Tuesday 1st April, 2014: Damm hot day in Melrose today!!

The forecast in Melrose for today is 35 degrees.

So we decided not to do the 12km summit walk - and instead opted for a shorter walk around the foothills of Melrose. We enjoyed a great view over the township from our vantage point along the walk.

 After this walk we spent about an hour exploring the Historical walking tour of the town of Melrose. 

Melrose is the oldest township in the Flinders Ranges area and was once the the most northern town in SA.  There are some very interesting and beautiful old buildings here. 

There was also this grand old tree - soooo beautiful!!!  I tried to get some shots that would show you it's beauty - not sure I did it justice.

Melrose is a very small village - it does not even have a general store - but at weekends it gets a huge influx of bikers as there are lots of mountain bike trails in the foothills around the town. 

They also get a lot of injuries apparently - as told to us by a local shopkeeper.

We partook of coffee this morning at a new cafe at the old bank building. The couple running this cafe and B&B are from Victoria. 

They had set off on an extended trip around the country and after 3 mths travelling in SA they drove into Melrose and they have now purchased the old bank building and are still here. 

The cafe and B&B are only just opened - as they had a few months work to do on the building after purchasing it. Their bus (that they had fitted out to compete their travels) is now sitting in their large backyard. They may decide to use this as part of the B&B - as extra self contained accomodation.

Lunch to day we decided had to be in one of the local historic hotels. 

It was great to be in the air conditioned environment in the pub and be out of the 35 degree heat -  and the food was great. 

The forecast was correct and it has been very hot - but tempered by a breeze and this dry heat does not feel too bad really. 

But by about 5pm but we were pretty much over it and very releived when a cooler breeze arrived and the temp started to drop. -But it was another warm evening - nice for sitting outside updating this blog - but not so nice for sleeping.

The forecast for tomorrow - 25 degrees.  A full 10 degrees cooler - how's that!!