Day 18 Sheep shearing and kangaroos

We had perhaps a too early start, considered there was the party yesterday. But the sheep shearing is something we did not want to miss, and Brendan had arranged so we could go and see when Clem's neighbor sheared the sheep. It was nearly 30 degrees already at 8:30, but the shearing had been going on since early in the morning. The shed was really warm, but the shearers worked in full speed. We talked to the lady who managed the work in the shed, and they had a little under 2000 sheep. They had started to separately cut away wool around the eyes and tail of the sheep, this is called crutching. They then went on shearing the whole fleece the next day or afterwards. Yesterday they sheared about 950 sheep, but the whole fleece take more time to remove. The best wool was extremely soft and dry, compared to most of the sheep we have in Sweden. The newly sheared wool from them feels much coarser and slightly greasy. The reason is that these sheep are Merino sheep, and you really could feel the difference in quality. It was also fascinating to see how fast the sorting process was, the two ladies who did it could in seconds feel and see if the wool was first class or to be sorted in any other fraction. One of the shearers was also second best in the state of South Australia, which you can know since there are competitions.

Shearing

Sorting

Fine merino wool

A bale of sheared wool, 950 sheep

Sheep for shearing

We continued to Clem´s son's farm, called Emu Rocks. The actual Emu Rocks is a peace of rock with very interesting formations, and it used to be a place where the aboriginal people camped. From the small rocks you could see vast fields, and it was a kind of landscape I have never seen before. Surprisingly enough there was also a piece of plastic in place, so you sleigh down the rocks in one place, much the same way that we sleigh downhill on snow! It was also on our way up to Emu Rocks that we saw the first kangaroos! We scared up about five kangaroos close to the homestead.

Emu rocks

Formation on Emu Rocks

The plastic sleigh

View

Next stop was on a field to look at two huge headers and then we went to see the biggest field, or paddock as they say here, that Kieran had. Micke has been working on this paddock a lot, The Jubilee Pond paddock. It was really huge, it covers an area more than twice the size of what Micke farms today totally. We then drove to Myall Glin, the farm, and on the way we had five big red kangaroos jumping along the road for a long bit while we drove. Wonderful to see them, but it was not easy to get god pictures of them. Sadly enough nobody lives in the house at Myall Glin now. It has not been inhabited for about five years. We looked at a shearing shed that Micke helped building, but it was a bit sad to walk around the house when it looked so abandoned. Micke could show us where his room was anyway, and we got to see a lizard luring around in the patio.

Markus headed for big machinery

Dry land

Micke and Brendan

Outside his former room

For marking

Micke

Brendan then found the way to an old homestead that now only had the ruin of a house partly underground, it was for food storage. On the site we also saw a really big bird, an eaglehawk, the biggest bird of prey in Australia. The tour then was finished and we went back to Kimba, over a really big paddock and along very long straights on dirt roads. A fantastic morning out! After lunch we started to do the final packning, finding ways to pack wine in a risk free way for example. It was around 45 degrees outdoor, I had really been worried about such high temperatures. Being indoor with AC works well though, and also walking around the corner from our room down to the pub to have a cup of coffee. I also walked across the street to have a look at the hardware shop.

Food storage cellar

Tree at Emu Rocks

The last night in Australia was spent in the wonderful pub again, we had a few drinks and dinner with the traveling company. As usually on the eve of a day of travel I have dual feelings. I both want to go and want to stay. It is the same no matter if it is about leaving home or leaving to come home. I feel thankful that I can travel, since it is a fantastic thing to do, and I also try to think of all practicalities so we can have as smooth and easy journey as possible. But before we leave we do get to see the way back to Adelaide, and we will have a lunch break, most likely in Port Augusta.

Bottle shop at the bar/hotel

Last night in Kimba

Prawns for dinner

Window in our entrance

Big reds next to the road

Brown kangaroos in the bushes

Day 17 Birthday celebration halfway across Australia

We left Barossa Valley rather early in the morning after a wonderful, but rather short stay there. We were now heading for Kimba, South Australia, and kind of the main goal of the whole trip; the celebration of Mikaels 50th birthday. We stopped in Port Augusta for lunch, and then drove straight to Kimba. Or, after taking a wrong turn in one crossing at least, Mikael was leading our small caravan and we kind of thought he knew the way :)

Mikael back in Kimba

Post office in Kimba

Me being halfway across Australia

Going shopping for touristy things

The Big Galah

Rear view of the Big Galah

Arrived at Kimba Gateway hotel we got our rooms and went out for a small sightseeing. We looked at the wooden sculpture The Big Galah, representing a huge rose breasted cockatoo. Let's say it was interesting. We also went to the famous sign, saying Halfway across Australia, and to the painted silos. The motif and the work as such was in a way impressive, but in my opinion a bit too kitschy.

The painted silo in Kimba

In the evening we gathered in the pub, that had been refurbished a bit since Mikael was here last, but still a very nice place. We had a drink before dinner, and was joined by two Fitzgerald brothers: Brendan and Clem, a friend of Mikael that also visited Sweden and Ingarö; Lyn and Brendan's friend Chris. The dinner was really delicious, we had fried prawns, lamb cutlets and pavlova, and good wines with it. Mikael also had pavlova for his 21st birthday that was also celebrated in Kimba, but on the farm Myall Glin. I am thinking it may be a good idea to celebrate a birthday at The Stag's head in Portslade, Sussex, England. That is the pub I used to hang in around my 21st birthday. I must say I am so proud of my brother, he has always done brave things. When I went to England, he went to Australia. He took over the farm. He knows complicated things that I know nothing of, like growing crops or fixing machines. I am so happy he his my brother and now we have celebrated his birthday in a place I have only heard of for 30 years, and now finally got to see, Kimba. I am so glad he invited us to this journey, and it became reality. It was also wonderful to meet the Australian friends, I sat next to Clem, who was very interested in history and we talked about everything from sheep farming to 17th century Dutch expeditions to northern Australia. What an evening!

Christina and Mikael in the pub

The dinner party

Brendan, Mikael and Clem

Pavlova, finally

Chatting away after the dinner

Day 16 Windahl in wine valley

Our name Windahl literally means wine valley. So today the Windahl went touring the wine valley. It is actually much better in Swedish: Windahl i vindal. It was a fantastic tour. We started with Peter Lehmann wines, about 20 minutes drive from our airbnb. There we tasted sparkling red wine, among other wines. Sparkling red is apparently a specialty here, and it was interesting. Maybe not the best of sparkling wines, but good enough. Alice tried an aged port-type that was a specialty of Peter Lehmann, and this was really a good one, and since we both liked it a lot we bought a bottle. This was also a wine they did not produce any more and they only had a crate or so left so we bought one of the last bottles. Outside the house they had like a park with many big trees, and there were hundreds of cockatoos that flew around there, and also made quite a lot of noice.

Next stop was for lunch and Åsa had since long suggested Maggie Beer's farm for this. Maggie Beer is a renown Australian chef, she has for example started restaurants, hosted TV-shows and appeared on MasterChef Australia. She has also started this restaurant and shop in Barossa Valley, where it is possible to book cooking classes, eat and shop. The products in the shop is produced on the estate, we bought for example apple cider and passionfruit curd, and many of us had pizza for lunch. The pizzas were cooked in an oven outside the restaurant and tasted yummy! Alice and I also tried their ice cream from the shop, and that was delicious too. Since I was driving today I also got to try one of the interesting soft drinks based on grape juices that they had on the menu. As a bonus the small pond next to the place had a big number of cute turtles that we looked at.

Waiting for tasting

Peter Lehmann Wines

Lennart and Christina at Peter Lehmann

Tasting at Peter Lehmann

Maggie Beer's farmhouse

Lunch, pizza Three cheese

Looking at turtles

After lunch we drove through a huge alley of palm-trees, and stopped at a viewing point were we saw large fields of wine and had a grand view of the valley. Here we also took some photos of the Windahls in the vine valley, Windahl i vindalen. (Maybe this was even one of the purposes of the whole journey?;) We then continued to the vineyard Chateau Tanunda. This wine estate was established in 1890, and their main building is built to resemble a French chateau. It seemed to be a rather large establishment, but here they had the tastings among wine-barrels and family cellars and that really gave a feeling of "being on a vineyard". Alice and I focused on semi-sweet and sweet wines this time, and picked the sparkling red to buy. This was said to go well with Christmas turkey and cranberry sauce, so perhaps we'll save it for next Christmas. And in case you wonder, yes it is possible to taste wine when driving, if only you spit out which I did today.

Windahl i vindal/Windahl in wine valley

Extended Windahl family in wine valley

At Chateau Tanunda

Big barrel

Barrels

Markus and Anneli

Chateau Tanunda

Before heading back "home" we decided to have a different kind of Barossa tasting; beer. There is a micro brewery called Barossa Valley Brewing, and they had a tasting with 6 different kinds of craft beer. (And here I only sipped two of them since I find it harder to spit beer when tasting). The most interesting one seemed to be one called I Can´t Believe it's not bacon, a very dark ale made from smoked malt. It really had a scent of bacon and tasted very smokey. Some of us went to shop, some stayed drinking beer and then we got back to the house to have a bath in the bubble pool. We cooked dinner, Anneli and Markus came over and we had a really nice time together around the table. I finished the day out in the garden, as we actually did yesterday to. The night skies have been clear the  last days and it is possible to see the southern cross from our backyard. Could not be a better last night in Barossa Valley.

Mikael tasting beer