Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley is quite different from the lush, green Hunter Valley. As you drive to the Barossa, you pass through farm country. Hay field after hay field. The closer you get, the more swaths of green you encounter. We spent three relaxing days here. We sampled at some of the bigger wineries, such as Wolf Blass and Penfolds, where we knew the quality of the product we were trying, but we also found a hidden gem. It reminded us of our coffee plantation tour in Mareeba. Villa Tinto is a family run, boutique winery. We had our tasting with the owner Dianne, who also happens to be a teacher. Needless to say, there was a lot of chatter between the tastings. We also found the Raven's Parlour bookstore in Tanunda. Craig waited very patiently while Lynda checked out the selection and received recommendations from Colleen. Finally with her new book and a newsletter of book reviews in hand, Lynda left the store a happy camper.

Time was ticking and we had to head south. More farm land and a couple of tacky sculptures and we were on our way to the south coast and back to Victoria. After many hours on the road, our trip took us to Kingston, the home of the Big Lobster. We were happy to stop for the night and set up camp. The air was oppressively hot. This concerned us because history told us that a storm was approaching, but it was much worse than we expected. It began with the wind blowing so violently that we had to take down our tarp. Uh oh! There goes our water barrier. Then the rain came. Buckets of rain. Even though all the doors and windows were closed, water was streaming into the van. We scrambled to sop it up before all of our bedding was soaked. Then there was thunder, lightning and hail. Now we were huddled in the van like hermits. Luckily, we were in a powered site and we could use the microwave to re-heat leftovers for dinner. It was a very long evening!

Off to Portland to visit more rellies and hopefully, better weather.

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