A weekend in the Clare Valley - another wine region

About an hour and a half north of Adelaide the secluded Clare Valley is a hidden gem bounded by pastoral expanses.  Considered Australia's home of riesling, the Clare Valley offers a lot to experience!

The Clare Valley has been making wine for a long time.  Jesuit priests planted the region's first grapes in 1851, just 15 years after European settlers arrived in South Australia.  Today international judges continue to rate the Rieslings and Shiraz as amongst the best in the world.

In 1848, Jesuit priests fled religious and political persecution in Silesia, migrating to Australia and establishing Sevenhill.  Three years later, they planted the Clare Valley's first grapes and began making sacramental wine - although the priests were soon supplying settlers.  Today the historic Sevenhill Cellars is still run by Jesuit priests and brothers making wines in the same cellars.

The underground cellar was excavated by hand and the winery building was constructed from stone quarried on the property.  Today you can still go into the original underground cellar.

Local stone was also used to build another religious landmark on the property - St. Aloysius' Church - which was completed in 1875.  It has the only crypt below a parish church in Australia, and this is the final resting place for 41 Jesuits.

Also located on the winery property is a historic cemetery.  This cross was built by one of the Jesuit brothers in 1875.

Established in 1849, the village of Mintaro is now part of a State Heritage Area.  Originally, Mintaro was a watering stop for bullock teams transporting copper and coal for the Patent Copper Company.  The bullock teams were replaced with mule teams in the 1850s and up to a hundred mule teams were seen to pass though the town each day. 
Many of the town's buildings feature Mintaro slate from the local quarry.  This slate was famous around the world for providing the playing surfaces on billiard tables.  It was used extensively in the finest houses of Adelaide, including Parliament House, and is still being used to pave the state's capital.

The Mintaro Institute, now the village's Town Hall 

 The post office

I think this was the original blacksmith

Devonshire House, built in 1856, now a B&B 

Mintaro General Store 

Wesleyan Methodist Church built in 1867 and behind it the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel built in 1854

Mintaro Primary School - built in 1872

The residence for the school's first teachers is now the school office

Martindale Hall, one of Australia's finest historical homes, was built for Edmund Bowman in 1879 when he was 21 years old.  Martindale Hall achieved notoriety in 1975 when it was featured in the Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the building but let me tell you, it was truly spectacular!!  The house is predominately furnished and decorated as it was during the occupancy of the last owners - the Mortlocks (1891-1950).  Today the estate is a museum, as well it offers truly unique heritage accommodation packages for up to 18 guests.  Evening meals are served formally by a butler and maid and house guests are permitted to use the billiard table and browse through the library before retiring to the heritage bedrooms.

Even the coach house was pretty magnificent!

And as I was walking along the path from the estate house to the coach house what should appear in the paddock beside me ...

This morning I went looking for spots where I could show off to you more of the scenery of the area.  Here I am overlooking the Adelaide Plains which are west of the Skilly Hills which form the western boundary of the Clare Valley.

Penwortham, a little village in the Clare Valley, was home to the region's earliest settler, John Horrocks - with Penwortham being named after his home in Lancashire England.  This historic pioneer cottage is one of the oldest stone buildings in the state.  It was built by John Horrocks, in 1839, shortly after his arrival in South Australia, at the young age of 21.  Although living in a hollowed out gum tree when he first arrived he lost no time in building a more livable abode.

While exploring north in the state in 1846, John Horrocks was mortally wounded.  His companions brought him back to Penwortham where he died in September of that year.  He is buried in what is now the cemetery at nearby St. Mark's church.

The building of St. Mark's church was completed in 1855 and today is still an active Anglican parish.

The friends I was staying with have a beautiful old stone cottage in the Clare Valley!  It was nothing but relaxing sitting underneath the grape vines which are turning beautiful red colours in the fall,

and looking out over their property which includes acres of olive trees.

How wonderful to live somewhere where pomegranates grow.

And in less than a five minute walk I could find myself at one of three different wineries - it all depended on which direction I walked which winery I was at.  All had great wines and this one, O'Leary Walker Wines, also offered some magnificent views out over the Clare Valley.

Another wonderful weekend comes to an end.

A bit more time in the Riverland and a Murray River cruise

I'm spending a few more days in the Riverland, primarily with my friends in Waikerie and I also had a night with friends in Barmera.

Lake Bonney is a freshwater lake located in the Riverland and the town of Barmera is located on its shores.  The lake was discovered by Europeans in 1838, when encountered by the overlanding party of Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney, who were the first to drove livestock from New South Wales to Adelaide.  Hawdon named the lake that day after Bonney, while recording that the local indigenous people named it 'Nookampka'.  At that time it was a fine sheet of water, but was dried out and muddy three years later in 1841 when the police expedition led by Thomas O'Halloran passed by on its way to rescue other overlanders.  When Charles Sturt passed by in 1844 on his expedition into the interior of Australia, he surveyed Lake Bonney for the first time, as well as the creek connecting it to the River Murray.

Lunch in Renmark one day, and Renmark is also located on the Murray River.

As we were sitting and having lunch on the riverbank these wonderful corellas came and landed on the riverbank nearby.

Docked at Renmark this day was this very special "houseboat" (?).  It is the home of Frank Turton, a.k.a. "The Chookman" who sails the Murray River on a houseboat that looks like a rubbish tip, all the while singing with a chicken on his head.  (Just in case I haven't said already, chickens are also called 'chooks' here in Australia).  There are small veggie gardens on the sides of the boat, a lopsided dunny and a double bed inside an old water tank.  There is a wood-fired stove in the middle, next to a TV that is mounted inside a frame the shape of the nation.  Also onboard there's a chook house with a chandelier, a papier-mache gopher, and a 'kitchen of the future' - all of which were created by Frank and hold a special story.  It definitely is quite the creation.

Later in the week I went on a mini-cruise along the Murray River.  We went about 15 kms along the river, from down river up to Morgan and back again.  The boat we went on is a decommissioned pearling boat from Broome, Western Australia.

The boat just came and tied up along the bank of the Murray... sort of in the middle of nowhere... but at least there was a loo for those who needed it before we got on the boat.

And then for the following two hours this is the scenery I just sat there and enjoyed.

These shags, or cormorants, were watching us pass by

These are "shacks" along the river...a.k.a. a cottage

The ferry crossing at Morgan