Our first non-travelling day today. Also my first day of non-work, which was also SMS and call free … bet that won’t last!
The plan was to go and have a look at Hahndorf and then do a few wineries around McLaren Vale before heading back to the van, and we pretty well kept to that idea although we nearly got sidetracked a few times.
A geocache in the morning saw the kids amazed by their first micro geocache, a berocca container embedded in the side of the steps leading down to the beach. It took a bit of finding, but was found on the morning walk.
Before the day got away from us, we headed up into the Adelaide Hills to Hahndorf, past Grumpy’s brewery while thinking of Al. If I’d known it was a brewery at the time then we may not have gotten any further … but alas we cruised in to Hahndorf. Blake had been really looking forward to it but was a little surprised by it in the end. He’s interested in his German heritage, but was bemused to find that that boils down to a love of sausage and beer. I’m sure he’ll come to embrace the beer at some stage. 🙂
First stop was due to the kids dragging us into ye olde lolly shop. Hannah lost a tooth in the shop, which was the perfect place! A couple of good finds in there and most of them have survived the day to be savoured after dinner. Hahndorf is pretty much just shops, but they are of the quirky variety so there’s plenty to interest. A shop called misty hollows, that had lots of animated displays, struck a chord with girly-girl Hannah. Despite planning on trying out some German food the kids settled on jam donuts and hot chocolates … and who’s to say that’s not fine german cuisine?
Kel found a bum-burner chilli stick (that has turned out to be pretty deadly thus far). We also had to have a beer at the pub.
Leaving Hahndorf we were almost convinced to head further north, but kept to our plan of checking out some wineries in McLaren Vale. Karen (the GPS) offered a few silly choices, but generally took us the locals way quite efficiently. Very picturesque. Lots of windy roads and the Prado in sport mode saw Hannah turn a shade of green, but she managed to keep down her lollies and hot chocolate. The first winery that we’d picked was Geoff Merrill and being a Monday we were the only ones around. As usual the wine that I liked the best was the dearest, but wasn’t too bad at $30. The second best wine, that Kel liked, was the cheapest at $5 a bottle … so we grabbed 2 of those and one of the Cab Merlot for $27 after the discount. The lovely lady behind the counter was awesome and gave us the remainder of the Cab Merlot bottle that we’d been tasting too … and since we were the only ones there it was a full bottle minus our sip. Absolute bargain and top wines to boot!
Given that we’d just snagged 4 bottles, the proposition of further wineries seemed a bit silly. We’ve nowhere to store them and can only drink so much whilst remembering anything … so had a bit of a squiz around on the way back via Glenelg. Managed to find a Coromal dealer in our travels and picked up a replacement foot for the van … unfortunately they only come in a 4 pack @ $65 … grrrrrr. I figure we’ll lose another one so am not too fussed at the expenditure.
Glenelg is a bit of a seaside tourist trap but was pretty cool. We got some chips and had a wander along the jetty. Fed a sick bird, despite the persistence of the seagulls trying to steal its meal.
When we got back to the van there was still a bit of a puddle under the van … but no puddles under any others. A poke around revealed a small pressure leak in the plumbing. It’s probably been there since day 1. It’s really tiny … about a drop every few seconds. I’ve wrapped it up in rescue tape and time will tell if it holds. If I get the opportunity I’ll replace the section of hose.
Kel and kids went off on a park explore while I was swearing at the van and found … the CaraBoat … Ta Dah !!!
The fishy campers dilemma … to take the van or the boat has been solved with this little beauty.
Before dinner the kids & I headed out to find the geocache of the day and ended up finding two. There’s heaps within walking distance of the van so it’d be criminal not to grab a few. It’s also a good excuse to get some exercise into the kids … shhhh … don’t tell ‘em.
Kel whipped up a butter chicken for a quiet night in. We’re all sitting here in dressing gowns watching The Block.
Starting to feel like a holiday … Blake had no idea what day it was this morning.
[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-07-11.gpx”]