Boy its been a long time since the last update.  Since arriving back in Perth I have been really lazy and I actually didn’t realise how far behind I was.  With my memory the way it is, its going to be a real exercise to remember any of the sites we saw since leaving Adelaide.  I did think I had done this part of the blog update so now I will have to give my best shot or just make it up as I go, which I mostly do anyhow.

As we had nearly two weeks to kill before Kaye flew back to Perth we left Adelaide and decided to go down to the York Peninsular for a while and have a look around there.  We decided to base ourselves at Maitland and then did small day trips out to the various areas to look at.  At Maitland we stayed at the local sports ground which had toilets and showers and was very reasonably priced.   The only real downside for this part of our trip was the weather was getting cooler and more overcast for the four days we spent looking around.

Marion Bay was our furtherest drive in this area.  Some of the bays are very picturesque and would be a lot nicer in sunny and warmer weather.  Still when your just touring around  you have got to be happy in all weather situations, bad weather days are still a lot more bearable than the old working treadmill.  Hopefully we will come back to this area and have a longer stay.  The people in the area were very friendly and the pace of life was very much to our liking.

After a lot of driving around the York Peninsula it was off up the road to Clare for a short look around for a week.   The southern York Peninsula is a great place to look around and you could easily spend several weeks there and still have lots more to see.   Clare and the surrounding areas are definitely worth a visit.   With lots of wineries and small cafes it was a great place to stay and soak up some of the best that South Australia has to offer.  We stayed just out of Clare in a very small town/village called Leasingham.  With so much to see in this area it was a bit overwhelming trying to make a plan each day that didn’t involve going to some wineries and enjoying the tastings.  In the end we just succumbed to the inevitable, took a few deep breaths and decided to do what must be done and just taste the wine – and why not.

There were some great old buildings, stations and wineries to see in the Clare area and our highlights would have been Bungaree Station that you can walk around and see some well maintained old buildings.  It has over 175 years of history and some of the displays were excellent.  It even has its own small church that you can walk through.   Martindale Hall which I thought was one of the best old style Georgian manors we have been able to walk through.  All the rooms are well furnished and it shows the grandeur that some people lived in many years ago.  We really liked the Sevenhill Winery which is the oldest in the Clare Valley.  This was established by the Jesuits in 1851 and wine was originally grown to provide sacramental wine  but now they provide to us as well.  They also have a huge church you can walk through and a crypt that is open as well

It was sadly time to pack up and head a bit closer to Adelaide so Kaye could catch her flight to Perth.  I didn’t want to stay right in Adelaide again so we picked Gawler as our destination.  After dropping Kaye off at the airport it was just going to me on my own until I got to Perth.