Wednesday, November 02, 2016 – 17.53 km

A loud, obnoxious sound like a vacuum cleaner undergoing a violent death woke me up early this morning, and I was sluggish when I got on the trail. Just out of Kapunda, the HT passed the old Kapunda copper mine, which visitors can walk around. I was tempted and wished that I had known about it during my zero, but my mind was focused on the trail and I continued on.

Road walk road walk. Eventually the HT followed a creek for a short distance, then a trail marker pointed directly into a field. I figured it was mistaken and detoured around the edge of the field, but after crossing a stream I saw more arrows pointing into another field. They were accompanied by a path of flattened grain, so I took the marked route. The landowner is a good sport to let people walk through his/her fields! Thus far it’s always been fence-following.

After the fields the Heysen entered vineyards, which were interesting to see. The trail had passed vineyards before but never ventured close. Soon I’ll be arriving at the Barossa Valley, which is famous for its wine. The map (which provides random trivia at the expense of being a map and showing a large swathe of the surrounding area) states that the name comes from the Battle of Barrosa in Spain, but ended up as Barossa because of a clerical error.

I arrived at Greenock, where camping is in the oval for $5 per night. The town looks affluent, with huge houses and showy flowers – wine must be a profitable business. When I arrived at the oval, I found that caravans are welcome anytime but tenters are supposed to get prior approval…?