Up the road to Melrose
Posted by Melissa on | July 7, 2008
We head north out of Clare, which could be mistaken for Country Clare in Ireland, after which it was named. Rolling green hills with old pale sandstone sheds stranded in manicured paddocks, saturated grey/green light, hardy sheep and torrential rain.
We aim for Melrose today - a huge 150 kilometres up the road - and somehow manage to make the trip last the best part of the day. We stop at Gladstone (home of an historic gaol and not much else) and then the well-kept secret that is the Stone Hut Bakery. Along the way we are surprised at the tiny country towns through which we pass - they are neat places where well-kept sandstone cottages look to the road. Perhaps for answers as to how to survive - most towns are in steady demise as businesses close and people move away.
Melrose, at the foot of Mt Remarkable in the Southern Flinders Ranges, is even more surprising. It is a rare mix of country hospitality and historic buildings, with great food and a dynamic and welcoming young local community. There’s a bike shop in town and a group of enthusiastic riders who are determined to put the town on the map for mountain biking. A network of trails has been created on private land between the town and the national park, and the annual Festival of Fat Tyres attracts people from around the world to circumnavigate the peak after which the town was named.
The weather hasn’t let up, infact it blows and the rain thuds through the night, so we decide to leave the tent in the car and move into cabin 3 in the caravan park - a standard hose-out set-up with a noisy heater (the choice is easy - have a conversation or be warm) and a television bolted high on the wall.
The best thing to do on a rainy blowy night is not to sit in a dim cabin, but to venture out to the pub. Especially in South Australia, where the pale ale is cheap and on tap (pity they don’t know what measure a pint is!). The North Star is a renovated old building that has a cellar door, gallery, expansive restaurant, bar with open fire and very friendly staff. It will be our second home during our stay, and is sister of the Prairie Hotel, about which we hear frequently and which we will visit at Parachilna in the Central Flinders Ranges.
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