15 July - Hahndorf, SA

After a very cold night (glad we bought an electric blanket for the caravan) we woke to a clear but frosty morning. As we had left the van and the Pajero hitched it was a simple matter to have a quick breakfast, and disconnect the power and the water and continue on our trip. By lunch time we had reached Keith (that's a town) where we visited one of our all-time favourite cafes - the Henry and Rose Cafe. For most of our trip the sun was shining and you could almost convince yourself it was a warm day but I doubt the outside temperature rose above 10ºC. Our original plan was to stay in Gawler tonight but as we approached Hahndorf we couldn't resist a little side trip. Hahndorf is a beautiful little village established originally by German immigrants and there is plenty of German culture here in the shape of Strudel, Wurstzel and German beer. We've stayed in Hahndorf many times before but a couple of years ago we gave up on the only caravan park -The Hahndorf Holiday Resort - due to its gradual deterioration. Imagine our delight when we saw that the facility has been completely redeveloped and is now in fact a Big4, four star facility. Despite some light rain we immediately pulled in and we'll probably spend two nights here before continuing to Port Augusta. The resort is under new ownership and has undergone a complete facelift. All the sites have been levelled and grassed, there are no huge gum trees threatening life and limb and the facilities are first class. We're really pleased to find this reincarnation of one of our favourite spots and I'm sure we'll stay again in the future. For those of you who have seen the old resort it's worth checking out the website here.