Day 25: Heading for the Hills and collecting BIG things

Flinder's 'column'?

Mount Lofty is such an original name for the highest mountain in these parts, don't you think? Not satisfied with this distinction, somebody decided to plonk a great big lighthouse-like structure on top and name it after Matthew Flinders to commemorate something or other connected with him. The view on top of Mount Lofty allows you to see far and wide, and Adelaide really just looks like a little puddle in the middle of it all. It is also very cool up top and obviously a favourite exercising spot (there are several good walks from the summit).

Find the city...

Knowing that we were going to do a lot of driving around and looking at various spots, we skipped the walks and headed for the Botanical Gardens on the way down the slope. Once again we were caught out by the simple fact the upper carpark insinuates that everything is down from that point onwards. It didn't take us long to cotton onto the fact and we soon did an about-face, not wanting to take up most of the morning trying to find our way up and out of the rather vast gardens.

Onto Hahndorf, which is the oldest German village in Australia. It's main street is lined with bakeries, lolly shops, fudge sellers, bratwurst temptations (including sauerkraut) and lots of little gift shops. Andrew and Callum could not resist the fudge and each bought themselves a piece to nibble on for the rest of the day.


Moving on to Beerenberg Strawberry farm, anticipating picking up a bargain on strawberries, but finding them to be quite as expensive as the supermarkets. The shop was fully laden with all the Beerenberg jams, sauces, etc, but as we are not 'jammy' people, this was not much of a temptation.

Melba's chocolate factory was another cavern of delights. With several production rooms open for viewing, and a large central room full of product, it was hard to focus one's eyeballs consistently in the same direction at first. It is a credit to both Andrew and Callum that they have matured somewhat in financial dealings and were very circumspect as to what they would like to spend their money on. (At the start of this trip they would have wanted to buy most of the shop!) After much deliberation and debate, they settled on their purchases, and we were off again.


Our final stop was at the BIG ROCKING HORSE and wooden toys toy shop. The toys here are very well crafted and of good quality. There was even some rocking horse manure to be bought...


We are feeling quite weary after the fullness of the last three days and are planning to head off to Glenelg for a bit of beach time tomorrow.

PS. We are not melting yet...