Winter holidays

[flossybeth]

I'm thinking of taking the children away for a couple of days during the winter holidays in a couple of weeks. I'm only looking at 2/3 days so somewhere I can get to within a few hours drive really. I've been looking around the Yorke Peninsula but shacks are coming in at around $150/$160 a night; this seems like a lot to me....

 

If anyone has any ideas I'm open otherwise we camping in the front room

[Anne B]

Burra is a nice place to stay - there are cosy old stone cottages (make sure you get one with a fire) and during the day you can do the Burra passport - go round the old copper mining, heritage areas and museums, so there is plenty to do that is fun and educational. I took my kids away with me a couple of years ago for a couple of nights and we had a great time, played Monopoly in the evenings. It does get cold though and also take some food as there isn't a lot of choice for eating out. It is also cheaper than the Clare Valley.

[Diane]

Or take them down to Victor for some whale watching.

 

Or how about heading away from the coast and going to Halls Gap in the Grampians - about 5 hours drive, loads of wildlife, great walks, and probably a better time to go than summer when the bushfire risk is high. We used to stay at a great campsite - Emu Park near Wartook - but don't know if it's there any more. They had cabins though and you could have camp fires etc, and fish for yabbies in their ponds.

Edited June 18, 2015 by Diane

[snifter]

Hubby liked Berri when he was there recently but not sure what would be of interest there for you and the kids this time of year?

 

What about a youth hostel somewhere? Port Elliot perhaps? https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/sa/fleurieu-peninsula/port-elliot-beach-house-accommodation/

 

Pro tip. Don't go to Gladstone and stay in the jail

[Diane]

Don't forget to look on Airbnb as well for accommodation - you got me thinking about the Grampians and I just found this place which looks lovely https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/5688454?checkin=08-07-2015&checkout=11-07-2015&guests=4&s=cDxp or this place https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/1307469?checkin=08-07-2015&checkout=11-07-2015&guests=4&s=cDxp which has a 'pay for 3 nights, stay for 4' deal on

Edited June 19, 2015 by Diane

[flossybeth]

Thanks - some great suggestions, I always though Airbnb was just rooms in houses and wouldn't suit a family but there's some great places on there, have a found a couple that might be in the running so will give the children the choice this evening and see where we end up.

[flossybeth]

All booked - heading up to Melrose (Mt Remarkable) and Burra; 4 days/3 nights for $329

 

Again, thanks for the Airbnb tip off will definitely use it again.

[Diane]

All booked - heading up to Melrose (Mt Remarkable) and Burra; 4 days/3 nights for $329

 

Again, thanks for the Airbnb tip off will definitely use it again.

 

Have a great time - my boss lives near Burra (well, Hallett) and there is a great restaurant up there which you should definitely try - I think it's called the Black Sheep (but in Italian or Spanish) La Pecora Nera - I just looked it up! http://www.blacksheepburra.com/#&panel1-2

[flossybeth]

Again thanks Diane; while we were in Burra we ate at La Pecora Nera (it's definitely Italian) and it was great - the pizzas were huge; we only needed 2 between the 4 of us (and you could do shared toppings) and we still managed to bring 4 slices home, the tablecloths were paper to allow the children to draw on them while we waited; not that service was that long...

 

We ate lunch at the Cook o Burra and that was great too - we had a scoring system out of 10 and my youngest gave them 23 for all the great touches (either that or she was just super hungry ).

 

Anne - we stayed in the Paxton Square Cottages and it was freezing.... the wood for the fire was damp so the room got really smoky so we let the fire go out and went to bed by 9.30! But they were a really good place to stay; I told the children it was living history!

 

All in all a great holiday even with the wet and chilly weather.

[Anne B]

Glad you enjoyed Burra although the damp firewood doesn't sound good. The Paxton Square cottages are quite basic from what I gather (no TVs) but as you say it adds to the authentic historic experience. Did you visit the miners dugouts where people literally lived in mud caves by the creek? Unbelievably primative, it's amazing how people survived in those days. We had a cottage just over the road from them which was really nice.