Brisbane, QLD


Saturday, February 11, 2012

THE BOYS WENT BANANAS

After Gumeracha we headed for the pretty little town of Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills.
 Our friend George was the driver and he is waiting for the other five of us to climb aboard our hired people  mover. Come with us and discover Birdwood.

 It was a scenic route through the hills and we found many scenic routes as we managed to get lost again.

Finally we arrived in Birdwood, we were so busy looking at the beer sign outside the historic Blumberg Hotel that we missed the sign for the National Motor Museum, which is where we wanted to go. Dare I say it we were lost again. 

The Motor Museum is housed in the grounds of the 'Old Mill'

 Birdwood was settled in 1840 by persecuted Lutherans from Prussia/Germany. At first the village was called Blumberg but the name was changed during WW1 due to anti German sentiment and was named Birdwood after the commander of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli.


'A Tribute to Holden' sculpture  (Australia's iconic car)  stands in the courtyard of the museum.
 The museum houses Australia's biggest collection of 300 vintage, veteran, post war, classic and modern cars, commercial vehicles, and 100 motorcycles. The boys went bananas.
I must admit that I enjoyed it too, especially when I found a car like one that I used to drive. I also found a Honda scooter like the one I used to have. We dragged the boys away, had lunch at the Pomegranate Cafe which was super and then we were off to Adelaide.

24 comments:

  1. Hi Diane, I like the cool beer sign. Very vintage looking like the cars. Sounds like the boys had fun at the car museum. What an interesting place for the cars to be in the Old Mill. Wonderful tour and photos. Have a great weekend!

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  2. Hi there Diane - can see I have a lot of catching up to do on your blog. Beaut to see Birdwood, definitely an interesting place. Love the beer sign and the tribute to Holden sculpture. A great Museum too... yes, can imagine you having to drag the boys away!
    All the best and thanks for your comments while I was away. Cheers Susan xx :D)

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  3. hubby and i would have loved this trip. i like the sculpture of the car and the bus, really cool. glad they saved the old building and found a use for it.

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  4. Love love love that part of the world!

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  5. I love the Old Mill building and the vintage cars, but my favourite is the amazing sculpture of the Holden in the garden. Hope you're enjoying your weekend. I am as I'm back onling again! Greetings, Jo

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  6. Birdwood is certainly added to my list. The car sculpture appears to be decaying, rather like our car industry.

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  7. I love cars. Such a museum is har to find.

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  8. It is quite incredible that in the State of "Crow Eaters" (I think that is the slang terminology for South Australians?), that so many museums are so well kept in the outback little towns.
    Great video BB.

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  9. Oh I forgot and was reminded when on I noted the advertising signs on the hotel, what did the boys think of that "West End" brew.
    I remember that it was referred to by "out of staters" as "River Torrens Mud" - I certainly didn't like it.
    Cheers
    Colin (HB)

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  10. Diane, The LOC would have LOVED this adventure. You do such interesting things! :)

    Great pictures, as always.

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  11. hi Diane, it's great that you are featuring south australia so well. i've been to all of these place but ages ago. i used to have a honda scooter too. and an fx holden was my first car. so long ago. great photos as usual.

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  12. I can only imagine how difficult it was to drag the boys away from this museum. I'm not sure even the promise of a good meal could get me to leave.

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  13. Hi Diane, I would be one of the boys --and would LOVE that museum... I love seeing the old cars. My Daddy used to talk about driving an old Model T type car ---and one time he 'accidentally' backed it into the river... Uh Oh!!!!! ha ha

    Great post. I'm sure you all really enjoyed this trip.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  14. I love the look of old cars but can't quite get into the details of it all like the boys. I rode a Suzuki scooter. Funny how scooters are popular again now.

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  15. Birdwood certainly looks like a must visit place. Your posts about this trip are better than a hundred tourist industry brochures.

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  16. Ah! I so enjoyed that ... and Bills video is fantastic with music to match the mood. So pleased you had lunch at the Pomegranate Cafe ... I've eaten there often out on the verandah and just love the food. This is only about a 25min drive from my place.

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  17. All I had to do was read the title to know where this post would take us!! I too am a devotee of Pomegranate Cottage - but it's been a VERY long time since I've been there!!

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  18. We have a huge old timer museum here in Brussels I like these old cars, although I am not a car fan.

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  19. I fancy seeing the old cars of the USA so I imagine this was well worth a visit.
    I'm assuming you drove one like the last photo. I drove a VW like what sits behind it - a blue one. :)
    Loved the 'rock' car.

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  20. Oh what a lovely time you had. I love the old timers. You see them here a lot as well. In Holland you don't see many of them. You had a cute car

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  21. Saw this bumper sticker on an RV this morning "Not All Who Wander Are Lost". (So you and your friends were just wandering!). I've had that same experience in auto museums -- going in spite of myself and then enjoying it after all when the cars brought back memories.

    An interesting stop on your tour.

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  22. i loved seeing the old cars, looks like an interesting museum, i certainly would love to visit there and would be one of the boys!

    i really enjoyed your beautiful photos, too:)

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  23. It must have been fun to find your old car!! My BIL would have loved this. He loves vintage car shows, racing, etc...

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