From Victor Harbor we headed north to McLaren Vale, but we decided to take a scenic route around the peninsula via Cape Jervis. From here it is possible to look across the narrow strait of water to Kangaroo Island, and we intended to make a quick photo stop at a scenic lookout above the ferry terminal. Instead, we got talking to Bob, an Aussie old-timer, who told us lots of tales of travels in the “Donga” (outback) and talked about “larrikins”, “tucker” and “Poms”; good old Australian slang! He warned us to make sure we were carrying a gun if we planned to travel in the Outback, for protection against the wildlife and some of the people we could meet. We were glad that we were due to take the train across the Nullarbor rather than drive it!
We’d been looking forward to returning to McLaren Vale for some time, in particular because we would be returning to visit our favourite B&B hosts Allan and Carol at the Southern Vales. We arrived to a warm welcome and immediately felt at home. We realised at this point that the last week of our trip had covered some ground that we’d seen before, and had ended up being more about people we’d met rather than the things we’d seen.
McLaren Vale is just about our favourite spot in Australia. It is a pretty little town, is out in the country, on the coast and yet is close to the city of Adelaide, has sunsets over the ocean, and houses lots of wineries. We enjoyed fish and chips on the beach while watching the sun drop through a cloudless sky and sink into the ocean, giving a brief green flash as it disappeared below the waves; McLaren Vale is the only place that we have ever seen this pretty cool phenomenon.
One of the things we’ve been impressed with as we travel round Australia is the excellent network of walking trails. It is possible to walk from McLaren Vale to the town of Willunga by taking one such route: the Kidman Trail. (In fact, this is just part of the trail, but this was as far as we were going to manage – 14kms in total). Along the way we spotted plenty of birds and in the park at Willunga we saw literally hundreds of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. When they all flock together, they can get extremely noisy!
We spent evenings chatting with our hosts over a bottle or two of wine, all local and some freshly bottled, but still excellent. The Southern Vales easily kept its crown as our favourite B&B, and is highly recommended if you enjoy a stay where you get to know your hosts and other guests, rather than stay in motel-like units.
There are several wineries within walking distance of the McLaren Vale town centre, so it’s a good place to stay so that the designated driver can join in the fun. A couple of the wineries are also home to boutique chocolate makers. We visited David Medlow Chocolates at McLaren on the Lake to try and buy some nice wine-filled chocs, and fruit jellies, which are their speciality. Very tasty stuff, and a terrific location. We ended up chatting to David for quite a while, after the cellar door closed for the night. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!
