About Us

Rob and Liz were travelling on a long-term holiday around Australia in their mobile home, but have now pulled up stumps in Naracoorte, South Australia. We have purchased a property here and we are living off the land. Robert is a Licensed Electrical Contractor and Elizabeth has extensive experience in office and project management. Check out our website and send us an email from 1300SPARKE.COM.AU or call 1300SPARKE to talk to us about your electrical needs.

Where are we now?

Where are we now?
Naracoorte - South Australia

Picture of the week

Picture of the week
Cruising at Kingston

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Granites - somewhere along the limestone coast of South Australia

After leaving Narrung we drove down the limestone coast - a very scenic route
Next stop for us was the Granites - a great camping spot on long beach - it was great to get some fresh air, stretch our legs and even time for a game or two
The Granites are named after these rocks
This was our campsite for two nights - superb views looking out over the southern ocean
We watched the sun sink into the ocean
We left on a blustery cold morning and now heading to Frances
(via a stop in the main street of Naracoorte to update this blog)
Next stop, Liz's cousin Heather's 2,000 acre sheep station.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

On the road again - YAY

We left Balaklava on Monday 12 December. Jo (my friend in the caravan park) decided to do a small trip to the Angaston fresh produce markets before we left. This is part of the Barossa Valley. We sampled some fine fare (or stuffed our faces is more like it) and even ran into the only Town Cryer of South Australia.
We thought it was a fine excuse to stop at one of the Barossa Valley wineries and stock up on Christmas Cheer.
After farewells to our friends in the Balaklava Caravan Park Mark and Jo and a big blast of the bus air horn we were on our way.
Our first stop was Tailem Bend were we had our first camp fire in many months.
We then decided to head to a lovely camp at Narrung on the fringes of the Coorong National Park.
We were situated right in the middle of the Alexandrina and Albert Lakes. These lakes are massive.

That afternoon we toured the Coorong National Park - we went out to Pelican Point but unfortunately we couldn't get out to the Barrages as they had been closed off. These barrages were built in 1830 to stop the seawater from the ocean penetrating the lakes so that they could use the lakes for irrigation. There are four and the longest being 3 kilometres long (you are supposed to be able to walk along them).
After turning back we found a nice spot were Rob went for a skinny dip (these photos are NOT for display).
We then drove through to Meningie around the Albert Lake then caught the ferry back to our camp
Today we are off to the Granites camp on the limestone coast just north of Kingston.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Moving on ....... bye bye Balaklava

We will be moving on from Balaklava on Monday and heading to Frances, where we will stay with Liz's cousin on a 2,000 acre sheep station. 
We are going to take the coast road and stop at a few nice places along the way. 
Christmas will be at Mt Gambier with Liz's Aunty and cousins.

On a day off recently we decided to take a small tour and headed out to Wallaroo.
It was nice to see the water and took a stroll on the beach
This is Viterra at Wallaroo -  conveyers run out to the boats where they load the malting barley ready for export, mostly to Japan
Where there were once fields of gold and green - crops are now ready for harvesting - a totally different landscape
Harvested crops on the other side of the road looking out to the head of the Gulf of St Vincent
Here is Liz probing a truck of Canola
After the crops have been classified they line up for the weigh in bridge before offloading to the sheds or bunkers
The classifying huts where Liz has been working (before the onslaught)
Here is a pic of canola after being loaded into the shed Rob was looking after - it is dumped on a grid
It pours through the grid onto a conveyor underneath and then it moves into the shed
We are now moving to a different site which is 15 minutes from my cousins place

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Wheat's Arriving, Bowman's SA

It's been so long since the last update, this is partly due to the fact that Liz hasn't had much to report on, sitting around the caravan park waiting for the wheat harvest has been mind numbingly boring!!!
Bowman's is starting to kick of for this years harvest - hooooray!  Liz gets her second big day at work tomorrow (Friday) so it's on with the hard hat and the steel capped boots (pictures may follow).
This year South Australia is expecting to harvest 7.5 million metric tonnes of wheat.
On top of that there is also canola, peas and barley.
This is one of many bunkers - the harvest is stored in bunkers, sheds and silos. This is last years harvest which has now been trucked to Outer Harbour to the ships for exportation. They are making room for the bumper crops.
Rob has spent the last 4 weeks doing maintenance on the bunkers - getting ready for the big intake
During the season this is where Rob will be working - Block O where there are six silos holding about 1,000 tonnes each - the wheat, canola, peas and barley are moved from the bunkers and sheds along a conveyor belt into the silos where they will be loaded onto trucks and trains - above you can see where a train is being loaded.
The sheds where the harvested goods will be stored
Here's some barley moving from one of the big sheds to Block O where it will be loaded onto one of the many trains passing through. Rob's been told he could be working 7 days a week and up to 14 hours a day - phew that's one long day.
As for me some pictures to come - I will be probing the trucks, classifying their goods and looking out for any nasties.  They tell me in the peak of the season the trucks are 4 wide and a queue at least 1km long. The classifying sheds (which thankfully are air conditioned - yay for Liz) are open from 7.30am to 7.30pm.
It  is certainly going to be busy - but hopefully interesting too.
Hope to have more to tell you soon so say tuned...................

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Balaklava

A few facts about Balaklava - population 1,600
2 pubs, 1 golf club and 1 bowling club
Where Middies are Schooners and Schooners are Pints
Petrol is cheap and beer is expensive
1 supermarket (closed on Sundays?)
Lovely old sandstone houses with bull nose verandahs and ohhhhh the beautiful spring flowered gardens
It is now daylight savings and we haven't had to put the clock forward for 6 years.

We went to the Balak (Balaklava's nickname) show last Saturday - it was rather small but featured sheep shearing competitions
Wood chopping competitions and ute competitions
We also saw the baking and vegies displays and the beautiful spring flower displays

On the way home we decided to stop for a cold beer and yes it was AFL grand final day at the pub - probably the busiest we will ever see it
We go for many walks with Buddy and we see some fabulous scenery
I did my training all last week and learnt hopefully all there is to know about wheat, barley, peas and canola. I pretty much passed the test that was 3 hours long on Friday - what a relief that was - and I will put into practice the theory I have learnt next Friday when I do a shift in the shed. I probe the truck and take samples and then I classify it for weed seeds, insects, rodents etc (I hope none of them are still jumping around)
Rob spent a day in Adelaide last Monday waiting for his flight to the Gold Coast - below is the Adelaide Cathedral - stunning
and he walked along the Torrens River
Today being Sunday (and part of a long weekend) we decided to take a picnic lunch and head out to Rockies Reserve
A beautiful spot by the river and no doubt a very popular swimming hole in summer
It is warming up now - last week it got down to 3 degrees overnight - brrrrrrrrrrr
Rob goes in for his induction and training on Wednesday and is unsure yet what tasks he will be taking on - possibly maintenance (or grain floor sweeper he he)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Exploring our new digs......

On Thursday we passed our online induction session.  On Monday I (Liz) starts work at 8.30am to 4pm. I will be doing a full week of training.  It's only a 14 km drive to work which is great. I will be trained as a wheat classifier where I have been told that trucks line up 3 wide and as far as you can see. I will be inspecting the wheat in the trucks and then classing its grade. So I'll be inspecting the wheat that you eat!! As Rob's supervisor David is taking a week off, due to school holidays, he starts the following week.
He will take this opportunity to fly to Brisbane and finish wiring our mate Rick's house.
As the season ramps up we will be working 12 hours a day and 6 days a week!! So we decided yesterday to take ourselves off for a little exploring - and what did we find?  The Clare Valley Reisling Trail - YAY!!
Clare Valley is renowned for it's fabulous reislings - so we decided to put them to the test.
Wine tasting that is.  First stop for us was Eldredge Vineyards
We sampled one of their reds with dinner the other night and it was good - but their prize Shiraz "The Blue Chip" was superb. Their reisling wasn't bad either!!!!
We stopped at Spring Gully Lookout which forms part of the Spring Gully conservation park. 
Beautiful spot for a wee snack
Next on our agenda was Seven Hills - an amazing winery.  First established in 1848 by the Jesuit Priests who migrated to Australia. Three years later they planted Clare Valley's first grapes to make sacremental wine.
and here's Rob inspecting their grapevines
They have a beautiful church
and a massive underground cellar
and of course some serious wines for tasting
and here are the original buildings that the priests first lived in
Our next stop we thought would have to be Taylor's wines (any relation to you Janet?)
As you can see they have a massive operation going, it covers 750 hectares with 6000 oak barrels in use, and one barrel equals 20 cases of wine - now that's alot of wine
and that brings us to the end of our wine trail for the day - apparently there are 42 more wineries and 37 cellar doors to visit - oh my oh my oh my!!!!!!!
Here is our little booty - should keep us going for quite a while
Today is Balaklava Show Day - just like a mini Ekka - so we are off to see some sheep shearing, wood chopping and whatever else they have on display.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Our new home for several months.....Balaklava, South Australia

After leaving Broken Hill we travelled through some wild wild west landscape, no trees just bracken and thistle and red dirt. 
That night we stopped at Oodla Wirra - and about 50 metres from the quarantine checkpoint.  We ate all our vegies here apart from 2 onions which we handed over - naughty naughty!!!

The landscape changes before our eyes and within a few hundred kilometres we start to pass through green fields full of sheep and rolling plains. It reminded me of England. Beautiful homesteads and small towns, heritage buildings of sandstone. Miles of huge wind generators lined the landscape.
  
Canola is a well grown crop in these parts and the fields of yellow gold in the sunshine were lovely
We stopped along the way at Mount Bryan OMG it was soooo cold - out came the scarves and the beanies, even Buddy had to put his little jumpy on.

A quick pitstop at Manoora and it's still freezing, we were looking for someone open to sell us hot chippies to warm us up.....
and then Auburn - where we found our hot chippies - YAY!!!! This is only 10 minutes away from Balaklava and is a beautiful heritage town. A place to explore on our days off.
We come to the top of a hill and we see Balaklava in the distance
and here's the wheat that we eat

We have been exploring our new town and it's a fairly laid back small town.
Yesterday we filled out our employment packs, got fitted with our steel cap boots and Viterra shirts.  Now off for our induction session so will update you later