We had a mixed Sunday last weekend
– breakfast was lovely with lots of good conversations. Just as we were about
to leave, Barbara received a message from Kim Lyden to say that Aileen’s
mother, Dorothy, had died the night before in hospital, three weeks shy of her
106th birthday.
We came home to find Lewis &
Morse confused because we hadn’t taken them to the Sunday Market, but our
neighbour, Rob, had been in to visit them & that was a consolation prize.
Wes got stuck into the garden & did a serious soaking. I found plenty of
things to keep me occupied while I avoided packing.
Morse & Lewis doing what they do best!
We eventually got packed – me
while Wes took the boys to Eureka Kennels in Ballarat & him,
once he was home again. The house seemed so empty without them & we kept
waking in the night listening for them.
We got away around 7am & had a
lovely drive to McLaren Vale. First stop was Great Western, where we
had a break for hot drinks & shortbreads. This has become a tradition as it
is one of the prettiest stops on the route.
Around 10.30am we stopped for
brunch at the Dimboola General Store, as
recommended by Trip Advisor. We were so pleased we did – yummy
breakfasts, lovely staff & very good tea & coffee. It was doing great
business as you would expect.
Wes looking forward
to his porridge with berries. I had a toasted pumpkin & feta sandwich.
We arrived at our accommodation
around 3.30pm. It was a lovely self-contained unit with the best shower ever, a
very comfortable K-size bed & lots of sophisticated kitchen equipment we
could only look at & wonder what it is for. After unpacking, we went for a
walk along the main road & were sorry to see that there has been no thought
given to the shops & dwellings along the road, with the result that most
are empty.
We had an early dinner at Oscar’s,
the place you go to for an early dinner if you want pasta, pizza &
everything in between. The highlight for us was our charming waiter, who was
challenged for height, but made up for it in personality. Wes was wearing a
Carlton T-shirt, so our waiter produced a wooden spoon & happily chatted
about Collingwood to me. The most memorable part of our meal was the glass of Hugo
shiraz, as recommended by Ron Prophet.
After a good night’s sleep, we
rose around 6.30am & walked for an hour along the Shiraz Trail. Here are
two views of it. The first is at the bottom of our street & the second is a
funny little bridge along the way.
I headed off to the newsagent to
get The
Age, only to discover that she had sold her sole copy! Back home for
raisin toast & tea & a leisurely start before hitting the wineries.
We started at Hugo where we loved the
rosemary hedge entrance to the tasting room, the professionalism of the staff
& their very yummy wines, especially their grenache/shiraz. Friends
were meeting each other & sitting in the garden with bottles & platters
– a very lovely atmosphere indeed. Next stop was Woodstock, because it was
rated higher than Hugo on Trip Advisor. Our hostess was a young woman very
passionate about the wines & she took us through a tasting of 8 different
wines. We fell in love with their Naughty Monte (montepulciano grapes)
and their Deep Sands shiraz (which is as peppery as Graham Ellender used
to produce).
Our next stop was for a late lunch
– we tried D’arenberg, but it was fully booked out, so we drove back to
our cottage & settled for smoked salmon bagel at Oxenberry Farm, which is
within walking distance. We had a glass of their tempranillo with our food
& sat quietly in a banquette discussing the interesting wines we had tried.
Karen at Oscar’s with a Hugo shiraz in preference to the
blackboard offerings!
That night, we tried once again,
to find something to watch on Netflix. After 15 minutes, just as we were about
to give up, I spotted one of our favourite actresses, Nicola Walker, in a
series called Collateral, written by David Hare. What a find – we lasted two
episodes – beautifully crafted, full of good actors & addictive. Last time
we were stuck with Netflix on holidays, we found Nicola Walker in the very
memorable series, River.
On Wednesday we drove to Hahndorf,
which was as we had remembered – very conscious that it is a tourist town, with
lots of shops open, 3-hour free parking in the main street & heaps of
visitors, including Germans enjoying a taste of home. We chose a café that
specialised in Reubuen sandwiches for lunch, but Wes was disappointed in the
meagre slice of corn beef & his apple strudel appeared to be less than
fresh. My smoked salmon & salad bun was excellent as was the Jasmine tea.
That afternoon we headed back to Oxenberry
Farm, as I was keen to try
their Shiraz Gin & tonic. It was thirst-quenching, but not memorable! Wes had
another glass of their tempranillo. We picked up some dips & olives from
the local Coles & headed home to watch the remaining two episodes of Collateral.
Highly recommended!
On Thursday, after our early walk,
we dropped into Mullygrub Café and had a beautiful hot smoked salmon & rice
with avocado salad. Tea & coffee were excellent as well. Back home we
relaxed & packed slowly, before heading to our favourite vineyard, Angove
Winery, on our way to North Adelaide.
We had an easy drive with our Tom
Tom avoiding accidents & slow traffic & getting us to our accommodation
very smoothly. We are in a great position, one road back from Melbourne Street,
which is the main road of North Adelaide. We had made arrangements to meet up
with old Daylesford friends, Jenny & Graham Ellender, who we met first when
Graham was the local dentist, and later a local winemaker. Jenny is from
Adelaide & thrilled to be back home with most of her family. We met at The
Kentish Hotel, a block from where we are staying & enjoyed a couple
of bottles of McLaren Vale Shiraz with them, before Graham went off to a
meeting & we walked to Lotus, our preferred eating spot,
where Wendy, the owner, was delighted to see us again after two years.
We caught up with Jane & David
Knox on Friday morning for breakfast at E for Ethel in Melbourne Street,
North Adelaide, another of our favourite spots. Afterwards we walked into North
Terrace where we had booked a Walking Tour. Graham, our guide, was most
informative & we learnt heaps about the history of South Australia and the
beautiful buildings along North Terrace.
Our seats at the Adelaide Oval
were perfect & we had a lovely time with Jane & David, catching up on
news & watching the Aussies bat themselves into an unbeatable spot by the
end of the day.
Great view behind the sightscreen in line with the pitch
& under cover.
Yesterday, we picked Jane &
David up from their accommodation & took them to The Messy Tomato, near
the Central Market, for an enjoyable breakfast. We then spent some time
exploring the Market & Wes & I stocked up on books from the wonderful
second-hand bookstore there. We had a slight drama at the end, when we couldn’t
find our car in the large sprawling carpark, but it eventually revealed itself
& we dropped the Knoxes back home for a rest & had one ourselves,
before heading back to Adelaide Oval & Day 2.
Jane, David, Karen & Wes enjoying breakast at The
Messy Tomato
What a day of cricket we
experienced as David Warner became the second-highest scoring Australian
batsman. I dislike his coercion of Cameron Bancroft into cheating in South
Africa last year, but I am in awe of his mental & physical strength to hit
335 runs not out. Jane & David were seeing their 3rd triple
century as they had previously seen Simon Katich score 306 for NSW against
Queensland in 2007 & Michael Clarke hit 329 not out against India in 2012,
also at the SCG. Sadly the Pakistan team crumbled to be 6/96 at close of play.
Today we are expecting on &
off rain, so the game may go into a 4th day, but we can’t see
Australia having to bat again after making 3/589. Jane & David are spending
time with friends for the rest of their stay in Adelaide, and we are having a
quiet start to the day with tea & toast before going for a walk, or drive,
if it is raining. There are so many places to visit here & we can’t wait to
get back to the Botanic Gardens, the Wine Centre, the Migration Museum, the Art
Gallery & even the cinema to catch up with a couple of films.
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