You know you’re old when you start to distrust your capacity to get organised at a moment’s notice and set your alarm for hours and hours before you really need to get up. Covid undermined our confidence but when mother nature gets seriously angry and throws water bombs at you, you can get a little shaken. We were feeling a little petty as South East Queensland was inundated, roads cut and people’s homes washed away. Some have even lost their lives. Traumatic times and our main concern was catching a plane to go on holidays!!!

So I set the alarm for five and of course woke at four thirty. What! Is there a mind clock in there counting the minutes? We checked the road conditions. The Government Main Road site was ridiculous! Incomprehensible! Useless! RACQ wasn’t much better and so it was up to good old Google Maps. Crossed fingers it was telling the truth. Things are weird when you start thinking of an App as a conscious being.

Of course the flight was an hour late but that enabled us to relax and get excited about travelling out of the state- destination South Australia. We had a good flight, picked up a car and headed to McLaren Vale.

First day and try to get important things done. John wanted to go for a swim. We did. The beach was amazing and the water pristine. We didn’t even get burnt!

Next, lunch!!! We had heard about ’Star of Greece’ and I did all the right things and booked and then turned up 24 hours early! Well you can’t fault me for enthusiasm. Our host took pity on us, found a table and we indulged. The service was fabulous, the food wonderful and the location spectacular. The coastline around this area is beautiful and we were very appreciative of the fantastic weather.

Our accommodation was very well located with just minutes to more than eighty wineries. We were overwhelmed so we decided on one- d’Arenberg. Very pleased with our choice. The architecture, the Dali Exhibition and d’Arry’s restaurant were all wonderful. Generally a great day.

Our final day in McLaren Vale and we powered into it. From local recommendations we visited Olivers, Chalk Hill, Wirra Wirra and Angoves. We dropped into Lloyd Brothers and picked up some olives too.

Next stop Port Eliot.