Getting to Kangaroo Island.

Thursday. We left Lake Bonney, getting out through a short sandy patch OK and headed for Adelaide.
Stopped en route at to empty the toilet tank and had a nice view of the Murray River from a lookout in Waikerie.

Morning tea was at pretty Sedan, at a travellers rest stop in town near the 6-way intersection.

Then we climbed the steepest hill so far to get over the Adelaide Hills, and the landscape changed dramatically.

Much more vegetation on the west side of the hills.
Soon we were at Blackwood at the home of L and P who we met this time last year leaving Dubrovnik, and then againin Kotor, and unexpectedly in Theth in the Accursed Mountains in Albania.
They so kindly put us up for 2 nights and we had great chats and much food and drink.

On Friday, G and I went into Adelaide on the train. The station is 3 minutes walk from our friends'.
So convenient.
I don't remember much about Adelaide from 30 years ago, but I remember the market!
And this time it didn't disappoint.
But first we had coffee, chai and cake at Handsome and the Duchess, tucked away down an alley, we'd never have found it by ourselves.
Thanks goodness for Beanhunter!

I also managed to pick up a couple of books from the second hand book shops there.
It was a good job G carried my backpack as it was quickly filled.
We also had lunch in the market at a cafe at the side.

The G and I went our separate ways - I toddled off to the Jam Factory. Gorgeous art space.
And then at the other end of town, Have You Met Charlie, Relove and Urban Cow all with interesting handmade goodies.

G wandered through some of the fine old sandstone buildings, like the court house and such and the museum, where he caught up with the Australian Geographic photographic exhibition, the one A and I had seen in Sydney a few weeks back.

After a cuppa at Madam Hanoi next to the station we were fortified enough to take the train back into the hills.

Saturday morning was an early start, we left L and P's at 7am and made it to Cape Jervis in plenty of time to get the ferry to Kangaroo Island. In fact the previous ferry was still loading! So we had time to make a cuppa before we set sail - one of the advantages of having a kitchen on board

G wisely handed over the reversing of the caravan onto the ferry to the loading guys. He made it look easy!

But that was nothing compared to a B-double full of sheep reversing onto the boat.

And just like that - three quarters of an hour later we reach Kangaroo Island.

Fun in Zagreb. Is that even possible?

Who doesn't love a good market?

The market is on every morning.

The market is a place for locals and tourists.

Tastings on the Hastings

Food? Tastings?
Locally?
Yes please!

The Sunday before last the centre of Port Macquarie was packed with food and drink stalls, foodies, sunshine and tastings!
How good is that?
It was a fabulous showcase of the boutique producers in the mid north coast region.
And a great opportunity for us newbies to explore what is available locally without driving for a bazzillion miles.
Plus there was a lovely fun atmosphere. It seems that this once a year event attracts a lot of interest.
And rightly so - it was very well organised, most of the stalls were a delight to look at with gorgeous styling, friendly smiling faces and yummy stuff.

The alcoholic drinks were all in a separate are near the riverfront, with wineries, boutique breweries and distilleries. Not many free tastings here but we'll be sure to search out some of these places for a road trip sometime.

It was hard to go past the Black Duck Brewery, with a tipple called "Proper Gander" (I love a good pun!)

Here is David from Red Dirt Distillery - see what a good time he is having.

How attractive are his handcrafted flavoured vodkas?

You can find Red Dirt in Dorrigo which is a lovely place to visit.

Another Port based brewery is The Little Brewing Company, their Mad Abbot (not Tony I hope!) and Wicked Elf ales are well worth exploring.

Say "cheese!"

It was hard to choose just one of Comboyne Culture's handcrafted cheeses - but the Bluembert, a blue rind soft cheese was a great pick.
You can find them at some Sydney markets as well - check out their website.

Near River had the most attractive booth, some great preserves and also have a farm shopyou can visit for ethically raised pork and eggs as well as field-grown veggies.
We bought some smokey harissa from Near River.

I'd love to have had some room to fit in these organic donuts.....next time!

You could have a free tasting of Grumpy's ginger beer and it is very attractively packaged just perfect for a gift.

We had a good tasting of Granny Mel's chilli relishes and settled for some Sweet Mango and Chilli Sauce, but I was rather taken with the chilli and chocolate cupcakes made by Mel's daughter - how cute!

We settled on the grass with a gazillion others to graze on mini quiche, Laotian spring roles, cheese platter from Cassegrain wines along with a glass of white for T, red for G.
Pastries and cakes from K'pane who we had already discovered at Coffs Harbour. The.best.pastries!

We went home with bags bulging with Lime Caramalised balsamic from Wilmaria Olives, fresh tomatoes and strawberry and rhubarb jam from Riccardoes Tomatoes, bread from local Bels bakery, organic macadamias from Hand 'N' Hoe.

Such a wonderful event. Well done Port Macquarie!