We woke to a cold foggy day in Clare. It didn’t get above 8 degrees until lunch time.

Our accommodation has resident alpcacas. The one at the front was a bit grizzly because he hadn’t had his morning coffee. His name was Alpacino.

The beautiful Clare Valley. Bird life was prolific in the morning.

Adelaide rosella

White-backed magpie – a different race to those found elsewhere in Australia. It is confined to the south of South Australia.

The roads around the valley are lined with South Australian Blue Gum.

The patterns and colours of the SA Blue Gum trunks

A typical country road in Clare

We visited Spring Gully Conservation Park

A friendly kangaroo on the edge of the park.

South Australian blue gum red form.

South Australian Blue Gum usual white form

Rolling green hills on the way from Clare to Burra

Yellow sheep near Burra – I assume it is some treatment after shearing. But some enlightened sheep herders may be able to share their knowledge.

Burra is an old copper mining town and home to direct ancestors in our family. We had been here before visiting the cemetery to pay our respects and looking at historical sites. This ruin at Firewood Creek just outside town was made famous by being on the cover of the Midnight Oil album Diesel and Dust. There are three stone ruins in the area so based on our research a 1 in 3 chance of being owned once by a family member.

The newest tenants

We find a place to bunker down when the zombie apocalypse occurs.

The change from rolling green hills back into saltbush is abrupt. Goyders Line is passed which marks the extent of effective cropping farming land in South Australia. To the north and east is saltbush country.

Morgan is an old port on the Murray River.

On the way to Renmark, we see the Overlanders Corner Hotel built in 1860. The river is never far on the drive. We pass through Renmark and pass Berri – major fruit growing areas.

Driving east through mallee country and old dune systems.

Crossing the Murray River at Renmark on the historic Paringa Bridge.

We arrive at Mildura in the dark. Mildura is an old Murray River port and now centre of a huge fruit growing industry. The area uses the trade brand of Sunraysia. Emu count today: 15