We are seriously on our way home. We left Arkaroola on Sunday morning and drove to Hawker. On the way we drove through the Flinders Ranges and Wilpena. The road is bitumen through the southern Flinders so travel is a lot faster and a lot less dusty. At the end of the dirt roads is the small town of Blinman. Blinman was the site of a major copper mine and even today there are mine tours available. We did not have the time for a tour but did have time to enjoy a famous Blinman meat pie. They are just huge and taste great. I followed it up with a quandong tart – takes like a rhubarb and pear mixed together. Now quandongs are not only very tasty and very interesting. The quandong tree is a root parasite. It uses the nutrients directly from the roots of another tree to grow. Once the quandong is big enough it can go out on its own. We saw plenty of quandongs at Arkaroola. 

The southern Flinders ranges is very beautiful. The roads bend and twist, cross creeks, and provide spectacular views of this magical country. 

After arriving at Hawker, we looked at our watches, mmmm, only two o’clock so why not get to Clare. So we did, taking the R.M. Williams Way there. We arrived at Clare caravan park at just after five. It closes at 5:30. Set up camp then went to Sevenhills Hotel for a meal. A very good choice. This morning we visited Crabtree Winery, Annies Lane winery and had lunch at Paulets. The Bush Devine cafe at Paulets has wonderful views of the Clare. Gum trees dotted around rolling green hills, with the bright yellow of canola dominating some pasture. 

However the high point of the day was our early morning visit to Martindale Hall. This has to be the best Victorian era Georgian Italianate mansion / great house we have ever visited either here in Australia but even in the U.K. The house, the grounds, the halls interior, the furnishings, the paintings, the clothes hung in wardrobes and on dressers are all original. You are asked not to touch anything but there are hardly any of those dreadful roles and barriers, and glass screens people like to put inside stately homes.
The hall was built in the mid nineteenth century by a very wealthy family. They had made their money in sheep grazing and were originally from the Lake District. It was this money, 30,000 pounds of it that paid for the building in 1858. By the twentieth century, the house had to be sold, and eventually was bequeathed by a subsequent owner to the University of Adelaide As a venue for agricultural studies. In 1986 it was passed to the National Trust. It’s a building that had has always been loved by whoever owned it. 

Its interiors and exteriors were used in the film “ Picnic at Hanging Rock” to show the school in the movie. While we were there, the sound system played Handel not Beethoven as in the film.

We have had a quiet afternoon after returning from lunch and will be continuing our journey to Station Pier tomorrow morning. We have met some delightful fellow travellers including some other Tasmanian refugees. All of them thoroughly enjoying retirement and their lives on the road.