On a Clare Day....

 He he - I couldn't resist that title. 

The Clare Valley is surrounded by gentle hills and is home to an enormous number of top quality wineries. Some are nestled snuggly on the valley floor surrounded by gum trees ... 

...while others boast expansive views from hilltop sites. 

Time for some tastings. We plotted a route to take in a number of wineries. The scenery was peaceful and relaxing - rolling hills studded with acres of bright green vines with a background of softer hills in the distance; narrow winding roads bordered by tall gum trees; welcoming winery signs with enticing names such as Good Catholic Girl, Sussex Squire Wines, Sevenhill Cellars, Mad Bastard Wines ... 

Here I am at Crabtree Watervale Winery, a small boutique winery that had the most delicious riesling.  Because of virus restrictions we all had to sit apart from others, but that was fine with us. And when I spied some cointreau orange marmalade on the shelf, I just had to have it. We were off to a good start.

After tastings and purchases at Tim Adams and O'Leary Walker, we headed off for lunch at Paulett Wines and their restaurant recommended by the people at the Information Centre. It was certainly delicious and boasted bush tucker foods from their own native garden. Here is my crumbed lamb with muntries (a native berry that exploded in the mouth when crunched on, giving me a crisp juicy taste rather like an apple) and celeriac with a caramel coating. Not cheap, but I have to say it all went very well with a sparkling white. 

We could hardly move afterwards as we are not used to huge midday meals so it was back to our accommodation and feet up. After a few hours rest and recuperation, we were ready for some exercise.

We decided to visit Neagles Rock Lookout. I always head to the information board located at the beginning of walks to get an idea of what I am going to see and why it is important. Well..... the information on this sign seemed to be taken from a scientific journal with no thought to who would be reading it, that is, ordinary folks like us. I did learn that it is the most 'signifiant structural discontinuity in the Clare Valley' (but not what 'structural discontinuity' means), but I was lost with the next statement that 'often the silicified zones are extensively brecciated and may be recemented with more silica than iron oxides'. So we set off knowing we were going to see something that was geologically important. It was a gentle uphill walk.

The rocky summit itself was much smaller than I had envisaged but it gave us a good view over the Skillogalee valley.

Steve clambered over the outcrop to get better shots, while I reclined as a lady should.

That night we enjoyed a wonderful Indian meal.  Tomorrow .... more wine tasting, exploring and eating! 

An inviting open gate.

This was Skillogalee Winery with its lovely cottagey garden.

Artichokes and vines.

Everywhere, the vines were looking very healthy and we were told that harvesting would take place in January. These young grapes would be well and truly ready by then.

I loved the courtyards set up for tastings. This is at Shut The Gate Winery,  looking cool and inviting.

On our last morning before leaving, we set off for a walk along the Riesling Trail just opposite our accommodation. The entire trail runs 33 kilometres from Auburn to Clare, following a disused railway line. 

It was peaceful, quiet and cooly invigorating in the early morning. We took our time to savour the surroundings, imagining the train puffing along the very straight route in its heyday. My eye caught a vibrant bottlebrush on the side of the trail.

As we walked, a number of cyclists whizzed by enjoying the freedom to ride without fear of traffic.

It was time to go, but not before Steve got in one last shot.

Driving homewards, but not time to call it a day yet, we called in at the pub in the little settlement of Sevenhills in search of an intriguing wine. We had been told about it at the Indian restaurant we had been to the night before. Jim Barry (of Jim Barry Wines) had visited the Greek island of Santorini in 2006, where he came upon a wine called Assyrtiko which he thought tasted rather similar to Clare Valley rieslings, but was somehow different. He  began importing cuttings. Then in 2012 the first of the vines were planted. The Indian restaurant was selling bottles for $50 but we believed we might get it cheaper at the Sevenhills pub. In we went. The lovely young bartender lady there said she thought they had it and we had better go down into cellar to check. Off we went and entered the most gorgeous cellar filled with bottles. We hunted in every refrigerator shelf and on racks to no avail. Perhaps it's upstairs she says. A little disappointed we climbed back to the bar area where she began her search again. Suddenly a shriek and a smile and a 'Here it is'.  So we bought it (yes, it was much cheaper!) and headed the car home.

Here's part of our haul. I say 'part' because Steve also bought a box of a dozen rieslings that were selling as an excess run and had to be sold; we had tasted the wine and thought it was delicious. I think we're set now for the next few weeks!!!!!!

Delving into history

How lovely it was to take a three-day break and visit the Clare Valley wine region. We haven't been away for months because of the virus. We postponed our May wedding anniversary booking to November, hoping precautions would have eased by then. And they were - restaurants were open, tastings were back on and the local community was very welcoming.

It was about a four-hour drive from home, with Clare about two hours north of Adelaide. First stop Auburn, a small town with a rich history and chock full of heritage buildings.

Post Office 1862 - and still a post office today!

St Johns Anglican Church 1862. 

I'm a big fan of Institutes and look for them in every country town. Auburn's was built in 1866 with an 1884 addition (looking a bit tacked on, I reckon) to the left.

Pioneers grazed cattle and sheep in the early days of the district. Then in the 1850s copper was discovered at nearby Burra and Auburn was on the route transporting the copper to the port near Adelaide. Businesses were  quickly established and the town boasted breweries, a flour mill, gasworks, an apothecary, a shoe factory and a foundry - all long gone.  I tried to imagine the huge bullock drays lumbering through this now peaceful hamlet. 

The main street boasted a ladies mounting stone, useful for ladies to gracefully alight onto their horses. A local stonemason made several of these and placed them around the town.

On the edge of town was the former railway station, now tastefully adapted for cellar door sales. A photo nearby showed a group of local ladies in their best finery waiting at the station to board the train in 1918 for a trip to the seaside. What excitement they must have felt anticipating the journey from their dry and hot environment to enjoy a day at the beach. How times have changed - the service operated twice daily from Adelaide to Clare until the railway was abandoned in 1983. 

A little disappointing (for me) was the lack of information about the town's most famous person - author and poet C J Dennis, who is best known for the 1915 poem The Songs of the Sentimental Bloke. On a block of land now occupied by a nondescript building was a sign indicating that this was the former site of the Auburn Hotel operated by Dennis' father and the birthplace of C J (Clarence James). A brochure said a drinking fountain, birdbath and a model of the hotel now stand in memory of him - but we couldn't see them.  

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A little further north was the dot-on-the-map-town of Penwortham, named by pioneer settler John Horrocks after his hometown in England. The scene today is a bucolic one of grazing sheep and vines.

Horrocks was only 21 when he ventured north of Adelaide with his brother Eustace in 1839. The first white men in this area, they explored the region by camel, then established this tiny settlement.  A letter written to his family says ' ... have commenced building a two-room cottage of stone'.  Using only materials close to hand and the tools they had with them, the brothers managed to construct a solid and comfortable, if austere, home for themselves. The building is the oldest stone cottage in this area, and has been restored to as close to its original state as possible. 

We peered in the windows but it was too difficult to see anything, so being exceedingly clever, I merely took a photo of the photos on the information sign outside the cottage. 

In 1846 the brothers left to explore the far north of South Australia. Sadly, John was accidentally shot while loading his shotgun when a camel knocked into him. He died of his wounds, aged 28 years.   

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As if all this history wasn't enough, we drove on to Burra roughly 42kms north-east. Burra was the site of a busy copper mining industry in the 1850s to 70s. It is now a National Heritage-listed town and is replete with restored public buildings, shops, miners cottages, and remnants of its mining past. 

In the centre of the town was an elaborate gazebo ...

... and the War Memorial that displayed a couple of Krupp field guns captured from the Germans. You can just see one peeking out behind the roses. 

This is what it looked like when the guns were first placed there around 1920. 

We were there just after Remembrance Day so there were a number of wreaths placed at its base. 

Many of the buildings are made of the local stone - and they look fabulous. Here's one example.

I loved exploring this shop .... 

... and discovering this old bike. Not sure who would buy it.

We drove a little way out of town to the mine site and wandered around, trying to imagine how it would have looked and sounded at the height of production. Here's a glimpse of what we saw.

  

The building on the left is the engine house and is believed to be the only fully-restored Cornish engine house outside of Cornwall. 

While all around us was mining heritage, I looked up and saw a swathe of succulents silhouetted against the sky, looking almost menacingly triffid-like. 

We wandered back to the car and headed to the Burra Regional Art Gallery where I was fascinated by their prized collection of sketches by S T Gill, Australia's foremost colonial-era artist, though almost forgotten today. Upon arriving in Adelaide from England in 1839, he advertised his services for 'portraits and street scenes'. He soon expanded his repertoire by making tours of the nearby districts to record life in these new settlements. Burra was one such stop. He has provided us with a meticulous record of the scenery, the scope of mining activities, and life in this bustling mining town.  

The sketches always seemed to include dogs, children, horses, comical figures and slice-of-life events as well as records of various mining activities. 

And in this watercolour he depicts the local Ngadjuri people.

An artist whose exhibition was opening at the art gallery in a couple of days wanted to try her special effects out on us. She had done a series of artwork based on an old hut that her parents had bought and transported to the Yorke Peninsula; the large hut had housed nurses during World War 2 and was one of many auctioned off after the war. By pointing an iPad at the artwork, photographs and other images of life at that time appeared on the screen. It was a very effective way of seeing 'inside' the painting.  

Having been immersed in history for so long, we were ready for a cup of tea and a lie down! We headed north to our cottage which was our base for the next couple of nights. And here it is - the Pavilion, the honeymooners cottage in the town of Clare.

Next blog... we explore the wineries and restaurants of the Clare Valley.