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.

A sojourn in the Hunter Valley.

It was a surprise for G's birthday. We tend not to do big gifts these days but rather treat each other

(and ourselves) to experiences.

This deal popped up on Living Social and it seemed OK. I checked the reviews on booking.com and Trip Advisor and

....yep, that'll do.

We haven't been to the Hunter Valley....for ever!

It used to be THE wine area in Australia (after the Barossa) but apparently these days - not so much.

However there are heaps of wineries there...

Our accommodation was at Bimbadeen Estate tucked under the hills on the far side of Cessnock,

with an absolutely fabulous view.

There are 6 cottages there with a mini kitchen, (microwave, no cooker) and a breakfast hamper is provided.

and with our deal we got a free bottle of the estate wine!
It was beautiful sitting out on the terrace overlooking the valley, over to the coast and up to Barrington Tops.

Just below us was restaurant Molines, reputed to be the best in the valley.

Unfortunately it wasn't open when we were there.

The next day we walked done the hill to Petersons winery - a stonesthrow away.....over 1 hour later!

It was a lovely morning for a walk!!
Petersons came recommended and didn't disappoint. We picked up some wines later when we drove down.

Our place of rest was so quiet and relaxing, we almost didn't want to go out anywhere.

But we managed to fit in a couple more wineries, a cheese shop, Hunter Valley Gardens,
an olive shop, an alpaca shop, a lunch and a dinner out.

Peterson's winery

Briar Ridge winery

David Hook wines

First Creek wines

Hunter Valley Gardens

Sculpture garden at Mistletoe wines

World's smallest risotto at the Royal Oak

The deck at Gartelmann wines from The Deck cafe

This is where we went -

- Petersons winery
- Pukara Estate for olives, oils and relishes
- Binnorie cheese
- Briar Ridge winery
- The Deck for lunch
- First Creek Wines
- Mistletoe Winery
- David Hook wines
- Gartelmann Wines
- 221 Restaurant, Royal Oak Hotel. World's smallest risotto.

But with over 130 wineries stretching over the whole area there is plenty to go back for.

On the road to Armidale

 Or up river and back down again.

 Locals talk a lot about going "up river", meaning up the Macleay river from Kempsey, so we thought we'd go on an adventure.
The road starts off following the Macleay through farmland but gets narrower as it rises to the tablelands. In fact it is not recommended for caravans, so we left ours behind and just took our trusty little tent.

The road passes a couple of free campsites, the first is Blackbird Flat about an hour and a half from home.
As you see it is a big grassy area, not too busy midweek.

There's a fence around the picnic shelter to keep the neighbouring cattle out!

I'm sure there would also be a few bovine intruders at the Georges Junction campsite - it is a travelling stock reserve.

In between these two campsites is a private one - Cracknback campground which is a nice spot next to the river as well and has hot showers. Not a free place though it is probably cattle-free.

As we had plenty of time we pushed onwards and upwards to the Styx River where there is a campsite and a separate picnic spot.
We had lunch in the Wattle Flat camping spot...complete with slither-past by a brown? snake!!

Then we camped at the Wattle Flat picnic area (it didn't say "no camping")....complete with platypus.

These facilities are in a state forest and there is the hazard of logging-trucks or roads closed due to logging activity (as happened to us)
There are pit toilets at both these places and bbqs but not much else. It's BYO!

The next day's essential stop was Wollombombi gorge which have some pretty big falls.
The gorge itself is vertigo-inducing and there are a couple of decent hour-long walks as well.
The well-set-out campground would be worth a visit too....but on this occasion I'd booked an airbnb place in Armidale for a bit of comfort.

There are very many delights on the New England Tablelands - New England National Park, Cathedral Rocks National Park, and several lookouts with and without waterfalls on the Waterfall Way which joins Armidale with Coffs Harbour.

Anyway on to Armidale which is a decent sized regional city with galleries, cafes and all sorts of civilised things. It bears further investigation.

We spent one night in the delightful Two Dogs Folly studio.

A beautifully restores miner's cottage which also has an adjoining cottage.
I loved it! It was just my style and very comfortable.

Then it was homeward bound but not before checking out Long Point past historic Hillgrove.
There's a rarely-used campsite there - at least it looked rarely used. A picnic spot and a couple of walks which take you to views of the upper Macleay.

So it was a good reconnaissance trip and we'll be back for sure.