​On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, we set out on our SA Road Trip. After a night in Ballarat, we headed to Adelaide passing a lonely Silo Art installation in Coonalpyn along the way. Kids from the local area were the feature.

​We spent 3 lovely nights in Adelaide, catching up with Bev’s brother Wayne and partner Christopher, as well as seeing some of the local sights. We particularly loved the Art Gallery and the Botanical Gardens.

​Leaving Adelaide, we were heading for the Clare Valley, via Maggie Beer’s food shop and restaurant in the Barossa Valley. A truly beautiful location.

​Our accommodation in the Clare Valley was at an historic town called Mintaro. We stayed in a rustic old cottage from the 1850s! 

​We visited the nearby grand home called Martindale Hall and a lovely tasting session in a local winery and boutique brewery.

​The road trip then took us to the stunning Flinders Ranges, where the pictures speak for themselves. We particularly enjoyed the challenging hike up to the Wangarra Lookout, where the view was spectacular.

​The next leg of our journey was to Swan Hill (via Loxton with a catch up with a friend), where we spent a lovely day with a river cruise as part of the R & R.

​The final leg of the trip was a stop-over with Marg & Dave in Kialla, via Echuca. The weather was kind to us for the entire trip. The gods were smiling!

The freedom to move is really kicking in now.  We have started to attend all of those events that we have accumulated (postponed) over the last couple of COVID years. We exercised our first tour of duty back to Melbourne to attend Moulin Rouge.  We were treated to a sensational show and excellent accommodation at our new Melbourne hub (RACV Club Bourke St). 

After nearly 18months of postponement we were then due to stay at the Canberra Zoo, Jamala.  This was the best 48hr we have experienced.  It reminded us of being on safari in Sri Lanka as we slept with the animals, enjoyed gourmet food and were treated to tours of the Zoo each day.  If you ever get a chance ... you must do this. 

From there we travelled a few hours north to Nelson Bay where Steph had planned a triatholon.  Weather was very kind despite the promise of another flood event further north on the NSW coast.  We had a great house and once again filled in several days soaking up the local attraction, including a surprising seafood feast at the Fingal Bay surf life saving club.

Finally we move on to the Marramarra Lodge on the Hawkesbury.  Again this has been postponed due to COVID constraints but it was certainly worth the wait.  Pure indulgence with degustation meals, day spa and an endless cellar.  Have we died and gone to heaven?  The unexpected bonus was the pitter patter of rain on the canvas roof.

A sunset cruise with copious champagne and oysters followed by another degustation of seafood, quail and wines from Barasso, Italy and France was a fitting last night at Marramarra Lodge.  The pitter patter on the tent did turn into torrential rain and wind overnight.  Those tents are amazing but are still a bit disturbing in a storm, particularly when the auxiliary power kicks in.

The final tour before heading back home via Canberra was to the Broken Bay Pearl and Oyster farm.  We had a 3hr tour including a trip to the nets and a session in the pearl grading room where we held pearls worth $100k and more.  If you get the chance to go to this Hawkesbury facility I would thoroughly recommend the trip.  It is far better than the other pearl farm in Broome.

We even got to see some aboriginal art on rocks out in the middle of the Hawkesbury.

Due to the pandemic, it’s been 12 months since we last visited our daughter Claire, son-in-law Steve and three grand kids who live in Bli Bli on the Sunshine Coast. So, we masked up and took a flight from Melbourne to Sunshine Coast airport last Friday, 25 Jan.  
​Rather than being greeted with sunshine, however, we have experienced a rain deluge of biblical proportions!  There have been incredible dumps of 200 mm and more in some places in a matter of a few hours - never seen anything like this before. As you will have seen, many homes and businesses have been flooded and roads blocked. We are staying in an apartment at Twin Waters, which is a few kms from Bli Bli. However, the road has been blocked - we came 2000 kms from Melbourne but weren’t able to make the last few kms to Claire’s home. Things eased a day ago and we were finally able to get through. However, the torrential downpours have started again . . . 

Looking forward to returning to sunny Melbourne on Saturday.