Winter 2019 OZ - 24 Driving to Adelaide

2019 OZ - 24   Driving to Adelaide

It was a long distance from Quorn to Adelaide. 

Remnants of Field Stone Homes

We noticed lots of ‘ruins’ along our drive back from Quorn to Adelaide. Abandoned farms mostly, or houses along the roads that were just left to their own demise. This happened especially in the foot hills of the Flinders Mountains. I wondered why, so I asked folks and they told me that those buildings were abandoned after the influx of immigrants to the area. 

An unusual phenomenon had happened when the first European settlers arrived. The whole area had received lots of rain and the flora was exceptionally green and lush. Even in the early

Another Abandoned Home

days of their settlements, the rain continued for maybe a decade or more but then, the ‘regular’ weather returned, which is closer to desert conditions. The lush fields no longer yielded anything, the herds of domesticated animals, sheep, cattle, goats, etc. could no longer find fodder. People, mostly farmers, had to abandon their well-built, kind of newish housing because this area was no longer suitable for farming. Hence the ‘ruins’ we passed.

Flooding Sign

Strangely though, the closer we got to Adelaide, the more we saw flood markers. We passed through areas with 2-meter-high sticks in the ground that indicated the high water marks of the frequent flooding that occurs here.

Water Level Stick

You would not know it, since when we drove through, it was ‘desert’ and some areas were even burned to ground level. Just very low, small greenery was trying to grow again but yes, this area we drove through ‘can’ flood.

Lunch in the Park

Balaklava was the town where we stopped for our picnic lunch.

Magpie Joined Us For Lunch

A Nice Picnic

We reached Adelaide in the late afternoon and then had to drive through the many suburbs to find the motel we had booked on line. We finally found the Best Western Hotel Granada Motor Inn but it was a bit away from the center of Adelaide.

Unknown Bird Looking For a Handout

The drive ‘through’ the suburbs of Australia’s Adelaide was an eye opener. It was not a British look, not an American look, but the traffic was heavy, the stop lights one after another, the roads narrow and trucks were blocking the reading of road signs. I was glad when we came to our hotel, which we would never have found without a GPS.

Being not in the center of town meant that tomorrow; we would have to take the local bus into the city proper to explore Adelaide. And it also means we are here for 2 nights. 

 

Well, we have not been in a ‘big’ city in Australia since Perth, so this should be a good way to explore what many say is ‘enchanting’. 

Luckily there as a fairly good restaurant immediately across the street from the hotel, a Thai place.  

I’ll tell you about wonderful Adelaide in the next blog.