21 September Truro to Moculta 11 km
A short day today. We are scrubbed and wearing clean socks, if not clean clothes and have managed to dry our tents out in yesterday afternoons sun. The bakery opens at 8am and we are not leaving town until we sample their wares one more time! Again, their wares are excellent and its a great way to start the next section of the trail. Truro is the town of barking dogs and we were sent on our way by a succession of them, all wagging their tails so not really threatening us.
The weather on this day was perfect for hiking – by far our best day, with no cloud, light winds and a climbing temperature. We were soon back on the main trail which followed a fence up and down gullies and over hilltops. I was soon driving a mob of kangaroos in front of me as we enter back into cropland. Large red gums have reappeared as we edge closer to their favourite habitat, the Murray River. Bees are out in force around the fields of flowering canola. For the first time on this hike, when we make a stop, I am looking for shade, not sun. Glen Turret Road has two magnificent lines of smooth barked gum trees leading down to the station of the same name. Further on we cross a large pipeline carrying water from the Murray River to Stockwell.
The trail brings us to Shannon Road and we divert off trail a short distance through a copse of old pine trees, to the Shannon Mausoleum. This unusual structure was built in the mid 19th Century for the use of the pioneering Shannon family. Generations of them are interred in the structure but there is absolutely no information outside to indicate who is inside. It is located on private property so I guess they know who is interred there.
We followed the pipeline for 1km and came to a large vineyard, the first for a while and we realised that we were on the edge of the Barossa Valley, being only 9km from Angaston. A short spur trail took us into the small village of Moculta. There are lots of lovely old buildings in the village including the Soldiers Memorial Hall, the Community Post office and the original cottage of Gottfried and Johanna Rosenzweig, early pioneers. This is clearly a town with a penchant for time capsules. Around the Soldiers Memorial Hall are various plaques telling of time capsules either dug in or dug up.
Our campsite for the night is under cover again at the beautiful oval, no doubt the prettiest oval so far. There are toilets and water and even a functioning BBQ as well as a large undercover area with grapevines growing through it. We took advantage of the warm conditions and did some hand washing. Council workers and dog walkers approached us to say “G’day”! The afternoon is warm in the shelter away from the wind but the temperature plummets when the sun goes down.