Dear Friends, when
I last wrote, we were off to breakfast, where we discussed Labradors (Margot brought
an old photo of herself with a beautiful female lab at the beach); Aileen...until
she arrived & could tell us exactly how she was; Gillie’s latest exploits,
as we hadn’t seen her for ages, and Warren shared a few of the stories from the
lovely lunch we had hosted for old friends the previous Friday.
We came home to
finish the Christmas cards, get the laptop up to date, let our next-door
neighbours know that we were off and to eat a meal made up mostly of leftovers
in the fridge.
Everyone has been raving about
this beautiful dogwood in the front garden – it has masses of white flowers
We were up early on
Tuesday, delivered Bilbo to Eureka Kennels and set off chatting for Dunkeld,
taking no notice of our Tom Tom and adding 45 minutes to our journey! We
arrived at the Royal Mail Hotel at exactly 1pm and enjoyed a lovely lunch.
After we checked into our room, we set off for a walk around town, visiting the
Information Centre, seeing the old horse trough & gaol until the heat &
flies sent us back inside.
The next day we
walked early to the Arboretum, which is a lovely collection of trees on the
site of an old sawmill. There are plenty of signposted paths, lots of birds and
we were followed by a Westie, who wouldn’t go home. We were worried he would be
killed crossing the highway, but apparently he is a serial absconder and we
were encouraged to let him loose. We gave him some water outside our room and
when we emerged for breakfast, he had taken himself off.
Breakfast was OK,
but there is nothing extravagant or interesting on the menu and the waiting
& reception staff are too young and aren’t concentrating, which is very
disappointing. We headed off for a drive, which included visiting a golf course
with scrapers instead of greens for putting; found the footy & cricket
grounds & the racecourse.
Back at the hotel,
Nigel, the head chef, took us on a tour of the kitchen garden, which is huge
and allows the restaurant to be self-sufficient in fruit, vegetables &
herbs. There was every kind of herb, berry & vegetable growing there and we
were interested to discover the chefs pick the produce themselves daily.
Appetisers using produce &
flowers from the garden
In the afternoon,
we drove to Halls Gap, through scenery that reminded us of Scotland, except
that it was windy and 31°. Back home the wind was rattling the windows
incessantly and I discovered miniature chocks on the floor, which solved the
problem when inserted in the window frames. Dinner was memorable with a bottle
of Bests 2011 Pinot Meunier and we did enjoy identifying the various herbs
& vegetables that we had seen in the garden. We decided not to do the degustation
menu, but had hapuka and duck instead. I couldn’t resist sweets, which was a
combination of crepe suzette with bombe Alaska & Johnny Jump-ups for
decoration.
We walked early
again on Thursday morning, without spotting the Westie, but seeing a mosaic &
labyrinth, sheep, hares & wallabies. It was a beautiful start to the day,
which was spent driving to our accommodation in North Adelaide. It was an easy
drive, with one stop, at Keith, to visit the ‘Henry & Rose Café’, which had
been recommended. Wes’s coffee tasted like boiled milk and his vanilla slice he
likened to cardboard. I quite enjoyed my Jasmine tea, which the waitress had
told me wasn’t on the menu.
Our noisy studio apartment
was tiny, much smaller than the photos and without the dryer that we expected,
so washing had to hang on a clotheshorse. Everything was shiny, new, and so
up-to-date we couldn’t work most of it. However, the bed was comfortable, I
found latex pillows hidden in the wardrobe and we were within 1.5kms of the
Adelaide Oval. After an early & very yummy dinner at the Chinese restaurant
downstairs, we headed back to our Studio to see if we could work Netflix. After
10 minutes, we found a film we thought we would enjoy and 30 minutes into it, we
lost all connection. We restarted the modem, but couldn’t find the film again,
so gave up and went to bed to read.
After a restless
night, we headed off to the cricket where we were expecting to see Jane &
David Knox, although their flight was delayed and we didn’t really catch up
until the dinner break. However, as we were looking around the forecourt on
level 5 of the Riverside Stand, I spotted my brother, Peter, and his wife,
Anka, who, unbeknown to us, had seats for Day 1. It was lovely to see them both
and we had a good chat before they went off to get settled. At the dinner
break, we all met up over chips and wine! Anka had arranged three days in
Glenelg for her and Peter as a surprise for him. We all loved the cricket and
found the pink ball easy to spot.
On Day 2, we met up
with Jane & David at ‘E for Ethel’ a great breakfast spot, where we spent
two hours chatting before having a pleasant walk around the area and over to
the Oval. Our seats were more in line with the pitch than the previous day and
we were much closer to each other, so David was able to spend some time sitting
with us. The cricket was mesmerising and we were so pleased we had come.
Stunning sunset
David & Jane
flew home the next morning, so we decided to walk to the beautiful South
Australian Art Gallery, where we had breakfast and spent 2 hours exploring areas
in the Gallery we had not seen before. We then walked to the Casino and found
the bridge over the River Torrens, which took us straight into the Riverside
Stand again and similar seats to the day before. We wore our footy polos and
bought me a pink cap to celebrate being at this historic Test. The cricket was
gripping again and we were amazed that it lasted all day, while the Kiwis never
gave up on winning and were unlucky to lose in an exciting finish.
It was a hot
morning as we set off to the Clare Valley, which took us through the tragic Pinery
fire areas, where the destruction and loss of property and livestock was heart
breaking to behold. The dust was thick and impenetrable at times and it was
easy to see how you could become disoriented if you left your escape until too
late.
We visit the oldest
winery in South Australia, Sevenhill Cellars, where we were served by someone
who couldn’t really be bothered talking to us about the wines or the history or
the place. We bought 6 bottles, decided our second stop would be somewhere
quirky, and fortunately chose the boutique ‘Crabtree Winery’ in Watervale. Our host,
Cheryl, invited us to choose a barrel to stand at and brought wines to us to
taste. This was a great experience and we tasted and bought some very lovely
wines before heading, at her suggestion, to ‘Reilly’s Winery’ nearby, where we
had a late lunch. Back at our Studio, we could no longer send or receive
emails, so after wasting an hour of our lives, abandoned the internet and watched
the ABC news instead.
We were pleased to
be leaving on Tuesday morning and set off around 8.45am for the drive to Robe.
We drove through wind and heavy rains, but after 4 hours arrived in Robe in
time for a lovely lunch at ‘The Adventurous Spoon’, where the staff were coping
with a combined RSL/ Golf Club Christmas party, but were still smiling &
cheery.
Our accommodation
at ‘Robe House’, which describes itself as a B&B, but is really a self-contained
beautiful old home, the oldest in Robe, was lovely. We were in the newest room
set in the rose garden and the key was in the door awaiting our arrival. We
unpacked, collected ‘The Age’ and went for a walk around the marina and beach before
spending a quiet night at home.
This lovely jar of roses greeted
us when we opened the door
The next morning we
did the Historic Town Walk, where there are so many interesting plaques telling
us the history of the various cottages & buildings we passed on our way. The
rest of the morning we spent sitting reading in the garden before heading for a
seafood platter lunch at the ‘Caledonian Hotel’, where we drank a bottle of
local Riesling. That evening we had another long walk around the cliffs where
there is a clearly defined path and lots to see. We discovered that 16,500
Chinese heading for the goldfields were dumped at Robe so that the ships on
which they had travelled wouldn’t have to pay £10 per person to land in
Victoria.
The seafood platter
On Thursday, we
were on the road early again and off to visit Great Western, which we reached
at lunchtime. We went straight to Bests, which has the oldest vines in
Australia, and which had been such a good experience earlier this year, but
once again, were served by someone who wasn’t listening to what we wanted. We
bought a dozen bottles and on her recommendation, went to ‘Grampians Estate’,
which we had not been to before. We were so pleased we did. Suellen was an
older woman, who knew her wines and quickly worked out what we liked. We bought
up big – some reasonably priced still Shirazes and some excellent sparkling Chardonnay,
Rosé & Shiraz. Lunch was savoury muffins with a glass each of sparkling
Shiraz – what a treat!
When we reached
Ararat, we headed straight for the ‘Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre’ as some of
those Chinese discovered alluvial gold on their way to Clunes, Ballarat &
Bendigo, and helped found the city of Ararat. They were treated badly at that
time, but have been celebrated ever since, even though only one of those
original gold miners stayed in Ararat.
After a couple of
false starts (my fault) we found the Southern Cross Motel, where we had booked
a night and were pleasantly surprised by our clean, comfortable room, with a
great shower, good bed & huge TV set. There was even a teapot. Wes got us salads
for dinner.
The next morning,
Judi had recommended ‘Vines Café’, so we went there for breakfast & were so
pleased we did. The best breakfasts we have enjoyed in ages and beautifully
presented to boot! Afterwards we drove to Eureka Kennels, where I dropped Wes
off with what I thought were his keys to the Mazda 6, but weren’t, so I had to
retrace my route after 5 minutes and return with the right keys! Wes arrived
back here with Bilbo about 15 minutes after I got home and I was just starting
the first of 4 big loads of washing when they came in the door. We came back to
a very clean house, as Sandra had done our windows before heading on a holiday
herself with her partner, Darren, and their daughter, Sarah.
Thriving tomatoes
Wes spent the afternoon
catching up on the good & not so good things that had been happening to
Barbara while we were away before unpacking wine & watering (although both
Judi and our lovely next-door neighbours, Rob & Dene had watered frequently
while were away). I did 4 loads of washing and we both finally collapsed around
6pm with glasses of whisky & wine and an episode of ‘Home Fires’ to watch
before heading to bed.
Today I woke early
and took Bilbo with me to pump water at Leitches Creek, before doing the
shopping at Coles. We had been shocked to read in the local paper that yet
another friend, Mary Danchuk, had died, so I popped into the Newsagency, where
Kim was able to tell me Mary discovered she had pancreatic cancer and had died
in a matter of weeks.
Stunning 100th Anniversary
of Gallipoli monument at Robe
We went back into
Vincent Street to see the Highland Gathering Parade, where we met up with heaps
of friends, had a cuppa at ‘The Food Gallery’ with our neighbours, Rob, Dene
& Barbara before enjoying a late breakfast and catch up chat with friends,
Ron Prophet & his partner, Deb Baron, who had been spending the night in
Ballarat. Bilbo enjoyed the whole thing and must have said hello to at least 50
other dogs, as well as quite a few human friends. The rest of the day was spent
catching up on computer stuff, writing this, sorting out photos, balancing
Reckon, putting up the wreath on the front door and finally, opening the mail.
Ron & Deb at breakfast
Wes enjoying the cliffs at Robe
So now you are
up-to-date and I’m going to send this out today rather than wait until tomorrow
morning, when Bilbo will be delighted to get back into routine going to the
Sunday Market and breakfast with friends. Thanks for all the comments & suggestions
& support on Facebook and for the emails & texts you sent while we were
away. We had a great time and if the Adelaide Test Day/Night Test becomes a
fixture, I think we might make our trip there an annual event.
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