Saturday 2 December
Moana – Myponga McLaren Vale – Morphett Vale
The wind was up during the night, blowing the van about at times. We also had a phone call come through at 1am, but Paul’s phone stopped ringing before he got to it. We were awake by 730am and reading our books, Paul then went off for a shower and I eventually surfaced. We had breakfast, sorted our selves out for the morning and then we ventured out into a blustery day.
We drove south to yet another small country town called Myponga where the brewery Smiling Samoyed was to be found. We arrived well before the 11am opening time, so decided to take a walk down the Main Street. A market was set up, so we wandered through the various stores selling bric-a-brac, picking up a couple of items.
After filling in as much time as possible, we returned to the brewery at 1040 and made ourselves known. The owner and brewer, Kate, arrived shortly after with one of her samoyeds in tow, a giant ball of white fluff that was indeed smiling.
We chatted about the brewery and their beers before Paul stepped into tasting. I was happy to just hang out with Hoppy, the dog, who had set up watch at the door. She was so cute. When Paul was finished, we said farewell and moved on to our next destination, Ekhidna Winery in McLaren Vale.
As soon as we pulled in to the carpark I knew then place was a little bit fancy. A couple of young hipsters were out the front in their too tight jeans and shirts and their well manicured facial stubble. We entered the cellar door to be bombarded by more clones of the same and girls with their too loud laugh and their barely their attire. Hmm.
Paul approached the cellar door staff, spoke to a Californian barmaid, who gave only some small details about the brewery side of the operations and then gave Paul a “beer flight” to try. I could tell he was not impressed with what he was tasting by the look on his face and he was happy to finish quickly and get going.
We made a pit stop at the shop for a few bits, while doing so, Paul returned Jaden’s late night call. Turns out it was accidental but he also informed Paul that he had hit a roo yesterday when travelling in a rental car in his way to Walpole. Thankfully he was ok and had taken the insurance, so all should be ok.
We returned to the van at 1pm ready for lunch, which was devoured quickly and then we spent the afternoon lazing about. Paul got on with writing up all of his reviews, while I got comfy in the bedroom, watching the last of the series 7 Offspring episodes and moving on to season 3 of A Place to Call Home. It was lovely to just sit and do nothing.
At 4pm, we donned the walking gear and ventured out. It was still grey outside and the strong wind was foaming the waters. We walked along the path, until it started to rain and then moved off into the suburb. We were looking for some respite from the rain but it didn’t happen and despite wearing our rain coats, we were drowned by the time we got back.
We peeled off all the wet gear and hung it up to dry, then changed into warm, dry clothes. I got on with writing up most of the blog, as well as organising the meet Matt from the Crafty Pint, at the Wheatsheaf Hotel tomorrow. At 6, we made our way to cheryl and Martyn’s in Morphett Vale.
We were met warmly by them both and pleasantly surprised that their daughter Narelle was also there, someone I haven’t seen for 30 years. We stood around chatting and enjoying a cheese plate, before Lyn and Kevin also arrived to join our group for dinner.
I pinched their computer and printer, so that I could print out our basketball tickets and then returned to enjoy the conversation, with Lyn being an EA in the high school system, we had a fair bit of common ground.
We sat down to a delicious meal of Salmon followed by an indulgent pavlova. I could see that extra walking would be necessary tomorrow. We continued to chat until 1030pm, when tired eyes and yawns were telling us all it was time to call it a night.
We said goodbye to everyone and then made our way home. The park had filled up quite noticeably with many more caravans about. We were straight in the van, when we got in, locking out the cold air and preparing to snuggle down in our warm bed.
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