After leaving Crystal Brook we went out to a place called Bowman Park. Our intention was to spend one night there, but after we arrived and settled in we agreed that it was so lovely that we would stay two nights. We had other campers there, but even so it was very peaceful. It is on the edge of a creek, dry, but with beautiful, large rivergums and then the park is surrounded by farmlands. There is a nature playground that is so unusual that adults can enjoy looking at it and some old, houses falling into disrepair. There was no explanation for this.

One building was maintained and can be hired for events. As well, there are flushing toilets that are cleaned twice daily during the week and once on weekends. We got to know the cleaning woman as she came so often.

On the first evening we did a short walk, then Stephen went up to the lookout, quite a strenuous climb. Yesterday we did a walk in the late morning in another direction. In the evening Stephen set out to find the local section of the Hysen Trail. I was reading for awhile, then went out to have a walk around the small oval nearby. I found Stephen near the toilets and we actually did find the trail and followed it for a while. There is a well set up trail hut just near the campgrounds. Not that it is luxurious and it certainly smells musty, but for a hiking trail hut it’s pretty amazing.

We really enjoyed the time at Bowman Park, there is something very peaceful about tall trees. We even saw kangaroos on our evening walk. Although there has been some rain the walks weren’t muddy, perhaps because of good drainage. This morning it was raining, but that made it easier to pack up and leave. We went back into Crystal Brook to do some shopping and Stephen was able to get both gas bottles filled as one was empty and the other partly empty and getting gas bottles refilled instead of ‘swap and go’ isn’t easy to find. Two full bottles of gas might last until we get home again.

Over the couple of days at Bowman Park we had intermittent sunshine, and with the shade from trees (even though we parked as far from trees as we could) our solar hadn’t had much of a chance to charge up our batteries. By this morning we were using our little Delta Mini to boil the kettle and make coffee. We haven’t driven very far, about 60kms, and that isn’t enough to charge the batteries either, so we are very grateful to the small village of Brinkworth that provides a basic caravan park with toilets, one shower, and water and power hookups for $12 per night. Hard to beat that! So, we are plugged in and the batteries should get a good charge overnight so that we can be on our way again.

We are close to Clare, of the Clare Valley wine region. We’ve only been able to get a place here at Brinkworth for one night as a big party is coming for the weekend tomorrow, but the plan is to explore Clare tomorrow, find out the best winery, and perhaps overnight in a nearby village which at least offers donation camping and toilets. We hope that the batteries will be happy after their overnight charge and carry us through for another day or so.

We have booked a caravan park in Adelaide for two weeks to cover all of the Gilbert and Sullivan events we will be attending. $55 per night isn’t too bad and the park is at the Adelaide Showgrounds with a tram running past to take people into the centre of the city. We’ve stayed on the other side of the city in previous years, but this park gets good reviews on Wikicamps and the sites are a generous size, and level.