Author: Catherine Anderson

Catherine loves painting and photography as well as the great outdoors. Cycling, kayaking, pack-rafting and hiking are favourite activities as well as scuba diving when the location permits. A self confessed geek, she’s the reason details are included in our stories!
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Day 180: 26 November – A wintry day in the Hills

Author: Mrs A

Location: Lobethal, Adelaide Hills

Distance walked: 7km

In total contrast to yesterday, this morning dawned cold and grey, temperatures struggling to top 17 degrees C. It was very hard to be motivated to do anything. Nevertheless, we forced ourselves out of bed and joined the Moylans for a fine breakfast of bacon and egg in a hole, mushrooms and tomatoes, and to Mr A’s delight, accompanied by chunks of black pudding, all cooked on the BBQ out on the deck. This is a household after our own hearts – it really feels like home!

Mr A and I tried to make plans for the coming few weeks to guide us back to Sydney, but are struggling with the weather forecast – up to 37 degrees in one of the locations we were planning to bush camp in – we can’t believe how temperatures in South Australia can vary by 20 degrees in a matter of a few days!

While Ali, Andy and the boys disappeared off to a Christmas party in a nearby town, we decided we ought to get some fresh air and set off on a walk with the dogs. Harry and Harvey were very well behaved and enjoyed substantial time sniffing lamp posts, bins and bushes along the way.We had just arrived back at the caravan when the party goers arrived back from their celebrations, the boys extremely happy with their ‘football on a string’ gifts from Santa. What a relief they both got the same gift! It wasn’t much later that the invitation went out to join Ali and Andy for espresso martinis…and so Sunday night began.Ali works as marketing manager at ‘Something Wild’, and their Australian Green Ant Gin is just the first of their products we were to be tasting this evening. I am suspecting most people have never tasted a green ant before. I have, while I was in the Northern Territory backpacking – we were invited to try a taste of this bright green delicacy as they trailed they way along tree branches. The idea is to bite them before they bite you back – they have a taste of lime with a hint of coriander and were a favourite of the local Aboriginal populations. It works well in gin!

Something Wild works closely with Aboriginal populations to bring various high quality meats, game and a range of Indigenous food to top chefs, restaurants and the discerning local public. Ali’s freezer is positively bursting with goodies from her workplace, and we were quite excited about the evening’s upcoming culinary delights.

First of all, another guest arrived, family friend Robert Johnson. Mr A was quite excited to be in the presence of a blues legend, and only slightly less excited to find out he didn’t play blues but does make a rather fine drop of Eden Valley wine. He brought along a bottle of his straight Viognier and a Merlot (sells for $24 a glass at the Sydney Opera House apparently). Delicious.

Dinner was some dry aged English longhorn steaks, expertly cooked by Andy on the BBQ and accompanied by vegetables. We felt very spoilt. It was a great evening with great company and many laughs had. We will definitely be back here one day!

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Day 178: 24 November – Being kind to our bodies!

Author: Mrs A

Location: Adelaide

Distance cycled: 24 km

After several days of excess – fabulous food and wine and not too much exercise – we decided to start the day early before the rain came across and jump on our bikes for a ride. We were out before 7am and cycling along the shared pathway along the seafront, heading for the port.We saw dolphins fishing in the shallows and a lot of coastal birdlife flitting around the dunes. There was not a breath of wind – the water on St Vincent Gulf was like a lake.As much as we enjoyed cycling the hills of the Coromandel Valley, it was exhilarating to whizz along on the flat pathways, giving a chance to look around and chat as we travelled. We reached the boat ramp to the dolphin sanctuary and watched a couple of kayakers launching for an explore before returning to camp.

The rain started late morning, by the time we’d showered, done a load of washing and consumed a couple of cups of tea.

Those that know us well may recall that in ‘real life’ we follow a 5:2 diet (two days a week we fast and consume no more than 500 calories). While we managed it occasionally in the early days of our travels, we have definitely let it slip the past few months (the last time I fasted was before my operation in September!). It’s all too easy to give ourselves excuses to not fast (‘we’re more active’, ‘we’re not eating bad stuff’ etc) but we (I!) have decided to try to get back in to the habit in the lead up to Christmas. It also forces us to be alcohol free for a couple of nights a week – something we haven’t been good at doing at all!

Mr A spent an afternoon chilling out and reading while I had a hair cut – not quite as successfully bouncy as Margaret River’s blow dry, but definitely feeling more human now!

We’re getting fairly packed up this evening in preparation for moving on tomorrow morning to our next region, friends and more wine in the Adelaide Hills! Tonight will be vegetarian and alcohol free…

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Day 176: 22 November – Farewell bush, return to the beach

Author: Mrs A

From: Coromandel Valley, Adelaide

To: Semaphore Park, Adelaide

Distance driven: 33km

As we emerged from our bed this morning Kim and Mike queried how we slept. ‘Fine, thank you’ we answered this typical morning question. But then it emerged why the question had been asked – right above our caravan last night, was a rather handsome male koala, who had apparently been doing his donkey-pig impression all night. We hadn’t noticed a thing, being completely shut up with our air conditioning on!

For a koala, he was a rather active male, as he moved positions three times throughout the morning, before climbing down the tree and strolling off down the valley to do more donkey-pig impressions up another tree. If you have never heard a male koala, click here for a link to YouTube – the sound is incredible, and so unexpected coming from a cuddly creature!

Below, Mr K senses another male koala in the air and plans his next move….

He begins to make a slow descent….All that work deserves a break, so it’s time for another rest and stretch out those hand muscles…Finally down to the bottom of that branch, another rest before making the rest of the journey to see the other male off…About 20 minutes after this photo was taken we once again heard the donkey-pig sounds in the valley – he’d made the final climb down and made it to a new tree to do some grunting from!

While I was taking wildlife photos, Mr A was doing a cooking demonstration for Kim and Mike, whipping up a fine breakfast on the Weber Baby Q accompanied by a delicious sourdough loaf he’d picked up from the local bakery.

After breakfast it was time for us to pack up, say our farewells and move on. Only a short journey today, down to the Adelaide coast. Our first choice of caravan park had refused us entry, stating they allow small dogs, but not small cats. We don’t really understand that decision, particularly given Tassie is indoors 90% of the time, but grudgingly accepted it. This means we are nearly 25km away from the friends we planned to see.

The positive thing about our current location is the wifi on the park – we have access to the NBN (National Broadband Network – a faster speed of internet) and unlimited usage. Very rare – most caravan parks have offered us 300MB – open a few emails and it’s all used up, and usually tortuously slow. We have learned to not rely on getting any coverage in most places.

We had been invited to catch up with Bob and Ann Gadd, friends we had last seen back in May in the Hunter Valley just as we were setting off on our adventure. We decided to Uber over to see them – driving would not really be an option – they are wine connoisseurs and we were taking one of our favourite prize winning wines from Amelia Park.

Lots of delicious food was eaten, amazing wines consumed and many travel stories and tips shared – Bob and Ann have been all over Australia and have plenty of ideas of locations to visit that are off the beaten track…we have a long way to go!

A surprise visitor arrived at the end of the evening, their son Mike over from the Margaret River for a wine judging course. It was the first time we had met Mike in person (see him in Cathy’s photos on Facebook occasionally) – though we talked about him and his wife Virginia a lot in the Margaret River!

We caught another Uber back home at the end of the evening – our latest night for a while at nearly 1am!

The below photo (as we were leaving Glenelg) is quite unflattering, but mostly taken for Cathy, Mike’s sister!

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Day 174: 20 November – Exploring the Coromandel Valley

Author: Mrs A

Location: Adelaide, Coromandel Valley

A warm day was promised with blue skies overhead as the morning dawned. We decided to pop on the air conditioning to ensure Tassie was kept comfortable as the temperature climbed to the early 30s…she of course responded by hiding behind the pillows on the bed and snuggling down – there’s no pleasing some people!

Mr A decided to do an early morning cycle to try and get a handle of our surroundings, returning at 7.30am with a face of shock at the number of and steep angle of the hills around here! After several months of pretty flat cycling we suddenly feel like we are in the foothills of the French Alps!

We joined Kim for some breakfast of bacon and freshly laid eggs, before bringing Tassie out to the garden for an explore, the dogs safely locked away. She had a good stroll around and came face to face with her first chicken, which she didn’t think much of, before returning to the safety of the mobile apartment for a nap.

Next it was the dogs turn for some exercise, so we joined Kim on a stroll around the neighbourhood with Cooper and Riki.

Mr A and I volunteered to pop down to the shops to buy a few supplies for tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinner, and Kim pointed us in the direction of her favourite supermarket. OMG. What initially was meant to be purchasing some fish, chicken thighs and a lime turned in to an almost $300 shop!!

What a fabulous supermarket – why there are not more of these (and why Adelaide deserves this one and not Sydney’s northern beaches, I don’t know!) in Australia, I have no idea, but Foodland Frewville really sets the bar. The fruit and vegetables are set out like art displays…

There is a breadbar instead of a bakery, with all sorts of goodies on sale – Mr A was like a kid in a sweet shop!He emerged with a caramel donut – to share with Kim over a cup of tea when we got back!The Cheese was from all around Australia and the world – Mr A collected some washed rind sheep cheese from France and a bitey Stilton from England…after our journey through small town Australia, this was paradise.

We returned to unload our wares and Kim advised us there was some local wildlife up the road – in fact we probably strolled right under him on our return walk this morning. Yes, a young Koala chilling out in a eucalyptus tree…

Kim and Mike’s garden is also a haven for birdlife, with parladotes nesting on their patio, honeyeaters in the bottlebrush flowers, and pink and grey galahs looking down on us. Just a little paradise.

Our day concluded with a fabulously decadent evening of oysters, followed by a delicious Thai green chicken curry and dessert – Mr A delighted to find Kim had baked a fresh lemon meringue pie, and me perfectly happy with the final scoop of my dairy-free ice cream from Bunbury in Western Australia, along with a selection of fresh berries from the garden. Oh and I almost forgot the wines – an excellent selection from our tastings in the Margaret River region…Fabulous!

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Day 172: 18 November – Cycling the Riesling Trail

Author: Mrs A

Location: Clare Valley

Distance cycled: 28km

Finally the sun decided to show itself in the Clare Valley with the day promising to give us no wind, and temperatures in the early 20s – hurrah! We had decided to explore some of the Riesling Trail today. The total trail is 35km long, and follows part of an old railway which was closed in the late 1980s.

We jumped on the trail from our campground and headed south. It passes through some very picturesque scenery – rolling hills of grazing land for cattle and sheep as well as vineyards.

Our first stop, Sevenhill Cellars, was in fact the first vineyard in the area in 1851, set up by the Catholic Church to provide wine for holy communion. Other vines followed but it wasn’t until the 1950s that Riesling was finally planted here – the grape the area has built its reputation on.

Sevenhill encouraged visitors to explore its grounds, which had multiple historical buildings from the 1800s and under the tasting room, steps down to the old wine cellar.

We continued on, the trail gradually going uphill most of the way (but nowhere as steep as yesterday!), before reaching a peak and heading downhill towards Watervale. There we turned off the path and headed to Crabtree Wines for a tasting. What a fabulous selection of wine and a great tasting experience in amazing scenery.

We had lunch in Watervale before turning back to camp, enjoying the downhills when they came.

It was then the car’s turn for an explore as we returned to the Sussex Squire from yesterday and Crabtree Wine to pick up a few bottles. We are now fully loaded in the caravan and have had to extend our wine cellar to under the bed. Luckily we are heading into Adelaide next week where we will have several opportunities to share a drop or two with our surrogate family members…you know who you are!

Tonight we are celebrating the warm wind free evening with a BBQ – cooking up some sardines we purchased on our travels through WA with some roasted pumpkin and salad…which wine to pair with this fine dining…? Ah decisions…decisions…

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Day 169: 15 November – A stormy farewell to the Eyre Peninsula

Author: Mrs A

From: Yeldulknie Weir near Cleve

To: Whyalla

Distance: 144 km

I’m almost ashamed to admit we slept in this morning, not getting up until 9.30am! We had such a peaceful and deep night’s sleep we awoke feeling quite refreshed. The day was refreshed too – a good 10 degrees colder than yesterday and reaching only 16 degrees by the time we left, wearing warm clothes that only a couple of days ago we thought we would never put on again!

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We drove to Whyalla, towards the north of the Spencer Gulf and our final location on the Eyre Peninsular. We had booked a water front site, which has fabulous views out of the window but you wouldn’t want to be outside. The 55km/hr winds gusting straight off the water are slightly off putting – perfect for the wind and kite surfers we have spotted whizzing around out there, but pretty unpleasant for the average person.

Brrr….windy as Mr A’s bottom after a spicy curry

According to the news, Whyalla has got off lightly on the weather front, as Port Pirie (we can practically see it on the opposite side of the gulf) has had car ports and trees down in addition to torrential rain. We’ve just had drizzle.

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On our drive over to Whyalla we spotted our first Zone on the move – this is pretty exciting as there are not many of us about. We own the 44th ZoneRV caravan and on chatting to the owners of this one, we found they are number 55! We drove up the highway in parallel for a bit and chatted on the radio as we went. Hopefully we will be able to catch up with John and Shelley in Adelaide for some more travel talk over a glass of Barossa red!

As we pulled into the caravan park we spotted our fellow Burmese cat travellers, (Simba’s staff members) Kim and Ian, who had been here a day already. We briefly said hello to them before setting up. The cool windy and showery afternoon did not really entice us into exploring the area, so we jumped in to the car and did a little supermarket shopping, before hibernating back in the caravan with a few episodes on Netflix and beef burritos for dinner.

Another camping cat! The lovely Simba

Back on the road tomorrow, heading to more wine in the Clare Valley – we’re hoping the weather will improve for us to cycle the Riesling Trail at the weekend…the forecast so far looks positive!

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Day 167: 13 November – Yet more stunning turquoise waters

Author: Mrs A

Location: Coffin Bay National Park

Distance walked: 5km

After a couple of humid and overcast days, Monday morning dawned with blue skies. Following breakfast and some exploration time for Miss Tassie, Mr A and I drove into Coffin Bay National Park.

We had heard many great things about the park, its stunning scenery and plentiful wildlife, and we were looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. It didn’t take long for the wildlife to emerge – a group of emus crossing the road in front of us, a fair reminder why there is a 40km/hr speed limit.

A cute family – this will be a male looking after his charges

Our first stop was the Templetonia Lookout, providing views across the sand dunes, over Thorny Passage Marine Park and over to Mount Dutton in the distance. Wispy clouds raced across the sky, reminding us that a change in the weather is approaching, with storms and showers due tomorrow. The flies were out in their hundreds as well – attempting to get into every orifice!

Magnificent views and a change of weather on the horizon

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A dangerous place, Point Avoid

From there, we headed over to Point Avoid, with lookouts over Golden Island and the Whidbey Isles Conservation Park. Lovely views across stunning turquoise waters and pristine sandy beaches. Looking out at the water I was reminded of the powerful dangers that lurk beneath, and wondered where our nearest great white shark might be…the warning signs on the cliffs advised us of everything but!

Lots of bright colours

Thankfully in this direction there was a gentle breeze which saw off the swarms of flies and made life outside of the car a little more pleasant.

One thing we found intriguing (and somewhat sad) was the lack of recognition of the indigenous residents of this area. From our travels in Western Australia we learned that every bay, cove and island has already been named, often for thousands of years, and yet all we see here are the names provided by explorers in relatively recent times. There is barely a mention of the aboriginal population, other than to say they found food here. I am certain they had much more fitting names for the likes of ‘Misery Bay’, ‘Sudden Jerk Island’, ‘Seasick Bay’, ‘Phantom Cove’ and ‘Dead Man Corner’ – all locations within the park.

Still, the scenery did take our breath away, despite the fact we have been very much spoiled over the past few months with incredible locations. We walked down onto Almonta Beach for a walk along the water’s edge, recognising this is probably the last deserted beach we will be on for a long while.

Fly net at the ready but not needed in the coastal breeze
Pristine sands

We returned to camp for the afternoon and spent it in the shade, reading. We are really not used to these temperatures – it’s very warm 31 degrees – this time last week we had our heating on, and now we have the air conditioning!

I guess we ought to enjoy it while we can – it’s meant to cool right down after a day of thunder storms and showers tomorrow, and no doubt we will be complaining of the cold again.

We enjoyed a final serving of freshly harvested and shucked oysters, before whipping up a chicken Pad Thai for dinner.

Fat juicy oysters – delicious!
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Day 165: 11 November – Emus and Oysters

Author: Mrs A

From: Port Lincoln

To: Coffin Bay

Distance driven: 44km Cycled: 13km

We farewelled our camping-cat neighbours and Port Lincoln this morning, and after a brief bottle-shop (off-licence) run we headed for Coffin Bay. We were actually backtracking a short way, having bypassed the oyster Mecca in favour of sharks, but it was not to be missed.

We arrived around lunchtime, and after a bite to eat jumped on our bikes for an explore. Our first stop was the oyster sheds, an industrial area consisting purely of various oyster farm factories – where they clean and prepare the freshly farmed oysters to send predominantly to Sydney and Melbourne for sale at fish markets and in premium restaurants. We have often dined on these succulent molluscs back in Sydney and really enjoy their flavour.

Being Saturday, most of the sheds were all locked up, but as we reached the final one, a tall man popped out and told us he was open for business. We headed down to his Shellar Door (ha ha) and after our long oyster drought in Western Australia we decided to treat ourselves to two dozen. Given Mr A had cut his finger on a pair of scissors this morning (don’t even ask!), we opted not to learn how to shuck our own and had them opened for us instead.

Dream come true!

After popping them in the fridge, we continued our exploration. Coffin Bay is a small settlement with around 600 permanent residents and lots of currently unoccupied holiday houses. It’s a very sleepy coastal village with a pub, a couple of small cafés/takeaways (which don’t serve food beyond 6pm!), a yacht club and pharmacy. It has been farming and selling oysters since the late 1800s, and probably has changed very little in that time.

Other than oysters, this area is famous for its national park which we plan to visit over the next couple of days. We rode around the Oyster Trail, a pathway which followed the coast, leading right up to the entrance to the park. It gave us lots of information about the native flora and fauna, as well as a taste of the history of the area.

Love our bikes – perfect exploration transport
Stormy skies overhead
Coffin Bay

After about an hour of riding we came across an unusual sight – a male emu with his four young charges walking along the street! Emus are interesting birds – the female lays an egg, but immediately abandons it, leaving the male to incubate and hatch it. The male does all the parenting from that point onwards, usually adopting other young emu chicks and keeping an eye on them, teaching them how to find food and stay safe.

No fear here

It was great to see the chicks being so well looked after as we watched the male calling for the strays, ensuring he knew where they were at all times.

We returned to camp for cold drinks and showers – despite being overcast it is extremely humid today and in the late 20s temperature wise – quite steamy. Oysters accompanied by an Eden Valley Riesling came next. 

We attempted to get local fish and chips for dinner, but at 6.30pm were MUCH too late for that (by an hour!) so will be cooking instead. Welcome to country Australia!

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Day 163: 9 November – Great White Shark Cage Diving in the Neptune Islands

Author: Mrs A

Location: Port Lincoln & the North Neptune Islands

Distance: 60km as the crow flies – about 2.5 hours by boat

The day began early with a 5.45am alarm. Of course it had begun multiple times throughout the night, as is often the case when you’re excited and don’t want to miss waking up in time! Today Mr A and I went separate ways for the day as I was ticking off a bucket list item – cage diving with Great White Sharks.

A bus collected me from the campground at 6.15am and took me to the harbour where I met my fellow divers. We were provided with tea, juice and breakfast before boarding the Shark Warrier at 7am and heading off on our adventure.

Our wildlife spotting began early, as we were invited up on deck to see a pair of ospreys nesting on a barge in the harbour. This barge cannot be used now until the chicks have flown:

Osprey nesting

From here, it was a 2.5 hour journey out to the Neptune Islands – a group of islands at the entrance to the Spencer Gulf…

Doesn’t seem far on the map!
We were soon joined by dolphins which abandoned their fishing to ride the bow wave of our boat

A couple of hours later, we arrived at the islands, and selected a spot beside one where we could see plenty of fur seals (shark food) and also see some Great Whites on the radar, settled on the sea bed. The cage was lowered into the water, and we got changed in to our 7mm wetsuits, hoods, boots and gloves in anticipation of the 16 degrees centigrade water.

Not the most attractive look!

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The company I had chosen to dive with was Adventure Bay Charters. Unlike their competition, they do not entice the sharks with blood and fish berley (chopped up fish), rather they use vibrations from music and the slapping of ropes and rattles to mimic the sound of a distressed animal, piquing the shark’s curiosity. This has the result of keeping the interaction more natural, and doesn’t send the sharks into a frenzy – associating humans with food. 

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We jumped in to the water…16 degrees is rather fresh (much like the English Channel I am guessing!), and given you are moving very little in the cage, you can only last in there for about 20 minutes before you begin to feel numb. On my first dive, I saw lots of silver trevally fish, but unfortunately no sharks. We could still see the sharks on the radar, but clearly they had already filled up on a seal pup and were not feeling peckish.

Yes, these fish really look like this!

Our skipper continued working hard to try and entice them over, but to no avail. We settled down for a delicious lunch and the boat was moved over to another island to try again.

The afternoon warmed up and it got quite steamy in the wetsuit. I decided to go in for another dive in anticipation of success. Just as I was climbing into the cage, the cry went out – ‘shark!’. Usually this means get out of the water, but I sped up and climbed on in. And there he was. A three metre male, many nicks and scars, gracefully cruising around the cage, wondering how he could reach the tasty looking morsels inside. He was soon joined by a female. Incredible. Swimming along with their mouth open teeth always ready to chomp, they do look strangely serene and peaceful. You half forget they have the power to tear off a limb and end a life in seconds.

This shark is checking out one of the rattles, attracted by the splashing
What a rush, seeing this beauty approaching
Smile for the camera!
Imagine the adrenaline at seeing this magnificent creature coming towards you
Amazing!

I lost track of how long I was under water this time, but was ready for a hot shower by the time I climbed back out on to the boat. What a fantastic view of some incredible creatures. Apparently they have very poor eyesight and their only way of testing their food is with their teeth. They don’t actually eat humans once they have attacked. We are much too bony. They far prefer the fat and blubber of a seal.

Unlike in the movies, this is what a great white looks like cruising past a boat – just a dark huge shadow, no fin

Research has shown that the majority of taste-tests on humans have occurred when the light is weak – when it is overcast, at dawn and dusk. Few happen when the sun is bright and the water clear. So don’t go in the water at the high risk times, I say!

Once dry, everything was packed up and we set off on our way back to Port Lincoln, with a few diversions on the way. First of all, to Memory Bay in the Lincoln National Park where we called in on a New Zealand fur seal colony, their fur blending in nicely with the granite rock:

One eye watches us pass by
So tiring
Part seal, part rock

From there we continued around the coast, spotting a white breasted sea eagle nest and another osprey nest, both with chicks in.

We were joined by more bottlenosed dolphins as we headed back to the harbour – finishing off an amazing day out. 

It’s very hard to take photos of dolphins – a bit like photographing lightning or fireworks! 

The bus dropped me off at around 8pm – the end of a long but incredible day – Definitely worth doing if you are out this way.

Mr A had kindly prepared dinner for me too after his day of exploring the Port Lincoln area on bike. It doesn’t get much better than this! Awesome!

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Day 161: 7 November – Locks Well Beach and its natural treasures

Author: Mrs A

From: Streaky Bay

To: Locks Well, just south of Elliston, Eyre Peninsular

Distance driven: 145 km. Distance walked: 3km. Flights climbed: 30 floors

We farewelled Streaky Bay and continued our exploration of the west coast of the Eyre Peninsular. The drive south took us through fields of corn and abandoned cotton farming villages, the scenery stark yet beautiful. Our destination for today was Locks Well, basically a beach and a free camp above it. We pulled in, wowed at the stunning view across the wild southern ocean, a pathway down the cliffs literally starting at our front door.

After lunch we decided we ought to get out and see the beach, a 1.5km walk down the cliff below us. We followed the path down which eventually led to a lookout and a staircase of 250 steps down to the sand below. I felt very grateful I could breathe as we hiked down.

The beach was only short (a half a kilometer at most), but the scenery breathtakingly beautiful. Strolling along the warm sand, sheltered from the wind (of course it was still breezy here!), we spotted a flock of crested terns resting on the waters edge, and a pair of Australian Kestrels swooping in and out of their nest, a hole in the cliff walls, where we could see three Kestrel chicks looking out at us with curious eyes. A fantastic afternoon was whiled away watching the beautiful birds as they worked hard to feed their family, disappearing over the coastal scrubland and returning with mice, crickets, lizards and snakes to feed their hungry brood.

We eventually tore ourselves away and climbed back up to the mobile apartment for hot showers and to cook dinner – tonight a Beef Rendang curry accompanied by a Plantagenet Pinot Noir – one of our purchases from Mount Barker in WA. Delicious. The evening was topped off by a fine view of the sunset and an incredible clear starlit night unspoilt by any man-made light.

Chatting to friends on the phone this evening we felt a whole world away from Sydney. Today everyone is celebrating the Melbourne Cup, as we too would have done for the past 18+ years.  No sweepstake here, no bets on random horses, no bubbles and fancy clothes…we have no idea which horses ran let alone which ones achieved a place or won! I wonder where we will be this time next year?

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