

The Map shows 'Iron Knob' to Port Augusta, Crystal Brook and Clare, the latter two towns being on the right and down from the sea.

Port Augusta South Australia (2)

Port August shopping precinct.

We presume the building below was the town hall - once!
Windows now boarded, no clock and shade cloth along the balcony - what a pity, the building is going to ruin.
Photos were taken on a Sunday, and only a few shops open.
The streets deserted and shady.
You can see Woolworths which is a supermarket sign in the second last photo.

The last photo was taken at the back of the supermarket and these water tanks are for fighting fires only.

The above photo is the Post Office on the right.

Port Augusta, South Australia

Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. It is a seaport and railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about 322 kilometres north of the state capital Adelaide.
14,527 people in the area of Port Augusta.

Port Augusta is about 68 klm northeast of Iron Knob.  See previous post on Iron Knob.

By 1852 South Australian colonists had settled in Port Augusta and the town soon became a thriving commercial centre and port, serving the needs of pastoralists in the truly vast hinterlands to the north. For a time wool exports were the mainstay of Port Augusta's economy with many London sailing clippers bearing cargoes to English wool mills. 

By the 1870s wheat had overtaken wool as Port Augusta's chief export. Early promises of a thriving wheat industry proved illusory however. Rainfall was too unreliable and the area was subject to frequent droughts. The area soon resorted to its previous pastoral activities.

Today Port Augusta's unique geographic position sees it as a major service centre for travellers and freight trucks crossing the Nullarbor. In many respects Port Augusta is also the southern gateway to the Northern Territory. Travellers heading north can do so via the Stuart Highway. An alternate means of transport is to take a more leisurely journey via the "Ghan" rail service which was extended from Alice Springs to Darwin in 2003. 
Information taken from [ here  ] 

Our Caravan and vehicle at the Big 4 Caravan Park, Port Augusta.

Plus washing on the line.

This building is opposite the Police Station.

The Railway Station building.

The Court House.

Older house in Port August.

This one has a lawn, most have gravel, concrete or tiles due to the lack of water.

 Bird of Paradise - Strelitzia

Map of where Iron Knob is and Port Augusta.

Kimba to Iron Knob South Australia.

Here in Tasmania Australia the bush-fires are still burning.  Fireman from various areas in Australia are here helping.  Most of the fires are being fought from the air. 
Airforce/Army are bringing a Base Camp reportedly to house up to 300 fire crew and SES workers at Stanley on our North West Coast. On the map, to the left of Devonport.
It's still holiday time in Tasmania and accommodation is tight. 
Tasmanian World Heritage listed forests, a small area has been on fire for about 1 month.  It's this forest in particular which the firefighters and SES are trying to save.
No loss of life or homes thus far.
Smoke comes and goes over my small city, depends on which way the breeze/wind blows.

The blue area is 'Alert', the white, no 'Alert Level'.

 

Back to last years holiday.

'Kimba is a rural service town on the Eyre Highway at the top of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. , Kimba has a population of about 636.
There is a 7 metre (abt. 23 feet) tall statue of a big galah beside the highway marking halfway between the east and west coasts of Australia. 
The word "Kimba" is derived from the local Aboriginal word for "bushfire", and the District Council of Kimba's emblem reflects this in the form of a burning bush.'
Wikipedia.

A short stop at Kimba and we came across the Iron Knob along the highway back to Pt. Augusta in SA.
'Iron Knob is a town in South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of about 199.
The town obtained its name from its proximity to large deposits of iron ore, most notably Iron Monarch which outcropped prominently from the relatively flat, surrounding landscape.'
Wikipedia

Ore trains. 

The mine

The Iron Knob in the distance.

A map from Streaky Bay on the left, Kimba in the middle, Iron Know to the right of that about where the A1 is, then you see Port August where we were headed.

Pelicans at Streaky Bay SA

The Australian pelican is a large waterbird of the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand.
Wikipedia

The photos were taken at Streaky Bay in South Australia from the caravan park.

A stranger reading a novel at the beach.  

What a life!

Valentine's Day

I can remember that I didn't know there was a Valentine's Day! Even when I was a teenager, I didn't know.  It's only in recent times it's become popular mainly with the young ones to celebrate.

Below is from Wikipedia
Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a celebration observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them.

St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14, and added to later martyrologies. A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.

Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. Some part, but not all of the Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6 and July 30, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). In Greek Orthodox Church and other Churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, no Saint Valentine exists, nor venerated.

I made the above graphic.

Streaky Bay (2)

After the rain stopped we ventured out and took a few photos of Streaky Bay.

Same jetty and the Council keep the grass/lawn immaculate.

Information Centre

Bottle Brush

Streaky Bay is a little hilly in some places.  This is one of the Hotels.

Back at the beach