Dartmoor House at #Naracoorte #DartmoorHouse #Ormerod #Robe

Dartmoor Homestead at Naracoorte in the south east of South Australia is for sale.

Naracoorte is 333 km from Adelaide, set in rich farming country, near the famous Coonawarra wine district and the lobster capital of Australia, Robe.

Rich pastoral land in the south east (photo from web)

Coonawarra wine district (photo from web)

The homestead

Dartmoor Homestead and outbuildings were built between 1842 and 1890  by George Ormerod, who  hailed from the Lake District in England.  George originally lived in a reed hut on the banks of the Naracoorte creek while building his homestead.

In the 21st century, the homestead was a B&B up until a few years ago, with accommodation split between the main house, a cottage and stockmen's quarters or the "bachelor hall".  Today the homestead and outbuildings sit on 3 acres of land.

The cottage

The Bachelor's hall

George made a fortune in the nearby fishing and port town of Robe. He owned the town store and jetties and ran an export business with his own ship, "Ant", which was subsequently shipwrecked in 1866. His export company "Ormerod and Co" traded more than 2 million pounds worth of goods between 1855 and 1866.

Robe

 Today Robe is a thriving fishing port and holiday playground to the farming families from the area and further afield.

Ormerod cottages (photo from web)

 Ormerod built a number of building's in Robe, including the Ormerod Cottages (originally the barracks), Grey Mast Woolstore and Moorakyne House. Today all the buildings are holiday accommodation.

Grey Mast Woolstore (photo from web)

12 roomed Moorakyne House built from local stone (photo from web)

To find out more about Dartmoor House, click here

Or to find out more about Robe, click here

Victoria Park #Victoriapark #parklands #horses #cycling

Victoria Park, or Bakkabakkandi Park as the local Kaurna Aboriginal

people name it, is 72 hectares of multi-purpose use parklands 

sitting on the doorstep of the city.

The heritage listed grandstand was built for watching horse-racing.

The racehorses only left their parklands home in 2008.

Champion cyclist Stuart O'Grady and former Port

Power footballer Nathan Eagleton are wanting to turn

the grandstand into a 120 seat indoor and outdoor cafe, cycling gym and 

children's play area.  

There is also talk of turning the former kiosk into a cafe.

Victoria Park is a drawcard for those wanting to maintain 

their fitness in the open air, with running tracks and outdoor gym 

equipment set up around the park.

The park has a bike or criterium track, soccer, cricket and football

ovals and is home to model aircraft enthusiasts on the weekends.

The park is home to a myriad of birdlife including cockatoos, 

parrots, magpies, kookaburras, ibis and a range of other birds.  

Koalas, possums and even foxes have made their home in the park.

Part of Victoria Park is converted into a V8 car race track each year

and was formerly a section of the Formula 1 Grand Prix 

track between 1985 and 1995.

It is now home to the annual International Horse Trials.

 But most of the time Victoria Park is a tranquil place to exercise dogs,

walk, jog, ride bikes or to just sit on a park bench to soak up the sunshine.

#Carrickalinga #beach #southaustralia

Carrickalinga beach is one of the many beautiful beaches in South Australia.

The name Carrickalinga is derived from a Kaurna Aboriginal word

meaning "home of redgum firewood".

Just up the road from the township of Normanville, 

Carrickalinga has two beaches, north and south, separated

by the volcanic outcrop of Haycock Point

The two bays are called Roma Mitchell Bay (after the first 

woman Govenor of South Australia and local shack-owner) and 

Yankalilla Bay (after the name of the local council). 

Holiday homes and shacks are dotted along the esplanade.

The rocks are great for climbing on.

The beach from the northern carpark is accessible via a ramp.

This part of the coast is home to the famous leafy sea dragon.

There is great diving and snorkelling off the beaches. HMAS

Hobart has been sunk off the coast and makes up one of the

many reefs in the area.

Another reef is being formed after a 3000 tonne wave generator being towed

to Port McDonnell in the South East ran into trouble and sank 1500m 

off shore.  

Olive Trees in the Adelaide Parklands #olives #trees #parklands

The first olive trees were brought to Adelaide on the HMS Buffalo

in 1836, the city's founding year.  A few of that very first batch of olive trees

were planted on Kangaroo Island, with the rest of them

planted out at Elder Park on the banks of the River Torrens. 

The Elder Park olives were transplanted to North Adelaide in the first few 

years of settlement. Up until 1900, thousands of olive trees were 

planted throughout the Adelaide parklands.

From what I can work out the olive trees (photographed in this post)

 on the edge of Victoria Park were planted in 1872.

Even back then the colony of South Australia had a thriving

olive oil business, exporting the oil to other colonies.

Many of the olive trees survive to this day throughout sections

of the Adelaide parklands, with the city council issuing licences

each year to locals who want to pick the olives for either pickling

or making olive oil. 

King William Road #kingwilliamroad #shopping #hydepark

One of the more vibrant shopping 'high streets' in Adelaide is

King William Road at Hyde Park.

The shopping precinct has hundreds of small shops, ranging from 

cafes, restaurants, fashion, shoes, antiques, kitchen, beauty and hair salons,

small supermarkets, florists, through to health professionals.

Occasionally the street is closed for festivals like the Tour Down Under

bike race, Fashion Week, Gourmet affair or as an open-air art gallery for

the South Australian Living Artists Week.

Photo courtesy of enoki.com.au

We had lunch at one of the newest cafes to open in the street, Zahr Mezzo Cafe,

offering modern middle eastern food.  The food was delicious

and the service was even better.

Only a couple of kilometres from the city, it offers cosmopolitan shopping.