Tomorrow we will be moving further south to Victor Harbour and Kangaroo Island so I thought I would update you on where we have been spending our time over the past couple of days. There is so much to see in the McLaren Vale & Fleurieu Coast region and surprisingly there is only short distances to drive between places. On Thursday we drove the scenic coastal drive 31, from O'Sullivan Beach in the north to Sellicks Beach in the south. My goodness, there are so many beautiful beaches in this stretch of coastline south of Adelaide but the whole length is just 31 kms! We stop at quite a few of the beaches and watch the surfers in the cold water but they are the only ones brave enough to be in the ocean.
I can only imagine how busy these beaches will be in the summer months. We are surprised at the number of houses that are closed up with blinds and shutters closed. Holiday homes I guess, that will also come alive when summer hits. We walk the famous, and probably most photographed, Noarlunga Jetty and I love the "googles" depicting the marine life that can be seen in the waters surrounding the jetty.
In the past few weeks we have got into the very bad habit of stopping for coffee and cake almost every day and today was no exception. It was delicious but this, we have promised ourselves, will be the very last time. It is not good for the waistline and spoils our lunch :-)
Today we stayed inland and circled north to Old Noarlunga, that was not very exciting, then on to Clarendon that is high in the hills and home to some lovely heritage listed homes. We drove past some notable wineries including the beautiful Chapel Hill Winery but it was unfortunately too early for it to be open. I photograph the endless paddocks of grape vines and enthralled that they are almost all the way to the oceans edge. The vines are shooting lots of greenery now and look so different from the vines we saw in the Clare region.
At Clarendon we walked the Main Street that is all uphill and stopped by the bakery and then pulled ourselves up. No coffee and cakes! How easily we have fallen into the pattern, but we resist today.
Our next port of call is Dog Ridge Winery. We have been given vouchers for a free wine tasting at this small boutique winery. This area is renown for its red wines, notably Shiraz, but we explain that we are only interest in their whites and they have a nice selection for us to try. While we were sampling the wines the owner and his son came over to us and we got talking. The son has been working in the Northern Territory and not surprisingly he knew the Murphys, great friends of ours from Julia Creek days. Small world. We really enjoyed our time at this winery and ended up buying a few bottles of their Pinot Grigio.
Next stop for us is the Penny Red Beer Company, where we have vouchers for pizza and beer. Unfortunately they are not making pizzas today so we settle back and enjoy beer (Philip) and local apple cider. The view from the balcony is lovely and the owner explained that the building was an old dairy that they have slowly been converting, and might I say doing a great job at it. I love the rustic decor that very much suits the building.
We had our heart set on pizza for lunch so our last stop for the day was at Willunga where we made our way to one of the local pubs that we were told made a pretty good pizza. Boy was the an understatement. They were probably the best pizza I have ever eaten and what a clever idea to serve them on a paddle board. We could not (unsurprisingly) eat it all but the staff oblige by giving us a takeaway box.
After our pizzas it was time to walk the Main Street of Willunga and out of all the towns we have visited in this region, this would have to be my favourite. The town has a country town feel to it and every shop you walk into the owners are very welcoming. There are also some heritage buildings in the street but the town does not need them to entice the visitors. They come to Willunga because not only is it a very pretty town but it has the reputation of being a friendly town with some great restaurants serving particularly fine food.
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