Saturday 4^th August

Before leaving Clare we took a town tour and noticed many people out mowing lawns, pruning roses and beginning to embrace spring.  The gardens are beginning to blossom and the heady scent of many bulbs is in the air.  So much so there were some stray bulbs alongside the road which needed to be picked, so they are now in a make-shift vase in the van.

We had been told about “Sevenhill Winery” and to make sure it was on our travel itinerary, so today on our way to Gawler we dropped in to see it.  Sevenhill was established by Austrian Jesuits who came to South Australia as chaplains to a group of 130 Catholics, who fled Europe to escape political and religious oppression.  The Jesuits were impressed by the fertility of the local soil and purchased 100 acres of land in 1851, giving it the name Sevenhill after the Seven Hill district of Rome. The underground cellar was excavated by hand and the winery building was constructed from stone quarried on the property.

The property includes, apart from grapevines, a church, underneath which is a crypt being the final resting place for 41 Jesuits.  

A Jesuit residence and spirituality centre is next door, while further along the property are a few shrines, sculptures and cemetery.  

The cellar door sits atop the cellars and a museum is also housed within.

After checking into our caravan park a car pulled up alongside Bob and asked if he was Robert Smith who went to Monaro High School in Cooma.  Of course Bob realized that the person must have recognized him, and it turned out to be a couple, Wayne and Jill Summerville.  They were enjoying a few days in Gawler before heading towards Queensland. They now live in Tasmania where Wayne had been in the Tasmanian Police Force, and he also married a Tasmanian girl – a few co-incidences here, for those who know that Bob was in the Police Force in Canberra, and I am a Tasmanian.

As they were leaving the next morning, we invited them into our van for breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup.

After they left our friends from South Australia, Julie and Pat Lane joined us for lunch and a catch up afternoon.  We have not seen them for a couple of years, so there was quite a bit of chatting to be done.