Adelaide/Mclaren Vale

Well after we were picked up by our new host family - Robert and Lucie Helm, we were taken back to their vineyard near Mclaren Vale. They only have a small vineyard which they are not actually cultivating this year as there has been a huge drought in the area and its costs too much to water the vines - very sad :-( But luckily for us they still have the wine they produced from last year, which I have to stay tastes very nice. So far we have tried their rose and their red which both taste great.

This time we stayed on a caravan on their property, instead of in their house. Its was small and cosy and during the day it is blazing hot - it's like a sauna really, but at night time it cooled down enough for us to get a good nights sleep. Unfortunately they had some roosters which (as Rosie will know from our trip round South-East Asia) I can't stand. They have this annoying habit of waking you up at 6am in the morning and then not shutting up till late at night, I mean seriously don't they ever get any sleep!!! They also have some fantail pigeons which are beautiful, two cats called Dominique and Mofasa and a cute dog called Rosie.

We did an assortment of activities/chores for them ranging from cleaning the house, feeding the chickens and fixing their pen, draging dead tree branches from one end of the property to the other, making pasta, bread and pizza, and of course the one you are all going to love - shovelling cow shit!! Yes we had to do that. It wasn't that bad actually as it was dry and we were outside in the fresh air. Things went ok, except on the day that I was helping Rob move the dead tree and he was using the chainsaw, he managed to cut through a supporting branch which then landed on his head. He had to be swiftly taken to hospital where he spent 3 hours being x-rayed and examined while Shannon and I continued our work and rounding up the chickens and ducks which had accidentally been let out during all the commotion!!

We also went on a wine tour of the Mclaren Vale on bicycles - a very interesting way to do a wine tour - I really recommend it. We started early and hit our first vineyard at 11am. After a few tastings Shannon was already feeling drunk (she had given up alcohol since the beginning of the year!). We then moved onto the next vineyard where we decided we had better get some lunch to soak up all the wine. Lunch was followed by 4 other vineyards and then we went back to the first two to buy some wine and then somehow we made it to a pub and continued drinking. Eventually we made it back to our hosts home in a slightly worse state than when we had left in the morning - we found it quite amusing - I'm not sure whether they did!!

We left the vineyard yesterday and are now back in Adelaide where we have been enjoying having our free time back and not having to constantly wash up or clean up after other people (I now know how my Mum felt for all the years she had to do that for us!!). Tomorrow I fly to Perth and begin my trip on the West Coast...